Drawing detail here 
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGdSe73nLnP/?igshid=16uirz8c1cz5q

Certain archers had deep clefts in their noses and chins; the bowstring twine’s 
red weal recalls the flight feathers, sometimes cormorant, other times rook or 
jay.

Anyway this hover-craft thing was made from tiny quills, was shaped like a long 
bow and worked on the principle of dark matter — or in layman’s terms at that 
time — majik! 

Meanwhile Saladin and Co were camping by the seashore.

Guy of Wherever, the Frankish Knight, watched the soldiers over the yellow sand 
dune. Seeing there were quite a few camped out there, he changed his mind and 
put the attack on hold — flip this! Words like zut and putain were muttered as 
he slid down the crabby tussocks and ran in his red and white over-smock 
garment and fish skin chain mail leggings  towards the very skinny looking 
craft. He climbed up the rope side-netting into the main cabin on the front and 
pushed a lever. The great bag of gas started to billow outwards and up and then 
ropes creaked and the little dirigible lifted into the air and it was then he 
engaged the anti-matter neon/argon gas combo drive and she picked up speed and 
afore he could whistle much of a tune they were passed Cyprus heading for 
Corsica.

‘Let’s just put it off indefinitely’ he thought and made a mental note never to 
do anything much more along the lines of attacking, holy wars, siege engines 
and errrr anything involving skirmishes with Saracen archers etc etc. 

Better to travel incognito as some kings were known to do occasionally. Dressed 
as some kind of oaf, an actor or balladeer! A small troop merrily trooping ‘men 
of no fixed abode’. 

For instance he loved to play the old guittara and especially the ancient 
Classical Greek lyre. He could crank out a right good song every now and then. 
He liked to experiment with special tunings, quarter notes even and had studied 
some early music from Italy. All in all it was a unique style he had and was 
sure he could get somewhere with his novel versions of popular songs of the day.

‘Yessiree Bob we is gonna take em by storm’, and he imagined great parties 
after the gig back at the hotel. He’d invite the audience, anyone who had a 
mind to come, to the party. Never mind the concierge he’d be in on it too. The 
wine skins would be fat and the larder stocked with pate — well not that canard 
job which he didn’t like — but nice mushroom pate and golden pears in brandy, 
raspberry and lemon cheesecake, roast artichokes and vanilla ice cream with hot 
Meade sauce. 

He glanced up at the rail above him where le Mouse was parodying his enthusiasm 
for partying. His friend and companion, little mouse was his familiar and 
helped out here and there when needed but generally took the mickey.

‘Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world’ he squeaked. God only 
knows how a Mouse in the tenth century would know a Grateful Dead song but hey, 
they had flippin ion drive, hovercrafts and knew about dark matter!

Certainly these lot had been about a bit shall we say. More than meets the eye.

Sun poured over them as they hopped between clouds over the lemony green sea 
below. 

Two roseate terns landed on the prow of the craft and preened and walked up and 
down the bow sprite. 

Mouse coughed, louse laughed, fish hiccuped and smoke curled from the tiny pipe 
Mouse was pondering and puffing upon. Now he thought about the novelette he was 
working on - surrealisme and the inky tentacle in a time of famine - love and 
the divine - the oracle of Thebes - when we get to Elysian Fields what’s it 
gonna be like - how magnets work on iron and brass - consciousness, cats and 
other questions - all matter is inherently conscious by degree he thought. 
Stone is very stone, itself wrapped in its stone-ness. Wood be wood fully wood 
at all times perhaps to change but seemingly fully itself. Mind you those 
fluxes of Crystal and smoke and fire... all themselves no doubt about it - 
conscious of themselves! 

Mouse was full of ideas. Boy, and was he going to live it up (even more than 
now? In a flying craft fleeing the Saracen archers?) when he had his first tome 
published. A hefty bound leather job coming in several volumes he hoped.

Soon they reached Corsica and descended slowly, eventually to alight upon a 
wooden platform just above the main roof of the castle tower.

S





 


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