The Light of the Grail: Chapter outline copyright (c) 2009 by Freeman Ng This is a retelling of the Quest for the Holy Grail that I'm currently shopping around to publishers. Each chapter is a fairly independent short story, told from the point of view of a different major or minor character, always in the second person and almost always in the present tense. You can read the first page of the book here. I've also written a second novel, about the life of Joan of Arc, which you can see here. Section 1 - "To Caerleon" Chapter 1 - "The Unbelieving Knight" Point of view: Bors Sir Bors, an agnostic, is visited by the Grail and called to join the Round Table. As the Grail touches down upon the altar, you feel it also in your hands, and you quickly look down at them. They are empty but extended before you palms up and cupped as if they had held some weighty round vessel. When you look up again, the Grail and its light are gone. The chapel is once again nothing more than aged wood and the wind blowing through it. Chapter 2 - "Gawaine and the Green Knight" Point of view: Gawaine A strange creature visits the court on Christmas morning and challenges the company to a bizarre contest that Gawaine accepts on his fellows' behalf. He stooped to pick up the truant head, showing you the circle of his severed neck, which looked like a bunch of green onions sliced cross-wise. "Well struck!" said the head, from where he held it at his side. "And now you will come to my halls, on New Year's Day, and there I will return the favor." After telling you where you would find his castle, he strode out of the hall, turning his head in his hands to cast a final backward glance. Chapter 3 - "Linnet" Point of view: Linnet A woman comes to the court asking for help, but instead of a real knight, a kitchen page is assigned to be her champion. "How will you defeat Sir Bruce?" you retort. "And the Black Knight whose camp lies in the way? Will you poison their broth? Give them a blow to the helm such as no man ever saw - with a serving ladle? Go back to your kitchen! I think the soup needs rescuing!" Chapter 4 - "The Greatest Knight" Point of view: King Bagdemagus Galahad arrives at the court, triggering the revelation of the Grail Quest. You experience, as never before, yourself, your galloping horse, and the balanced length of your spear as parts of a single wild creature rampaging across the field of honor. You do not so much aim your spear as allow it to find its mark, like a falcon you have trained well and then let fly. Chapter 5 - "The Servant of Carbonek" Point of view: Brisen Tells the story of Galahad's conception in retrospect and reverse chronological order. Lancelot, who would have been the Grail Knight if not for his tragic love for Guinivere, comes to the Castle Carbonek and rescues the Lady Elaine from a terrible curse, but the Grail doesn't reveal itself to him. Elaine's servant Brisen tricks him into a tryst with Elaine, and Galahad is conceived. Elaine turned to the knight and, placing her hands on his shoulders, pulled herself up against him to kiss his cheeks. The odd picture it made remained in your mind for a long time after: her slender, reddened flesh clasping itself to the metal-clad man. Chapter 6 - "The Shield of Sarras" Point of view: King Evelake King Evelake of the ancient city of Sarras is given a magical shield by Joseph of Arimathea and later dies riding to Joseph's aid. Centuries later, the spirit of Evelake waits in a meadow for Galahad to come and claim the shield. You stand, the shield in one hand and a spear in the other, while the sun and the moon wheel overhead in their ever tilting courses, while the days darken and shorten and then stretch out again. You stand, clear as sunlight, persistent as rain, patient as snow, waiting for one who makes his way to you across a wide plain of time. Chapter 7 - "The Forest Knight" Point of view: King Evelake Evelake's spirit is given the task of somehow getting the young Percival to come to the court and join the Round Table, allowing the Quest to finally begin. In truth, you are beginning to yearn for the next world. Sometimes you catch a glimpse of it - when the sun streams down through the forest canopy just so, or in the pitch black of the coldest night of the year - and you are ravished by longing. Section 2 - "Into the Wilds" Chapter 8 - "A Test" Point of view: Lionel Sir Bors is tested by having to choose between rescuing a maiden and his brother Lionel, and chooses to save the maiden. Lionel must then deal with the consequences of his murderous rage against his brother. Every blow you landed on his sword or his armor resulted in a loud clang that soon became all you cared about. You only wanted each one to be louder than the last, and to come faster and faster. Chapter 9 - "The Castle of Maidens" Point of view: Gareth (the kitchen page from chapter 3, "Linnet") Gareth, Dinadan, and Gawaine help to free a land from the depredations of seven evil brothers. You speak of remaining here for months!" you exclaim. "What of the Quest? Have we not been called by the Grail itself?" Dinadan's voice is gentle, and pitched so that only you can hear. "Called to what? To abandon those in need? We have seen the light of the Grail. Let us live by it." Chapter 10 - "The Chapel Perilous" Point of view: a little bird Lancelot comes to a chapel in the middle of the wilderness and sees a vision of the Grail, but he is not allowed to enter the chapel, a sign that he will not be one of the knights to achieve the quest. This is a very interesting sight to you. The cup itself is not shining, only the air around it. It is like the early morning light before the sun becomes visible over the horizon, and like an impending sunrise, it makes you want to sing. Chapter 11 - "Highest Destiny" Point of view: King Bagdemagus Bagdemagus and Lancelot cross paths with Sir Palomides, a Saracen whose apparently differing beliefs distance him from the others. The three enter a tournament where once again Lancelot is defeated in battle, but is also called to a future meeting with his son Galahad. You expect to feel searing pain - you have been wounded by swords before - but instead are only aware of a distant cutting that is like a freeing, as if you were a falcon whose jesses had been cut by the knife it thought was meant for its throat. Chapter 12 - "The Stewart" Point of view: Sir Kay Back at the court, Sir Kay recalls his role in the final battle that secured Arthur's kingdom -- and in Arthur's feat of pulling a magical sword from a stone to establish his claim to the crown as a child. For a moment, brief and yet packed with whole histories of the world that might have been, you truly believed the sword was yours. Your father's impartial eyes regarded you steadily. Somewhere behind you stood Arthur; you dared not turn to see his expression. The crowd buzzed in happy anticipation of the start of the tournament, unaware, unaware. Chapter 13 - "Gawaine's Tale" Point of view: Arthur Failed knights begin to return from the Quest, telling stories of defeat. You feel anew the force of that common phrase, beside myself. To be so shaken that you fall out of yourself and can only watch that self commit some unimaginable act as if you witnessed the madness of a stranger. Section 3 - "To Carbonek" Chapter 14 - "Meetings" Point of view: Bors Sir Bors is reunited with Galahad, after each has had significant meetings with kin. A lone figure approaches from inland on foot, but all you can tell so far is that it is armored, and therefore a knight. Whether it is the knight you have been seeking, you do not know, and almost do not want to guess. You almost want to avoid this meeting, for fear the knight will not turn out to be the one you seek - and fear that he will. This is the painful confusion your hopeful beginnings have come to. Chapter 15 - "The Fourth Knight" Point of view: Percival's sister Percival's sister, a nun in a convent, learns that she is to be one of the Grail Knights. She and Percival travel together and meet up with Bors, Galahad, and the white ship. You wake, your heart laboring as if you have swum for miles through a raging sea, fetched up now on the safe but temporary shore of your bed. You have been surprised again, only this time, it is not so much to your liking. "Be careful what you wish for!" begins an old saying the nuns like to toss at one another. For all your broad thinking, you only ever considered that a knight would be called to the Quest. Not in your boldest speculations did you imagine a woman might be! Chapter 16 - "Puzzles" Point of view: Percival's sister Aboard ship, the men tell tales of their adventures getting there, which raise moral questions that they disagree over. They come to the Waste Land, where Percival's sister solves a final puzzle by sacrificing her life to save the others and enable them to continue the Quest. You feel strangely chilled, though the day is bright and warm, and looking at your brother, you see he seems to feel the same way. He sits huddled against the side of the ship, a desolate look on his face. When you go over to him with a questioning glance, he whispers, "These waters are dead." Chapter 17 - "The Castle Carbonek" Point of view: the captain of the fishing fleet of the Waste Land The knights reach Carbonek, where the captain of the fishing fleet is plotting revenge against the Round Table. (It was actually one of the Round Table knights that wounded King Pelles and brought the curse upon the land.) Instead, the Grail reveals itself and Pelles is healed, and the land begins to return to life. You shout the signal word for attack and you and your knights burst into the chapel from every side - And are met by Light. Section 4 - "To Sarras" Chapter 18 - "The Final Crossing" Point of view: Percival The white ship reappears, with the body of Percival's sister in it, to take the three knights on the final leg of their journey. Whether on a bare cliffside or a thick wood, you are always sure of your footing. You muse that maybe this is not so different from the broader intuitions that have been guiding your company. The trick is to move through the world with a clear heart and trust in your body's leanings. Chapter 19 - "The Gatekeeper" Point of view: the gatekeeper of the city of Sarras The three knights arrive at the sacred city of Sarras, where they ask for the aid of the embittered gatekeeper in carrying Percival's sister to the burial grounds. Percival kneels upon the fresh earth, perhaps saying his last goodbye to his sister. When he rises, you see that he planted a little sapling on the spot. A murmur of surprise and wonder ripples through the crowd, as if the people had forgotten that such a thing could be done: to plant a green thing to grow within the stone walls of the city. Chapter 20 - "Dreams" Point of view: Lancelot On the road back to Caerleon, Lancelot grapples with his failures and his desire for the Queen. You could not move - or perhaps you did, but could not distinguish any motion against the pure backdrop of light - and bellowed in panic and anger. From a distance, growing ever fainter, you heard the cries of the others as they, too, slowly vanished into a brightness utterly indifferent to their fates. Chapter 21 - "The Return of the Grail" Points of view: Galahad, Percival, and Bors in turn The three knights enter the church of Sarras, where the Grail is received back into Heaven and Galahad, too, is taken from this world. Percival dies one year later, in the woods just outside the city, and Bors is left as the sole witness to all these wonders. Like a lover who walks and works and plays with his beloved, then pauses to look long and deeply into her eyes, you spend this last year of your life simply watching the world turn around you. The high, unchanging days of summer descend into a fall of red and gold. The rains come clattering, and then snow as silent as thought...As the world thaws and quickens, you feel a quickening of your own spirit. You perceive, then, that the seasons are not a circle, but a spiral. Each turning brings you back to the same place, but on a higher plane than before. You feel ready, as you watch the forest wake around you, to rise into the next revolution of that eternal ascent. Freeman Ng Freeman@FreemanNg.net