Of Mice and Monks

Date: Winter 1190

Godwyn and Thomas conspired with a pair of mice to burglarize a monastery.

Characters

• Godwyn
• Thomas the Poacher

Synopsis

In the winter of 1190, Godwyn decided to try again to find Stonehenge to experience its Magic Aura and behold the spectacle of the monument that, according to legend, Merlin had built in a single day. He and Thomas the Poacher set forth in high spirits. Unfortunately they did not know exactly the way to Stonehenge so they followed a wandering path from village to village.

About three days away from home, they stopped at a village where the peasants were clearly downtrodden and starving. A fine monastery stood on a hill overlooking the village. A farmer's family took Thomas and Godwyn in and shared with them a meager meal of turnip porridge.

At night, Godwyn lay awake by the fire, his stomach growling. He overheard some tiny voices outside the door to the peasants' hut. Creeping outside, he found two mice arguing over how to get inside the hut. Surprised to hear mice speak and curious as to their intentions, Godwyn addressed the mice. Animals had never been bothered by Godwyn's gift to the same extent humans are, so they struck up a conversation. Thomas joined in after a while.

The monks on the hilltop were taxing the villagers to the brink of starvation. The mice suffered hard times as much as the villagers. When Godwyn suggested the mice seek food in the monks' larder, they told him of the fearsome cat that stalked the monastery grounds by night. But this gave the mice an idea. They tried to persuade Godwyn to get rid of the cat.

Godwyn asked what the mice had to offer in return for such a favor. They deliberated for a while and then told Godwyn that they knew where the monks hid a valuable book of magic.

That's how Godwyn and Thomas conspired with a pair of mice to burglarize a monastery.

Quickly they drew the outlines of a plan. After moonset, Godwyn, Thomas, and a hundred mice (the whole extended family of their rodent co-conspirators) crept up the hillside. A high stone wall around the monastery gave the humans a bit of trouble until Godwyn spontaneously cast Rise of the Feathery Body to levitate himself and his (human) accomplice to the top of it. Once inside the grounds, the humans crept over to the granary where the dreaded cat stood guard.

Eyes of the Cat gave them a clear view despite the darkness. They found the cat lazing on the granary floor. Taking advantage of the moment of surprise, Godwyn leaped upon the beast and grappled it, calling for Thomas to fetch an empty grain sack. The cat put up a surprisingly good fight but Godwyn was able to maintain the grapple for a couple of rounds and stuff the cat into the sack. Then they tied the sack shut and hung it from a rafter. The army of mice poured into the granary and gleefully plundered it.

True to his word, one of the original rodent conspirators led Godwyn and Thomas into the chapel. There was a tense moment when a drunken monk stumbled past them on the way to the outhouse, but they reached the chapel undetected. There, under a loose flagstone in a corner behind the altar, they found an ancient book. Godwyn grabbed it, put the flagstone back to hide the theft, and hurried back to the granary.

The cat was making good progress at clawing its way out of the sack and yowling angrily in the process. Godwyn took down the sack and thumped it against the wall a few times until the cat quieted down. He and Thomas left the monastery through a rear gate, bringing the stunned cat with them. Half a mile away, Godwyn untied the sack and hurled it into the woods.

The book turned out to be a tome of Magic Lore, The Dün and the Weld.