Tournament

Tournament after tournament took place and with each event the King became more frustrated as his daughter continued to show no interest. "All day long the people of my kingdom are enjoying themselves and yet I can not bring a smile to the lips of my own child. The Queen and I have given her everything that a princess could want but still she is not content."

“Last year we were able to find a bride for our son with little problem at all” exclaimed the Queen, “a lovely girl even if she does complain of the bumps in her mattress.” Ceara promised the King and Queen that she would have an answer for them the next morning.

That evening while the Court and all the visitors reveled in the Great Hall, Ceara sat in her room gazing into a crystal ball. There she saw the image of a young man hurrying toward the castle. In his arms he held a goose and clinging to his jacket was an old woman, running to keep up with him. Clinging to the old woman's apron was a tailor and to him clung a scullery maid and so on, as a human chain made its way to the castle... Ceara put the crystal ball away and returned to the castle's great hall to watch the evening's entertainment, secure in the knowledge that by morning all would be well with the young princess. The vision within Merlin's crystal clearly showed a visitor approaching the castle who would present a sight that even the Princess could not resist. Ceara also knew that the presentation of the Goose Who Laid the Golden Egg to the King would insure prosperity and a place at court for the young man.

The King had spared no expense in presenting entertainment for his guest. There was a great feast followed by a display of fireworks presented by a traveler from the Far East, musicians from the south performed while a dancer twirled about and a famed opera singer sang an aria. 

Even Rufus got into the act. 

Merric, meanwhile, had gone down to the depths of the castle, searching for adventure in that curious manner of cats. As he approached the bottom of the stone steps he could hear the scurrying sound of little feet and he quietly crept toward the doorway. As he drew nearer the sound became clearer. It sounded like the rattling of bare tree branches in the wind.  A light glowed from the end of the long tunnel like hallway. Merric crept closer and closer until at last he stood before an open doorway. There is the light cast by a single candle he saw a strange cloaked figure and heard a strange chanting sound. Merric, the cat of a wizard, recognized the chanting of a spell.

Suddenly from the dark recesses of the room came the sound that had drawn Merric here and from the darkness came a strange and frightening sight. The sound of rattling bones was heard as skeletons rose from the dungeon floors and began to move about the room. The chanting stopped and the bones crumbled back to the floor. “Soon” said the wizard as he turned to the doorway.