CHARLEMAGNE: RUGGIERO BATTLES ALCINA’S MONSTERS

These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic. 

FOR MY FIRST CHAPTER ON CHARLEMAGNE’S PALADINS CLICK HERE.

RUGGIERO BATTLES ALCINA’S MONSTERS – When we left off last time around, Ruggiero was still stranded on the mystic island where Morgana’s evil sister Alcina lived. He was setting off on foot toward the city ruled by Logestilla, the “good” sister of Alcina and Morgana.

Ruggiero (at left) was hoping that Logestilla would use her own magic to cure the Paladin Astolpho of the spell that Alcina had cast – a spell that had trapped Astolpho in the form of a tree. The hippogriff – the large, winged horse/ eagle hybrid which had flown Ruggiero to the island last time around – refused to accompany the warrior any further, so our hero walked on alone.

As Astolpho had advised him, Ruggiero kept to a path that led him past the golden city of the evil Alcina. That city was just visible off in the distance, and Ruggiero determinedly kept well clear, the better to complete his mission to save Astolpho, a cousin of Ruggiero’s beloved Bradamante, the Lady Paladin in White Armor.

Unfortunately, a legion of monstrous figures assembled at once, blocking the path so that Ruggiero could go no further. Some of the creatures had human bodies but the heads of monkeys or cats. Others had the head and legs of a horse but were human in every other way.   

Our hero tried to maneuver around them only to be cut off by a group of hideously ugly and bald women, shrieking insanely. Some of the hobgoblins closing in on Ruggiero rode cows or donkeys. 

The apparent leader of the small army was human except for a larger than normal head which was freakishly flat on top. That leader rode atop a gigantic snapping turtle as the crowning touch of the madness. Each creature wielded a lance or a trident.  

Thoroughly outnumbered by this bizarre legion, Ruggiero drew his sword and, despite himself, was being forced to back up, slowly but surely, toward Alcina’s City of Gold. At length, a dog-headed humanoid with a lance emerged from the mob and charged Ruggiero.

The experienced warrior slew the man-dog with his sword, then waded into the inhuman army, hoping to fight his way through them and continue on his way to the city ruled by the good enchantress Logestilla. 

Ruggiero’s sword plunged through some of the monsters, decapitated others, hacked through others from their head to their jaw, and cut still others in half with powerful horizontal sword-strokes. On and on the battle went, until Ruggiero began to grow weary and feared that his end may have come.

Before the warrior could muster the energy for one last, reckless charge into the midst of the vile monstrosities, a pair of beautiful female twins arrived on the scene, each one riding a white unicorn. To Ruggiero’s surprise, the inhuman army fled in terror at the ladies’ approach.

The beautiful twins praised Ruggiero’s martial skills and invited him to accompany them back to the City of Gold to meet their Queen Alcina. Too exhausted to resist the obvious enchantment that the twins were casting over him, the warrior complied.   

Everything in the city was made of gold, with diamonds and emeralds as decoration. Alcina strengthened the enchantment overwhelming Ruggiero, who soon forgot about everything except for drinking and feasting with the beautiful queen and the men and women of her court.

Our hero passed the night with Alcina and the next day with the queen and her nobles hunting, dancing and taking perfumed baths at nightfall. For her part, Alcina planned to get her fill of Ruggiero, then when she grew bored with him, transform him into a tree like she had done to Astolpho and all her other previous lovers.   

I’ll be examining more tales of Charlemagne soon, picking up from this cliffhanger.   

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