CHARLEMAGNE: ATLANTES VS RUGGIERO AND BRADAMANTE

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.

ATLANTES VS RUGGIERO AND BRADAMANTE – We left off with Ruggiero and Princess Angelica resting in Brittany from their long flight on the hippogriff after Ruggiero had saved Angelica from the Orc sea-serpent near the enchanted islands west of Ireland.

Overnight, the selfish Princess Angelica surreptitiously searched among Ruggiero’s belongings and found the mystic ring which the clever dwarf Brunello had stolen from her several installments ago. She put the ring back on her own finger, turning invisible as she did so, then fled eastward.

As soon as Ruggiero noticed that Angelica had vanished, he began searching for her before ultimately giving up. By now far away, the scheming princess used her invisibility to steal food and a horse from a poor shepherd and rode hard toward her father’s distant kingdom in Cathay. 

NOTE: In the context of Charlemagne legends Cathay does not refer to the very real location in China but to an idealized exotic kingdom somewhere north of the Middle East.

For his part, Ruggiero returned from searching for Angelica and discovered that his tempestuous hippogriff had broken free of its ropes while he was looking for the ungrateful princess. The winged beast had flown off to parts unknown.

Cursing, the angry Ruggiero walked off through the forest, determined to resume the quest to find his forbidden love, the female Paladin of Charlemagne called Bradamante of the White Armor. Their star-crossed romance – with her a Christian and him part of the Muslim armies invading Charlemagne’s realm – had so far brought only fleeting happiness but much heartache to them both.

Before too long, Ruggiero was spotted by Atlantes, the Muslim sorcerer who had been summoning obstacle after obstacle to keep separating Ruggiero and Bradamante every time they briefly reunited. Atlantes cast a spell to make Ruggiero – the young man he had raised from childhood – see an illusion of his beloved Paladin in White Armor in combat with a giant.

The rejoicing Ruggiero drew his sword and charged into battle alongside the illusion of his true love, unaware that in reality she was currently commanding her uncle Charlemagne’s forces in Marseilles. At length, Atlantes made it seem that the giant disarmed Bradamante and ran off with her through the forest.

Ruggiero pursued the illusory giant and maiden until they both entered a palace that appeared suddenly. Following them inside, he fell victim to the enchantment that Atlantes wielded over the entire structure.

That enchantment caused Ruggiero and all his fellow captives in Atlantes’ new castle to see each other as strangers or dwarves or animals, so that all unknown the Muslim warrior was in the company of the great Paladin Roland, plus Ferrau, Florismart, King Gradasso and others.

Meanwhile, in Marseilles, the ever-valiant Bradamante of the White Armor had skillfully led Emperor Charlemagne’s troops in repulsing wave after wave of attacking Saracens (the Muslim colonizers of Spain who now sought to add Charlemagne’s realm to their conquests). 

At last the day came when Melissa, the wandering Pagan Priestess who had previously aided both Ruggiero and Bradamante presented herself to the Paladin in White Armor at her headquarters in Marseilles.

Through her magic, Melissa had learned Ruggiero’s recent fate and now informed Bradamante that her true love had once again been taken prisoner by the Muslim sorcerer Atlantes. The priestess further informed Bradamante of the type of illusions that Atlantes had used to snare not just Ruggiero but also several of Charlemagne’s greatest Paladins including Roland.

Melissa truthfully told the white-armored woman that she would not be abandoning her troops in Marseilles if she undertook a rescue mission to free Roland, Ruggiero and all the others. The complication was that if Bradamante took some of her soldiers with her then Atlantes would be too shrewd to show himself.

Nor could Melissa herself accompany our heroine because Atlantes would sense her mystical powers and again refuse to show himself. Bradamante must leave a lieutenant in charge of Marseilles and go alone to face Atlantes.

NOTE: As we know from previous installments, Melissa is not a villain. She has tried to reunite Bradamante and Ruggiero once before because she herself is in love with Ruggiero but knows that he loves Bradamante. Melissa nobly wants her man to be with the woman he really loves.

The Pagan Priestess covertly led Bradamante to within a few miles of Atlantes’ mystic palace. She let her go on, telling her that the sorcerer would seek to deceive her like he had deceived Ruggiero – by appearing to her in the form of her true love. She must ignore the illusion and thrust her sword through Atlantes’ chest.

The white-armored Paladin rode forward, and, as Melissa had foreseen, Atlantes appeared to her as Ruggiero, who was fighting a pair of giants. At first Bradamante held firm, heeding Melissa’s warning and planning to plunge her sword into the sorcerer.

As she rode closer to the seeming battle between her beloved and the giants, the vile Atlantes-in-Ruggiero’s-form called out to Bradamante for help in his moment of need. The she-paladin’s heart overruled her mind and she fell for Atlantes’ deception.   

As the sun rose the next morning, Bradamante of the White Armor had joined Ruggiero, her cousin Roland and so many others in the sorcerer’s figurative “Prisoner of War Camp”. Like the other captives she perceived all those around her as strangers or dwarves or animals and never dreamed that several times a day she and Ruggiero interacted without realizing it. 

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

FOR LINKS TO THE PREVIOUS CHARLEMAGNE INSTALLMENTS CLICK HERE.