CHARLEMAGNE: ASTOLPHO REUNITES BRADAMANTE AND RUGGIERO

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.

ASTOLPHO REUNITES BRADAMANTE AND RUGGIERO – The last Paladin to depart the island realm of the good Queen Logestilla was Astolpho, as he and the queen savored each other’s company. Finally, Astolpho announced his departure, knowing his duty was to return to the war raging on the Continent between Emperor Charlemagne’s forces and the Muslim invaders from North Africa and colonized Spain.

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Queen Logestilla provided her swiftest ship and best crew to transport Astolpho from her island west of Ireland back to Charlemagne’s Empire. The good fairy queen gave the Paladin a mystic tome which included instructions on how to overcome all manner of enchantments. 

Her final gift to Astolpho was a magic horn which, when blown, could drive off supernatural creatures and/or shatter the strongest of spells. The ship carried the Paladin to the port city he requested and, astride his horse Rabican, he was soon on his way to rejoining the bulk of Charlemagne’s army.

Along his way our hero clashed with groups of brigands who were taking advantage of the unsettled state of the Empire due to the ongoing war by acting as bandits. Astolpho also overcame a wolfpack and then a giant serpent, which he drove off with a blast from the horn given to him by Queen Logestilla.

One day without realizing it the Paladin was passing near to the invisible castle of the Muslim sorcerer Atlantes, who stole our hero’s horse while Astolpho was refreshing his water supply from a stream.

In our previous installments we learned that Atlantes had used illusions to lure and imprison dozens of people in his concealed castle, among them Roland, Charlemagne’s greatest Paladin. The prisoners also included the female Paladin Bradamante of the White Armor as well as her star-crossed love Ruggiero.

Like all of the other captives, Bradamante and Ruggiero saw all their fellows as strangers, dwarves or animals due to Atlantes’ magic. Thus the two lovebirds had at last found each other again but did not realize it because of the illusions.

NOTE: The pair are star-crossed lovers because Bradamante is a Paladin in the army of Charlemagne her uncle, while Ruggiero was a Muslim from North Africa and was allied with the invaders of Charlemagne’s realm.

Back to Astolpho, he pursued Atlantes and his stolen horse Rabican through the forest until they disappeared within the sorcerer’s castle which he had made appear suddenly. Atlantes’ plan was to lure Astolpho into the castle and add him to his list of prisoners.

Rather than blindly rush into the castle, the Paladin reasoned that some form of magic must be in play to have caused his loyal steed Rabican to so easily consent to a strange rider. Astolpho consulted the book that Logestilla had given him and found the solution to the problem that faced him.

Per the Fairy Queen’s tome, Astolpho needed to overturn the great stone that served as the threshold into the castle before him. He began laboring at this task, trying to figuratively uproot the stone slab from the ground.

Atlantes panicked and conjured up an illusion to make Astolpho look like a monster to the castle’s many prisoners. They charged our hero to kill him, but he quickly blew another blast from his horn, which cowed and drove back his attackers.

Before they could regroup, Astolpho overturned the heavy stone at the threshold and saw the magical runes inscribed on the underside. He then shattered the stone into several pieces with his sword, thus ending the enchantment.

At once the castle and Atlantes himself vanished in smoke and the illusions were wiped away, letting the prisoners see each other as they really were. Astolpho explained to the former captives how he had saved them, and amid the rejoicing, he greeted the mighty Roland.

Meanwhile, among all the hubbub, Bradamante and Ruggiero at last saw each other for what they were and joyfully embraced. At length, they ended their kissing to tell each other about the separate ordeals they had been through in their quest to be reunited.

When they had finished excitedly bringing each other up to date, Ruggiero expressed his determination to never be separated from Bradamante again. He asked her for her hand in marriage. The Paladin in White Armor stated that she would be very happy to marry him, but first Ruggiero must gain permission from her father Duke Aymon.

Bradamante further explained that her father would surely expect any man who married her to share her faith and Ruggiero replied that he had been willing to convert from Islam to Christianity since they first met in order to strengthen their bond.

Little did the couple realize that they were about to fulfill the prophecy that Atlantes and other Muslims had been seeking to prevent in previous chapters – that their greatest warrior Ruggiero would convert to Christianity over a woman and then turn his might against his former allies.

Astolpho, meanwhile, had found his horse Rabican among the bustle of Paladins and other prisoners finding their steeds and riding off from the site of Atlantes’ vanished castle. He approached Ruggiero and Bradamante leading Rabican with one hand and Ruggiero’s winged hippogriff with the other.

Bradamante was without her own horse, so Astolpho let her borrow Rabican, while Ruggiero, recalling how Astolpho had admired his hippogriff during their shared adventures on Logestilla’s island, let him borrow the winged beast until they met again in a few days with the bulk of Charlemagne’s army. 

Astolpho was delighted with the idea, so he soon flew off on the horse-lion-eagle hybrid creature. Ruggiero and Bradamante waved goodbye to him before once more basking in contentment over being together again.  

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

FOR LINKS TO THE PREVIOUS CHARLEMAGNE INSTALLMENTS CLICK HERE.