Kenulf and the Wyrm
“Kenulf and the Wyrm”: Translated from the Armarius XII MS collection Codex xvii, also known as the Covey Codex c. 940 CE.
Incipit
We set out in the spring of the Year of the Lord Nine Hundred and Eighteen, to visit the Holy Temple of the Sarmenius, which lay far away beyond the Eastern Sea that we would take sixty days to cross. There were fourteen of us Brothers of the Holy Order of the See, bound for pilgrimage at the Temple. Brother Armarius was the oldest of us, being well past three-score, and white of hair and beard. We therefore named him our leader when we went to the Lord Bishop, six months before we sailed, to seek his permission to leave.
“Take care, Brothers,” said the Lord Bishop to us, “that you do not lose yourselves in the darkness which I hear lies deep around the perilous path to the Chapel of Sarmenius.”
The others were silent, looking hard at the Lord Bishop. I alone spoke: “My Lord, we have secured sea-passage with Alduin of the Morinii. He has been there before and says he knows the way.”
The Lord Bishop smiled, and then waved his dismissal, saying, “I wish you success, Kenulf, for Alduin is like the sword that cuts both ways.”
