Gathering flowers is a pastime for a maiden, not for a man, a true knight. That’s the opinion of Sir John, friend of Sir Carlyon and rival for the hand of Lady Patrina, who has heard a legend of swan flowers, which only grow where a swan has died. She has said that it is her dearest wish to have some of these flowers. Although Sir John dismisses the idea as sentimental nonsense, Sir Carlyon, being of a more romantic nature, decides to seek and bring back the flowers for his lady love. How hard can that be?

Carlyon sets off through medieval England with his squire, but early in his journey he offends a woman who has powers of witchcraft. She pursues him, taking him out of his way, as he tries to avoid her. It may have been an unnecessary delay, when he rescues a maiden, Mary the thatcher’s daughter, who is in distress, but her help proves invaluable in defeating the witch, who puts both their lives in danger. Her help is also there as he hopes to find the swan flowers.

However, Carlyon begins to have feelings for Mary, which endanger his love for Lady Patrina. But what future could there be for a knight and a thatcher’s daughter?

And how has Sir John taken advantage of Sir Carlyon’s unexpectedly long absence to woo Lady Patrina?

For many years Robert Fearnley was the secretary of the UK branch of Pen in Exile, a part of International PEN, which was a centre for exiled writers. He has translated several books of both prose and poetry into English, one of which is Latvian Tales of Magic, a collection of old folk stories, which was illustrated by Maija Tabaka, an award-winning Latvian artist.

Swan Flowers is his first original work of fiction and combines his two interests of fantasy and medieval England.