Lady Rosamund la Fae

"Rosamund? Tall girl, dark hair, uncanny eyes? Rides like the wind? Disguises herself as a boy to go off to war. Shoots Welshmen, giants, lake monsters and God alone knows what else with that bloody great bow? Wild as an unbroken horse, mad as a faerie and willful as any mule in Christendom. That Rosamund?" - Pons.

Lady Rosamund, heiress of the estate of Hardwick, is a spirited, headstrong and adventurous young noblewoman. Her wild and otherwordly nature, and the uncanny way her eyes shine in the dark, have earned her the title "la Fae" though her guardian, Lord de Say, simply refers to her as "That Girl."

Rosamund's mother, Lady Alfgiva, died soon after giving birth and she was raised by her doting father Sir Randal. Tragically, he died in a riding accident when she was eleven. The young Rosamund was briefly given as ward to her uncle, Archdeacon William, before being sent to Clun to be tutored in ladylike ways by Lady Eleanor. To say that education was a complete failure would only be a mild understatement. Her dancing is passable and she may someday be capable to managing an estate. Her embroidery is best not spoken of.

However, she rides better, and faster, than most or all of the young men of Clun, is as skilled a hunter and a fair shot with a bow. One is most likely to find her out riding, and likely returning with a brace or rabbits or game birds to add to the evening meal.

During one Earl Hugh's campaigns against the Welsh, Lady Rosamund disappeared for months, along with her handmaiden Ermina, her confessor Father Alnoth and her cousin Edmund. There are many rumors of what may have happened - including that she fought giants, slew a terrible lake monster, was a guest of mighty Welsh lords, and studied witchcraft with strange enchantresses. All that is known for certain is that, at the end of the Norman campaign that year, she appeared before the king as a messenger from the Welsh chieftain Cadwgan and helped to negotiate the peaceful withdrawal of the English army from Wales before winter.

Rosamund's adventurous nature has not mellowed with the passing of years, though she is now as likely to use wit and words as arrows, when the situation calls for it. She has faced down monstrous giants and strange beasts, wicked knights, cruel lords and even King William Rufus himself.