Heroic Seneschal

His corpse dissolves in the muck... Seneschal, will you now lead us? ' He did not wait for my reply. He stumbled twice as he vanished into the smokey twilight. 'We are free, ' said one of the servants, several others nodded, but the silence was heavy around us. 'Do we have homes somewhere? ' Kundry's lady-in-waiting asked. 'Are there people out there waiting for us? ' But what do prisoners know of the world? And we were doubly imprisoned: first by Klingsor's labyrinthine fortress, second by his enchantment. Our enchantment ended with his death, and we could see the world with our true eyes. And what we saw startled us: cracks creased the walls and towers, fissures widened, and then the collapse began! All of us - servants, butchers, blacksmiths, cleaners, cooks, the whole complement of the castle huddled in the open space at the center of the fortress. We witnessed the final end of Klingsor's reign: walls buckled and fell straight down in ruins, towers swayed as huge blocks dislodged, breaking apart on the ground, debris piled around us, releasing choking clouds of dust... We stood transfixed but untouched, we felt neither fear nor triumph. Through the smoke and haze we could out former Grail knights wandering without purpose, others hunched over, sat holding their heads, moaning. Then, we saw a blessed sight: the Flower Maidens, slaves no longer, walked in a slow procession through the destruction, oblivious of the violence, untouched by the chaos. We had for ages traduced them as little more than whores, but now in the moment of liberation, we saw them arrayed in gowns of white and gold, their former nakedness clothed in glory, their seductive wiles dispelled. And we knew they were the ones who would lead us out of the wasteland into our futures... Grace was shining over them and us. Rejoicing silently, we joined their slow procession.