History
Early adventures[]
Etienne met Agnes de Chastillon in a forest where her father had taken her after she killed her bride-groom at the altar. Etienne confused Agnes, in robes, her face and the dagger she was holding bloody, for a ghost. Agnes was mentored in fencing by Guiscard de Clisson, who was eventually murdered by Renault de Valence, a henchman of the Duke d'Alençon. Etienne and Agnes became enemies of the Duke d'Alençon and were both searched for capture by his men. On at least one occasion, Agnes saved Etienne's life.[1]
He and Agnes helped Françoise de Foix when pirates kidnapped her lover. Etienne considered Françoise to be (among other women) the love of his life.[2]
At some point, Etienne and Agnes planned to go to Italy, join a free company, and eventually retire to live off the riches they would had plundered in their careers. They were separated at some point afterwards.
Etienne wandered, debauching here and there, such as when he cheated the Baron de Lyon and seduced his wife, and evading the Duke's henchmen.[1]
1521[]
In 1521, he was captured by the Duke of Alençon's men, and sentenced to death by beheading in Chinon on the charges of stealing, cheating, gossip, corruption of the innocent, seduction, and adultery, heresy, public poaching, and murder, whom Etienne mostly denied, rejecting the one of murder towards the Duke d'Alençon. Agnes heard about his capture while she was in Orléans, came in Chinon, slew and impersonated the executioner, and freed Etienne. They fled, passed the forest where they first met, before arriving at the Pewter Pot (Pot en Etain) inn where Agnes was recognized on dead-or-alive five hundred francs-payed bounty. Agnes scared the pretenders and sat down, quickly falling asleep on the conjugated effects of alcohol and tiredness. Awakening in the middle of the night, Agnes saved Sister Marie, a nun, from a rapist. The nun, traveling with a young lady named Helen de la Mère, hired Agnes to escort them on the road towards Fontainebleau, the household of the Duke d'Alençon. Despite Etienne's disapproval, Agnes accepted.[1]
On their way, the two clerks scared the previous night, intended to collect the bounty offered by the Duke d'Alençon, Renault de Valence, and others, including Sister Marie, who slew one of the two assailants rather than having him to talk. At Fontainebleau, Etienne and Agnes met again with Françoise de Foix, and with Helen's sister Isabel de la Mère. Agnes planned to kill Renault, present there, the next day, at the masquerade. Agnes was drugged, an a masked man approached her posing as François, and pursued her in the gardens' maze, where she was found unconscious by Françoise and Helen. As they returned inside, Isabel was killed, and Renault, on Queen Claude' orders, instituted a lock-down over the palace until the killer would be unmasked.[2]
The remainder of this adventure remains to be fully recounted, and details are sparse: Agnes acted towards revenge, while a plot was set in motion against her.[3] Etienne was framed for murder but Agnes was determined to prove his innocence before the Duke's return, which would mean Etienne's death.[4] The Duke d'Alençon finally returned, and the killer was revealed.[5]
1522[]
In 1522, in Poitou-Charentes, seven miles south of the Canal du Curé, Agnes and Etienne fought a group of assassins. Etienne was wounded. The two went to the next village,[6] Charron,[7] where the villagers, cultists of Set awaited her, as her coming had been announced by their god. She was to be sacrificed to a Man-Serpent.[6]
Evading the monster, she managed to break her bonds and arm herself, and battled the reptilian horror. Agnes was transported into the Hyborian Age for a quest against Set.[8] Etienne was taken care of by the true villagers of Charron, and asked them to look out for Agnes. Once she returned from her quest, she was welcomed by villagers who brought her to Etienne.[7]Notes
- Etienne de Villiers was created by Robert E. Howard in the Dark Agnes stories, that were published after Howard's death.[9]
See Also
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Dark Agnes #1
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dark Agnes #2
- ↑ Dark Agnes #3 's Solicit Synopsis (Cancelled)
- ↑ Dark Agnes #4 's Solicit Synopsis (Cancelled)
- ↑ Dark Agnes #5 's Solicit Synopsis (Cancelled)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Conan: Serpent War #1
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Conan: Serpent War #4 ; Chapter IV: Kingdom of the Wyrm
- ↑ Conan: Serpent War #2 ; Chapter II: Relics of the Gods
- ↑ Dark Agnes de Chastillon at Wikipedia