(A sample chapter from the Arthurian tale The Killing Sword.)
© 2011 asotir.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.
X. The Tomb of 13 Kings
WHEN THE REBEL KINGS were overthrown, men saw peace come to England and the isles for the first time in all the years since King Uther’s time. And they held festivals throughout the land. The remnant of knights and men who fell at those battles were buried under a great rock by Castle Terrabil. But as there were slain at that battle twelve kings besides King Lot, and they were all worshipful men of high lineage, King Arthur let them all be buried in the church of Saint Stevens in Camelot.
At the interment came King Lot’s wife Morgause with her four sons Gawain, Agravain, Gaheris and Gareth. Also there came King Uriens, Sir Ewain’s father, and Morgan le Fay his wife who was King Arthur’s sister, and she with her bright clever eyes looked often at Arthur and his sword Excalibur and the wonderful scabbard that held it. Well she divined what art lay in those things, and she lusted after them from that time on, and dreamed of what she might do if she only might lay her hands upon her brother’s goods.
King Arthur set the tomb of King Lot by its own with great richness. And he let make twelve images of lead and copper and gilded them with the sign of the twelve kings. Each of them held a taper of wax that burnt day and night, and King Arthur was made in a figure standing above them with a sword drawn in his hand, and all the twelve figures had the look of men that were overcome.
All this Merlyn made by his subtle craft so that all men had marvel of it.
‘When I am dead,’ Merlyn told the king, ‘these tapers shall burn no longer. And soon after that, the adventures of the Saint Grail shall come among you and be achieved. For Balyn shall give the Dolorous Stroke, whereof shall fall great vengeance.’
‘O where is Balyn and Balan and Pellinore?’ asked King Arthur.
‘As for Pellinore,’ said Merlyn, ‘he will meet with you soon. And Balyn will not be long from you either, but the other brother you shall see no more. Already he journeys to a castle where his doom abides.’
‘By my faith,’ said Arthur, ‘they are two marvelous knights, and Balyn surpasses in prowess any knight that ever I found. I am much beholden unto him, would God he would abide with me. Too many goodly knights and kings have now fallen. And most of all I mourn the loss of King Lot. Alas he might not endure, which was a great pity that so worthy a knight as he was should be overmatched!’
But Merlyn saw how Morgan le Fay’s eyes glittered as she stared at the king’s sword. ‘Sire,’ said he, ‘look you keep well the scabbard of Excalibur, for you shall lose no blood while you wear the scabbard, though you have as many wounds upon you as may be.’
‘You say well,’ answered the king, ‘for I got thirteen grievous wounds in the Battles of Terrabil, and each one was enough to have bled a man to his death. But I lost no more blood than if some briers scratched my arms.’
‘But now,’ said Merlyn, ‘my lord, must I tell you of the darkest prophecy that ever I may tell, and the darkest sight I have foreseen.’
‘You make me wish to turn and stop my ears,’ said the king. ‘But I will hear even the worst that you might tell.’
‘It well befits your worship that you should say so. I will say then, that there shall fall great battle beside Salisbury plain, and Modred, your own son, shall lead the armies against you.’
‘Ah Merlyn, your words strike even where my deepest wound lies, and I am sore and sick from it. Tell me no more lest you bring down night upon this fairest day. Excalibur and its scabbard have spared my body. And yet what can it matter to a man to keep his body and his life whole, when he has lost his honor?’
And he turned away from the rejoicing, and took no further part in it.
This was the onset of the sadness that would come at times over Arthur, a thing that stole from him his courage and resolve. And the day would come, after Merlyn had been betrayed himself for love and lust, and the king his wisdom lost, when Morgan le Fay would catch the king in such a humor, and she would trick him into granting her to hold Excalibur and its wondrous scabbard in trust. And she with her glittering eyes made a false semblance of the sword and its scabbard for to give back to the King, but the true Excalibur and scabbard she gave into the hands of Sir Accolon her lover, which she loved better than her husband King Uriens or King Arthur her own brother. And Sir Accolon in combat after that would almost slay King Arthur while Morgan le Fay sat by and watched.
