The Sword and The Quest: Lady Merlin's Saga (Epic Fantasy) by Maples Kit

Author:Maples, Kit [Maples, Kit]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Stevens & Marlin Publishing, LLC
Published: 2016-01-15T18:30:00+00:00

* * *

Night. Bonfires. Meat sizzling. Songs and tales. Shadows shifted and drunken warriors shielded off invisible giants, howling to Duke Arthur for invisible trinkets in reward. Bedivere, squatting by Arthur on the rock throne, rested his one arm on Arthur’s knee and said, “What now, Duke?”

“With this throng,” said Arthur, toasting his new army with a helmet full of wine, “I could take any castle in the Island!”

“Name it. We’ll take it for you.”

“Orkney Castle. My son’s there.”

“That’s at the other end of the world,” said Bedivere. “Of no interest to Cornishmen. Crave a fortress in Cornwall. Tell me you want Tintagel Castle and the brawl we make will fill a page of glory in the chronicles of your new age!”

Bedivere drank from Arthur’s helmet.

“Besides, you’re lord duke only of that part of Cornwall into which you’ve stuck your sword. You have to conquer all the rest of it, all those dukes and duchesses out there” – Bedivere gestured into the darkness beyond the glow of the campfire – “have to be hammered down or you’ll have no peace from them, and no army to march on Orkney.”

“Arthur has to crush them all?” I said, at last understanding the snickering melancholy with which Igerne and Gurthrygen had agreed to give the duchy to Arthur.

“Does each have an ogre for its champion?” said Arthur, dread in his voice.

“Some do. Some have just little ogres. I’ve heard one on the Western Sea owns a dragon, but I don’t believe it. I’ve never seen an elf or fairy, let alone a dragon.”

Rufus said to Arthur, “Send me ahead with my Romans and a bagful of coins. We’ll cut you a highway through Cornwall to carry any army you can make.”

“A confident man,” said Bedivere of Rufus. “Yes, send him and his Roman arrogance ahead of us, Duke. If he can’t buy Cornwall for you, he and your enemies can exterminate one another, which is just as good.”

“I’d kill you if Arthur didn’t need you,” Rufus said to Bedivere.

Bedivere fired off a fart.

“Which road west for you, Arthur?” said Rufus. “I’ll meet you there with all of Cornwall bought and paid for. Give me the key to the treasure box.”

Great gods, what a gamble! But what could we do?

A cold, wet dawn surprised us as it spread over the Shell and the Cornish warriors sprawled in drunken sleep. Rufus, with Arthur’s treasure key and his mercenaries, climbed up to the ridge to prepare their horses.

Arthur shouted up to them, “Farewell!” as he pissed on a bush. His shivering fingers fumbled with his trouser ties. “Everyone says the Saxons are such imbeciles they can’t learn the art of trouser-wearing but the morning after a drunk I forgive them!”

I retied Arthur’s laces. Mothers do that.

The sun came fully up, popping out of the trees like a hawk on patrol.

Arthur and I watched Rufus and his mercenaries trot west with all the money Arthur had, to buy Cornwall. We watched them a long while, until they faded into the horizon, watching Camelot ride away with them.

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