Guinevere's Tale by Nicole Evelina

Author:Nicole Evelina
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lawson Gartner Pubishing
Published: 2019-07-01T16:00:00+00:00

Arthur and I decided to hold a pleading day at Corbenic to give the southern people a chance to speak with us without having to traverse the country to reach Camelot. Notices were sent by messenger to the surrounding kingdoms, and a week later, residents from Dyfed, Dyfnaint, and the Summer Country presented their cases to us.

I had forgotten how boring pleading day could be. After doing this for six years, each complaint sounded like the last. One chieftain had raided another’s cattle, a merchant had swindled someone in the market, a farmer’s daughter had proved herself to be of questionable virtue. I barely heard most of the requests as they came through. Even Arthur was meting out justice by rote. I was ashamed to admit it, but by noontime, I was playing a mental game to see if I could guess the punishment Arthur would give out as soon as the crime was described.

But my boredom was not meant to last. Not long after we resumed our afternoon session, a clamor arose in the hall. A woman was shouting at our men in a guttural tongue that sounded vaguely familiar.

Arthur must have understood them because he chuckled. “Guards, stand down and let the woman enter.”

I leaned over and whispered in his ear, “What did she say to them?”

“She called them dogs and told them to let her go or she would personally ensure Freya would remove their testicles and feed them to them.”

“A Saxon then?”

Arthur looked up as the doors opened, the woman still struggling to shake off the guards. “Not just any Saxon.”

The woman finally wrenched herself free only to trip and land on her knees at our feet, an obsequious posture I doubt she ever intended. It was only when she raised her chin to us that I recognized her.

“Mayda!” I exclaimed.

“Ja.”

Arthur arched an eyebrow. “Have you met?”

I realized only then that I had never told him of my encounter with the princesses on our way to the Summer Country.

Mayda saved me from having to explain. “Ja. Your queen provided me a great service. I will be forever in her debt—a deficit I hope to repay in part today.”

I was startled by how well she spoke our tongue, much better than her elder sister.

“Mayda, why have you come here? Who else knows you are here?” Arthur asked.

“I come to give you warning. My husband brings an army to overthrow the mountain. He and his brother have allied to win a victory they say will make them dominant forevermore.”

Arthur tensed and brought a fist up to his lips. “What mountain?”

“They called it Bay-don.”

“Badon.” Arthur slammed his fist on his thigh and cursed. “Who sent you here? Why are you telling us?”

Mayda cowered in fear. “They do not know. They cannot know. If they know, if she knows”—Mayda gave me a look that I could only assume meant her sister—“I am dead.” Her eyes were wild and scared like a trapped bunny’s.

She looked to me for reassurance, but I had none to give.

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