King Arthur and Her Knights: Enthroned #1, Enchanted #2, Embittered #3 (15 page)

“Is that why he chose to follow me? Because of mere words?” Britt asked.

“Don’t underestimate your powers of persuasion, lass,” Merlin warned. “You have several attacks in your trade that no other man in this age has. You are educated and smart, and you are a female. Which, oddly enough, works to your advantage.”

“You are surprised?”

“I am. I thought your gender would be a great disadvantage. Instead it seems to be one of the things that draws your knights to you. I don’t know any grown man that would be able to ask another man to fight for him without blushing. It’s just as well you didn’t smile at him. He might have gone straight to the heavens first.”

“You lost me there.”

“The point is your words have great impact on your fellow men. You treat them with respect and expect them to be chivalrous and honorable. You
expect
more of them, and they want to be better men because of it. Mark my words, more men will fall to your cause as they meet you and speak to you.”

“Is there any hope Lot would give up to me if I talked to him?”

“Not a chance.”

Chapter 7

To War

Britt frowned as she looked out at her army. 20,000 mounted men pooled in front of, behind, and around her in a mass of glinting armor and tense warhorses. She raised her eyes and looked across the plains where the 60,000 troops of Lot and his allies stood. Hopefully they were cheering and growing careless as they took survey of Britt’s army—which is what Merlin wanted them to do. Merlin had ordered King Ban and King Bors and their 10,000 mounted soldiers to remain hidden in the forest due north of the battlefield. They would ride out and surprise the rebel kings when signaled.

Britt shifted in her saddle, making the leather creak, and returned to watching her army.

“Are you fearful?” Merlin asked, popping up next to Britt on a horse that was misleadingly gangly and skinny. (Knowing Merlin, Britt suspected it could probably outrun most horses on the battlefield.) “Worried for your life?”

“No, not at all,” Britt said. “I know Arthur doesn’t die here, so I won’t either.”

Merlin shook his head. “I sometimes wonder if your vague understanding of what you
claim
to be lore of King Arthur will one day ruin you.”

“Maybe, but for now I’ll trust what little I know,” Britt shrugged.

“If you are not being overcome by fear, what is it that is placing that grave expression on your face?”

“I know that
I
won’t die here, but I know that some of my men will,” Britt said, gesturing to her army.

“And that frightens you?”

“It makes me regretful and sad. I don’t like people dying for me.”

“Then you will have to make sure that every drop of bloodshed is worth it, that every knight who goes to receive his heavenly reward today goes with satisfaction, boasting that he helped put the great King Arthur on the throne,” Merlin said.

Britt adjusted her helm and nodded. “I will. And I will see to it that there is never again such a day as this in my kingdom.”

Merlin shook his head. “Don’t make vows you cannot keep, Arthur. After today I doubt anyone will try to steal your throne again, but you have allies, and they have neither your artless feminine charisma nor my intelligence to secure their throne. They will need your help and your men. I applaud your determination for peace and prosperity, but I do not think it wise to count today as the last battle your kingdom will see.”

Britt exhaled, her shoulders falling. “Do I have to give a speech or something before we fight?”

“What? A speech? To whom?”

“The men,” Brit said.

“Whatever for?” Merlin asked, his eyebrows furrowing as he stared at Britt.

“I don’t know…to hearten them or something?”

“They already know why they fight. There is no need to bolster their courage. I don’t know what the people are like from your home, but when a man makes the decision to become a warrior or a knight he accepts his death. The battle will commence when Sir Ulfius and Sir Brastias—you remember him our war meeting last night, yes?—open the attack with their band of 3,000. They await our signal.”

“Oh. So in a few hours it will start?”

“Saints alive,
no
. I actually came to tell you that we are ready. Sir Ulfius and his men can depart,” Merlin said, puttering around with his saddle bag.

“Already?” Britt asked, her voice cracking.

“Indeed.”

“Oh. Okay. Um. All I need to do is ride over to the large rock and climb it, right.”

“Correct. Come on, let us make haste. I do not want Lot to get the first strike in. He has King Pellinore on his side, and Pellinore is a smart warrior who might think up something nasty,” Merlin said before heeling his mount.

Merlin and Britt rode their horses to a large bolder that was about the size of a draft horse. Britt climbed the rock and stood upright, shielding her eyes to watch the battle.

“Now remember, you stand back here with the rearguard,” Merlin reminded Britt from the ground.

“I know,” Britt said, squinting as she watched a large number of her knights rally for a moment before they peeled off from the army.

Britt swallowed the last bit of pride she had left as she watched the knights thunder across the space between the two armies. Maybe Lyssa was right about knights and chivalry.

The mounted knights were a beautifully cruel sight. Their horses, geared and covered in armor, moved like brightly colored flames galloping across the fields, burning everything in their path. The knights were polished—lances, swords, and maces drawn as they shouted.

Britt could barely make out their battle cry.

“
For Arthur!
”

The splendor of the image was twisted when the band of 3,000 descended on the front lines of the opposing army. Men were knocked from their mounts, horses screamed, and as far away as she was Britt could still hear the metallic song of weapons hitting armor.

Britt crouched on the top of the bolder, the chain mail beneath her armor scraping her skin as she watched the battle.

Sir Ulfius and Sir Brastias lay waste to Lot’s front lines, scattering the soldiers as if they were sheep. Men were slain and injured on both sides, but the winning side was clearly Sir Ulfius’s men. They swept from the right side of the field to the left. Knights were unhorsed, but they fought fiercely, taking down their enemies with armor crushing maces and dazing them with powerful, painful blows to the head.

Sir Ulfius’s horse was cut down underneath him. Undeterred the older knight scrambled to his feet and ran through the enemy, taking down man after man until he crossed swords with King Ryence and one of the petty barons siding with him.

The men—both horsed—circled Ulfius, striking him together.

“Oh no,” Britt said, about to slide off the boulder.

“Stay, lass,” Merlin ordered. “Just watch.”

Sir Brastias—the other commander of the 3,000—thundered onto the scene on his splendid horse and smashed King Ryence off his horse with his spear. The enemy baron rushed Sir Brastias. When they clashed they slipped off their horses and hit the ground with such force they both rolled.

Sir Brastias was dazed for a moment, and the baron tottered to his feet before staggering towards Sir Brastias, his sword drawn.

Sir Kay and six of the best knights of Camelot thundered across the plains, reaching Sir Brastias in time to pounce on the baron before he struck.

“That cheeky seneschal. I told him to stay with the main army. He is up to something,” Merlin muttered as Britt briefly closed her eyes against the slaughter.

Once recovered, Sir Brastias teamed up with Sir Ulfius on foot, dodging stampeding horses to dismount enemy soldiers.

Sir Kay and his six companions cut a path through the heart of Lot’s army. Their horses trampled men as the knights leaned from their saddles and devastated mounted enemies. They stopped only when they reached King Lot.

Sir Kay’s companions spread around the king in a smooth circle, moving in perfect synchronization as they attacked the king’s guards.

Sir Kay thrust his spear at King Lot, piercing the king’s side before unhorsing him. He was unable to finish the job as King Pellinore—another enemy king—burst through the ranks of Kay’s companions and started attacking him with great ferocity.

By now layers of Britt’s army separated from the main body, riding off to areas that were previously assigned to them, or locations where Britt’s knights were in trouble.

Britt glanced north, to the woods.

“Nay. We have no need of the brother kings yet,” Merlin said, guessing her thoughts.

Britt shut her eyes, the reek of blood and bile had finally reached her.

“You can move to the back of the army, Arthur. I do not intend for you to see combat today,” Merlin said.

Britt forced her eyes open. “No,” she said. “These men are dying for me. The least I can do is witness their courage with open eyes,” she said, swallowing.

Reinforcements had reached Sir Kay and his companions, and just in the nick of time as Kay was briefly dismounted. His horse fought off enemy soldiers until Kay recovered his wits and remounted.

Britt scanned the battlefield, noting the position and condition of her various knights. “You’re certain Ywain is not mounted and in this battle?”

“I am. He was our scout earlier this morning as nothing would happen to him if he were caught. He is waiting on the far side of the army and will meet with me before we decided to call in the brother kings,” Merlin said.

Britt nodded, looking at the colors and emblems on her knights’ horses and armor. She froze, every muscle in her body stiffening.

“Arthur? What’s wrong?” Merlin asked, his horse pawing the ground. “Arthur? Arthur. Britt!” Merlin said, trying to get her attention.

Britt wordlessly slid off the rock and mounted Roen. The black gelding took off as if he were a black bolt of lightning. Britt clung to his back, Excalibur warm on her hip as her heart exploded in her ears.

“Arthur!” Merlin shouted somewhere behind her.

The image of one of King Urien striking Sir Ector, sending him careening from his horse replayed in her mind again and again. Britt had to help him.

Determination wrought of iron kept Britt on Roen’s back as they burst through the front lines of her army, galloping towards the left side of Lot’s army.

In the weeks and months to come, men would describe Britt’s charge as a thing of deadly majesty. Roen exploded forward, alone, across the plains. Britt’s army swept behind her like a metallic veil, chasing after the dust of their king. The ground shook, and the flags held by Lot’s standard bearers were almost ripped off their poles from the onslaught of a great wind that rolled across the plains with Britt.

Britt didn’t shout. She was deadly quiet, her cloak twisted behind her like red wings. As she neared the front lines she pulled Excalibur from its scabbard. The mystical sword sang as it was freed. When the sunlight struck the blade it seemed to ignite like the hottest depths of a star, casting light across the field in a blinding wave.

Sir Kay, who was within sight of King Lot, heard the monarch say, “It can’t be.”

Lot’s soldiers shouted in fear at the sight of Britt.

“It’s the red dragon!”

“Uther Pendragon is back!”

“We’re doomed!”

“All is lost!”

At the last moment Roen twisted, running parallel to the battle, away from Lot. Soldiers and knights on both sides shouted when Roen turned again and plowed through the ranks. All eyes followed the horse’s progress, looking ahead to see Britt’s target: King Urien and Sir Ector.

The king didn’t notice Britt’s deliberate journey. His back was to her as he jabbed his sword at Sir Ector.

The older knight was wounded, the armor on his left shoulder crushed from a mace blow, his helmet gone and trampled somewhere by a horse. He favored his left leg as he backed away from the gleeful king. Urien charged after Ector, his sword flashing and he slammed blow after blow upon Sir Ector.

Britt broke through the wall of soldiers separating her from the enemy king and her foster father. She kicked King Urien between the shoulders as she passed him, making the king stumble.

Britt dismounted Roen and turned to face Urien, her hair leaking out of her helmet to mark her like a shining blonde beacon.

King Urien snarled and lunged at Britt, his face twisted and angry.

Britt, on the other hand, was emotionless and silent. Her blue eyes were intense with anger so cold and smoldering her look alone pushed Urien’s men back. She didn’t raise Excalibur to block King Urien’s swipe at her, instead—in the prime of his arc—Britt crouched and rammed her shoulder into the King’s stomach like a defensive lineman on a football team.

King Urien was knocked backwards. His eyes popped open with shock as Britt abandoned her vision limiting helm.

Britt twirled Excalibur. “Stand, Urien,” she commanded, her eyes a blistering blue.