King Arthur and Her Knights: Enthroned #1, Enchanted #2, Embittered #3 (48 page)

“Merlin approaches, Milord,” the captain of her guard said.

Britt grimaced and opened her eyes. “Can’t you detain him?”

“We’ve seen too much of the magic he can do for me to attempt that, Milord.”

“Very well,” Britt grumbled. “Merlin, what brings you outside of Camelot’s walls?” Britt asked when the wizard drew near.

Merlin squinted up at the sunlight. “Lancelot is looking for you,” he said, patting Cavall on the head.

“I know.”

“He intends to pledge his loyalty to you.”

“Why do you think I’m hiding out in the farmland?” Britt asked.

Merlin chuckled and plopped down next to Britt, also leaning into the hay. “Scat,” he said to Britt’s guards.

The soldiers saluted him before walking out of hearing distance—although they still stood at attention with their weapons bared.

“It might not be as bad as you think.”

“I seriously doubt that.”

Merlin picked up a piece of straw and prodded Cavall with it when the massive dog settled back down on the ground. “Maybe… but both Ywain and Griflet have shaved.”

“
What
?”

“Tis true. They no longer sport those hideous, scraggily patches of facial hair they tried to pass off as beards,” Merlin reported.

“But why?”

“It seems the ladies of Camelot coo over Lancelot, and it has spawned some jealousy.”

“Merlin, no!” Britt said.

“It is out of my control.”

“But it can’t be!”

“Too late. It seems like your fashion icon has arrived.

“No, not Lancelot. Anyone but him,” Britt groaned.

Merlin laughed in deviant delight. “You must admit, he will make clean shaven faces all the rage.”

“The price is too high,” Britt grumbled, nestling further into the hay bale.

Merlin was silent for several moments before saying, “I’ve received word from Leodegrance. In two weeks time Guinevere will set out for Camelot.”

“Goodie. Sir Ulfius will arrange a room for her?” Britt asked.

“Yes. You do realize that in spite of your claim that you will not marry until Britain is united everyone—from your allies to your knights—thinks you mean to marry her?”

“If they do that is their problem,” Britt said.

“You don’t mind?”

“Not if it keeps the other ladies of my court from batting their eyes at me,” Britt said. “It’s not like Guinevere is going to have false expectations.”

“No thanks to you,” Merlin grunted.

“It will still work out,” Britt said.

“Only if she is able to keep her mouth shut. Most ladies are dreadful gossips you know. They twitter like birds in springtime at all hours of the day. Women are pests.”

“Excuse me?”

“Oh come now, you hardly count.”

“
What
?” Britt said, sitting upright.

“Not that I see you as a man—you are too clean for that, even if we ignore the fact that you insist on smelling like flowers,” Merlin said in disgust.

“Then what exactly do you see me as?” Britt demanded.

“Genderless?” Merlin tried.

Britt’s elbow to his gut told him he guessed wrong.

“See, you do things like that and wonder why I don’t see you as being quite female,” Merlin wheezed.

Britt folded her arms across her chest and shut her eyes as she leaned back into the hay, ignoring the wizard.

“Arthur.”

Britt did not stir.

“Arthur.”

“…”

“Britt?”

Britt turned her head to the side and swatted a bug away from her face. Her eyes flew open when Merlin grasped her chin.

“I will admit defeat. Were you clothed like a lass and kitted up you would be the most beautiful woman in England,” Merlin said, his eyes held Britt’s like hypnotic magnets. There was something in his expression that Britt hadn’t seen before. It wasn’t love—Britt shuddered to picture what love would look like on the young wizard—but there was honesty and truthfulness mixed with some kind of affection in his eyes.

Britt smiled as Merlin’s hand slid along her jaw line. “It’s not like you to exaggerate,” she said.

“You still don’t know how powerful your smiles are, do you?”

“My what?”

“Nothing,” Merlin said, removing his hand from her face like she was a hot coal. “Enjoy your doze. When you come in for dinner you will have to accept Lancelot’s oath of loyalty.”

“Must I?”

“You must.”

Britt grumbled as Merlin lurched forward. “Wait, you aren’t going to stay with me?”

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

“Do you have work to do?”

“Nothing dreadfully important. What, did another lass find out your secret?”

“No, we just haven’t talked much since, well, I suppose since the plague of Lancelot descended upon us.”

“You’re right, but I was told you were up all last night pacing. You should sleep while you can,” Merlin said.

“That’s true,” Britt said, muffling a yawn with her hand.

Merlin shook his head and settled back into the hay. “I will stay until you sleep,” he decided.

“Thank you, I appreciate the company.”

“All you appreciate is my presence and the fact that it means your guards will stand more than a horse’s length from you.”

“That too.”

Merlin laughed. “Pleasant dreams, lass.”

Britt murmured a reply before she took another deep breath and shut her eyes.

Next to her Merlin tapped two pieces of straw together as he looked out at the farmland surrounding Camelot.

At the midnight watch Lancelot stood on a castle wall, staring intently at the bright spot of wall across Camelot. He could see King Arthur on the castle walkway—his guards standing at attention. The young king was practicing with his famed sword, which glimmered in the moonlight.

Lancelot’s green eyes traced King Arthur’s movements as he thoughtfully rested his hand on the pommel of his sword. “He does this every night?” Lancelot asked his cousins, never removing his gaze from the king.

“Just about, according to what the servants say,” Lionel said.

“He’s a popular one,” Bors, Lancelot’s younger cousin, said as he cleaned his fingernails with a dagger. “Could hardly get anyone to shut up about him whilst you were gone.”

“He is unlike anyone I’ve met before,” Lancelot said, tapping his sword and narrowing his eyes.

“So?”

“I do not think of that as a good thing,” Lancelot said, finally dragging his eyes away from the young monarch.

Lionel shrugged. “Mayhap you are over thinking him. He’s a ruddy saint if half the reports of him are correct.”

“That may be so, but I’ve never had much use for saints,” Lancelot said.

“So why did you pledge yourself to him then?” Bors asked.

“For the adventure. Things are changing because of him. I would rather be around when there’s a good fight to be had than to miss it by being stuffed back in a tower at home,” Lancelot said.

“Ah, your father called you back home, then?”

“Yes. But he won’t complain if I tell him I am staying at Camelot. Besides, I’m an opportunist. It will be interesting to see what I can make of young Arthur,” Lancelot said, his smile slanted mockingly.

“Step carefully, cousin,” Bors warned. “He has powerful allies.”

“Aren’t you just miffed he is even more popular with the ladies than you?” Lionel laughed.

Lancelot gave him a withering glare.

“Just saying,” Lionel shrugged.

“Whatever the reason, I will stand with Arthur. For now,” Lancelot decided, thoughtfully rubbing his chin.

“We’ll stand with you then,” Lionel said.

“Bors?” Lancelot asked in the silence.

“He’s a good man,” Bors finally said.

Lancelot chuckled and looked back at the pacing figure. “We shall see about that.”

Of Lancelot and Guinevere

The main problem I faced in
Embittered
, which actually started in
Enchanted
, was figuring out how to introduce Lancelot to Britt and my readers. Lancelot has appeared in every book—he’s the knight Britt runs into when she first retrieves the sword and is running back to the tournament, you can go back and read it and see that he is dressed in his colors and his dapple grey horse is with him, and he and his cousins are the knights Britt encounters in the woods when she is on her way to visit the Lady of the Lake. However, officially introducing him with his name was tricky.

There is very little information in the early Arthur stories about Lancelot’s arrival at court. Usually it’s never mentioned when he arrives, although his name pops up typically whenever Guinevere makes her entrance. In fact, in many stories Lancelot arrives with Guinevere. His name is first revealed as one of the knights sent to fetch Guinevere when she is brought to Camelot to marry Arthur. This gave me a free rein for my creativity in bringing Lancelot in to Britt’s life, but the timing had to be right.

There is more information on Guinevere’s arrival at Camelot. In some of the stories she first meets Arthur when he’s on his way to fight the Sable Knight, aka King Pellinore, so I tucked that story in
Enchanted
. However, in most legends the audience doesn’t get to see Arthur meet Guinevere. Instead Arthur is pressed to find a wife and he talks about how he admires Guinevere and would like to marry her.

Before he marries her, Arthur always saves her father, King Leodegrance, from various enemies, usually King Ryence. I decided to use Maleagent in order to introduce him to the readers, because in future books he will be returning.

The Story of King Arthur and His Knights
by Howard Pyle is one of the few “modern” (I use that term loosely as the book was written a century ago) books that expands on the enemies Arthur saves King Leodegrance from.

The one thing that almost all the stories agree on is that King Leodegrance owned the Round Table, and he gave it to Arthur as a marriage gift
because then he didn’t have to send a dowry with Guinevere
. (Usually her dowry is lands, but sometimes its money.) I was shocked when I read of King Leodegrance’s greed in multiple stories. The sad thing is that no one else seems to see how horrible that is. Some stories even say Leodegrance was thrilled to marry Guinevere off to Arthur because he didn’t have to lose money over the marriage,
not
because Arthur was a great King and a good man.

When I discovered that it made me rethink my planned character for Guinevere, and it gave emotional tension to
Embittered
. Britt needed to learn that everyone, her allies included, isn’t as honorable as her court and her friends.

I’m happy with the way
Embittered
played out. It allowed readers to see why Guinevere is the way she is, and it added realism to a type of story where usually everyone is either excessively good or vile and evil.

But what about Lancelot’s character? Why do I make him publically act like a handsome dandy, and then in the last scene reveal that he’s actually quite cunning?

I pondered Lancelot’s character for a long time. All stories agree that he is Arthur’s best knight, and most stories paint him as Arthur’s best friend. Typically he’s more on the chattery/poetic side, so I wanted to include that in my story. But by looking objectively at his role in Arthurian lore I had to face the facts. It takes a certain kind of ruthlessness to sleep with your best friend’s wife. To be able to do that and still face Arthur and act like his best friend means Lancelot had to be capable of being incredibly cruel. Guinevere never hides her admiration for Lancelot, but Lancelot is acknowledged as being a ladies man and a flirt. He covered his romantic attachment to Guinevere, pulling off the worst back stab in the history of fiction.

Make no mistake, Lancelot might pretend to be dashing and gallant, but he is not an idiot. He’s even more calculating than Merlin, and twice as willing to hurt people to get what he wants.