Orion and King Arthur (41 page)
“
We
have to do something, my darling. You and I, together.”
I lifted the bloody meat off her shoulder and took her in my arms and kissed her. Two Neolithic hunters, covered with grime and gore, who loved each other through all the eons and light-years
of the continuum. We would face Aten and the other Creators together, for all eternity if need be.
TOR BOOKS BY BEN BOVA
Able One
The Aftermath
As on a Darkling Plain
The Astral Mirror
Battle Station
The Best of the Nebulas
(editor)
Challenges
Colony
Cyberbooks
Escape Plus
The Green Trap
Gremlins Go Home
(with Gordon R. Dickson)
Jupiter
The Kinsman Saga
Leviathans of Jupiter
Mars Life
Mercury
The Multiple Man
Orion
Orion Among the Stars
Orion and the Conqueror
Orion in the Dying Time
Out of the Sun
Peacekeepers
Power Play
Powersat
The Precipice
Privateers
Prometheans
The Rock Rats
Saturn
The Silent War
Star Peace: Assured Survival
The Starcrossed
Tales of the Grand Tour
Test of Fire
Titan
To Fear the Light
(with A. J. Austin)
To Save the Sun
(with A. J. Austin)
The Trikon Deception
(with Bill Pogue)
Triumph
Vengeance of Orion
Venus
Voyagers
Voyagers II: The Alien Within
Voyagers III: Star Brothers
The Return: Book IV of Voyagers
The Winds of Altair
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ben Bova is the author of five previous novels in this series:
Orion, Vengeance of Orion, Orion in the Dying Time, Orion and the Conqueror,
and
Orion Among the Stars.
Bova is also a six-time winner of the Hugo Award, a former editor of
Analog,
a former editorial director of
Omni,
and a past president of both the National Space Society and the Science Fiction Writers of America. He is the author
of more than a hundred works of science fact and fiction. He lives in Florida.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
ORION AND KING ARTHUR
Copyright © 2011 by Ben Bova
Originally published as an audiobook by Audible
All rights reserved.
Cover art by John Stanko
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
Tor
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Bova, Ben, 1932–
Orion and King Arthur / Ben Bova. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
ISBN 978-0-7653-3017-8 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4299-4752-7 (e-book)
1. Orion (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Time travel—Fiction. 3. Gods—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3552.O84O676 2012
813'.54—dc23
2012011662
e-ISBN 9781429947527
First E-Book Edition: July 2012
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Amesbury Fort
Chapter Two: The Bretwalda
Interlude
Chapter Three: Spoils of War
Chapter Four: Cadbury Castle
Chapter Five: Power and Glory
Chapter Six: Bernicia
Chapter Seven: Wroxeter and Cameliard
Chapter Eight: The Sword of Kingship
Chapter Nine: Leodegrance’s Wedding Gift
Chapter Ten: Among the Saxons
Interlude
Chapter Eleven: Castle Tintagel
Chapter Twelve: Guinevere and Lancelot
Chapter Thirteen: The Lady of the Lake
Chapter Fourteen: Morganna and Modred
Chapter Fifteen: The Battle of Camlann