King Arthur and Her Knights: Enthroned #1, Enchanted #2, Embittered #3 (17 page)

“ We’ll have to leave Roen behind, he’s had a long day and deserves his rest. But we can take a fresh horse from the stables. A large, sturdy one. Perhaps one of the draft horses that pulled the supplies here,” Merlin said as he stood and brushed his robe off.

“Are you crazy?” Britt asked.

“Now what would cause you to ask such a question?”

“We can’t just leave in the middle of the night! We’ll fall and break our necks.”

“Pish posh. The moon is near full—it is bright enough to cast a shadow on you. The two of us can safely make the journey. With luck we’ll be back to Camelot in time for late breakfast,” Merlin said.

“Just the two of us? What about a guard?”

“When did you become such a worried baby chick? You don’t need guards when you travel with me, lass. Fear not,” Merlin smiled.

Britt stared at the enchanter, her brain shouted at her that he was clearly insane, but breakfast at Camelot with Cavall and her surprisingly soft bed (at least softer than the ground) was tempting.

“Well?” Merlin asked.

Britt sighed. “Only if we get Sir Ulfius to promise to bring Roen back. I think all the other knights are drunk beyond reason.”

“Fantastic, we’ll be home before you know it! Soon you’ll be listening to peasants argue over land rights and chickens as you rest your feet on your beastly dog!”

“Lass. Lass wake up.”

Britt groaned in her sleep and rolled her head to the left, twitching her nose when scratchy fabric tickled it.

The ground rolled beneath her, and Britt faintly remembered her late night ride upon a
gigantic
draft horse with Merlin.

“Britt, wake up. We’re home.”

Britt slowly opened her eyes with great effort, and smiled. Camelot was splayed in front of her, the barest hints of the sunrise were left on the horizon as the sun glowed cheerfully in the meadow. Sound leaked out of the castle fortification. Even at this distance Britt heard a cow moo and a rooster crow.

The draft horse sneezed as Merlin fussed. “Come on you great hunk of horse flesh, get moving,” he said.

“Merlin, is there really no way for you to send me home again?” Britt asked, staring at Camelot as the calm pack animal and enchanter fought.

Merlin fell still. “No, lass. I’m sorry.”

Britt closed her eyes for a few moments and said good bye to her old life one last time. Tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes when she opened them and leaned forward, out of her slumped position against Merlin. “I’m home,” she softly uttered.

“Aye. Welcome home, Britt,” Merlin said.

About King Arthur

Before researching my brains out for
Enthroned
, I thought that King Arthur ascended his throne the way the Disney movie,
Sword in the Stone
, shows it. I thought he pulled the sword from the stone, people wigged out, and BAM, he was king.

I thought wrong.

Britt’s story follows the original timeline of Arthur’s crowning. He did pull the sword on New Year’s Eve, but many people refused to recognize him as king so there were a number of other contests in which knights, princes, barons, and so on could try pulling the sword out too. Britt’s crowning on the day of Pentecost follows with typical Arthurian tradition, as does her war against King Lot, King Pellinore, King Urien, King Ryence, and the other unnamed kings and barons.

Additionally, before I started collecting King Arthur books and became an Arthur fanatic, I always assumed that King Arthur lived in the time of knights and castles and princesses.

Once again, I thought wrong.

There was a real Arthur, however, that Arthur was a great warrior, probably a general of some sort, and was not a king. Knights, castles, and even plate armor didn’t exist in his time yet as he was around when the Romans were still in Britain. When I started writing
Enthroned
I had a choice. My stories could follow history and the 500 words we know about the real Arthur, or they could be based off the legend that came about as a result of medieval writers who plunked Arthur down in a time that was relevant to their audience. I decided to go with the latter, mostly because it would give me more material to draw from.

There’s so much material, in fact, that many of the different legends counter what other Arthur stories and legends have to say. (As a preface, the Lancelot-Grail Cycle and the Post-Vulgate Cycle are essentially prose cycles of King Arthur stories. The writers of each cycle focused on different themes and different characters.)

Let’s take, for example, the Lady of the Lake. The Lady of the Lake was originally a villain of sorts. In the Lancelot-Grail Cycle the Lady of the Lake is called Viviane. She learns her magic from Merlin, who falls in love with her, and when she learns everything she can she gets sick of him and locks him in a tree, or beneath a stone depending on the story you’re reading.

It isn’t until the Post-Vulgate Cycle of King Arthur stories that writers started adding that she bestowed the legendary Excalibur on Arthur. In Le Morete d’Arthur the author, Thomas Malory, split the Lady of the Lake into two characters. Both are called the Lady of the Lake but the one who helps Arthur gets a name and is seen as a benefactor where as the one who traps Merlin remains more of a villain. Many writers followed in his footsteps by making the Lady of the Lake good.

In spite of her original character, I’ve never read a modern King Arthur story in which the Lady of the Lake was anything but good and beautiful. A few readers that were upset with me because my Lady of the Lake is a bit of a bag, but she’s like that because I wanted to pay homage to the original Lady of the Lake—the nag who traps Merlin in a tree. (Don’t worry, I won’t be doing that to Merlin in my series.)

What’s the bottom line? There are more versions and legends of King Arthur lore than I could ever write about, but I do try to go the extra mile and include some of the earliest Arthurian lore in my stories. Hopefully you enjoy reading it.

Enchanted

Book 2 of King Arthur and Her Knights

By: K. M. Shea

a Take Out The Trash! Publication

Copyright © K.M. Shea 2013

Chapter 1

Departures and Arrivals

The door creaked when it opened. “Britt? Are you in here?”

Britt pushed aside a shield that was decorated with a goose egg sized ruby. “Yeah.”

“What are you doing in the treasury?”

It was Merlin, Britt could tell by the musical quality to his voice and by the flapping noise he made when he shook his Gandalf-rip-off robe. “Are you in need of gold, or are you seeking treasures to display in the castle keep?”

“Neither. I’m looking for something,” Britt said, pushing aside a tray of gold goblets to inspect the square table they were arranged on. She shook her head and edged further into the treasury, hopping over a pile of ivory and skirting around a silver statue.

“I see. Do you think you could dispatch a servant to search for your item? I left King Ban and King Bors with Sir Kay. They mean to leave Britain by the end of the week unless you ask otherwise,” Merlin said.

“And you want me to ask otherwise?”

“I do,” Merlin acknowledged. “King Urien has made peace with you, but that leaves King Pellinore, King Ryence, and—most worrisome—King Lot as your enemies.”

“I thought you said you weren’t expecting military campaigns from them again,” Britt said, rolling up the edge of a tapestry to inspect the table it was thrown across.

“I don’t. But I enjoy the extra confidence Ban and Bors’ 10,000 mounted soldiers bring—even if Kay bellyaches over the cost of feeding them,” Merlin said, watching Britt crouch down and crawl under the table.

“You don’t
really
think the fighting is over, do you?” Britt sneezed and hit her head on the bottom of the table. “Ouch.”

“No, quite the contrary actually. King Pellinore will return home to lick his wounds—he’s a brilliant knight but he makes a half daft ruler. I expect his wife will make him stay home and mind his lands for a while. King Lot will sulk for the time being. He will make another attack against us, but I suspect it will be more on the level of espionage—not military force,” Merlin said.

“Then it’s King Ryence you’re worried about,” Britt said, sliding out from her inspection point beneath the table.

Merlin frowned. “Yes,” he admitted as Britt stood and fluffed her blonde hair to get dust out of it. “King Ryence has given up on
you
, but I fear he is turning his military strength to one of your allies, King Leodegrance.”

“Ah,” Brit said before grabbing a burning torch that was secured to the wall and raising it over her head. “Alright. I’ll ask Ban and Bors’ to stay another…three weeks?”

“That would be an acceptable time frame, thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Britt said, standing on her tip toes as she looked around the room with a frown.

“Whatever are you looking for anyway?” Merlin asked.

“The Round Table.”

“What?”

“You said I inherited all this stuff from Uther, right? I’m almost positive that he was the one who owned Arthur’s Round Table before Arthur got it. It should be in here… but I can’t seem to find it. Unless it’s the size of a coffee table, but that’s ridiculous. It’s supposed to be big!”

“We are discussing the possibilities of warfare and you are searching for a circular table,” Merlin flatly said.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t heard of it!”

“As I recall Uther had some dozens of round shaped tables in his castle. I don’t particularly remember any of them being of importance, although I will ask Sir Ulfius for you if it means that much to you.”

“I would appreciate that, thanks,” Britt said, brushing dust off her tunic. “I should go talk to Ban and Bors now?”

“Dressed like that?
No
. You look like a muddied street urchin. Faerie wings, you are odd.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll go get cleaned up. I need to find Cavall anyway.”

“Keep that hairy mutt outside the great hall,” Merlin ordered as they made their way to the treasury door.

“No.”

“You are acting like a child.”