Arthur Rex (66 page)

And therefore this Cornish host did fall to its knees as a man and do homage to King Arthur, and they all swore their fealty to him. And then they rose and they went towards their home in Cornwall.

But when they went over an hill and into the valley and were out of sight of King Arthur, their late allies the Angles and the Saxons seeing their depleted force fell upon them from ambush, and this German host did outnumber the men of Cornwall ten to one. And though Cornishmen were valiant warriors and each was worth nine Germans, these odds were too great and they were killed every one.

But King Arthur nor none of his knights knew ought of this massacre, and many knights commended him for making peace with the Cornishmen without more fighting. And he was encouraged to believe that he might make a similar truce with the Germans, for whom he had no hate (though much contempt), and to convince them that they should return peaceably to their own land.

And therefore he sent a message to them, but this was intercepted by Mordred (who had sent the Germans to destroy the host of the late King Mark), and when the Saxons returned with smoking swords and the high passions aroused in such a beastly people by killing, he said to them, “I have received from King Arthur a message in which he maketh great insult to the Angles and the Saxons, of whom he says those who are not vile sodomites are despicable cuckolds, and all are cowards!”

Now the Germans did take no great offense at these words, because they knew themselves as just the men so characterized, and they were so shameless a folk as to believe this a mere description of themselves and not a judgment upon them, for they knew no moral scruples and were entirely pagan.

Now seeing this Sir Mordred understood that he must give them something to fight for which would appeal to their felonious greed and vicious lust. And therefore he said, “Amongst the knights of the Round Table are many handsome men, and some of them are but youths with fair skin, and after this battle ye may use them as your catamites.” And the many sods amongst the Angles and the Saxons grunted in pleasure to hear this.

And next Mordred said, “And for those of ye who like females, the British women are the most beautiful in the world, and when we destroy these few knights of the Round Table, ye may ravish all the mothers, wives, and daughters and sisters in the land.” And the Germans did cheer vilely at this promise.

But some were more interested in treasure than in flesh, and to them Sir Mordred said, “King Arthur keepeth, at the castle of Caerleon-upon-Usk, which is virtually unguarded, the lode of the Nibelungs, the which was stolen from Germany when your Sir Siegfried was foully murdered from behind by a cowardly British assassin!” For Mordred had made a study of the lore of this people, and he spake to them in their own tongue, the which was called Anglish and was so many grunts and squeaks.

Now with his serpent’s tongue Mordred soon brought these pagans to a murderous frenzy in which they would have smote their own brothers. And they built huge fires and they erected altars to their obscene gods and they made barbarous blood-sacrifices. And they sounded horns and they screamed and howled whilst dancing in circles detestably naked, with their privities exposed indecently.

And this noise was heard in the British camp, and King Arthur and his knights believed that it signified the Germans’ joy that there would be no war, whereas it was just the opposite.

And King Arthur said, “Come, let us visit these fellows and embrace them in friendship, for a Saxon despite appearances is human and if he be a heathen yet, it is doubtless only for the reason that the missionaries have not yet reached his wild land.”

And Arthur and his knights did ride across the field, and they were not in the order of battle, and the king did carry below the point of his lance a banner with the picture of the Mother of God upon it.

And the Germans were so distracted by their heathenish rituals that they did not see the British until they arrived before their camp. And had his purpose not been peaceful King Arthur could have killed them all.

But seeing him Sir Mordred did call the Saxons to arms, and they soon formed a line the which stretched to the horizon on each side, and behind it were several more, for in number they were twenty thousand, and each man was armed with a lance and a sword and an ax, and the iron boss on his round shield protruded six inches and it served as a weapon as well.

But seeing this array King Arthur was not dismayed, for he believed that these foreigners did not understand his pacific intention. And he rode to where Mordred was, and he held his banner high with both hands so that Mordred could see he did not approach him in hostility.

And to his son he said, “My dear Mordred, this is a strange place to see thee.”

Now notwithstanding that he had twenty thousand armed men with him, Sir Mordred did greatly fear his father, whom lately he had watched swipe off King Mark’s head with one blow, and he well knew that Excalibur was yet invincible. And he could not ignore that decisive truth, for unless King Arthur were killed he would have achieved nothing. And though the king held the banner with both hands Mordred did not believe he could smite his father so powerfully that he would not be able to seize Excalibur before he died and to kill his bastard.

Therefore Sir Mordred offered him no attack, but rather he greeted him courteously, saying, “King Arthur, sire of Britain and myself, good day.”

“Mordred,” said King Arthur, “thou shouldst know that Mark hath gone home to Cornwall. I urge thee to urge thine Angles and Saxons to do as much and thus to avoid dying today on the blessed soil of Britain.”

“Well,” said Mordred, “Mark did not travel far, but rather met with great mishap beyond yon hill, and the flower of Cornwall alas! hath withered and died.”

“Can this be so?” said King Arthur. “These are most mournful news! For Mark was not a caitiff at heart, but misguided, a victim of his own inordinate humors, but for which he might have been a worthy man.” And then seeing Mordred’s derisive smile he said, “Yet he brought this unhappy end upon himself! Now, I would avoid further bloodshed here. I have no quarrel with the Saxons, and long ago I drove them from this land and wreaked no revenge on them thereafter. I desire no part of Germany, and if they leave Britain now I shall love them.”

“They are poor fellows,” said Mordred, “and their land is arid and they have nought to eat at home, and as you can see they have no clothes but coarse hides.”

“I see them armored cap-à-pie,” said Arthur, “but if they be naked underneath, then we shall furnish them with good British woolens. And from my granaries they may take so much corn as they need; and from my herds, fat beeves and stout ewes. And they may eat their fill and take more food home to Saxony, for I accept thy word for their plight though their breastplates do bulge in massive convexity.”

“But food alone doth not make the man,” said Mordred, “nor doth clothing which is merely warm meet their need. They would be gentlemen and wear velvet robes and silken hose and gold ornaments.”

“Well, I think overmuch of these be effeminate,” said King Arthur, “but perhaps so adorned they would be less warlike. Therefore I shall open to them my treasury at Caerleon, for which indeed I have ever had little use, for all Britons are naturally rich, even unto my churls, who till the most fertile soil in the world, and they have no wants the which God doth not supply them, and when early in my reign I sought to abolish serfdom, no serf would leave his master in the entire realm, for he loved him too much.”

And Sir Mordred was sickened to hear this, for he knew that it was too true!

And yet he said, “Methinks the lower classes be depraved! Do they not go to fairs and consort with gamesters and strumpets?”

“Yea, they do this sometimes,” said King Arthur. “For men in their station require the odd holiday. And while in the zeal of youth I sought to outlaw all debauchery I soon came to understand that in moderation it doth serve a salubrious purpose amongst the lower orders, who can never be expected to live on the stern principles of knights.”

“Such as adultery?” asked Mordred. “Yea, that is true! To sin one must be of an higher sensibility, above the herd but below the angels. And do you not hold the very image of Her who was married to the cuckold St. Joseph?”

Now King Arthur was sorely tried by Mordred’s blasphemous and obscene taunts, but he was stayed by his own guilty conscience towards his bastard.

“Mordred,” said he, “the Germans, and the late Cornishmen as well, are only pawns in thy game with me, I know full well. Thou hast been ill used all thy life, and I regret that with all mine heart! But I believed it needful for my reign not to acknowledge thee as my illegitimate issue. For I did think that the sovereign must be beyond reproach.”

And then the tears fell from King Arthur’s eyes. “But shalt thou permit me belatedly to give thee that which thou hast been denied all these years? Before my assembled knights I shall acknowledge thee as my son and embrace thee as the first Prince of Wales!”

“Now that your wife hath been proved an whore,” asked Mordred, “and your first knight hath crowned you with antlers? I thank you not, Father.”

And despite the vileness of this answer King Arthur was touched in the quick of his heart to be so addressed.

“Yea, mine own son,” he cried, “I am thy father and I would do anything I could for thee. The very throne of Britain be thine! Mordred, my dear, put down thine arms and send away thy foreign confederates, and I shall abdicate in thy favor.”

Now Mordred’s own heart leapt, and not in love or in virtuous joy, but rather in the realization that he was now very near to getting the means to kill King Arthur, for he would not that power be given him, but rather he wished virilely to seize it.

Therefore he said, “Well, Father, this is a fine speech and very cunning. But can I trust you to keep your promise if I send my Germans home? For I have learned that power comes only to him who already hath a deal of it, and not to him who is unarmed and naked.”

“Nay, my son,” said King Arthur. “All power comes from God, and He distributes it through His love.”

“Then, Father,” said Sir Mordred, “in proof of your love for me shall you dismount and taking your sword from its scabbard lay it upon the ground?”

Now King Arthur, who was sincere in his promise to abdicate and give his crown to Mordred, and who using all of his faith had come to love him, was nevertheless not yet so trustful of his bastard that he would readily put Excalibur down whilst Mordred stayed mounted and armed before an army of twenty thousand barbarians, whose savage steeds could scarce be restrained during this colloquy. And these horrid Saxons were themselves biting their lips, and the froth at their mouths was bloody, for heated by the slaughter of the Cornishmen they lusted to slay Arthur’s fine knights and tear their smoking hearts out and eat them, for these Germans were ferocious as wild beasts.

“Well,” said King Arthur, “I trust thee, my dear Mordred, but canst thou control yon bloodthirsty lot? For that reason I did never consort with foreigners much, and when thou hast assumed the throne I urge thee to spurn such alliances with un-Christian folk. Let the British knight, always outnumbered but never vanquished, be sufficient for thy needs.”

“Father,” said Mordred, “I am afraid that I require some earnest of your good intentions. Else I might think you merely a prating old man, clutching at the shreds of your rule beyond your proper time.”

And it was finally this stinging insult, rather than his real or supposed love for Mordred, that caused King Arthur to dismount and to take Excalibur from its jeweled scabbard and to lay it upon the earth.

Now Mordred was so thrilled to see this as to tremble violently in vicious glee. And indeed he was all but shaken from his saddle, and therefore he could not ride down King Arthur with his horse, the which he had planned to do so soon as his father was disarmed. And the king was nearer the sword than he and could pluck it up in a trice and kill him.

Therefore Mordred dismounted and taking out his own sword he threw it at King Arthur’s feet.

“Now, Sire,” said he, “may I not chide you for your delay? For there, freely given, is mine own earnest! And now I shall send my Germans away.” And directing King Arthur’s attention to them he cried to them in the Anglo-Saxon tongue for to attack and do much killing and gain much plunder. And King Arthur, who did not understand this coarse language and knew only melodious British and the tongue of God, which was Latin, was amazed to see these Germans give to their horses the heads, and their charge began.

But quickly he understood that his bastard had tricked him feloniously, and he turned to seize up Excalibur from the earth.

But Mordred had acted the sooner, and he already held the magic sword, and when King Arthur turned to him he ran his father through the bosom till caught by the hilt the blade could go no farther.

And then King Arthur fell, with the sword in him, and it was held so tightly by his muscles and bones that Mordred could not withdraw it, and therefore Mordred ran away like the coward he was. And King Arthur’s banner, the which displayed an image of the Virgin, fell onto the ground.

And so the battle began, and when the scribes say it was started by the sting of a serpent, they were not in error, for that snake was Mordred.

Now twenty thousand Angles and Saxons charged the knights of the Round Table, who were in the number of an hundred eight and forty (for Galahad was ill and sleeping, and Mordred was the foe), but when the charge was over, ten thousand Germans lay bleeding dead on the gory field of Salisbury, while but fifty of King Arthur’s knights had fallen, and all of them struck from behind.

And Sir Launcelot, with but his left hand, skewered ten Saxons at a time on the end of his lance, and then he hurled them all away dead and he pierced ten more. And many times he did this. And Sir Percival, who broke his lance after killing two hundred Germans with it, then drew his sword and holding it at the level of the neck he rode along the Saxon ranks lopping off heads as if he were in a wheat field with a scythe. And soon there were so many severed heads upon the field and so much blood that a thousand Germans did slip and fall into it and they could not get a footing in their heavy armor and they every one drowned with their snouts in this gore.