Sword of the Rightful King (22 page)

Merlinnus gave a short, barking laugh. “Of course not. Such magicks are beyond even my skills,” he said. “The scrying glass was a warning, that is all. But the North Queen and her women are here nonetheless. They will be exhausted by their travels. We must tell the king.”

He went to his wardrobe and drew out his second-best robe, a white garment with runes in black and red scrawled along the collar and hem and around the sleeves at the wrists.

“Should I wear something different, too?” Gawen asked.

Merlinnus turned and considered Gawen for a moment, then he came over and brushed a hand over the top of Gawen's hair.

“You will do just as you are. Yes, indeed, you will do.”

31

T
HEY WENT DOWN
the stairs at a slow pace, to accommodate the mage's old bones, though Gawen wanted to run. Such news needed instant delivery.

When they got to the throne room, Gawen found that they were too late. The North Queen was already there, surrounded by her five ladies-in-waiting, still in their feathery cloaks. None of the waiting women looked particularly tired. Indeed their bland lovely faces were difficult to read. The dark queens face, though, seemed drawn and grey, and her icy eyes were red-rimmed as if she had been weeping or had spent a long time being buffeted by a cold wind.

“Merlinnus,” she said when she saw the mage, in a voice that held no warmth.

“Madam,” he answered, nodding. If anything, his voice was cooler.

Arthur rose from his throne slowly, as if he ached all over. “Merlinnus, see who has come for a visit,” he said in an overbright voice, like a child who has been up way too late. “I have sent for her boys.”

Turning back to Arthur, Morgause smiled frostily. “I am not here for my boys, my lord, for they have but recently left my side. I have come to see you, for it has been years since we have had converse.”

“
Had converse”?
Gawen thought.
She talks as if the words were written on ancient parchment. As if speaking to real people is beyond her. Or beneath her
.

Arthur laughed. “Converse away, then.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it again.

“Madam,” Merlinnus said quickly, “I doubt conversation alone brought you here.”

“Ah, you believe that the vaunted delights of Cadbury have pulled me from my northern rockeries,” she said.

Her women seemed to shake with silent laughter.

Gawen tried to parse her sentence and failed. Tried again. It did not sound as if she were making a compliment.

“‘Vaunted,' madam?” Merlinnus said. “I thought that word meant ‘an ill-made boast.' The High King does not boast of Cadbury, though others might.”

“My son Gawaine does the boasting, Magister. I travel to see if these are simple flatteries or gross exaggerations.”

Arthur held out a hand and drew her to the fire. “And what have you decided, my lady?”

“That my Gawaine is still a boy and prone to youthful exuberances.” She smiled up at him, but it was a cold smile.

“I... am... a boy... madam, and new come to Cadbury,” Gawen ventured a bit timidly at first, then with growing heat. “And there is much to boast of here. Though it is the people more than the stones that make this place what it is.”

Morgause turned and stared at Gawen. “Who is this little kettle making so much noise? Hot air creates steam, I suppose.”

“He is mine,” said Merlinnus, “and makes much sense. It is one of his finest virtues.”

“And he is mine as well,” Arthur said, moving over to Gawen and setting a hand on Gawen's golden cap of hair. “An adviser of note.” He winked.

“Boys and old men for advisers.” Morgause laughed. “And I expect a May Queen or two for sport. My, my, this is a boy's dream of paradise. No wonder Gawaine prefers it to ruling his cold kingdom.”

Just then Kay came in, shepherding Morgauses sons.

“Mother!” Gawaine said, his voice accusatory. “What are you doing here?”

“Perhaps I have come to take you home,” she said, tangling a hand in her black hair.

“No!”

“Or perhaps I have come to make this
my
home.”

Gawaine had no answer for this, but there was clear horror in his gaze.

The twins ran to her side to hug her, and she brushed them off as if they were overeager puppies with muddy paws. Gareth laughed and still grabbed for her fingers, but Gaheris stood to one side, looking a bit wounded.

She walked away from them, shaking out her skirts, then turned directly to Agravaine and held out her arms. “No kiss for Mother?”

He walked stiffly to her side and let himself be enfolded in her arms.

Speaking over his head, Morgause addressed Kay. “I wish to sleep now. I expect you have rooms that can be readied for my ladies and me. Do not disturb us till evening. Do not even
think
of disturbing us till evening.”

Kay bowed grandly, then led the women out of the hall.

 

T
HE MINUTE
they were gone, Arthur said, “Who was that force of nature?” Then he laughed uncomfortably.

“Mother is a whirlwind that wrecks every spit of land she touches,” Gawaine said miserably.

“How can you say that?” Agravaine asked. “She is astonishing and beautiful and—”

“She has bewitched you again,” Gawaine said. “Can you not see it? Can you not feel it? One embrace, and you are hers.”

The twins had withdrawn to a corner of the room and were speaking together, clearly comforting each other, salving wounds only they could see.

“There will be no bewitching going on here,” Merlinnus said, striking his left palm with his right middle finger as if it were a lance striking a shield. “Not while I am mage. Now go, all of you.” He dismissed them with a wave of his hand. “Practice your swordsmanship. Or your bowmanship. Or something. Only go away.”

As the last of the boys disappeared out the door, he turned to the king. “This is a disaster.”

“This is a state visit,” Arthur said. “A queen coming to visit a king.”

Merlinnus shook his head.

Arthur tried again. “She is just a foolish woman hungering for a higher throne for her boys.” He adjusted the cushion on his chair and sat down heavily.

“You do not believe either of those things.” Merlinnus came up close. “You
cannot
believe them.”

Arthur looked up, his grey eyes somewhat cloudy, like the skies after spring rains. “I can hope, though.”

“We must think what to do.” The mage shook his head. “Coming here three days before the eve of the Solstice—do you suppose she knows?”

“Of course she knows. We were careful to tell
everyone
in the kingdom. She could have learned about it at a dozen stops along the way here.” Arthur twisted once more, as if the throne of the High King were suddenly the most uncomfortable seat in the world. “And she will want one of her boys to pull that sword.”

Merlin nodded.

Arthur leaned forward. “Can they?”

“I do not believe so.”

He grabbed Merlinnus by the sleeve and drew him close. “You do not
believe
so? Or you
know
so?”

Merlinnus patted Arthur's hand. “We will see.”

Arthur let go of the mage's sleeves and put his head in his hands. “You are right. This
is
a disaster.”

Merlinnus drew himself up so that he seemed to tower over the king, over the throne. “I will not let it be so,” he said sternly. “She is only a woman, a witch, not a mage. I promise you, Arthur, her magicks will not conquer mine.” Then, with his robes swirling about him—so that the runes seemed to be sending an unreadable message—the mage left the room.

Head in hands still, Arthur did not watch him go.

 

A
WHILE LATER
Kay returned to the throne room and Arthur was still there, head in hands.

“Arthur, is it my fault?” Kay said softly.

The king looked up, his face puzzled, muzzled, softened as if in pain. “Is what your fault?”

“I wrote to the queen and told her about Agravaine, when he tried to throttle Brother Josephus. When we had to put him in the dungeon.” Kays hands wrangled together. “It is my fault for telling her. She is here because—”

Arthur's face creased with laughter. “Do not take this on your own shoulders, Kay. Your letter could not have gotten there in time. Think on it, man. When did you send it?”

“Soon after... after...” Kay counted the days.

“She could not have gotten your missive, much less packed up five women and traveled here so quickly.” Arthur put a hand out to his stepbrother. “She has had this trip planned all along.”

Relief camped on Kays brow, smoothing out the wrinkles. “Oh, Arthur, how I dreaded telling you...”

“Never fear me, Kay. You know all my secrets.”

“All?” Kay doubted that, but it was comforting to hear it from Arthur's lips anyway.

“All,” Arthur said, and smiled.

 

M
ERLINNUS WENT FIRST
to the grove, crossing the heaved-up path with little care. Speed was of the essence, and what was a turned ankle to the calamity before them?

When he got to his oak, he was out of breath and so his greeting was a bit broken. “
Salve, amice... frondifer
.” The leaves were still.

“She is here, the North Witch, and with her comes a dark magic I cannot pierce. I see now she can change shape, or shape changes, more than I was aware. Have I grown too old? He held out his hands to the tree in supplication. There were liver-colored spots on the backs of his hands, more so than even the day before, and his nails were cracked and yellow. “Too old too soon?”

Now a wind puzzled through the oak leaves, and they shivered and shuddered.

“Yes, thank you,
e glande nate
, sprout of an acorn, I will go to the tower and see what I can do to soften this blow. To strengthen the stone. To put steel into Arthur's purpose.”

The leaves seemed to laugh at him.

“Then will it be a woman who brings down Cadbury in its prime? A woman who wrecks the Round Table and scatters the Companions? Oh,
amice frondifer
, what weapons do I have against a woman's wiles? Tell me it is not so.”

But now the leaves were still again.

Merlinnus wept hot and bitter tears as if he were a child. Then he snuffled and dried his eyes on the hem of his robe before going back to the castle.

 

I
N THE TOWER ROOM
Gawen waited for the old man to return.

If only I had some magic
, Gawen thought, holding up small and slim-fingered hands.
If only there were a miracle in these fingertips
. Only magic—not honor, not honesty, not truth or glory, Gawen was certain—could defeat the queen.

Going to the four windows, Gawen looked out to the compass points. Away to the north there, if one could see far enough across the water, was the North Queens abode.
She has a heart as cold as her land. And as bleak
.

Turning from the north window to the south, as Merlinnus often did, Gawen saw that the corn already shone like gold in the fields. Here the turnips were just greening. Cows in their pastures moved like slow ships over a green sea. It was a pleasant land, a rich land, a land where no one would starve.
Do not let this woman ruin our king, our land
, Gawen prayed.

Going to the east window, Gawen checked on the river like a grey riband twisting past the walls of Cadbury.
If only I could bind her with a riband of steel and throw her into the dungeon
.

Gawen was about to go to the west window when the door opened and an exhausted-looking Merlinnus came in.

“Magister,” Gawen whispered. “You look—”

“Never mind how I look,” the mage said. “We have much work to do, and only while she sleeps may we do it.” He rolled up the sleeves of his white robe. “Let us begin.”

“Begin what, Magister?” Gawen asked.

“Begin work on a spell of protection,” Merlinnus said, his hand shaking visibly as he passed it through the candle smoke for purification.

“Against what?” Gawen asked.

“Against theft of soul, assassination, shape change. Against everything,” the old man said.

“
Everything” is a very big order
, Gawen thought.
I wonder if even Merlinnus can do such a thing
.

32

T
HAT EVENING WAS
to have been a grand dinner as part of the last three days before Solstice Eve. The May Queen's next-to-last official duty included reigning at the affair.

Kay had explained all this to the boys days earlier, as they were to help the kitchen staff both with the serving and with the clearing-away.

But now, with the Orkney queens arrival and five extra women, things had to change.

“One—the seating must be rearranged,” Kay said, counting on his fingers. “Two—the menu has to be expanded. Three—a larger tun of wine has to be breached.” He was about to go further, till he saw Arthur yawn.

“Just do it, Kay; do not bother me with the details.”

Kay was outraged and pleased at the same time. His reaction to change was always to make more changes. But he wanted some appreciation for his hard work.

“Arthur, you do not understand,” he said, moving on to the fourth finger. “We were originally to dine in the table room, though not, of course,
on
the table.”

“Of course not,” Arthur responded automatically.

“But that is too small now, so it will have to be the throne room. The vaulted ceiling should be impressive to the queen and—”

“She has seen the vaulted ceiling already.” It was clear Arthur was trying to keep the boredom out of his voice, but Kay ignored it.