A Hard Day's Knight (31 page)

“What did happen to Excalibur, after the battle?” I said.

“I took it,” said Kae. “To keep it safe. A sword like that could make anyone King, whether he was worthy or not, just by possessing it. I knew even then that only Arthur could be trusted with Excalibur. Several others had already picked it up off the battle-field; but none of them could hold on to it. They were not worthy. They all but burned their hands off touching the hilt. I wasn’t worthy, either, but I still picked the sword up and carried it off the battle-field, in my bare hands. It burned, how it burned ... but that was my penance. For surviving.

“The Lady of the Lake appeared to me then, in a vision, and called me to bring Excalibur to her at a nearby lake. I walked through thick mists to find it, and when I went back there sometime later, the mists were gone, and so was the lake. I threw the blade out over the still waters ... No hand came up to grasp it. The sword simply disappeared into the lake and was gone. Didn’t even leave a ripple behind it. The Lady had taken it back.” He smiled briefly. “Gaea always did have a soft spot for Arthur. While he lived, the King and the Land were one, each empowering the other. And since the sword was always Gaea’s, I like to think that all this time Arthur has been sleeping in her arms.”

I gave him a moment, then moved in beside him. “What do we do now? Call his name? Summon him back from the great beyond?”

“No,” said Kae. “No spells, no ceremonies. Give him the sword. When they are reunited, the King shall rise again.”

And yet still he hesitated, scowling thoughtfully down at the earth mound before him. “It’s so long since I last saw him. So many centuries, living on and on because Merlin required it of me, keeping the secret, building the London Knights to keep Arthur’s great dream alive. And now ... I wonder what he’ll think of me when he sees what I’ve done with all those years. If he’ll approve, or say I missed the whole point. But it doesn’t matter. This is what I have waited for. This is my duty; and I’ve always known my duty. I taught him how to be a warrior; and he taught me how to be a man. Let’s do it.”

Acting on Kae’s instructions, I drew Excalibur from its invisible scabbard on my back. Everyone made some kind of sound as the long, golden blade suddenly appeared, blazing brightly, driving back the dark in the cellars. I thrust the sword deep into the earth at the foot of the grave, and the blade seemed almost to drive on down, pulled by something rather than anything I did. I let go and stood back, and what was left of the blade pulsed with a fierce golden light. And then all the earth was suddenly gone from the grave, gone in a moment, leaving a long hole in the ground with a man stretched out in it. We all crowded forward to look. King Arthur lay peaceful and still, in his shining, spotless armour, his face calm and dignified. And then he opened his eyes and took a deep breath as though it was the most natural thing in the world. He stretched slowly and sat up, in one easy movement. And every one of us there knelt to him. Because some things are just the right thing to do.

Arthur stuck up one bare hand, and Kae grasped it with his and helped Arthur out of his grave. They stood together a while, looking at each other, legendary men, smiling easily. King Arthur was a big blocky man, in armour that gleamed like it had been polished, under heavy bear furs draped round his shoulders. His crown was a simple gold circlet set on his brow. He had a strong, hard, somewhat sad and reflective face, and there was about him a natural authority, a sense of solid and uncompromising honour; a simple goodness, strong and true. He was a man you would follow anywhere because wherever he was going, you knew it was the right way.

He pulled Excalibur from the earth as easily as he had once pulled it from an anvil on a stone, and the sword nestled into his hand as though it belonged there, and always had. The golden light blazed up joyously, filling the whole wide cavern; but now it was a warm, golden glow, with none of its previous fierceness. I felt the weight of the invisible scabbard disappear from my back and wasn’t in the least disappointed. A burden may be an honour, but it’s still a burden.

Excalibur was destined for great things, Earth-changing things, and I wanted nothing to do with any of it. I never even wanted to be a warrior, never mind a King.

Arthur hefted Excalibur as though it were just another sword, and, perhaps for him, it was. He put it away, the golden glow fading slowly away, and the sword in its scabbard hung openly on his hip. Arthur started to brush some grave dirt off him, and Kae immediately stepped forward to help. The rest of us slowly got up off our knees. Alex had actually taken off his beret, a rare sign of respect, and Suzie had put down her gin bottle. Arthur smiled on us all, started to address Kae in old Celtic, then stopped, looked down at Excalibur, and spoke again, in modern English.

“Kae,” he said. “Of course; who else? I always knew I could depend on you, brother. So is this it? The Final Battle?”

“Not ... as such,” said Kae.

EIGHT

Kings and Queens and Worlds Without End

King Arthur lunged forward and embraced his stepbrother Kae, who hugged him fiercely back; and the two men stamped back and forth like two great bears, saying each other’s names over and over again. They beat each other about the shoulders, called each other names, and generally carried on like the alpha males they were. Eventually, they let go, and Kae introduced me to Arthur. The once-and-future King towered over me, every bit as large and real and intimidating as he should have been, and I stuck out my hand because I was damned if I was going to do the kneeling-and-bowing bit again. Arthur grinned cheerfully and clasped my forearm with his huge hand, in the old style. It was like being gripped by a mechanical press.

“So! You brought Excalibur to me, John Taylor. I owe you my thanks, and all my duty. I would not be here now were it not for you and the many travails you have endured. Call on me for anything, and it shall be yours.”

“It was an honour,” I said, and I meant it.

Arthur let go of my arm, and turned his great smile on Suzie. I took the moment to massage some feeling back into my arm. Arthur had the sense not to try to take Suzie by the arm. She still didn’t like to be touched by strangers. Instead, he bowed courteously to her, and she nodded respectfully in return. Arthur then turned to Alex and looked on him thoughtfully for a moment.

“You’re of Merlin’s line, aren’t you? I can see it in you. Merlin was always a good friend to me; I trust you will be, too.”

Alex, surprisingly, went all bashful on being addressed by the legendary King, and smiled and nodded quickly. Arthur looked round him, taking in the grim and gloomy stone cellar.

“I have been here too long, sleeping in my grave. Not dead, only sleeping, and all the time ... dreaming history. I know all that matters of the years that have passed, while I waited to be awakened and set to work again. So many wars ... In my day I fought to put an end to war, but then, I suppose everyone does. And I have dreamed of such progress, such wonders, so many marvellous creations. I have seen the rise of Science, seen the human imagination given form and substance through incredible machines. I never knew such things were possible. But now I have returned. Tell me why I have been awakened at this time, Kae. What is the work that waits for me?”

“You’re needed, Arthur,” said Kae. “To do something only you can do.”

“Same old story,” said Arthur. “People always placed too much faith in me and not nearly enough in themselves.” He shrugged and looked suddenly at Kae. “How is it that you are still here, Kae, after all these centuries? Did Merlin put you to sleep, too?”

“No,” said Kae. “I had to go the long way round to get here, walking through the centuries day by day, waiting for you. Bastard sorcerer made me immortal.”

Kae started to explain what Merlin had done, but Arthur cut him off with a curt gesture.

“The past doesn’t matter. I am here, and I will do what needs to be done. I will save the day, one more time, because that’s what I do. So where exactly am I? My dreams only covered the high spots; many details were left vague.”

“You’re in the cellars under Strangefellows, in the Nightside,” said Alex.

Arthur grimaced. “The Nightside? What the hell am I doing in that disgraceful shit hole?”

Kae smiled briefly. “Where better to hide the resting place of the noble Arthur?”

Arthur growled, deep in his throat. “Merlin always did have too much irony in his blood. What is my trial this time, Kae? Does it hopefully include burning down the entire Nightside and putting its sinful inhabitants to the sword?”

“Wait just a minute,” I said.

“Worse than that,” said Kae, ignoring me. “It’s the elves.”

“Oh bloody hell,” said King Arthur. “Of course. It would have to be. It’s always the bloody elves. What are they up to this time?”

“They threaten civil war, which would devastate the Earth and wipe out Humanity.”

“Civil war?” said Arthur. “That’s new. In our day, they fought everyone except themselves. Who leads the factions in this age?”

“Queen Mab of the Sundered Lands, versus King Oberon and Queen Titania of Shadows Fall,” I said. “But before we go any further, I want it properly understood that the Nightside is my home, and it is not a shit hole. Well, all right, some of it is; but it is still a place worth defending and the people worth preserving. Mostly.”

I hadn’t realised quite how fiercely I’d spoken, until I noticed how quiet it got when I stopped. Kae looked to Arthur, who nodded slowly to me.

“Your pardon, John Taylor. It seems I have been away so long I have forgotten my manners. No doubt the Nightside has changed much since my time.”

“Not that much,” said Kae.

“But it must have changed some, to produce a man like John Taylor, worthy to bear Excalibur,” Arthur said firmly. “The elves are the enemy now, so let us concentrate on them. I remember Mab, of course. Magnificent creature. Such a shame, what happened between her and Tam O’Shanter.” He saw the blank look on our faces. “I see that not all the tales from my time have survived the ages. Very well; I had not been long on the Throne of England, when it seemed to both Merlin and to me that I needed a Queen at my side, and especially one who would help unite my fractured land. So we settled on Queen Mab of the Fae, in the hope that such a union would put an end to the long enmity between Man and elf, and allow me to concentrate my armies on the lesser human foes that threatened my new-won land.

“Queen Mab let it be known that she was not entirely opposed to the idea; and so I sent an envoy to the Fae, to work out the details. A certain young man, new-come to my Court, one Tam O’Shanter. Not a knight as yet, but he aspired to be one and had already made his name famous throughout the land through many deeds of daring and chivalry. So I gave him this task, to prove himself worthy. Thinking also, that since he was not an actual Knight of the Round Table, and had never drawn a sword against the elves, the Unseelie Court might find it easier to accept him. He was supposed to win them over, with his charm and devil-may-care attitude, so much like theirs. He wasn’t supposed to fall in love with the Queen; and she wasn’t supposed to fall in love with him.

“It all went wrong so very quickly. They must have known their love was impossible, that it could never be accepted, but that only made them declare it all the more openly. A Queen must marry a King; that is the way of it. Tam, my brave young Tam, duelled with an elf who challenged the Queen over her choice, and killed him. And then that elf’s brothers killed Tam, in honour’s name. And that ... was that. Mab was never the same afterwards. She grew increasingly ... strange, even for an elf, and broke off all contact with Camelot.

“I’ve never had much luck with women.

“King Oberon and Queen Titania, you say ... Can’t say I recognise the names, but the only contact I had with elves after Mab’s rejection was killing enough of them to put them in their place. They had to be stamped on, hard, so I could be free to deal with human enemies. And even that went wrong. I spent so long on the move, away from Camelot, fighting my battles all over England, that my people came to believe I didn’t care about them any more. That’s how Mordred was able to raise his army. And the land I made was split apart by civil war. Always the worst kind, that sets brother against brother. And father against son.”

He stood there a while, his gaze far away, and none of us said anything. We were in the presence of history and legend, something greater even than the Nightside was used to. Eventually, Arthur shrugged off the past and looked directly at Kae.

“So, brother, what have you been doing, all these years?”

Kae explained quickly how he had fashioned the London Knights, to protect the people and keep King Arthur’s dream alive. Arthur nodded, and cut him off again.

“Who better to keep a dream alive than the man who inspired it? Brothers, together, fighting for what is right.”

“Can I ask?” I said. “Very respectfully, of course, but ... Why do we need King Arthur, specifically, to stop the elves? I could name any number of people in the Nightside who’ve fought angels, gods, and other-dimensional entities. Myself included.”

“Right,” said Suzie. “Elves die as easily as anyone else. If you aim properly.”

“But only Arthur can stop the fighting before it starts,” said Kae. “He was the only one the elves ever respected, and feared enough, to listen to. They often came to him at Camelot to sort out their disagreements when they couldn’t do it themselves. Mab and Oberon and Titania will listen to you, Arthur. They will recognise your authority and your impartiality.”

“And my willingness to kill the whole lot of them if I can’t get them to see sense,” said King Arthur.

“That, too,” said Kae.

“I like him,” said Suzie.

“My knights are ready and waiting, to do what is necessary,” said Kae. “At your command, of course.”

“They’re your knights, Kae,” said Arthur.

“Then command me, Sire,” said Kae.

“Where is Merlin?” Arthur said suddenly. “He knows the Fae better than anyone; we could use his advice. I did think he’d be here, waiting to greet me, when I came up out of the grave he put me in.”