Arthur Rex (56 page)

And Sir Agravaine shrugged. “I care nought for him, little Brother.”

“Yet are we not Christians?” asked Mordred. “And is he not also a creation of God’s?”

“Certes,” piously agreed Sir Agravaine. “And therefore if he is too poor to afford a beast to pull his cart, then did not God make him so?”

“No doubt thou art right,” said Mordred. “But perhaps God made him poor so as to give us the opportunity to prove our charity.”

“Ah,” said Agravaine, “could this be so? And how might this be done, dear Mordred?”

“Well,” said Mordred, “methinks thou must give him some gold, with which to buy him an ox. And I should give him some of mine, but I possess none, being but a squire.”

“Thou art but a young man, Mordred, but thou hast a virtue that we of the older generation have forgot,” said Agravaine, “(if indeed we ever had it), but our first task was to rid the realm of the larger evils. In thy purity of heart thou canst teach us much!” And so saying he took some gold from the purse which hung upon the saddle and he gave it to the peasant, who looked at it and then at him in bewilderment.

And then Agravaine and Mordred rode on, but when they had gained half a league Mordred stopped his horse and he said, “My dear Agravaine, methinks we did neglect to tell that boor to use the gold only for to buy him a beast, and not to squander it on strumpets or gaming or the entertainments of mountebanks. Now, as it was thy gold, let me contribute mine energy: rest here whilst I ride back and instruct him.”

And Mordred therefore rode back along the road, and Agravaine believed him the finer for this.

Now when the peasant had finally understood that the gold was his to keep he dropped the shafts of his cart and indeed he set out for the nearest town where there were harlots and other entertainment, and this was in the other direction from Camelot, where all such things were banned. And because he was on foot Mordred soon caught him up.

And Mordred said to him, “Good boor, the money which hath been given thee is for thine hire as soldier, for I am Mordred and I shall one day overthrow the vile rule under which thou dost suffer. And thou shalt serve in my conquering forces.”

“But, my lord,” said this clown, “in truth I do not suffer as a subject of the great Arthur, whom I therefore love, and I have no reason for wishing him deposed.”

“Well,” said Mordred, “dost not want a beast of burden to pull thy cart?”

“Nay, my lord,” said the rustic, “for then I should have to feed it.”

Now Mordred was vexed, and he drew his sword and he put it at the belly of the peasant, and he said, “Then I shall explain this in a fashion which a simple head can easily understand: so long as King Arthur is allowed to keep the throne
thou art oppressed,
for I might cut out thy guts. But if he is overthrown thou shalt not only receive more treasure but thou shalt stay alive to enjoy it.”

“My lord,” said the boor, “I now understand this clearly and I am quite keen to serve you.”

“Thou art a good churl,” said Mordred, and he sheathed his weapon. “And thou shalt not go without profit if thou recruit thy fellows for this noble purpose, for I make to them the same offer and the same threat.”

Then Mordred rejoined his brother Agravaine, and he said to him, “Brother, let us quicken our pace, for I would fain reach Camelot and be knighted by our royal uncle, and meet all the noble companions of the Round Table.”

“Well,” said Agravaine, “few of that company are in residence currently. They are away, Mordred, on the quest for the Sangreal, and God knows when we shall see them again.”

“But thou hast remained?” asked Mordred. “And surely the king is protected by others as well?”

“I have remained there,” said Sir Agravaine, “and doubtless one day I shall tell you why. And Launcelot is at Camelot as well. He doth protect his queen, Mordred. King Arthur needs no guarding, having no enemies for one, and for another with Excalibur he is himself alone an host of the greatest puissance. Dost not know that long ago, with a force of foot, mere kerns, he conquered great armies of horse?”

“Indeed,” said Mordred, “I made all that pertains to King Arthur the constant study of my childhood. What better model for the British boy?”

Now Sir Agravaine commended his youngest brother for the reverence he showed towards the king, and he said, “But, dear Mordred, though Arthur be impervious against any threat from without, and invincible over all men, he can never be immune to another kind of danger: a very malignant type, for it cometh not with drawn sword and the scowl of war, but rather with the apparent smile of friendship, the bow of the vassal, the complaisance of the—” But Sir Agravaine would not yet say “wife.” Rather here he broke off, and as at that moment they had gained the crest of an hill, when he next spake it was to say, “Look, Mordred, yonder.”

For the lofty towers of Camelot had come into view, and the sun shone full upon them, and there was no grander vista in all the world.

And even Mordred was struck by the sight, but not with true awe, the which is an honorable emotion, but rather with an insuperable envy, and he thereupon determined that he should either become the master of this place or bring it down in ruins. And thus with the sight of Camelot his ambition took on another character than his previous aim, which had been merely to destroy his father the king for bringing him into existence. And Mordred was imbued with a purpose not only to kill King Arthur but thereafter to assume his crown! For was he not by blood the heir apparent?

And now he said to Agravaine, “I can not suppose that in all the world there be a man so vicious as to desire King Arthur’s downfall, but, dear Brother, this greatest of all monarchs is yet mortal and, alas! must one day die. And what of the succession?”

And Sir Agravaine said, “’Tis a thing of which no one speaketh, Mordred. But thou art quite right that it should be of concern, for though Arthur is not so old in years, yet he hath too quickly grown aged. And I have not considered this before, but methinks that sin hath invisible emanations, the which do secretly poison those in its proximity though they themselves be blameless.”

“Sin, brother?” asked Mordred. “Surely not at Camelot?”

But Agravaine grew guarded once more. “Little brother Mordred,” said he. “Being human we can none of us be without sin. It may well be that Arthur as king doth take upon his conscience all the failings of his subjects, in his role as God-appointed.”

And then he spurred his horse and he galloped towards the great castle, and Mordred followed but only at the trot, for he did study each turret and machicolation and he looked for weaknesses therein and for the best places to let down ladders or to undermine the walls with galleries. And he was pleased to see, when he got closer, that the place did not look as impregnable as from afar, for there was evidence of neglect, and the walls had here and there notable cracks and stones were obviously loose on some battlements and on others the merlons had crumbled thus widening the crenels so that little protection was offered. And the moat had but an inch of water in it, and that was green with scum and foul with rubbish. (And all this was due to the absence of Sir Kay the seneschal.)

And Sir Agravaine who had got there ahead of him waited for Mordred at the drawbridge, which was ever down nowadays, and when they clattered across it, Mordred saw how many planks were rotten and that the chains were red with rust.

And he began to think that his coronation were soon indeed.

But then they went through the gate and into the great courtyard, and sensing rather than seeing at first that a golden light shone from above, Mordred did look aloft, and there on a high balcony, on a tower, was Queen Guinevere. Now, of her Mordred had not previously thought at all, for to him women meant nothing, because he had no sexual appetite and they were good for nothing else, having no power. And not even Morgan la Fey was an exception to this rule, for though she craved mastery what she had of it was but a negative form, and if she could ruin weak men, she did nevertheless not profit from it. And the result of her many attempts on Arthur’s life had been only to prove him invulnerable against her and thus to confirm their relative positions.

And now Mordred, staring up at Guinevere (who did not deign to look down at him at all), realized that he must have her as his queen when he became king, else his rule would not be complete, for what he saw in her was the force she possessed, and he recognized for the first time that there was another kind of power beyond the crude and brutal kind sought by men.

And then a knight came onto the balcony at her side, and his head was in a silk bandage, and in comparison to her he looked quite mean and base, but unlike her he saw Mordred and Agravaine below, and he saluted them.

“Now which was that?” Mordred asked his brother, when they had dismounted and passed through the yard and entered the castle.

And Sir Agravaine, who was quite shaken by his own sight of Guinevere, so that he did go pale and trembling, said mumbling, “Launcelot.”

Now Mordred, who had seen the effect of the queen on his brother, pressed Agravaine to speak again in a louder voice that might be heard above the noise of their creaking armor and clinking spurs.

And Agravaine cried, hatefully, “Launcelot!”

And now Mordred had seen enough to know that his brother lusted for Guinevere and had for Launcelot a jealous detestation. And he also knew that though Sir Launcelot might seem a base fellow when standing next to the most beautiful queen in the world, he had no equal as a knight, and ten Agravaines at once could not stand against him long.

Yet for all his cunning Mordred did not yet know, nor even suspect, that Guinevere and her knight were adulterers, and in this Agravaine was his superior. (And sometimes the shrewdest of malefactors fails to learn of an obvious and simple thing, possessing which he would be supreme.)

And then Sir Agravaine did with an effort shake off his negative feelings, and he said to Mordred, “Well, Brother, doubtless thou wouldst have a bathe and a change of attire before going to our uncle the king. Come then to my quarters, the which once housed all of our family at Camelot, before our brothers married and went off. They have been too spacious for me since, and I shall share them with thee happily!”

“Time enough for that in the sequel,” said Mordred. “First I would meet our uncle the king without delay.”

Therefore Agravaine, amazed at the zeal of his brother, conducted him before King Arthur, whom they found sitting alone at the Round Table, and Mordred’s first view of his father was across the table at its widest, for they entered the great hall at its opposite end, and the king seemed the size of a pea. And then they walked to him, and this took a long time, and the sound of their progress did echo throughout the vast hall, frightening the pigeons who had long since got in through some broken windows and had taken up their roosts in the vaulting, from where they bedunged the Round Table below and dropped many feathers.

And also there was much dust on the Table, and sometimes in drifts like unto the sands in the burning lands of the heathens who have the heads of dogs.

Now as they got near to King Arthur, Mordred saw a king who looked very like a dotard, and whereas he had always hated the idea of him, and (because all hatred is complex) he feared him as well, now that he saw how decayed he had become in the flesh he despised him.

And as for King Arthur, he continued to stare into the distance in another direction than theirs until they had quite reached him.

And then Sir Agravaine said, “Uncle, have I leave to address you?”

And King Arthur was startled, as if they had leapt upon him out of a secret hole in the wall, and he sprang up drawing Excalibur as he did so. But then he recognized Sir Agravaine, and he lowered his sword, saying, “Nephew! Forgive me, my dear, I was quite distracted.” And he embraced Agravaine and he kissed his cheek.

Now Sir Agravaine was most touched by this display of affection, the which was without precedent, and though he desired Guinevere he loved King Arthur and indeed he told himself that this was why he so hated the adulterers.

But what Mordred saw at this time was that when King Arthur stood erect he looked a marvelous powerful man, and he was much taller than Mordred and broader at the shoulder and his neck was like unto the trunk of a tree. And now with two fingers of one hand he lifted one of the great oaken chairs at the Table and he brought it near him and he told Agravaine to sit down.

“Uncle, do I defy your command if first I present your youngest nephew and my brother?” asked Agravaine.

For King Arthur in his distraction had not noticed the presence of Mordred, and Mordred (who like all truly evil persons had no vanity, for that finally is an all-too-human trait of the good but weak) took no offense in being overlooked by the king, as he had been ignored by the queen. And in fact he was pleased, for he believed this had been due to King Arthur’s failing vision.

But now the king turned to him, and still without looking carefully at him, he seized him around the shoulders with his great hands, and he did embrace him, kissing both his cheeks, and King Arthur’s beard was like unto a mass of wires and his grasp was very like a bear’s, and had Mordred not been equipped with the great weapon of diabolical cunning he would have been frightened by the great strength he felt in this man whose face seemed so old. And even so he was caused to thrust forward into the future his fantasy of deposing him, which when he entered Camelot had seemed so imminent.

And King Arthur was Mordred’s father.

Then the king thrust him away, so as to look at him for the first time, saying, “Well, hath the late Lot’s loins furnished me with yet another fine nephew and knight? And what is thy name, lad, and doth it (in the fashion of thy family) prominently employ the letter
g?”

“Nay,
Sire,”
said Mordred smiling slightly to think that he alone in all the world could employ that style of address in its literal sense when speaking with King Arthur, and that when he killed him he would uniquely be both parricide and regicide at once. “I am,” said he, “the exception. My name is—”