Arthur Rex (57 page)

And just at that moment King Arthur’s vision, which was not what it once had been, did gain sharp focus on the features of the young man whom he held at arm’s length and he saw the swart hair without gloss and the exceeding pale face and the little eyes which glittered so deep in their sockets when the angle was right.

And he dropped his arms, and he said, “Mordred! Thou art Mordred.” And while King Arthur had not forgotten his existence, neither did he remember it as though it were an incarnate, breathing thing the which he would one day encounter.

And suddenly he became an old man again in body as well, and he bent, and drawing up his chair he sat upon it, and then he touched his eye and then his beard, and then he took away that hand with his other and he brought them both into his lap.

And at last he said, “Well, Mordred. Thou hast grown to manhood. And is it that long?”

“Long, Sire?” said Mordred. “Since what? I am yet young enough, methinks, and not quite old enough to give up the ghost.” And his smile broadened and became quite ghastly.

And even Sir Agravaine, insensitive as he was and ignorant, saw that his brother had taken on a very strange character, and the king, who feared nothing in the world, did look as nobody had ever seen him.

And Sir Agravaine hastened to say, “Uncle, my little brother is quite new here at Camelot, which is a much grander place than our father’s court in the remote and rude Orkneys. And to be presented to you is the greatest thing in his life.” Then turning to Mordred he said, “Brother, we of our family address the king as ‘uncle,’ for though he is our sovereign lord he is yet our relative by blood.”

But Mordred said, “Methinks, young and untried as I am, that I have not yet earned the right to belong to our noble family, that I am of it but willy-nilly.”

And Agravaine did smile at this, which seemed to him ingenuousness, and he said, “Well, Mordred, is any family connection a thing of the human will? Are we not all put where we are in blood only by God? And thank God we are all the sons of Lot, decent men, for some good families have the odd rogue amongst them, yet he is still of their blood.”

But King Arthur looked at Mordred, who resembled neither Margawse nor himself in any wise, and yet he was their son. And then he spake to Sir Agravaine, “Nay, Nephew, what he says hath reason.” And he took out Excalibur, which he had put away, and he said, “Kneel, Mordred, and thou shalt be knighted.”

And Mordred did so, his eyes seeking those of King Arthur, but the king looked instead at where he touched him, on both shoulders, with his sword.

Then King Arthur said, “Rise, Sir Mordred, as a knight of the Round Table.”

And next a terrible thought came to the king, but he had an obligation to pursue it.

Therefore he said, “Sir Mordred, this seat to thy right hand, the which hath ever been known as the Siege Perilous, hath been empty since the beginning, and hath awaited the one who would come. I have the awesome feeling now that it may be thou who art destined to sit there.”

But Sir Mordred was reluctant to try the chair to which the king pointed, for he despised any plan for his destiny that was not his own and privy to his own conscience, and he did believe himself in defiance of conventional augury, but his father was as yet the king and he must needs obey him.

And therefore he approached the Siege Perilous, but he had not got very near it when it blazed with a flame far more furious than any before, and it was the king’s good fortune that he had previously drawn his own chair some distance away, else he might have been scorched so fierce was the heat.

And both King Arthur and Mordred were pleased that this had happened (though each in another way). Nor was Sir Agravaine made unhappy, for his envy applied to his brothers as well.

“Uncle,” said he pleasantly, “perhaps this siege will never be occupied, but will continue to stay empty as God’s reminder that perfection can never be achieved by men.”

And King Arthur said, “Agravaine, methinks no sane man requires that reminder.” Then he turned to Mordred and he said, “Mordred, thou dost want a quest. Hath Agravaine told thee of the Sangreal? Thou hast a keen look. Perhaps it shall be thee who finds it.”

“And if I should,” asked Sir Mordred, “then, Sire, what would you have me do with, or to, or concerning it?” And he endeavored to conceal the contempt he felt for this quest and to keep from his voice all suggestion of derision.

And King Arthur for his own part tried to conceal his awareness of Mordred’s mockery, and the both of them failed at their efforts, for they were after all father and son.

“It is true,” said King Arthur, “that as yet no one hath identified the Grail. But for many years I have been thinking on this matter, and as the time hath passed I have believed ever more ardently that the Holy Grail is the only thing in the world worth pursuing.”

And Sir Agravaine said, “Uncle, I should think that the noble Launcelot being the greatest of all knights might well be first to discover the Grail.”

“Launcelot hath gone forth,” said King Arthur. “But he fell ill when near the court of Pelles the maimed king, and he was there nursed to health by the princess Elaine. Yet methinks he hath not since been altogether fit, for to Camelot he then returned and here he doth remain.”

“And that was long ago,” said Agravaine.

“Indeed,” said King Arthur. “But perhaps this is a quest for the younger men, such as thee, Mordred, and that fine youth Pimpernel who hath but lately gone afield. It may be that we of the older generation have had our day.” (Nor could King Arthur ever get the name of Sir Percival correct, he who was amongst the very greatest of the knights.)

Now Mordred was thinking of his vile ambition, to commit regicide and parricide and by marrying Guinevere to add incest to his loathsome crimes (for carnal congress with a stepmother was so regarded in that time, as in the day of the unfortunate Hippolytus son of Theseus the notable lecher). And Mordred believed the time had not yet come in which he could launch his attack, for as yet he led no forces, and the lone and unsupported malefactor could never overturn a throne so heavy as King Arthur’s.

Therefore he said, “Sire, I shall go immediately upon the quest for the Sangreal.”

And King Arthur commended him, but privately the king wondered why that he heard even this pious purpose with dread, when it was Mordred’s. (And we know that he was quite right to have this feeling, for what Mordred purposed to do was to roam the countryside and corrupt the minds of the peasantry so as to disaffect these simple villeins against the king.)

Now King Arthur gave sirs Agravaine and Mordred their leave, and when they had gone out of his presence Agravaine said, “Alas! that thou didst never see our uncle when in his prime.”

“Yet,” said Mordred, “he seemeth not at all feeble today.”

“Perhaps not in body,” said Agravaine. “Nor perhaps not even yet in mind. But certes, his spirit’s not what it was once.”

“But he can not be very old,” said Mordred, “for I am only—” But he halted here, and indeed he had startled himself by saying this much.

And occupied with his own obsession Sir Agravaine paid no mind to the interruption, and he said, “He hath but a few years more than Guinevere, yet she doth remain in appearance a young woman her life long!” And he said this as if in hateful indignation, but Mordred correctly identified it as rather the plaint of unrequited desire.

“Well, dear Brother,” said Sir Mordred, “shall we to horse?” For he would fain have been accompanied by Agravaine, whose gold would be useful for foul purposes and yet who would be too foolish to understand what were done with it.

But Agravaine said, “Alas, I must needs remain here at Camelot for the moment, much as I should like to accompany thee.” And he did not tell him why he must remain, but instead he gave him much pompous advice on how to conduct himself as a knight of the Round Table.

And after a while, when Agravaine stopped to think whether there be a detail of chivalrous practice which he had neglected to mention to his brother, Mordred brought this wearisome subject to an end by saying that which he had heard about the maimed King Pelles. (For he knew this by his aunt Morgan la Fey, who discovered all the shameful truths about all people in the world except the most important, namely the adulterous love of Launcelot and Guinevere.)

“Dost know of King Pelles, Brother? And how he received the wound which doth never heal?” So asked Mordred.

“Nay,” said Agravaine, “I do not.”

“When Pelles was but a young prince,” said Mordred, “he had a great friend of his bosom, a very fine and loyal knight, and many times this friend had saved Pelles’ life. And this knight met a beautiful maiden who was the daughter of an high lady of the court, and he would marry her, and Pelles having by that time become king, this knight his closest friend asked his permission. ‘Certes, friend of mine heart!’ saith King Pelles. And he commanded that a splendid wedding be held for his friend and this maiden, and so it happened. But when the knight went unto his bride that evening he found King Pelles lewdly bedded with his wife, and he had taken her maidenhead by the
jus primae noctis,
as though she were the daughter of a churl, and this knight grasped up a spear and he plunged it into the privities of King Pelles. Now this wound hath never healed since, nor hath the bawdy king (who formerly was lecherous as a sparrow) ever performed the virile act since that time.”

And concluding this story Sir Mordred did smirk, the which was as near as he could come to merriment.

But Sir Agravaine owing to his obsession was not amused. And he cried, “O wicked knight to strike his king! Could Launcelot be so vile if discovered?”

“Launcelot?” said Mordred in amazement. “I speak not of Launcelot, and that was in another country besides. And was it not the king (and not the knight) who was here at fault?” And Mordred began to believe that his brother was not merely foolish but had gone quite dotty.

And then Sir Mordred took his leave of Sir Agravaine, and he went out of Camelot to work for King Arthur’s ruin. But his scheme was not soon accomplished, for the churls whom he met were not quick even to understand his meaning, having no cause to hate the king who was the greatest they had ever known or were to know. And Mordred’s great cunning, so effective amongst noble folk, was ineffectual with the loyal British peasant, who was a stubborn fellow in his virtue.

So now we leave this evil man and go with young Percival, who was to be the second most virtuous of all the knights of the Round Table, and the only reason he was not perfect was this: that he had during the night performed the act of darkness with the maiden whom he had rescued from her wicked captor on the road to Camelot. But he did not know what he had done, for never was there so naive a knight as Sir Percival.

Now Percival roamed far and wide throughout Britain, and he went across the sea to Ireland, and then he crossed the British Channel and he went amongst the French, and thence to Germany notwithstanding that these people were benighted paynims, and everywhere he went he searched for the Holy Grail, and always he remained pure of heart and therefore totally ignorant of the ways of the world, and because people everywhere were offended by the presence of such a good man, and he seemed harmless, he was oft assaulted by those who did not learn, until it was too late to save their lives, that Sir Percival could be vanquished by no other knight at that time, including Sir Launcelot (as we have seen).

Now another of King Pellinore’s sons, who was named Sir Lamorak and who was a fine knight, had also been upon the quest for the Sangreal, and at the time that Sir Gawaine had killed his father he was far from Camelot and therefore he did not hear of this occurrence immediately. But traveling upon a road in Wales one day he came upon some knights of the Round Table, and as they were on the same quest as he, he joined their company.

And one of them, Sir Bedivere, made condolences with him on the death of his father, of which he believed that Sir Lamorak had been apprised, and as Bedivere had lately visited at Camelot he told Lamorak that his youngest brother Percival had been made knight.

“And that he is a very fine youth,” said Sir Bedivere, “and hath a moral character comparable to his prowess at arms, can be seen by his response to the news that it was Gawaine who had overcome his father. ‘’Twas a fair fight,’ said he. ‘Therefore I bear towards Gawaine no hatred.’” And Sir Bedivere rejoicing said, “My dear Lamorak, is it not cheering to hope that Percival is representative of the new generation?”

But Sir Lamorak found these news to be evidence that his young brother, reared amongst women only, was effeminate, and he burned with revenge against Gawaine. But when he told as much to Sir Bedivere, that honest knight spake as follows.

“I am sorry to hear this, Lamorak my friend! Our Lord hath forbidden us in general to take revenge, or indeed to feel it. And in particular, King Arthur hath commanded that this feud between the families of kings Pellinore and Lot go no further! Two kings are dead, and one of them our fellow at the Round Table. He who raises another sword is condemned!”

And Sir Lamorak said, “Then I shall not violate my king’s command and so go to Hell.” Yet privately his hatred grew no cooler, and soon he left the company of the other knights, to go and deliberate on what damage he could do to Sir Gawaine’s blood without shedding it. And he traveled north to the Orkneys, where in the castle of King Lot, Queen Margawse lived as a widow. And though she was no longer in her earliest youth Margawse did yet have a certain appetite, and Sir Lamorak was a comely knight in the prime of his years.

And it was not so long after Sir Lamorak came to the Orkneys that he became the lover of Margawse, who was the mother of Gawaine, Agravaine, Gaheris, Gareth, and Mordred. And though he did this for revenge at the outset, for to bring shame upon that family, Margawse was yet as beautiful as when King Arthur conceived Mordred upon her. And this queen, who had never in her life been better than she should have been, now fell in love with Lamorak as well. And despite his weakness concerning revenge he was a fine and noble knight in all other respects, and therefore in loving him truly Margawse became a better woman than she had ever been.