Microsoft Word - LadyPendragon (8 page)

Time had almost stood still. His heart had skipped several beats, and then in a blur of motion he and Morganna had reached Molly’s side. She would not die. He had enough strength in him to take on any enemy, and if need be, he would fight the Angel of Death when he came for Molly.

LADY PENDRAGON MARLEY MATHEWS 33

Long ago, his half sister, Queen Morgause of Orkneys and Lothian had tried to say that her son Prince Mordred was Arthur’s. Arthur knew Mordred could not belong to him since he would never have slept with Morgause but some fools had believed her falsehood. Once Molly had blossomed into a lovely young woman, Morgause retracted her claim and told the truth—

Mordred belonged to her husband, King Lot. After which, Mordred had started to advance on Molly like he wanted her as his next conquest. Arthur would never allow Mordred to have that desire come to fruition. Over his dead body would Molly ever have to bear Mordred touching her. But Morgause’s initial lie still rankled Arthur. Arthur could never understand why Morgause held such venom toward him. But then, he could never understand the way that Morgause put thoughts together in her head. She was continually plotting against him. For some reason she truly believed that one day in the not-so-far-off future, her child would sit on Arthur’s throne.

Sir Tristan pulled up beside him, and Arthur inclined his head to the side, as they rode up to the grand front entrance of Tintagel. Pages and squires scurried around the knights. In short order, a wide path had been made for Arthur and his knights. Arthur stared to the side, and noticed with trepidation that the mystical Lady Knights of the Round Table were in deep discussion. He could not stand it if they sided against him. Did they not know that he already walked a precarious line when it came to the magic he allowed them to practice? Even now, the Church of Rome was sliding its tentacles around his kingdom. Soon, the old pagan ways would be no more. He couldn’t say that he would be sad to see them disappear into the fabric of time.

His mother had been taken by the old ways, and in the end, her belief had robbed her of her own life.

Adria was now the head of the Order until Molly was well again. Suddenly, as if Adria could sense that Arthur watched her, she looked up catching Arthur’s gaze with her penetrating green one. A tingling sensation rushed through him as he heard Adria’s voice in his head. He raised his hand but his gesture of protestation did nothing to deter her. It was quite apparent that she was resolved in her decision. So much so, that she was willing to go against her own code of ethical magical behavior by penetrating his mind without his consent.

‘We shall take Molly to the Isle of Avalon,’ Adria said confidently. Her words had barely entered his mind when the Order began moving toward Arthur.

Molly moaned, shifting in Arthur’s arms. Arthur frowned. He could not allow them to take her, and yet, what power did he wield to stop them?

Sir Tristan jumped off his gallant steed, lifting his arms for Molly to be placed into them.

Adria and Morganna were nearly upon him, and Arthur quickly slid off of Llamrai, and reached out to take back Molly. She was safer in his arms than in Tristan’s. Tristan could be swayed by the lady knights’ magical charms. Arthur on the other hand was more resistant to their mind probes.

“Merlin,” Molly gasped. Pain continued to contort her features. Mirrored pain entered Arthur’s heart. The Order of Merlin’s Light Bearers were upon him and they quickly circled him, as Adria stared at him stern-faced, an implacable expression molded across her usually easygoing countenance. Power buffeted against him. It buffeted against him in waves. The Light Bearers’ magic danced in the air.

“Merlin would not want this,” Adria declared, deliberately blocking his way. Arthur, as the undisputed High King of Britain, was not accustomed to such a display of outright disobedience, and since he was holding his beloved daughter in his arms with her blood seeping across his own tabard, he was not in the mood to humor Adria and her ladies. Could they not see LADY PENDRAGON MARLEY MATHEWS 34

that they were delaying Molly’s treatment? Precious time was being wasted. With each moment that passed, Molly slid closer to The Angel of Death.

Queen Gwenhwyfar and her ladies in waiting rushed out of Tintagel, with their long skirts hiked up nearly past their ankles. Gwen’s shocked half-scream, half-shout seemed to cause everyone to waver in their resolve. Her somewhat grating voice always did have a way of piercing even the most steadfast warrior.

“What has happened?” Gwen cried fearfully, pushing her way past Morganna and Adria.

Blotchy redness covered Gwen’s normally milky white complexion. Fear skipped in her eyes.

“Molly has been struck by a black rider’s blade,” Arthur bit off, his voice cracked with emotion. He could not will himself to say anything further without cracking beneath the strain.

Gwen’s long bell-shaped white sleeves became splattered with blood, as she reached to look underneath the makeshift linen dressing that Arthur had ripped from his own tunic.

“Sweet Mary, Mother of Jesus,” she murmured. Mouthing a fervent prayer, she then replaced the dressing, which had yet to staunch the flow of blood. “Make haste and take her to our bedchamber, I shall gather together my healing herbs, and assemble my needle and thread. “

Gwen’s voice welled with confidence, yet it did nothing to assuage the worry that was speeding through him.

Gwen turned back toward Tintagel and was immediately confronted by Adria.

“Nay, you shall not!” Adria stared challengingly at Gwen. Gwen tossed her head haughtily, bristling with pure indignation.

“Pray remove yourself from my path, sorceress!” Gwen slightly lifted her chin up as if to pronounce her queenly authority. Gwen’s voice rumbled with the force of her command, though Adria didn’t seem affected in the slightest.

“I shall not,” Adria reaffirmed. Their discourse was interrupted when Molly let out another heart-wrenching moan.

“We need to do something!” Arthur shouted above the argument of Gwen and Adria. He shoved the two women aside, barely paying any heed to Gwen’s outraged gasp. If only Mildred would here. He would allow Mildred to take any steps she thought necessary in saving Molly’s life. Mildred had always known what to do.

He moved into the Grand Hall named Ehangwen, and took the stone steps up to the rooms above two at a time. Women followed him, but his knights kept their distance as they realized their talents lay in warfare and not in the art of healing. A heavy feeling washed over the interior of his castle. Foreboding hung in the air.

He moved into his private chambers that he shared with Gwen, and gently laid Molly on the fur-covered bed. Finely woven bed hangings canopied the bed, and he pulled the one side across to keep the warmth in. A fire crackled in the enormous stone fireplace, and maids scurried hastily out of the way, curtsying as they backed out of his chambers. He groaned, when he took in the pitiful sight that Molly created. If pure steel did not run through his blood he would have already collapsed to his knees at Molly’s side. But he could not betray his weakness.

He had to maintain his composure no matter how much of a challenge that stoic attitude presented to him.

“Where is Merlin when you need him?” he asked wearily. Touching his hand to Molly’s forehead again, he cast his eyes to the heaven. “Help me to save my daughter. Dear God, show me the way. “ After what seemed to be an age, Morganna broke the silence with her richly hued voice.

LADY PENDRAGON MARLEY MATHEWS 35

“Adria has gone to search for Lord Merlin. She realized that you were too pigheaded to argue with. Saints above, my brother, you accept the magic of Excalibur, and with it you heed the counsel of Merlin and yet you will not allow us to whisk Molly away to the magical shores of Avalon. It is most distressing, not to mention very aggravating. You will be the death of me, to be sure. “ He inclined his head at the odd cadence in her tone.

“If I allowed you to take her to Avalon, you might never return. I could not bear that,” he muttered. Clasping Molly’s blood encrusted hand tightly he brushed a light kiss against her forehead. A shiver ran through her at his feathery touch. The wasted look that had taken hold of her sent an unbridled fear rushing through him. He was losing her.

“Well, brother, you should have told that to Merlin a year ago. Lord Merlin has been taking Molly there to train with him, and it makes me wonder why you did not know this beforehand. Brother, you are too enthralled with your lady wife! Perhaps, if you spent less time trying to humor and cajole her, you would have had more time to follow the whereabouts of your only child!” Morganna spat out.

An electrical current flowed between Arthur and Morganna. He flattened his lips into an unreadable line. Though he loved Morganna, she sometimes did grate on his nerves. He cocked his head to the side. His sister seemed different somehow. Her visage had altered slightly. She did not seem the same as she had yesterday. He shook his head. It did not make any sense.

How could his sister alter in the course of the passing of one day? Molly seemed different as well. She had muttered the name of someone called Collin. Who was this lad, and why did he not know him? A father deserved to know the man that sought his daughter’s affections.

Just then, Gwen charged into the room, with her arms laden with her medical supplies.

Without being able to control himself he let out a long suffering groan. Now the never-ending battle of wills between Morganna and Gwen would start once again. They never had liked each other, on a good day, and he could see that Morganna was getting prepared to battle it out with Gwen over the well being of Molly. Good Lord, he needed someone to come help him handle the two formidable women fighting over Molly. What really confused him was that they both believed they were acting in Molly’s best interests.

“Out of my way, witch,” Gwen spat out, giving Morganna a searing gaze. Arthur didn’t really care for the contempt that leaked through Gwen’s voice. After all, his daughter was a witch, just like Morganna.

“Watch your tongue, my lady wife, you speak to my lady sister,” Arthur chastised, frowning at Gwenhwyfar. When he had first married the fair Lady Gwen and inherited the Round Table through her dowry, he had believed that she was a soft-spoken whimsical creature.

As he had gotten to know Gwen, he had discovered that she had a short temper, and that her only passion of any sort was to the Christian religion that he himself had only recently accepted.

Sometimes her frigidity blasted him and everyone else in her life, for that matter. It was this particular cold edge that caused him great alarm. Gwen did not fare well around other people, especially those of the opposite sex.

Inwardly, he knew Gwen’s true desire but he could not allow her to follow it. Not when everyone believed in their love. He snorted. He doubted that Gwen had ever truly been in love with him. And to be fair, his heart still belonged to Mildred. Alas, Mildred had died many years ago. He would be eternally sorry that they had never found their happiness together. It was one of those regrets that would tear at him until his dying day and in all likelihood it would haunt him even after death.

LADY PENDRAGON MARLEY MATHEWS 36

The only reason Gwen continued to allow him into her bed was because she believed she needed to fulfill her wifely duties by bearing him a child. But she had yet to find life growing in her womb, despite her many fervent prayers. Arthur did not believe that she truly wanted a child. Whenever a babe was around her, she immediately lost interest, scrunched up her nose, proclaimed that they never ceased their wailing, and then she would flee as quickly as her feet would carry her. Arthur on the other hand, delighted in being around wee babes and was contented when he could hold one. He had missed a great deal of Molly when she had been a babe in arms, and he regretted that the most, out of anything else in his life.

Mildred’s betrothal to his cousin had greatly complicated things, and though he had been very young at the time, he had wanted to break the betrothal. Alas, in the end, Mildred had ended up wedding Llewellyn, despite the fact that Arthur vehemently opposed it. She had decided it would be the only way to keep the fragile peace, and in doing so, Arthur’s heart had been broken. If only she had chosen him. He would have fought heaven and earth to keep her in his arms. He would have braved the very fires of hell if the consequences of their union demanded it. In the end, though, Mildred had chosen her sense of honor and duty, over the earth shattering love they shared.

From that time onward, Arthur had set about proving to be Britain’s grandest king, and through his many campaigns, against the Saxons, Picts and Danes, he had kept the people of Britain relatively safe from invading forces.

He settled his large body beside Molly’s now frail looking one, and his breath hitched in his throat as Gwen pulled the blood soaked dressing away. Gwen descended on Molly, with her large glinting threaded needle, and Arthur caught her hand, before she could cause undue misery to his daughter. As if Molly could sense the oncoming danger, she sat up in bed, wild-eyed, and locked her furious eyes on Gwen. Again his breath stalled in his throat. He smothered a cry at the sight of Molly’s rage filled eyes.

She raised her hand at Gwen, and for the first time, she lashed out at the woman with a small spark of her blue fire. Nonetheless, though weak, it still connected with Gwen’s flawless skin, and Gwen backed away. Gwen let out a loud hiss and began rubbing at the affected spot.

Her mouth formed in a surprised “O” but she couldn’t seem to get any words out.

“If you try to touch me again, with your grimy fingers, and filthy needle, I shall turn you into an old hag that would rival the one from Shakespeare’s Scottish Play,” Molly promised, as she began coughing up blood. “Oh, shit! Why couldn’t I have just stayed in Connecticut?” she asked herself, as Morganna pushed Gwen out of her way. Gwen stumbled to the side and lost her grip on her needle. It clattered to the stone floor. Morganna plopped her bottom down on the side of the bed, and gathered Molly in her arms.