The Royal Stones of Eden (Royal Secrecies Book 1) (24 page)

I said it in a manner that I thought he would understand. I spoke to him of a menace that came from the Franks in the south. I told him that these invaders, called Normans, married the Saxons, their bloodlines mingled, and their progeny gained cultural, political, and military advantage.

Even the fighting had changed, I explained. Arthur’s men often rode to battle, dismounted, and then fought on foot. The Normans often fought while still on their horses. Everything was different.

I gave details that I thought clearly substantiated that our experience was not just a dream, but that it was a sobering reality. We had traveled to a land that was far different from the one we used to know. I explained to the king that even the language and religion had changed for many. The leaders spoke in French. They often demanded a conversion to Christianity and a forced allegiance to a pope, a man who reigned in an empire of religious influence over vast areas.

I convinced the king, as I enumerated the many examples of historical facts that I had learned, that it was probable that we were indeed in a different place and time. I argued again that if it was truly possible that we had traveled through space and time, it was also possible for Guinevere to be alive and inside a tent not far from us, just as Robin had said.

After a period of deep reflection on the presented facts, Arthur decided to gather against Medraut and to fight him. But he wondered how he would respond to the
witch
that he once called a queen when he finally would look upon her royal presence. After all, she had taken matters into her own hand and sought to prolong life, and she had engaged an evil sorcerer to achieve this goal. But by the time she realized that her involvement was evil and wrong, it was too late. Medraut had used her for his own purposes. He kidnapped her and employed her in a most vile experiment, for purposes known only to Medraut. Was he supposed to feel affection and sorrow for the woman who disobeyed his law, ignored tradition, and broke his heart?

What happened next at the camp of Medraut was so intense, and the events so quickly unfolded, that everyone was in distress for days afterward, in an attempt to process what truly had happened. They arrived under the cover of darkness at the camp. Arthur assumed command and barked his orders.

“Surround the camp, and Samuel take the rear position! Ready your spear, at my command!”—Arthur was finally in a position of command again. It was hundreds of years overdue. He sent Samuel to the rear, and he posted John on the left of the camp. Robin was on the right, near the tent where Marian lay. Joseph Habib was instructed to stay back in a retreated position while Arthur and I advanced in the center toward Medraut. The other servants of Arthur’s camp who tended the horses were terrified and on the verge of mutiny. They stayed behind at Arthur’s camp.

It was our second approach to Medraut’s camp, and it was Robin’s third. Our first approach had ended with Robin running out of the camp with the news concerning the queen. On this second approach, we advanced again in stealth, still by foot, and under the perceived cover of night, but Medraut did not step out to meet us this time. The only thing seen was the light of the cauldron’s fire and the lights of the candles that glowed against the canvasses of both tents. All of the men crouched down on the ground. They hid behind small thin weeds that provided no cover by any definition. Everyone waited for a signal from the king.

I looked at Robin on the far right of the camp, and I praised myself for not taking off his ring that had encapsulated his fear so well—perhaps too well. Finally, I saw Arthur’s arm raise toward Robin. It was a signal for him to go into the tent. I thought the move a brave one, but I was confident that Robin would proceed without fear. The rest of us waited and knelt on the cleared misty moor.

What happened next was the most shocking event of the night. Some of the details were relayed later to me by Samuel. From the rear of the camp he heard everything more clearly.

Robin this time ran toward the tent on the right, with little or no regard to the advantage of a cautious line of attack. And in a few moments, the whole camp heard two blood-curdling screams that pierced our bones.

Robin rushed into the tent because he heard the distinct voice of Marian screaming. Robin refused to tolerate the thought of the violation of Maid Marian. The thought of her defilement urged him forward. It was the voice of rejection that he heard—she screamed the word, “No!”

When Robin entered, he saw Medraut lying naked on top of her. Marian’s body was also naked, but it was a healed body with no evidence of any disease or plague. Marian kept objecting to Medraut’s forceful advances, and Robin raised his bow. As he drew the bow to launch his arrow, Medraut twisted his burning eyes toward Robin, a distraction that weakened the evil one’s hold on Marian. She pushed Medraut off her body, and then she screamed again as she stood up. She saw that Medraut was about to wave his hand against Robin. The scream startled even Medraut as he turned toward her—Robin’s arrow barely missed him.

Samuel, behind the tent, and without the direction of the king, threw his poisonous spear toward a rising shadow that appeared against the tent, just after Marian’s second scream. Maybe it was a reflex, or maybe it was fear. No one but Samuel knew for sure why he threw his spear so suddenly toward the shadow.

By the end of the second scream, everyone had reached the tent on the right. The scene was one of revulsion, and everyone, including Medraut, was briefly frozen. Marian stood naked in the tent, with a deviant Medraut to the right of her. Robin collapsed in shock in front of her, and we all saw the tragedy. Marian grasped the metal object that protruded from her chest with both hands. Her glossy eyes stared straight ahead. Samuel’s spear had pierced her back and spine, and its bloody tip extended from her chest. Bits of bloody stringy flesh dangled to the ground. Marian fell face forward, on the grassy floor of the tent.

Robin noticed that the others had arrived behind him, and so did Medraut. The evil one with glowing red eyes stood ready to kill us all with the power of an effortless gesture. When Robin saw me, he also saw what I carried in my right hand. He saw that I had by my side what he had once risked his life for—he saw the Sword of Gath.

Robin was still overwhelmed, but, without fear, he grabbed the sword from me. He swung it with vigor toward the neck of the enemy. Medraut’s eyes stopped their glow when he saw the threatening sword as it swung toward him.

Just as Medraut was going to try to take the sword from Robin, the distinctive sound of a crossbow pluck was heard. Joseph Habib had fired a single arrow, and it pierced the chest of Medraut—it was an arrow dipped in an onyx potion per my instructions. With the arrow extending out of Medraut’s chest, he fell to his knees. He was unable to move, his body completely paralyzed.

I grabbed Robin’s hand, and I removed the black ring off his finger. With haste, I took the sword from Robin and handed the weapon to John. I motioned him to perform the final deed. John raised the sword, and he swung the sword swiftly, with deadly accuracy. Medraut’s head, fully severed, fell to the ground. The head rolled forward for almost two complete revolutions, but it was just enough to reveal Medraut’s piercing eyes as they looked upward at us. It seemed, to some in the tent, that he looked directly at his executioner—little, but powerful John. Then the evil headless torso, that rhythmically tossed blood upwards, fell forward, and the arrow splintered and broke as it penetrated further into Medraut’s lungs.

As everyone caught their breath from the shocking event, I observed the strange and hideous stream of black blood as it continued to flow from Medraut’s fatal wound and seeped deep into the ground. I had never witnessed a beheading with a sword. I had heard rumors that it could not be done with one single blow, but John did it. Not many people knew that Little John was once an executioner for Henry II of England.

I went over to Medraut’s body to inspect it. I did not in fact believe that he was dead. I kicked him slightly with my right foot. I knelt down and shook his body. Then I searched his pockets. They were empty.

I opened his clenched fists, and I discovered my fatal error. I had entered the tent with the blue and white stones in a pouch around my waist—the stones that made time travel possible. Somehow, it must have happened when I first entered the tent. Medraut had moved the two stones, with the power of his mind, out of my bag and into his hands, just moments before his death. One fist held the blue stone, and one held the white stone.

Samuel was the last one to arrive in the tent. He watched me stand to my feet. I had a look of absolute dreadfulness on my face. He asked me, “Is he dead?”

“He is dead—
here
,” I said. “But, I fear he is alive
somewhere else!
”

I then walked over to Robin, who was lying on the ground in front of Marian. He was in extreme agony from the spell being partially broken. I took hold of Robin’s hand and placed the ring back on his finger. His physical pain immediately left, but his emotional pain was only just beginning. He looked at Samuel, whose spear had killed Marian, and his eyes spoke of vengeance and hatred.

In an attempt to help Marian in some way, and because he felt a sweeping sense of guilt, Samuel went over to Marian’s prone body and placed both of his hands on her naked back. Arthur and Joseph had to restrain Robin from attacking Samuel. They pulled him off and away from him.

“Get away from her!”—Robin yelled out while still being constrained. Arthur and Joseph asked Samuel to step away from the body. I saw blood on Sam’s hands as he moved away from Marian’s corpse. The blood on Samuel’s hands had a trace of a white, powdery substance on them. I was the only one that saw it. I knew precisely what it was, and I knew what Samuel had done. I knew that Samuel must have stolen some powder from a potion bag at my tent. The residue on his hands told the tale. After all, Samuel was my attendant. Who else would have the knowledge to do what he did?

Joseph and Arthur finally released Robin when he affirmed that he would not attack Samuel. Robin stormed out of the tent to take a walk in the woods, and John followed him. Joseph and Sam looked at the scene of death while I went with Arthur to the other tent.

Arthur slowly pulled back the flap of the tent to reveal the woman covered in black and white whelps. This woman, although barely alive, was very near to the eternal door of death. I wanted to give comfort to Arthur, but I could not find the words that would ease his pain or confusion. Although, given the urgency of the matter, I needed to act quickly and say the words that were in my spirit.

“Sire, this is most assuredly your queen, and I believe that you have the courage and will to save her, and, if not her, her son!” I advised.

“She is with child?” Arthur asked.

“Yes, the stones say so.”—I held a gold stone of divination in my hand. I showed it to him as he knelt down before his queen.

“What duty do I owe a bastard!” he quipped.

“No, sire. The child is yours,” I announced to him. “When your wife was killed, along with the other woman, at the stone table, her spirit was transferred into a dead body, to someone killed during this present time. Her child came with her. That child is
your
child, from a time past, but
your
child nonetheless! The golden stone never lies. You know this is the truth! We must act now!” As I spoke, I did not know if I would be in time to save the queen or her child. I concluded that the disease had already claimed the life of the woman that had traveled in time with Guinevere. Time was our forbidding enemy and our only possible savior.

I pleaded further in my efforts to save the woman and her child. But I added more news with deep regret, “Arthur! Medraut, I fear, is not dead!”

“Impossible! His head was severed! Just like the man of Gath was killed, so was he!”—Arthur still kneeled near his queen, and he tenderly held her crusted hand.

“Sire, I found the blue and the white stones in his hands! The stones of transference may have saved him.”—these words of mine made Arthur turn his head away from the queen, and he looked toward my telling eyes.

“Gather the others, Merlin! You will address them. We must not allow Medraut to destroy the world. He must be driven back to where he came from.”—Arthur was resolute when he needed to be. That was the strength of a king. Some would say he was callused, I would say he was authoritative.

Arthur finished his words, and then Joseph Habib came into the tent with some more mysterious news.

“The stone is gone!”—Joseph trembled as he spoke. He was not someone easily disconcerted. “The stone—the red stone around Marian’s neck—it disappeared, even before my eyes, while I looked at her wounds!”

“Samuel banished her! He was successful! She is safe—somewhere in the future!”—I announced. “Joseph, summon the others and gather them around the fire!”

A surprised Joseph left to gather the others while I continued to console the distraught king. I placed a hand on his shoulder and felt his almost rhythmic convulsions while he sobbed, and his tears poured onto the blackened and desiccated skin of Queen Guinevere. The body that was then hers was nearly dead, and she gasped for every breath.

The others quickly gathered around the fire, and Arthur and I met them and formed a circle around the cauldron.

“Friends, we have born a great tragedy tonight, even for Guardians!” I told them. As I spoke, I looked at the face of a more subdued Robin, and the eyes of a shaken Arthur and Joseph. Samuel still had the look of guilt on his countenance. John solemnly stood with Robin and offered him a firm arm of support around his shoulders.