Sons of Camelot: The Complete Trilogy (10 page)

“Yes,” Richard said. “Even though I know the men would have already taken turns to eat their supper, I am sure they would agree with stopping to water and rest the animals and themselves here before continuing for the night.”

“A wise suggestion, Richard,” Erasmus said, nodding his head approvingly.

A short while after finishing his meal, he walked out into the road and waited until he saw the cart come into sight. He signaled to the men to pull over to the side of the road.

“Let the horses and cows have a drink of water before you continue. It is close to Kenilwurt now so rest, then push on ahead. Sir Rhys, Sir Richard and I will continue the journey.”

“Yes, sir!” they replied in chorus, happy to have the permission to rest for a while.

Once their men had settled at the inn, the three readied themselves to ride out again. In the stables, they saddled their own horses and mounted them. Rhys was eager to be back on the road.

“Let’s be on our way then, Erasmus. I am suddenly anxious to get home.”

Rhys kicked Emrys lightly on his sides and the horse erupted into a bright gallop up the road. Erasmus laughed and kicked his own horse into a fierce gallop to catch up with him. They rode steadily, but not as hard as before and the green countryside rolled past them quickly. The evening sun had just started to descend over the horizon. They had traveled for most of the afternoon, stopping only to water the horses at a brook and allow them to graze on the green grass by the river bank.

They slowed to a walk just as the outskirts of Brum’s Grove appeared. At the crossroads outside of the village, they took the eastern road toward Worwick. Rhys started to get visibly anxious at that point. Richard just complained about being unable to wait any longer for some of Irelli’s cooking. Home was less than an hour’s ride away and Erasmus noticed Rhys’ troubled demeanor.

“Sundown is approaching and we will not make it to your home before nightfall. Your grandmother will not receive you in the dark.”

“You are right, Erasmus. Shall we stop at the inn?”

“Yes, sir. I have made arrangements for us at Kenilwurt Cross to bathe and have some supper and rooms to rest.”

“Excellent! Somehow, I am quite grateful for the reprieve. I do not feel ready to see Kenilwurt Hall just yet,” Rhys replied.

Richard grumbled and made faces. He was not looking forward to another night of inn food and stiff mattresses.

“I understand, Rhys. It has been over two years since you have been home. You must fear that everything and everyone has changed.”

“I do, sir.”

“Then a familiar place and some friendly faces will surely help to ease you into it!”

“Don’t puff up like that, Richard,” Rhys said, slapping him on the shoulders. “If ever I could compare another’s cooking and hospitality to my grandmother’s, then it would surely be Anika. You will have nothing to worry about at The Cross.”

They rode into the yard of the small inn a short while later. The owner and his wife stood in the yard awaiting their arrival. They were tenants of Anlawdd and Rhys knew them well. He slid down from his horse and ran to hug the woman and shook the man’s hand vigorously.

“Welcome home, Master Rhys. It is truly great to see you here again,” Gregor said.

“I am happy to be here, Gregor; very happy indeed.”

Gregor’s wife, Anika, led the men into a room where two tubs steamed with hot, soapy water. Piles of white bath sheets lay on a table nearby.

“Give me your riding clothes so that I may clean them before you are ready to leave.”

“Thank you, Anika.”

They handed the cloaks and boots to her and she left the room, closing the door silently behind her. The two men sat soaking the dirt of the road off their bodies in silence for a long time before Erasmus finally cleared his throat.

“Yes, Erasmus?”

“Sir?”

“You wish to say something?”

“I am quite curious to know which of Morgana’s gifts you will give to each of your sisters?”

“I have thought only briefly about it, but some decisions should be made on the first impulse.”

“Yes, this is true.”

“However, you will have to wait until I present them tomorrow.”

“Very well, sir.”

When they had bathed and dressed, they went back out into the yard to find that the horses were eating oats and the stable boy was brushing the dirt from them. Anika clucked at them to come in and eat; it was already dark and the dinner was getting cold. When they had eaten, they retired to their rooms and fell dead asleep upon the soft straw mattresses. In the yard, their horses whinnied with glee at the prospect of a long rest for the night.

Chapter Ten

None of them knew what the time could have been when they heard the roars of the charging beasts approaching the inn from across the fields.

All three had leaped from their beds, dressing quickly in bare armor and drawing their swords as the first of the arrows flew toward the building. Soon there was the crackle of flames coming from the yard and they could hear a woman screaming. The men were already running around trying to put out the fires.

“Get up! Get up! Fill the buckets and pass them down the lines,” they shouted.

As soon as the patches of fire were put out, the men had to run for cover. Another barrage of arrows fell on the building. Rhys couldn’t believe his eyes. He looked out the window and over the field to see the same strange black beast that had killed the stag at Camelot, but this time he had a rider. It was the dark cloaked man.

“Settle in against the archers,” Rhys called down to the residents who had gathered in the yard.

They had no defense against arrows; in fact, they had no defense at all. Two knights and a valet against what looked like a forty-soldier army. The only thing Rhys could think of was evacuating everyone to the forest and deserting the inn.

“Come with me,” Erasmus suddenly said to them both.

They went down the stairs to the kitchen where Anika stood pacing the floor, wringing her hands.

“Who are these people? Why are they trying to kill us?”

“We don’t know, Anika, but we do not intend for anyone to die tonight. Get your husband.”

When Gregor arrived in the kitchen, Erasmus turned to the boys.

“Go with Anika and get all the women and children out of the building and into the woods before the soldiers get any closer, then come back here to me.”

“Yes, Erasmus,” they replied in unison.

“Gregor, get every able-bodied man and boy in here right away. I need them to bring thick stable rope, clay jugs and bottles and all the lamp oil, hoof oil, black tar and lantern fuel that they can find.”

“Right away!”

When the men brought in the supplies, Erasmus quickly showed some of them how to prepare the containers, the fuel, the wicks and the flints to build and operate the makeshift bombs he was constructing. When the process was complete, they carried them up to the catwalk above the yard walls, lined up and waited.

When Rhys and Richard returned, Erasmus gave them each three of the flammable bottles and sent them to a post along the inside of the wall. Crouched down beside the men and boys of Anika and Gregor’s inn, they waited for the soldiers to advance.

It wasn’t long before the creature on top of the big black beast shouted the command and when he did, everyone assigned to Erasmus’ first wave struck their flints and lit the fuse on their first bottle. They counted to ten, then stood and threw the missiles as far as they could into the field. When they hit the ground, a line of burning soldiers were screaming and writhing in the illumination from the fires that broke out everywhere.

When the next line of fighters advanced, Erasmus’s second wave lit their bombs and briefly stood to aim them at the line of soldiers. Again, the front line erupted in flames. So severe was the onslaught that the creatures’ minions turned and fled, screaming for the retreat. Out of sheer curiosity, Rhys stood to take a look at the battlefield. It was then that the black arrow struck him in the shoulder and he fell backwards from the wall.

The last thing he saw was the dark-cloaked man sitting atop the big black beast lowering his bow and… smiling?

***

They took the arrow from Rhys shoulder and there was not much blood that followed it.

“You are very lucky, sir,” the blacksmith said to him, as he dressed the wound and bandaged it tightly.

“Is that what they call it?” Rhys asked, trying to crack a small smile.

His shoulder hurt like hellfire, the wound pulsing as if it were alive. He felt hot and clammy as if a fever would grip him at any moment. Anika washed his forehead with a cold cloth and Erasmus held out a cup of hot liquid for him to drink.

“It’s fever grass,” he explained. “It will help to clean the blood and keep the fever at bay.”

Rhys drank it all and then fanned away Anika’s hand. He rolled over on his good shoulder, sighed and went to sleep.

***

Cumbria, England.

Henry was perhaps the least surprised of the Sons that Arthur’s three messengers had met during their journey across the country. He had seemed resigned to the calling, even though he had neither opted to wait for them along the road, nor cut them short in the delivery of their message to him.

They were invited into the castle gates and then into the Great Hall, where their hands and feet were washed by page boys and then a meal was served by the stewards. After they had been suitably refreshed, Henry entered the hall with a book in his hand and a pipe in his mouth. He took a seat by the fireplace and asked them to join him. When the men had been seated and they had exchanged a few pleasantries, the door to the hall opened and the messengers were astonished to see Merlin enter the room.

He was an intimidating man; tall as a cedar tree and gaunt beneath long blue robes that were embroidered richly all over with stars, suns and moons.

“This is the last stop on your noble journey, messengers. I will handle things from here,” Merlin said. “You will rest the night, supply yourselves suitably from Sir Henry’s stores and begin your long journey home in the morning. I will see you off so please do not leave before you have been in my council. The times are dangerous and even this far south of Ayr, Mordred’s sinister work is already underway.”

“Yes, Master!” the three replied in unison before taking their seats near Henry by the fire again.

***

Kenil’s Cross, Worwick’s Shire, England.

The next morning Erasmus and Richard were surprised to find that Rhys’ bed was empty and the mattress was already smoothed out and rolled up on the tiny cot. They found him brushing Emrys in the stable yard while the stable boy stood by holding his saddle.

“Rhys, stop this madness,” Erasmus shouted. “Let the boy do it. You are injured.”

“I want to go home!” Rhys replied curtly.

It wasn’t until the words had left his lips that he realized how childish he sounded.

The valet took him by the arm and led him back inside where Anika was busy spooning large ladlesful of barley porridge into bowls for them. When they were seated she passed a plate with bread and cheese down the table.

“At least eat something before you leave, sirs,” Anika said. “It’s the least we can do after you saved our home last night.”

Rhys’ face held his look of determination for just a few moments more before he gave in to her pleas. He spooned the delicious gruel into his mouth until every drop of it was gone.

When he was ready to mount his horse, the stable boy was there again to give him a push up into the saddle. It was clear that riding single-handed was going to be a struggle for him and he felt lucky that they had such a short way left to go.

“Well, if I was not ready for home yesterday, I surely am today,” he said, grimly.

Erasmus sat easily in his horse’s saddle, not showing any fatigue at all from their long journey eastward. He was quite at home on a horse, a seasoned horseman. Like Rhys, his only real possessions when he first came to Avalon were two horses and his armor. Richard marched his horse around the yard impatiently. He was worried for Rhys and eager to get him home and into his family’s care.

“We are ready, sir!” he called to Rhys.

“As am I, Erasmus. Let us be off.”

He nodded his farewell to Gregor and waved to Anika before starting through the gates behind Erasmus. They turned up the road and ambled north toward Kenilwurt Hall. They had been on his grandfather’s lands since the moment they turned east at Brum’s Grove, but the road they were now on led to only one destination and that was home.

The roof of the hall came into view in just a few minutes and Rhys’ stomach started flipping over rapidly. When they rode through the gates, they slowed their horses to a walk and went easily up the tree-lined wagon path. The grove cleared and opened up to a wide glen with flower beds and a flattened wagon circle in front of a grand entranceway to the main house. Rhys’ family members were lined up, waiting outside the door as they rode up.