The Prince of Darkness

Anger

Chapter 14: Anger

Bedivere knew the woods of Camelot well. He led Henry through the thick forest as they chatted. "I know some about Arthur, he's a legend in my world," Henry said. "But I do wonder how much of it is true?"

"Why wouldn't any of it be true?"

"Stories can be twisted and exaggerated, things omitted or added," Henry said. "Trust me, I know that."

Bedivere studied Henry and he squirmed a bit under the squire's gaze. "How?" Bedivere asked.

"There are stories about my family and everything people know is wrong," Henry explained. "Have you ever heard the story of Snow White?"

"Yes, I have. A young princess running from her jealous stepmother, receives help from seven dwarfs but still falls victim to the Evil Queen's sleeping curse. She is awakened by true love's kiss and lives happily ever after."

Henry nodded. "Snow White is my grandmother."

"Really?" Bedivere asked. "And what does that make the Evil Queen?"

"My mom."

Bedivere stopped, brows furrowing. "Wait, how does that work? Wasn't she Snow's stepmother?"

"It's complicated," Henry admitted. "I'll try to explain it. But the stories don't talk about how my mother was manipulated into being the Evil Queen, how she was hurt and pushed until all she had was anger."

"Anger can be very dangerous."

Henry nodded. "From what I can tell, I think we lost Robin to the darkness because of his anger."

"Who is Robin?" Bedivere asked.

"He's my mom's soulmate." Henry hesitated before continuing on: "He's the reason I need to find Merlin. To save my mom, he took on the darkness and became the Dark One."

Bedivere stopped. "The Dark One? You want to save the Dark One?"

"Yes." Henry stopped as well, turning back to face his companion. "You're familiar with the Dark One?"

"Everyone in Camelot is familiar with it. We dealt with Gawain's reign of terror."

"How does time work? Because from what I understand, centuries have passed for us since Gawain lived."

Bedivere frowned. "Centuries? How do you know that?"

"Based on how many generations of Dark Ones there have been and how long my grandfather was the Dark One."

"Your grandfather was the Dark One?" Bedivere backed up a bit. "So you have part of the Dark One's blood in you?"

Henry shook his head. "My dad was born before my grandfather became the Dark One. Robin's descended from Gawain though. He had children as the Dark One."

"So Robin was dark before he became the Dark One?"

"Hardly. Robin was a good man who always tried to do the honorable thing," Henry said. He crossed his arms. "I know magic can be passed on but is it really bad for the Dark One to have children?"

"It's dangerous. Dark magic being handed down from generation to generation until there's a little army ready to fight the light."

"That hasn't happened. In fact, it seems Robin's family turned against magic."