The Flower of King and Knights

End of the Old Ways

Catelin sat in a chair facing Ector, with several of the knights circling the room. The air was tense and dark. “My lord is everything all right? I thought you would be joyous to our coming wedding.”

“I wish the wedding was to only thing I had to worry about. But it seems my aunt, Morgan, has decided to throw a curve ball my way…Sorry, bad paraphrasing.”

“Well what is the matter? What’s wrong?”

Ector told the guards to bring in a young monk, who told everyone what had happened at the cathedral of Canterbury. Some of the knights were stunned at the news, others remained still. The king simply listened to the tale he had heard for the fifth time now, and still he could hardly believe it now.

Sir Ector crossed himself, “Mother of God, this is the work of the devil.”

Merlin rose from his chair, “It is more than that my good knight. This is the work of a whore and her incestuous traitor bastard.” He held up the cross Mordred had melted. “And it seems that have found a way to avoid Christian persecution.”

Catelin was aghast, “How could he have done such a thing?”

Merlin replied, “Morgan infiltrated the order on Avalon, which had come to house the Holy Grail and the Spear of Longinus, using a vile of repentance to achieve this deception. She then stole the artifacts, and through the use of Satanic magic and lore, manipulated the artifact’s ability to heal and resurrect in order to bring Mordred back. Then she made sure that he would nearly impossible to kill.”

Sir Bors interjected, “How did she do that? Excalibur was the only thing that could kill him.”

“Actually, it is any weapon not made by man,” said King Ector, “Excalibur was forged by King Oberon’s father during the Wraith Wars. The blade is supposed to have been made from the bone of gods.”

“How did you come about knowledge, my king?” asked Sir Breunor.

“King Oberon gave me some texts about the Fae kingdoms and their history. He knew I am an avid reader of such tales.”

Sir Llewiquin followed. “And I heard the grail and spear were sent to heaven. How did they arrive to Avalon?”

Merlin answered, hoping to regain control of the conversation, “When Sir Bors, Percival, and Galahad were exposed to the divine items, they were under a hallucination of sorts. And sadly a combination of that with a spell from several members of the Avalon order caused the deaths of Galahad and Pervical, and made Sir Bors believe that the two items were sent to heaven. Now, if we can keep the conversation focused here? We have a man who is hell bent on destroying our chance of rebuilding Camelot, a woman who is eager to help him. And the one who has an ever reducing grip on reality can destroy symbols of the Christian faith. Which means that most of your armor has become an incredible liability to your safety.”

All the knights stared at the crosses and other Christian symbols with dread in their eyes. “We are in for a rough storm ahead. And if we are to survive this tempest, we will need to forgo old customs, and remake the world outside of our thoughts and beliefs.”

Sir Launcelot then rose, “What do you propose we do then, Merlin?”

King Ector replied, “We have something in mind, but do it, I need all of you in this room to show support. Because I can imagine that few of you will like what I have to say.”

-  -  -  -

Dinar swept the floor of his cobbler’s shop as he heard the bustling crowds pass on by his shop. A door opens, a symphony of creaks and aches coming from the hinges alerts him. He turns to find an old friend standing in the doorway. “Palomides, it has been too long!”