The Flower of King and Knights

THe Quest of Sir Bedivere and Sir Llewiquin

The day was quite as Bedivere looked out over one of the parapets of Camelot. Cooling winds from the western shore, the faint hint of the sea air touched his nose. It reminded him of the sea, the chuckling laughter of his son, running across the glistening dunes of the sand as waves gently touched his feet. Bedivere smiled as the memories returned to his mind. He could feel himself there as the memory played in his mind.

“Bedivere!” cried Sir Bors, “The king requests your presence.”

Bedivere sighed as the memory faded away and he returned to his city, and his nightmares. “What does the king want?”

“He didn’t say, but he’s calling all the knights for a meeting.”

“Outstanding, I’ll be right there.”

The men were seated at their respective places as Ector entered the room. He was far from pleased as he yelled, “Those fucking bastards! I’ll have their heads upon silver platters!”

Sir Ulrich, seating next to Sir Kay, said, “My king, that might be a problem, since we had no metal platters with which to set the heads.”

“Shut up, Ulrich,” said the king.

“Yes, lord,” said Ulrich, though the squire noticed Sir Kay stifling a chuckle.

“So what the hell is this fort they’re talking about again, Merlin?”

“It’s called The Fort of the Strong Hand,” said the mage, “The order that resides there has the old traditions of might justifying might. They go around and force others to adhere to the order’s ways simply because the members want the towns folk to follow their orders.”

“Oh joy, I see we have a happy group of men. And how are they armed?”

“Very well, Ector. These men tend to be sons of great lords unlucky enough to be the third or fourth sons in line.”

“…Why me,” asked Ector, looking up to the ceiling for an answer. “Well then, I see no other option. I just defeated an army of bloodthirsty Vikings, I can’t just let this go unattended. We need to go down there and end this thing, now. Who wants to come with?”

“My king,” said Sir Bleobris, “Lord Arthur would normally send one of us to attend to these matters. A king should be bothered to handle such issues of the state.”

“I am a king with no army, no navy, and at this point, not a damn person is sending a single piece of gold with which can be used to solve that problem. I am bored as hell, I have a real problem with guys like these pukes, and I am going down there to kick some ass and take some names.”

Sir Bleobris was confused, “Why on earth would you take their names if you had just kicked their asses, my king?”

King Ector sighed heavily, “It’s…I mean…ugh, never mind.”

Sir Bors then spoke, “Who do you intend to bring with you, my king?”

“Well,” replied Ector, “I doubt anyone is going to send a major army against our castle, so I say we should all go. I mean, the Table hasn’t been seen this active in decades and the people might be shocked to our side if they that the Table Round is functioning again.”

“…That actually makes sense,” said Sir Ector.

“Aye,” followed Sir Kay, “A dozen knights with the son of Arthur, taking on a group of rogue knights in the open. It could help with our image with the common folk.”

“And it could lead us into a trap,” said Sir Dagonet, “We don’t know if they are planning for us to make such a bold move.”

“These are brutes and cowards in war,” said Sir Bleobris, “But they are no fools. They will see our ruse and try to stop us.”