by Billy Wong
Tirant smirked. "Sure they will. But they won't know, and all they'll see is a girl trying to play at king, who's a father-killer besides. You'll never find anything but fear, hatred, and contempt in strangers' eyes."
"I won't let them stay strangers forever."
"Don't pretend you can make people change. They'll only become your friends if they want to, and they won't knowing your history."
Mildy bowed her head, wondering how much truth lay in his words. But Ares tugged on her arm and said, "Don't listen to him. I mean, you've made friends even after Arthur's death." That was true. Many of the knights who now served on the Round Table seemed to genuinely like her, and even Gawain no longer displayed the same hostility as before.
Mildy defiantly met Tirant's gaze. "You won't break me so easily. I may not be a great ruler, but I know a selfish fiend like you can only be worse."
"It's too bad you see it that way. I would have offered to marry you, and you would have been able to live as a queen, without having to do the work of a king."
Mildy glared at him. "I wouldn't want to live as your queen, to sit in your castle as a trophy of your victory. It would have been nice for you, wouldn't it, to so conquer me and flaunt my servitude like a boast to the world? But that won't happen. Britannia won't be yours."
"You're a poorly bred princess, to talk to your better this way. The king will remember this when he has you in chains."
"That'll never happen." Mildy turned away, taking Ares' hand. "Let's go. There's nothing more to say."
She almost expected to be attacked, but Tirant made no move against them. "What a bastard!" Ares said as she stomped out of the inn. "But what about Excalibur?"
"He's not giving it to us. And he had guards just outside his room."
"We might be able to take them."
Yes, they might. But then they might also have trouble getting out of town. Mildy looked at Ares and smiled. "Are you getting daring on me?"
He didn't look at her, but replied, "I just don't get as nervous as I used to. Maybe it's just that I can't really imagine going through anything worse than the war."
"I'm glad you're getting a backbone. But let's leave him for now and go back to Camelot. Now that we know he's got it for sure, we can round up a real force and come take it back."
"Yeah, okay. I hope this doesn't grow into anything big."
"It won't, Ares. We'll squash him before it can."
He nodded grimly, and they rode on knowing the battle for a stable Britannia was not yet won. Only a few hours down the road, Mildy heard hoof beats behind her, and wondered if Tirant had decided to try and dispose of her after all. Maybe he wanted to do away with her here, away from other people, so that her death could be passed off as an accident on the road. She warned Ares to get ready, and soon a familiar knight and half a dozen of his allies came into view.
"Bedivere!" Mildy said. "You ally yourself with Tirant? He's even worse than I am!"
The grizzled knight came to a stop ten feet away from her. "I'm no friend of Tirant's. Just your enemy."
"You help him."
He shook his head. "He'll be the next to die, after you. I won't let him tarnish Arthur's name by claiming to be his God-chosen successor."
"And who would you have rule our land?"
"Arthur may be dead, but the ideals of the Round Table live on in me. It is I, the survivor of the great reign, who should inherit the future."
So he, too, desired to reign in Arthur's stead. Mildy wondered if he really might make a better ruler for Britannia than she did. He was more experienced in the workings of the royal court, and being a former knight of the Round Table would surely enjoy more popular support than the woman who'd destroyed it. But he would kill her, if he had his way.
"I simply can't let you do that."
"You won't stop me." Bedivere motioned his knights forward. Seven against two was not good, especially when one of the two was Ares.
"Where's your great honor?" Mildy demanded. "What, can't even defeat a woman alone?"
"A monster of a woman, who must be brought down by any means necessary."
Luckily the road was not wide, and only three of the mounted knights could engage Mildy and Ares at once. She rushed into close quarters with one of them, elbowing him off balance while their horses' flanks rubbed together. At the same time, she lashed out at another knight with her flail. That one fell with his jaw hanging by a flap from his skull. A slash from her first opponent glanced off her shield. She crushed his shield arm with a heavy blow, then struck him over the collarbone. Badly wounded, he fell moaning to the ground and did not rise.
A third knight met her, trying to slash her dark stallion about the neck. Cheater. The horse reared as a shallow cut opened on its flesh. But no substantial damage had been done, and Mildy smashed him from his saddle with her shield. He tried to rise, only to receive a horseshoe to the face which crushed his skull. Mildy took note of her mount's competence in battle and wondered whose it had been before. Could it be her father's, after all? She might not have killed it with her blow, and she'd never bothered to ask where her new horse had come from.
But now was not the time to think about that, as two more knights attacked Mildy while Ares continued to struggle with his opponent. More skilled than their companions, they battered her with vicious blows which left rent after rent in her armor while deftly maneuvering their mounts to throw off her attacks. She was finally able to knock one man off his horse, but he stood again to resume the fight. His friend cut deeply into her lower back, and she screamed. The knight on foot sliced her calf open. The other slammed the hilt of his sword into her face.
She came back with a thunderous blow which shattered the mounted man's shield and left him hanging from his saddle, and before he could recover ran his partner down with her horse. Now Bedivere joined in, further worsening her troubles. His sword crashed hard into her side, carving into her flesh and cracking ribs.
The hanging man recovered and slashed at her face. She almost lost her balance as she leaned away. Desperately Mildy rammed her shield into his shoulder, unbalancing him and staggering his mount. Before either could recover, she killed the knight with a blow that broke his neck. Bedivere rushed in, trying to slash her throat, but she blocked with her shield, entangled his sword with her flail, and ripped it from his hand.
"You really are good," he growled. "Next time, then." He turned on his horse and galloped away, leaving five fallen companions behind.
The sixth still fought Ares, apparently unaware his friends were done, and Mildy watched the battle go on a few moments longer. Her squire acquitted himself well; though his offense with the longsword she had insisted he carry for mounted combat was not very impressive, he'd at least managed to stay alive for this long. Mildy spurred her horse to charge, and when Ares' opponent shifted his gaze the Greek slashed his throat.
"That was tough," she said breathlessly as he wiped his blade. "Maybe I would have done better to bring an escort."
"Are you alright?"
She looked at herself, her armor again battered to hell and body adorned with many wounds. "They haven't reached my vitals, and I've endured worse. Hey. You're wounded too."
He touched his bleeding chest and winced. "It's not deep either, probably less than yours. How about we patch each other up and see?"
With a smile, Mildy dismounted to let him have his way.
#
Morgan groaned while she dragged herself up the muddy riverbank, having barely escaped the waters with her life. She could hardly remember how she had ended up here, only encountering a woman with golden hair in the forest, then a flash of light, and incredible pain... lightning. She'd been attacked by a sorceress, and hit by lightning. The next thing she knew she had been floundering in the rushing water, struggling to survive.
She heard laughter, and painfully turned her head to look. Rough hands grabbed her limbs and she found herself being borne away. She could not tell how long passed before the two men, warrio
rs by their dress, carried her into a small, sparsely furnished room and laid her on the bed. A thick man sat on its end, and smiled disturbingly at her while she tried to sit up.
"Who are you?" she asked.
His answer almost made her faint. "I am Tirant, future king of Britannia. And you, milady?"
Thinking fast, Morgan stammered, "I'm... Marie, from Mence, and I-"
"Stop it. I know who you are. Your height, your hair, your hunter's clothes—you're Morgan le Fay, aren't you? The mother of my enemy."
"No, you're mistaken. My name is Marie, let me go!"
"I doubt I will."
"What will you do to me?"
"I don't know yet. But I do know what I'm going to do to your daughter, with your help. I'm going to kill her."
No! Though scared and angry, Morgan tried to keep a look of calm and hoped he couldn't see her leg shaking uncontrollably. "Why must you do this? Can't you just leave her and Britannia alone? You don't belong here, you've no right to this land. Queen Mildred doesn't deserve your wrath."
"I'm only returning a favor I owe your brother. He took away the throne I was supposed to inherit, and now I'll take his realm for my own."
"What? How can that be? Arthur never took any territories outside Britannia."
"No, but before I was even ten years of age, he killed my royal father, and thus allowed my ambitious neighbors to take over my kingdom. So I spent my life as a free knight, leading armies all over Europe to victory after victory, but always in the service of others. When Camelot fell, I finally saw my opportunity to take my rightful place as a king, and so I came for my prize. And no woman will keep it from me."
"Why not just take back your own country, if it's justice you want?"
"I do not wish to make my people suffer the toils of strife and war. And they would not welcome me back either, now that the invaders' regimes have become so established in my old home."
"You hypocrite. Your people don't deserve to suffer, but we do? Why? What gives you the right? Remember that it was Queen Mildred who killed Arthur and gave you the opportunity to try for Britannia's throne—not to mention avenged your father!"
Tirant smiled at her. "I know. That's why I gave her the chance to marry me. I'm not totally ungrateful, you know. But she spurned the greatest gift I could give, and refuses to see the future in me. Thus she must die."
Morgan shook her head. "Greatest gift? Why would she want to play second fiddle to you, when she is queen here and now? Would you settle for being subservient?"
Tirant fingered Excalibur as he inclined his face towards the heavens, lips bending into a grin. "No, but I am obviously different from her. I offered her my mercy, and she refused. Now, woman or not she will suffer at the end of my blade, for I am meant to rule and nothing shall stand in my way."
Fear gripped Morgan's heart as she concluded that he intended to use her as bait. He was going to lead Mildred into a trap and kill her. Or so he thought. Morgan's dagger still hung at her belt, and without warning she pulled it from its sheath and stabbed at him. It plunged into his chest, and she waited for him to fall. Once his men found out what she'd done, she would die, but at least she had saved her daughter.
To her shock, Tirant laughed. "Not deep enough, Lady Morgan. Funny, I would have expected better from a legendary warrior... though perhaps not Marie of Mence." He plucked the dagger from his flesh. Her strength had not been enough, and his thick tunic and iron muscles saved him grievous harm.
"You bastard!" she screamed, beating vainly at his forearms with her fists. "I'll kill you!" Or more likely, he would her. She didn't want to die, but thought at least then he wouldn't be able to use her to bring down her daughter.
His hand shot forward, grabbing her by her right ear. He pulled her agonizingly close, and the cold steel of her own blade touched the skin behind her ear. "That did hurt a little bit. But I think I have the right punishment for it." A second later, she screamed as he began to saw.
#
"I wish we could have killed Bedivere back there," Ares said as they continued back towards Camelot. "Now we have two rivals trying to conquer Britannia for themselves?"
"More than two, I'd bet," Mildy replied. "There must be plenty of lords with big ambitions for this chaotic land, though those two are the ones I'm most worried about."
"Hey, you think when we finish dealing with them, I could go back to Greece for a while and visit my family?"
Mildy blinked. "I thought you came here to escape them."
"I did. But now that I've made something of myself here, it'd be nice to be able to show them..."
To show them they'd been wrong about him, that he wasn't a total failure. But Mildy wondered, "Will the favor of a ruler as controversial as myself really impress them all that much?"
"I don't know. But I'd like to see."
She would miss him when he was gone. "You'll come back, won't you?"
He smiled. "It was you who gave me the opportunity to become what I have. I wouldn't abandon you for anything."
#
Upon coming within sight of the gates of Camelot, Mildy realized something was amiss. The soldiers responsible for lowering the drawbridge regarded her and Ares with nervous frowns. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"Milady, Gawain has taken control of the castle and orders that we keep you out. We're sorry."
"What?!" And she'd thought she and her brother were beginning to get along. "Why would he do such a thing?"
"He said he should be king, being family to Arthur and having greater experience in government than you."
"What about my mother?"
"Morgan is inside with him, and from what I have heard, supports your brother's decision."
Mildy had almost forgotten her mother was also Gawain's, and felt relieved he hadn't harmed her. But she couldn't believe that Morgan had betrayed her, and was sure she only played along to protect herself until Mildy returned.
"Let us in, you dogs! I'm the queen, and he's a usurper! Where's your loyalty to the crown?"
"We're only soldiers. He's the master of the house now, and we must do as he says."
"Damn traitors," Ares whispered. "How are we going to get back in?" The moat was wide and deep, and it would be difficult to get a rope in position to climb up. "Maybe we can get a ride inside in a wagon?"
Mildy bit her lip. "Sorry, Ares, but I've been making sure our men inspect every wagon carefully for would-be assassins. Looks like that'll work against us now."
"What do we do?"
She didn't know, but she really had to get inside. If anyone would rule Britannia in her place, it might have been hard to find a better choice than Gawain. But Mildy was afraid of the slave-like status he might impose on Morgan, who had grown to love her freedom here. He wouldn't mean to harm his mother, she thought, but in the interest of her "safety..."
"I'm going to try and call Gawain out. Maybe when we talk, he'll remember his reason." She turned back to the guards. "I demand Gawain come out and hear me!"
They hesitated for a moment, then one left to fetch him. Soon Gawain appeared on the wall. "What do you want? You aren't needed here anymore."
"Why are you doing this? Our mother can't approve."
"Actually, she's the one who told me what to do."
Mildy wanted to believe he was lying, that it wasn't true. But to her dismay, she could detect no guile in his voice. "I don't believe you. Why would she want me gone?"
"She says you're dangerous, Mildred. Too dangerous to allow on the throne of Camelot."
That didn't make any sense. Morgan had encouraged her to take the throne! And what had Mildy ever done to prove herself "dangerous?" Kill her father? Morgan had wanted that, and she hadn't! "Tell me why I'm so dangerous."
"It's not so much you, but your reputation. You're not a bad person, but to the world, you're the traitorous daughter who killed her father and brought about the fall of great Camelot. To have a usurper in charge, and a woman besides, won't do Britannia an
y good in diplomatic terms."
"But you're a usurper, too. You stole the throne from me."
"I used to be one of Arthur's elite. So I've only taken back what is rightly his, in his place."
Grudgingly, she began to consider allowing him to rule. "Alright, but why must you deny me my home? Let me back in, and I won't fight you. I just don't want to be an outcast anymore."
"But that's what you are, Mildy. An outcast. It wouldn't do for our court to retain you as one of our own. At least I didn't try to kill you."
She supposed that was true. He'd only chosen to drive her away. "And you think Mom won't miss me?"
"She probably does. But we all make sacrifices for good."
Mildy didn't want any more sacrifice. There'd been enough. "This is ridiculous, Gawain. I can't believe my mother would do this to me!" She wiped at her eyes, which had begun to tear.
He looked at her with genuine sadness. "I'm sorry, Mildred. The world isn't fair."
She glared at him. "No, people aren't fair. I'll see you soon, brother." She turned her horse around and rode away.
Ares hurried after her. "What did you mean by that last remark?"
"I meant," she snarled as her blood boiled, "I'm going to take my kingdom back."
"I thought you didn't care about ruling Britannia."
Before, she hadn't. But she was infuriated by the reasons for which Gawain had taken her birthright and home away. He wasn't being fair. And if he could do such a thing to her, couldn't he allow further injustices in his reign?
"It isn't just that. He casts me out for others' wronghearted perceptions of me, and doesn't even give me a chance to try and change them? He won't get away with that."
Ares groaned. "The bloodshed never ends, does it?"
"No, it won't. Not until things have been made right."
#
Mildy and Ares made their way around Britannia in the following weeks, gathering up as many of her allies from the war as they could. But many refused to take up the new fight, either having made friends with Gawain or simply choosing to wait out the turmoil. Tirant was still attempting to build up his power to take the crown from whoever held it. Bedivere had not given up his desire to avenge his king, though he no longer seemed inclined to strive for the crown himself. Instead, he had aligned himself with Mildy's brother.
