Best Knight Ever (A Kinda Fairytale Book 4)

by Cassandra Gannon

Between the two of them, Galahad was pretty sure they were going to wind up with a program approaching art. How could it be anything else? Every word of it would be true.

  He nodded at Trystan. “Okay. You can wound some pigs. You can’t chop them into bacon, though. And, as a compromise, I’ll only talk about rocks for two minutes. Three max.”

  Trystan grunted. “Fine.” Galahad could translate all the man’s “fines” now and that one indicated contented agreement.

  “We have to add some puppets, though.” Galahad tacked on, because every show needed a few puppets.

  “Lyrssa save me…” Trystan shook his head, not even bothering to argue.

  Galahad smiled at him. The man truly was an angel.

  Across the courtyard, Amelia, the ogre girl, was practicing her sword-handling techniques against a straw dummy. Trystan was teaching her fighting skills and the child was dedicated to memorizing every word he said. Living in Camelot’s palace had done wonders for Amelia. Her blue fur was healthy and combed. Her eyes shone brightly. She was eating well, and sleeping safely in her bed, and always had a thousand questions about everything around her.

  Soon she would be ready to go to school. Amelia no longer wanted to be a great highwaywoman. Now, she wanted to be a knight. Luckily, the new and improved Knights’ Academy would be opening again in the fall and she would be one of the first students admitted. If that was her dream, Galahad would make sure she reached it.

  As Trystan always said: Without dreams people became ghosts.

  “While we’re making changes, I want to rewrite part of the Knights’ Code.” Galahad decided. “It really should be, ‘Knights protect those weaker than themselves.’” He glanced at Avi. “That’s way more inclusive. Everyone can be a knight, right?”

  She nodded happily.

  Trystan reached over and ruffled her hair. He was so wonderful with children and there were so many orphans from the War who needed a loving home. When was the curse on the gryphons going to be lifted? It had been months since they found the graal and there was still no sign of Lyrssa. Avi assured them that the queen was on her way, but Galahad was beginning to wonder if he should do something to hurry her along.

  The next day, he and Trystan were getting married. Gwen and Galahad had planned the whole wedding, given Trystan’s tendency to scare away all the vendors. (The caterer was going to need therapy after Trystan’s insistence on ordering leprechaun hors d'oeuvres.) Still, the reception would be pretty damn awesome, if Galahad did say so himself. After the wedding, though, he was really going to hone in on making sure the gryphons’ future was assured, even if it took another mission or two.

  “Trystan!” Gwen shouted, marching across the lawn towards them. “Your wedding guests just set the royal portrait gallery on fire. All the paintings of Camelot’s former kings are now ash.”

  Trystan gave an unconcerned shrug. “Caelia is not a fan of Camelot’s former kings or of art. It was only to be expected.”

  Gwen crossed her arms over her chest. “She set the pictures on fire while they were still hanging on the wall. Half the castle could have gone up.”

  “Caelia does not like castles, either. That is why I upgraded the sprinkler system before she arrived. Do not worry, j’aha.”

  “Queens don’t worry.” Gwen mocked and arched a brow at him. “That’s what we have our brothers for.”

  Trystan was the world’s most impressive sigher and he liked to regularly demonstrate it. “Fine. I will speak to the Redcrosse Clan. If I am murdered the day before my wedding, though, it will be on your head.”

  “I’ll take my chances.” Gwen sat on the arm of Galahad’s chair and ate some of Trystan’s Pop-Chocolate. “So what are you doing out here, when you’re supposed to be finalizing the seating charts? Still arguing over your new show?”

  “Trystan wants to kill all the other characters.” Galahad told her, continually thrilled to be reunited with his family. “I’ve just talked him out of it.”

  “The knight wishes to dedicate the show to rock-hunting.” Trystan retorted. “I have just talked him out of it.”

  “I’m sure Avi talked you both out of it.” Gwen winked over at her daughter. “And whatever program you two come up with, it has to be better than that God-awful reality show you talked Midas into airing on his TV network.” She wrinkled her nose. “For real. Inside St. Ives is utter trash.”

  “It’s the highest rated show on TV.” Galahad defended, although she had a small point about its overall quality. The program was nothing but naked bungee jumping with Eric, Konrad touring endless sleazy bars, and the Galahad-duplicates trying to turn their former strip club into a modeling agency. “Everyone loves Mordy.” He was the host.

  “I don’t love Mordy.” Trystan and Gwen chorused. The two of them were usually in synch.

  Galahad tried a diversion. “Hey… Since marbles are glass and not marble, why do you think they’re called marbles?” He asked, partly to distract them and partly because it was an interesting question.

  “I imagine because the game was played with small rocks, before they invented the glass toys.” Trystan guessed without missing a beat. He always followed along when Galahad’s mind wandered now, rarely even blinking at the strange tangents.

  Galahad made an “ummm” sound of thought. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

  “Focus.” Trystan urged, eager to quickly return to the topic of murdering people who annoyed him. “I know you feel some kindness towards Mordy, as you do towards all pitiful idiots. But the man is a stalking menace, who is lucky he still breathes.”

  “Agreed.” Gwen chimed in. “I can’t believe you invited him to the wedding, Gal. He’ll probably try to kidnap you, again.”

  “He never tried to kidnap me…”

  Trystan cut him off. “Mordy’s coming to my wedding?!” He repeated in outrage, sitting up straighter in his chair. “When the fuck did that happen?”

  “Cursing is a no-no.” Avi interjected, still coloring all over the script pages. It looked like she was drawing bubbles, now.

  “Sorry.” Trystan muttered, his gaze still on Galahad. “When the heck did we agree to invite that dickhead?”

  Gwen made a face, unimpressed at his efforts to clean up his language.

  “This wedding is so important to Mordy.” Galahad nodded earnestly. “He feels like he helped bring us together. I think it would have broken his heart to be excluded, Trys.”

  “This is how you rationalized inviting half of Ted-ville. I am already building them a factory and tomorrow I must feed them cake, as well. And now Mordy is coming?”

  “He’s going to do a very special episode on our wedding.” Galahad defended. “He has it all planned. He won’t get in the way. I promise.”

  Trystan made an aggravated sound. “Fine.” He jabbed a finger at Galahad. “But, he did not help bring us together. He gets no credit for the fact that I looked at you and was lost. It was all me being a pushover for crazy ideas and violet eyes.”

  “That is pretty much how it happened.” Galahad agreed cheerfully. “You were head-over-heals ‘attached’ to me, right from the get go.”

  Trystan’s mouth curved. “Yes.” He murmured. “That is pretty much how it happened.”

  “Hey, I’m the real matchmaker here.” Gwen declared, eating more Pop-Chocolate. “It was my idea to send Trystan after you, Gal.” She glanced at Trystan. “Speaking of which, we still need to find that wicked witch who got lost in the rabbit hole. Midas made a deal with her family. You can look for her next, since you’re so amazing at tracking people down.” She paused. “…But you don’t have to marry her, at the end.”

  Trystan fixed her with a put upon look.

  Galahad laughed, loving his life and the people in it.

  “Uh… Galahad?” Midas came up to them, walking very slowly across the lawn. The graal was carefully balanced in his hands, like he was afraid he might drop it. “I looked up and this thing was blinking. Is it supposed to be blinking?�
��

  Sure enough, the glass orb seemed to be slowly shifting colors. Pink, green, blue, red… one after another in a never-ending rainbow of lights.

  Trystan and Galahad exchanged a quick look, rising to their feet. They had carried the graal all the way back to Camelot and it had never blinked. It was as if it had somehow been activated, now. That was Good, right?

  Yeah. That was Good. Galahad could feel it.

  Trystan wasn’t nearly so optimistic. Huge surprise. “Midas, put it down.” He warned, moving towards his brother. “If it explodes or releases some toxic substance, I do not want you harmed.”

  “Why would it explode and release a toxic substance?” Midas demanded. “Shit, you brought this thing home and it might release a toxic substance? We’ve been keeping it on the goddamn mantle, Trystan!”

  “I’m not sure what it does!” Trystan roared back, snatching the graal away from him. “Which is why I don’t want you touching it. Especially, when it begins blinking for gods-only-knows what reason.”

  “So much cursing.” Avi lamented, setting down her crayons. “I’m going to tell Lyrssa as soon as she gets….” She stopped short and glanced towards the sky. “Yay! She is coming, now!”

  All four adults looked up.

  A gryphon was flying above them, with massive wings and a patch covering her eye. Galahad recognized her instantly. There was only one person in the world who looked like the gryphon queen. His mouth curved.

  Gwen and Midas seemed astonished.

  “My gods…” Trystan breathed in awe.

  “Hi, Lyrssa! Hi, Lyrssa!” Avalon ran right to her as she landed in the courtyard, throwing her arms around Lyrssa’s waist. “I’m Avi! I saw-ed you in my head!” She lowered her voice to a dramatic whisper. “Guess what? Daddy and Trystan was cursing before. But, I told them to stop and they did, so it’s okay.”

  The Queen of the Gryphon ran her thumb down the center of Avalon’s face. “I’ve seen you, too, child.” She murmured. “You could never be mistaken for another. My ancestors say you will one day light the future for us all.”

  “Yeah, the gone-away gryphons like me a lot.” Avi beamed at her. “Everybody likes me!”

  Lyrssa came as close as most gryphons could get to smiling. “I am unsurprised. Corrah Skycast would have only the best for a granddaughter.” Her eyes flicked over to Midas. “And a son. The Skycast Clan ruled with strong principles and kindness. You are living up to your mother’s example, yes?”

  Midas still looked stunned. “Corrah was the very best.” He said quietly. “I always try to make her proud.”

  Gwen’s hand slipped into his, squeezing tight.

  Lyrssa seemed to appreciate the answer. Her one-eyed gaze flicked over to Galahad. “Hello again, knight. You look much improved.”

  “My ha’yan has helped me find the light, again.” Galahad told her in the gryphon dialect. He was now fluent at the language, even though Trystan continued to nitpick the exact definitions of words. He did that with all languages, though, so Galahad wasn’t discouraged. He inclined his head at Lyrssa. “You look well, too, your majesty. It appears we have both reached a better world.”

  “At last we have.” She agreed. “This is your mate, yes?” She looked at Trystan. “I am pleased you claimed this knight. His path is a bright one. And the Airbourne Clan should not end. There is so much more for you to do.”

  Trystan seemed to rouse himself from his shock. “Where the hell have you been?” He demanded, in a typical show of tact. He’d never even met the queen before, but that wasn’t stopping him from expressing his displeasure. The more Trystan got in touch with his emotions, the more everyone got to hear about them. “The whole world thinks you’re dead, Lyrssa. Why did you allow that? Our people needed you here.”

  Midas winced a bit at his tone.

  Gwen nodded like Trystan was making some great points.

  Avi went happily skipping over to play with Amelia.

  Galahad kept right on smiling. “We’re getting married tomorrow.” He told Lyrssa calmly. “Would you like to come?”

  “Yes.” Lyrssa decided, but she kept her gaze on Trystan. “I saw the path the knight would take. I knew there would need to be two ya’lahs to find the graal. I am not even one. I had to wait.”

  “And what? Vacation for five years?”

  “Gryphons do not take vacations.” She waved a dismissive hand, missing the sarcasm. “No, I was hunting for Mount Feather. Where the clans of old still survive.”

  Trystan hesitated. “You found Mount Feather?”

  “I found it.” She repeated, her eyes bright. “I found more of our people, Trystan Airbourne. The old clans. Enough gryphons that we can start a new chapter. Tell a new story.” She nodded towards the graal in his hand. “And with that to heal the curse, we can finally begin again.”

  “I hope so.” Trystan forgot about being angry and handed her the blinking orb. “But, this is my home and I do not wish to leave. Not even to reside on Mount Feather, with the other gryphons. I will stay with my clan.” He gestured to the people in the courtyard. “Always.”

  Gwen beamed up at him. “Finally, you see reason.”

  Midas clapped a hand on Galahad’s shoulder. “Thank you.” He said quietly, crediting him with convincing Trystan to give up on his revenge mission.

  Galahad smiled at him. “It was Trystan’s decision. Without him micromanaging our lives, he thinks we’ll all die following breadcrumb trails into evil forests.”

  “You will.” Trystan grunted.

  “I do not blame you for choosing this path.” Lyrssa told Trystan sincerely. “Many gryphons live with the wingless, now. Many will wish to stay, I’m sure. That is a Good thing for our race. For all races. Knowing each other better and learning from one another will make us less likely to war again in the future.” She held the graal over her head and closed her eyes for a beat. “And all of us deserve a future.”

  Lyrssa dropped the graal.

  Galahad cringed as the ancient glass shattered on the flagstones. For a second nothing happened and he wondered if they’d screwed something up. Then iridescent bubbles began to rise upward. Millions of them. Small and powerful. Twirling around Lyrssa. Curing her of Igraine’s spell. Carried on the wind, the bubbles then drifted outward. Shimmering in the air.

  Spreading their healing magic everywhere.

  Beside him, Trystan drew in a deep breath. “You did it, knight.” He looked down at Galahad, in something like reverence. “I felt it. Your mission has lifted the curse.”

  “It really wasn’t me who…” Galahad began.

  “Did you see what he did?” Trystan interrupted, looking over at Lyrssa with pride. “Do you see what my mate accomplished? No one else could have completed this mission. No one else had the heart and the strength and the ideas to carry it off. Just Galahad Airbourne. When you tell the others this tale, you remember to credit him as the best knight ever, yes?”

  “We did all this together, Trys.” Galahad put in, honestly. “It’ll be a great last episode for the show, right?”

  Lyrssa flexed her hands like she could feel the graal’s energy cleansing her whole system. “Both of you have done much to help the world. And you will do much more. I see that path stretching far into the future. Your children will be warriors.”

  “And artists.” Galahad stipulated.

  He knew now that he had the strength inside of himself to keep the darkness at bay. But he still didn’t want to focus on battles. There were too many other beautiful things in the world.

  Galahad was sparring with Trystan each day and it was easing his phobia about swords. Holding one wasn’t nearly as traumatic as it had once been. Psychologically speaking, it helped that after every sparring session Trystan made love to him. A lot. Often, he took Galahad in the shower, his hands running all over his wet body, murmuring words of love and praise, and licking the water from his skin. It was hard to feel anything but awesome after that.

  Sometimes
Trystan won the sparring match. Sometimes Galahad won the sparring match. But in the end they both won.

  “All Airbournes are artists.” Trystan told Lyrssa, like it was common knowledge. “It is a rule of our clan.”

  “It is?” Galahad arched an amused brow at that confident assertion. “Since when?”

  “Since I realized that only artists can combine reason and imagination to make impossible things into reality. This is a great skill. It is why Airbournes are the best at all we attempt.” He leaned down to kiss Galahad with satisfied possession. “You are right. We must build an art school, knight. Children of all races would only benefit from these ideas.”

  Galahad leaned against his mate, happy and safe in his care. “Told you so.”

  Author’s Note

  If you were one of the people who wrote me and asked if Trystan and Galahad were going to get a story and I responded with something like, “I think it’s a really cool idea and I do have stuff in the Kingpin of Camelot that supports it, but I’m not sure yet who their True Loves are” rest assured I was not lying to you. I never have any idea what a book will be until it’s published. Until the very last second, I am making changes and deciding whether or not to even publish. This is because I am picky about an idea being right and also because sometimes what I think is right just doesn’t work out.

  Case in point: Why are Nia and Sullivan not a couple in the Elemental-Phases series? I planned for them to be. I had thousands of words of a book starring them completed. And yet, I could tell it was wrong as the book progressed. So I scrapped it and started over with Warrior of the Shadowlands. I don’t regret that, at all. Sometimes, you have to wait and see what the characters want to do, before you can be sure of a concept. So I try not to be definite in any of my answers to you, until I am definite myself. And I am rarely definite about anything until I stand back and look at the finished product.

  Galahad himself was not a character I was a hundred percent definite on, when he first appeared. I needed another contender for Avi’s father in The Kingpin of Camelot, so the book had some tension. Galahad started out as a necessity of the plot to annoy Midas and keep the story moving. I had no real plans for him, beyond that. Quickly, though, he became more interesting to me, as Gwen began listing all his insane achievements. He wasn’t even in the book, except for flashbacks, and I still saw him so clearly as a character. By the end of that novel, I knew I wanted him to have his own happily-ever-after.