The Knight Behind the Pillar

by John Pateman-Gee

  I had again heard his name earlier and it was revealed he had other names as well. I listened with interest while eating in the kitchens hoping for anything of value on the mystery. The great Merlin, the one with unnatural powers they said and everyone suddenly knew of him when never before had his name be spoken in tale or jest. In the end all I had found out was he had a reputation for great deeds, but no one was so sure on what this reputation was based on.

  I had many questions, but mainly what did he want? He had arranged the sword in the stone, put Arthur in Ector’s care and so what was the plan now? Reward, wealth and power were the normal wants of man and yet this strangely did not fit this particular man. Certainly I was sure about not wanting wealth, as his choice of accommodation while staying at the fort was testament to that.

  Time moved onwards and the chatting of people slowly died down and the expectation of Arthur’s arrival grew. A knighting ceremony would never normally have this many onlookers. In many cases it was just the squire, lord and two sponsors if it were not held at the same time as another event like mass.

  Then I noticed the very top of the main doors opening, but could see no lower as a thousand heads and bodies swiftly stood up and got in the way. I could only assume Arthur had entered and I eagerly waited for him to appear at the front. It was obvious he must have left the chapel after all when I left him this morning despite my theory he would not. For whatever reason he left, the entrance itself added to the sense of ceremony, drama and all part of a show. All no doubt planned by Alain I considered.

  Dubric had backed away into the background while Alain had stepped forward to the centre to receive the future knight and king. This made sense as dubbing a new knight was a duty of another knight at least, but preference would be for the highest authority available. Given the available nobles in Caerleon recently there was unusually a wide range of choice. As Alain held the most land, had the most vessels under him including some of the lords presence and was deemed to be a king, I guessed him awaiting Arthur was not any surprise.

  The archbishop would conduct the coronation as he represented a guide to the only power above a king, but I guessed that depended on who you asked and your own belief. For he now awaited his turn appearing deep in thought and finding great fascination with observing the floor. Absently I contemplated what Merlin’s thoughts would be on the subject of faith and even what his faith might be given the rumours of the kitchens I had been listening to.

  Alone Arthur arrived at the altar before Alain. He wore again a white vesture and appeared very plain compared to the colours of the crowd around him and consequently stood out clearly. It was not the same clothes as last night I realised as his simple attire now appeared to be far better fitting. Any last remaining voices within the room went silent quickly. An unseen signal resulted in Arthur to drop to his knees and I was awash with respect and admiration for him while at the same time sympathising with the pressure of the audience and undertaking about to befall him.

  Alain closed in to stand before Arthur and he looked over his head to people beyond. “Who will present this man to take the vows of knighthood, whose honour he will carry with his own as he carries out his new duties?” Alain announced the question with obvious rehearsal.

  Ector at once stood and half marched, with little grace or care for it, over to Arthur. While it might not have been accepted behaviour or practice, he then placed a hand of support on his son’s shoulder. No one was going to tell him otherwise. Notwithstanding the fact no one would dare, this was not a normal ceremony as this man was soon to be the father of most powerful man in the room. “I will.” He declared humbly in opposition to his somewhat fierce expression.

  “And so will I.” Leodgrance proclaimed brightly as he jumped up with vigour and overflowing enthusiasm from his chair from the side.

  Ector gave him a concerned suspicious glance for a moment before accepting his fellow sponsor with a nod and Leodgrance joined him. He just stopped himself putting another hand of support on Arthur’s shoulder as he noted Ector’s tightening brow. He settled instead for holding his hands behind his back for now.

  Alain continued and this time mostly addressed Arthur, but the pull to speak to all was a great temptation. “Very well, you have two sponsors and your conduct from this time forth will be a reflection of the trust they have placed in you. Do you know the vows and oath of allegiance you must now make?”

  “Yes.” Said Arthur sincerely and with a short nod to the floor.

  There was a pause and moment just long enough for unease to creep in as something more from Arthur was awaited.

  “Well, you can begin.” Alain added hastily in a hushed voice to prompt Arthur.

  “No.” said Arthur quietly shaking his head and looking up.

  The noise of the inhaling of breath from the crowd was as loud as any thunder. I lost my balance sitting on the back of my hands against the wall and had to save myself by quickly standing up straight. While all eyes were already on Arthur, the need for blinking was now forgotten.

  “What do you mean, no?” Alain asked with a tone of embarrassment griping his voice. He fleetingly looked around showing his awareness that his show had suddenly taken a wrong turn as the main act refused to perform. Then he looked to his sides for support, but there was none and when he came to look back he was only confronted by Ector’s frowning and piercing stare ready to defend his son as needed.

  “What I mean is I know the vows, but they will not be mine.” Arthur continued intently. “Instead, I have my own.” He politely added.

  “This is not…..” protested Alain, but stopped himself from going on when he saw Ector shifting his weight.

  Before anyone else said anything Arthur decided to explain some more. “The vows of a knight are his and his alone. I know each knight takes similar vows, but if you visit each kingdom you will definitely find that they are not the same words. Words change over time and distance. Therefore, it makes no difference if my vows are not the ones you have made yourself or those prepared for me. The important thing is only that they’re accepted by you as my allegiance to you, as my current lord in this place at this time. They only need then to be accepted by my father and King Leodgrance here.”

  Alain appeared at a lost for a while and even I had to recall what Arthur had stated in such a matter of fact way to understand it.

  Perhaps conscious of the waiting audience Alain looked around and provided them with a smile, trying hard to still look in control. “Very well let’s hear them.” He finally concluded with a hint of reluctance, but clearly seeing it as the only way forward.

  A wave of satisfaction quickly crossed over Arthur’s face before returning to an expression of serious commitment. I was content with an openly smug grin on my face in support of Arthur’s revolt.

  “My lords and it seems appropriate to add ladies as well and to all I shall be king to in the future. As this is perhaps the only time I can give such an oath and be a humble subject to you all and so I swear to you the following vows and shall take them forward with me. I will never deal with traitors, never give evil counsel to a lady, treat all women with great respect and defend them against all unless they are found to be traitors themselves. I will observe fasts and abstinences as required by my faith. I will abide by the laws of the land and seek to enforce said laws fairly and equally to all and with no purpose other than that of truth. I shall not steal, lie or kill unless for self defence, to protect the innocent or required by law. These are my vows to all and will be my oath.” He calmly promised and took a deep breath at the end.

  The vows were similar to those I had heard before, but stronger and said nothing of serving the lord’s will. In its place Arthur had said laws of the land. I was trying to figure out everything he had just said, it was a lot to work out and sounded like he had put a lot of thought into these words. As Bedivere had said, Arthur is a thinker and he planned ahead. Obviously he did more thinking last night than I thought he had time fo
r! I recalled what else he had just said, he had spoken of protection of the innocent and women not just carrying out justice and I found I liked what I had heard. I actually believed the words, they made far more sense. To serve the greater good was exactly what a knight should be, what I wanted to be and I believed him.

  Importantly for right now they were not something Alain could find unacceptable. Smoothly he appeared to have forgotten they were not the vows he had obviously put to Arthur to say and had already called forth a page holding a sword and the ceremonial plain metal shield. The shield he took and presented to Arthur, no words were spoken. Arthur bowed his head and with the sword Alain rested the flat side onto his left shoulder.

  “I dub thee Sir Knight.” Alain announced loudly and moved the sword over Arthur’s head to rest on the other shoulder and then back again.

  Ector stepped forward and took the sword and returned it to a scabbard he had to hand that I had gone unnoticed by me before. He presented it to Arthur.

  “Thank you.” Arthur gulped. He was shaking of nerves now as they had suddenly caught up with him. Equally it might have been from just having been on his knees for too long.

  “Arise Sir” Alain concluded loudly.

  Arthur stood slowly being a little unsteady at first and bowed his head to Alain, who I guessed would not normally bow back, but in this case did so. King Leodgrance’s turn to be of use, he disappeared to the side and returned with the red cloak. It was the same I almost claimed as a blanket before Arthur had greater need and I suppressed a smile. He quickly set about placing it on Arthur’s shoulders and congratulated him along with an unrestrained pat on Arthur’s back. Once done he and Sir Ector retreated at this point and Ector returned to his place along the pew close to me.

  “Just like his mother,” I heard Ector whisper across to Kay, “always did the unexpected. Blood or not it don’t matter, cause we brought him up.”

  “I guess that means I take after you, looks and all” Kay answered with gentle irony. “You could do worst son. Your mother was an attractive woman, but some of the suitors she had were awful and you might’ve ended up looking like one of them.”

  “She was saved by you coming along!” Kay coughed.

  “Something like that.” Ector replied in good humour.

  “And now I have a king as a brother.”

  “No son,” Ector was quick to answer, “You have a brother who happens to be king.”

  “It’s the same thing.” Kay questioned and I could see his forehead creased now as he turned his head back to his father.

  “No it’s not, don’t forget it.” Corrected Ector as only a father could.

  Kay paused in thought for a moment, before turning away without a reply. He returned his eyes to look towards his brother once more.

  While listening to Ector and Kay I had not noticed that Arthur had now stepped up to the altar and a large chair had been placed behind him. It was the best find for a throne I assumed. Arthur now looked out across the crowd and there was no chance of pretending they were not there for him now. While Alain had looked down on Arthur before, Dubric had to look up to him now and the stage was ready for the coronation to begin. I wondered if Arthur would do something unexpected this time, but at this moment he was just a wide eyed small boy staring at the people before him. Any confidence gathered during the knighting appeared to have dispersed once again and he seemed uncertain and gathering second thoughts. If it were me fear would have had frozen every bone. It was a good idea to have the chair on hand as he appeared to be going very pale, even to the point of fainting. Then it was not every day that the weight of the known world suddenly attempted to see if you would crack under the pressure of it all.

  I knew not what to expect, this was my first coronation to witness. I was not sure how much of a ceremony there would be or how long it would last. The moment a king dies the eldest son or whichever son is selected as heir was normally made king at once. To that end a coronation was nothing more than a large scale announcement. Except in this case Arthur’s claim was less known and many areas of the country had deserted the notion of an overall ruler or high king. Also there were unusual circumstances with swords in stones, adoptive parents and annoying old men! If you put it altogether I suppose I saw the point of this particular coronation as it would go some way to clearly sanction Arthur’s claim. Besides it was an ideal time for the new group of kings and nobles, the new alliance of kingdoms, or at least those present, to publicly swear allegiance to their new king and was a test in itself. During the change over the crowd had accepted unspoken permission to talk amongst themselves, but now the expectant fell silence again. I along with them awaited a new king to be crowned.

  To my disappointment the actual Coronation was the most boring event I had ever had the misfortune to witness. Dubric unquestionably enjoyed himself with word after word about the virtues of being a good leader and following the faith, its principles, its virtues, avoiding temptation and more virtues again. His singular tone of voice droned on and I wished I had a chair or even better a bed!

  Arthur was right. He had no chance to say anything now as there was no place for any involvement for the king himself except to agree. For the most part he luckily just had to sit there and look interested. While Arthur managed to be seated early on, it took me ages to slowly work my way down the wall to find some comfort siting on the ground without being noticed. Somehow Arthur held his composure throughout, his head high and appearing to listen to each and every word, something he was amazingly able to do this against such relentless attack of monotony.

  Yet I feared Arthur’s stronghold only encouraged Dubric to talk more. Dubric continuously split between addressing the crowd and then would return to Arthur in his address. After a while I had developed a game, each time Dubric turned back to Arthur I looked for who would move to betray their own boredom and after a while see who was showing just how tired and fed up they were. A stretch of an arm, a shake to regain focus and even a well timed yawn! The lengths people went to in an attempt to hide such actions were themselves of amusement at least for a while before this also became dull. The only interesting moment after that was the loud coughing from Merlin at one point that gained a brief, but welcome break from Dubric’s attempt to kill us all by words alone.

  Finally a crown was revealed, it was a plain gold band with a few red gemstones spaced out around its length. An understated symbol of the power it represented. On the placing of the crown, he was announced to be king. We all bowed our allegiance and hailed the new king and the new uncertain destiny to come. The following cheers were loud enough to convince Dubric not to dare say anymore and the cheering followed Arthur outside to be certain.

  As celebration, a feast was announced back within the great halls. Anyone who was not referred to as a Sir or Lord or an even greater title knew by instinct that the invitation did not apply to them. My own instincts were thrown into confusion. The social order of the known world returned to normal outside of the chapel and was represented by two clear groups of people. One was a huge mass of people leaving the chapel and standing to hail the new king, all cheering and cerebrating with unlimited excitement. While the other was a line of nobles heading towards the main tower. With the up most caution I carefully followed the nobles. My ears alert to the possible order to go away as I was not wanted or not allowed, but the command did not come.

  Before long I was back inside the fort and found festivities had begun. While the previous ceremonies were devoid of sound except for the individual words of men, this part of the celebration was a chance to make some real noise. Some played flutes or similar and there was drums, while others still liked the sounds of their voices a lot more. It all amounted to a competition of sound and friendly chaos. As I wandered around I glanced at smiling faces, laugher or those stuffing food into their mouths. They had all forgotten what lie beyond the walls, from invading Saxons, kingdoms still wanting to rule themselves to people wanting their own choice of h
igh king and not wanting Arthur.

  Despite these thoughts I enjoyed the atmosphere for a little while, the excitement of people enjoying themselves gave out a feeling of warmth and comfort that was good to share. I was not sure what to do next, not sure if I might see Arthur. Doubts formed, would I want to speak to him and if I did see him what would I say? After all, he was king now, no longer an equal in anyway. The instance I thought of him, my eyes without the consent of my own will sought him out at once and quickly found him. It was a relief in a way to find he was unreachable. He sat in a chair behind a long table full of food and wine. Countless nobles surrounded him, keen to show willing and support to him and he was trapped. This included the guarding presence his father and brother behind him. The only one missing was Merlin not around on this occasion.

  Now I decided I had seen all I needed to see and had done all that was expected. With sorrow I realised that this was it and I had to return to my life as a squire. This peak at the beginning of a new king had been a welcome distraction, despite the bruises, but the end had finally come and I could not extend the time away from my own life any further.

  I looked around at the madness once again, the faces of strangers eating, drinking, making deals, complaining, singing, be it badly, along with dancing and playing and I suddenly felt like a trespasser. Any title I once had no longer gave me permission to be here now. Back to my plan, working hard with my head down and to work towards one day being a knight. On that day I would have earned a place among these people rather than a privileged one.

  I turned away and started to head out, bumping from one body to another and had to resolve to pushing through the growing numbers of people. The scent of leather and rose petals was a strange mix that overpowered, but this was a gathering of the rich. Then I remembered her, wondered if she might also be here? Looking some more I failed to see the woman I collided within the halls the other day. I seemed to be unable to extract her from my thoughts and nothing more entered my head for the times I thought of her.