The Knight Behind the Pillar

by John Pateman-Gee

  “Why sir, I’m surprised at you. My business is my own is it not.” teased Merlin, but with serious intent.

  Alain stepped boldly forward. “Not when it’s in the interests of the king!” He challenged.

  I watched wide eyed at the exchange, at any moment this was all going to turn back to me, at some point Merlin would make his move and I would be dragged off, my life over!

  Merlin widened his smile as if to find the point amusing. “And I have looked after his interests for many years, for longer than anyone…”

  “Huh!” Ector coughed loudly.

  Arthur’s father was still angry and hurt. I could understand how he would be sensitive to anything said regarding Arthur’s upbringing. However, Ector’s simplest interruption appeared to alter Merlin’s intended verbal attack and he visually changed his mind and rather have a war of words with Alain, his hand stretched outwards to almost wave the tense atmosphere between them away.

  “But to put your mind at ease,“ Merlin continued more genuinely, “Tor was interested in my work, he had questions and I will say it’s refreshing to find some more open minded folk these days compared to others.”

  I had to admire the talent of Merlin, not once did he lie. By not lying he could easily be confident of the words spoken and yet this was another illusion of the truth. If he actually knew or suspected I was the intruder and the thief, I was unsure. I did know that alas I was being set up by him. He knew of my distrust of his so called gift and knew I had seen him lie to Arthur and he had every reason to want rid of me. When he could have revealed my distrust of the sword and implicated me somehow for stealing it he kept quiet. This way I owe him. I became part of his lie and he became part of my story. What was worst he had just made me out to be some kind of admirer of him! Did everyone now think I want to learn some of his tricks! I hated him more, it boil away under my frozen skin and false smile and nodding head that said I was in agreement with him.

  Alain did not answer at once, he glanced at me as if trying to work out what kind of insect was crawling across the wall and against all my will I had to add a further nod of agreement to Merlin’s words. I was a puppet and deep inside I promise myself I would find a knife to cut the strings as soon as I had a chance.

  “Well this gets us nowhere.” Said Alain concluding and dismissing the matter. Looking away from Merlin, he returned to his own concerns and shouted across us. “Briant go and find Morvid and see if there is any news.”

  Merlin patted my shoulder as reward for performing well and then his hand left me and he went on to join the group. Attention was slipping away from me again and I was relieved, but fluming inside as I thought about Merlin’s words. And where was Arthur?

  Briant was not pleased to be a messenger and left with a grunt. Realising there was nothing more to do outside the room, Alain then returned to the chamber swiftly followed by Ector and Merlin and Kay last.

  I would have stayed put outside in attempt to keep some distance, but Kay signalled for me to follow him. Given the expression on his face, I knew I would need to explain more later on.

  Arthur was in fact inside the room and seemed completely unaware of the conversations outside. He was sitting cross legged on the floor by the fire on the far side of his chamber. Surrounded by cloth, armour, boxes and so many items of value he was undoubtedly preoccupied by them. They were gifts to a king and far more than I had seen last night. However, there was another large open chest in the corner I could not remember seeing either.

  Arthur noticing we had all arrived looked up and seeing Alain immediately continued some previous conversation, not acknowledging me or the others. “No none of these are missing, just the rings, a dagger I think and my sword. All taken from by the fire I guess as nothing seems to have gone from the chests or from under the bed. Not that I can remember everything.” He concluded sounding very disheartened.

  “I have all my men hunting the grounds now in case there is any sign of them. Sadly no one has reported seeing anything, but...”

  “It’s not likely we are going to find Excalibur again is it?” Arthur finished crossly with a touch of defeat.

  “And we have our men searching too Art, I mean your highness.” Kay added helpfully stepping across Alain.

  Arthur shrugged before deciding to stand up and saw Merlin for the first time. “I am sorry Merlin, I’ve managed to lose Excalibur in just one day, but worst I’ve broken my promise to you.”

  “Not to worry yet your highness. Give it time, these things resolve themselves often enough and just turn up and when needed the most.” Merlin offered, his voice was warm and sympathising unlike his normal tone towards anyone else. .

  “I wish Morvid the pathetic fool would hurry up and turn up.” Alain pitched in impatiently and crossing his arms.

  “Oh, he’s with Lord Aries on the stairs.” Arthur informed innocently tilting his head to the servant stairwell.

  I stopped breathing in panic, only starting again when I quickly reminded myself again they would obviously discover that was the way the intruder had entered.

  This piece of information was however clearly new to Alain. “Stairwell?” He demanded an answer in a single word and looked around the room.

  “Eh yes,” Answered Arthur, at once aware of the sudden interest, “He shoved his head out of the opening over there a minute or so ago to check it opened and disappeared again.”

  Alain stepped over to the open panel leading to the stairwell. Looking inside for a second he hastily pulled his head out again took a candle from the side and looked again.

  “Morvid,” Alain yelled very loudly, “You down there?”

  “No my liege,” A distance voice of Aries answered, “It’s just me, he’s gone.”

  “Well get up here at once!” Alain commanded.

  “My liege I…”

  “Right now!” Boomed Alain’s order, the authority he had was helped by the returning echo within the walls.

  Alain then pulled his head back out of the gap in the wall and sought to pace the room while he waited. We all said nothing and stood aside.

  Alain was a man who hated not having control I concluded. This theft had unnerved him taking away some of his control. The very insignificant detail that the thief was me especially given Alain’s ever decreasing opinion of me was in itself a little satisfying.

  A dust covered Aries emerged from the stairwell entrance and immediately he surveyed the room. He gave me a second look, but said nothing to me and instead looked on to Arthur. “Your highness,” He addressed, before the others, “My lords…”

  “Lord Aries,” said Alain stopping him speaking any further, his interruption timed to be just gracious to enough to allow Aries to pay homage to Arthur, but nothing more. Again he had changed back to that familiar soft voice that wanted something; sounding polite it hid the poisonous objective. “Tell me; were you aware of this second entrance to these chambers?”

  Everyone knew at once the hidden intent behind the statement. Aries certainly realised and looked unsure, his eyes widen and mouth dropped without containing an instant reply. Whatever answer he gave he would be wrong and was a condemned man.

  “I did know of the stairwell my liege, and have…” He stopped speaking shaking his head. He knew his mistake and ran out of words allowing Alain to approach him.

  Perhaps surprisingly there was no shouting, at least not yet. Alain knew at which point to intrude another’s personal space, at what point it was unacceptable and yet get away with it. The discomfort of his lord’s solid stare as he closed in was unmistakably sketched across Aries’s face. It was like he was struggling to look directly up at the sun on a clear day.

  “So why was I not told about it? Why was it not guarded? I am fascinated to know what your thoughts are regarding our King’s safety!” Alain asked still calm, but fury was bubbling under the surface.

  “My liege I, err, I have to admit to not thinking about it, I mean the stairs, not thinking about the stair
s that is.” confessed Aries badly.

  Truthfully he did not have much choice and decided to face his fate. It was a minor act of bravery. Had Aries said he did not know of the stairwell, he would have appeared not to know his own home. He was not going to retain any honour either way.

  This sadly was the invitation Alain needed. “Do you realise what you have done?” Alain asked, but wasn’t seeking an answer, “You have risked the life of your king. Your level of uselessness is embarrassing and disappointing. Thanks to you we have lost a precious gift that might have helped in the battles ahead, and thanks to you we have our enemies believing we can’t even guard a single room let alone our kingdom!”

  While I listened to Alain’s cold calm voice with his low meaningful tone that just avoided reaching a shout, I realised he did not believe in the power of the sword and scabbard either. He knew about it, perhaps was told the tale when Arthur got back last night before I visited him or perhaps the trip was planned by them all. Except to say might was a sign he had doubts of its true value. Given this was a man who controlled ever word he said, might was not just a word used without thought. He would never commit to embrace something that he had doubts about, that might not work.

  In the middle of this trade off Ector broke in. “Are you telling me anyone at any time can get in this room?” He said.

  It was enough to pull Alain away from Aries. I remained looking at Aries, his head and shoulders sunk away. The weight Alain’s stare removed, his body recoiled as if he had been punched in the stomach. I was not sure if it was humiliation, fear or anger that occupied his mind now, but on noticing me observing him he just looked away.

  “Yes it appears sadly this is the circumstance, but I don’t know where it goes.” Answered Alain returning to his more diplomatic self before snapping, “Aries?”

  Aries jumped to attention, his time of rest to recover quickly over. This was for him a chance to be helpful.

  Before he could answer to my dismay Arthur did instead. “A hallway two floors down, not far from the kitchens it goes there.” He answered plainly.

  “You know of it!” exclaimed Kay, but stopped short of saying more.

  Kay was ready perhaps to tell off his younger brother for not saying earlier, except what he might have done in a previous life now was different.

  “It’s just the servant stair, and Lord Aries can be forgiven for forgetting it.” Arthur dismissed, but selflessly had offered Aries a life line. “After all I too did not seek it to be guarded.”

  Arthur did not appear to care for the details and looked away from the other again. It was like he was present and understood the conversation, but was not entirely in the room with the rest of us. At the same time I was also distracted and while it would have been of amusement to see Alain’s face given Arthur’s words I was now watching Merlin drop to the floor and picking through some of the items scattered.

  Behind him Aries took a chance to speak. “In truth it’s the original stair case, this tower has been rebuilt a number of times in its history and it’s remained, but redundant. More importantly, my liege, we have found a gold ring, guessing it would be one of the missing ones. I’ve been trying to mention it.”

  “What!” Alain snapped, “Why didn’t you say so before? Don’t you have any wit to know what’s important?”

  Rather than argue the point that he had not had a chance to say much so far, he simply answered. “Sorry my liege.” And bowed his head.

  Aries reached out his hand and offered a plain gold band to Alain. I concluded it was going to be the one that had escaped down the stairs that I did not bother searching for in the dark.

  “Yes, certainly one of those I gave you Arthur.” Alain said mostly to himself after he had taken it and turned it over a few times in his fingers. Then turning back to Aries he asked. “Anything else?”

  “No not yet.”

  “Then get out and do something about it, do something useful.” Alain retorted.

  A more humble Aries left without needing to be asked twice. I felt a mix of guilt and pleasure from witnessing him fall. Alain might not have had Aries against a wall to threaten him, but Alain did not need to.

  “Do you want to stay in this room?” Ector asked Arthur.

  He was a straight to the point type of man I had learnt and said only essential things.

  “Its fine for now Father, I doubt it will happen again. We will now have guards on the stair case I suspect.” Arthur replied despondently and I understood another piece of freedom was also gone for him and the need for guards was in its own way a cage. Something I had helped put up around him.

  Arthur continued to be quiet and say only what was needed. Sad at the loss of something he obviously became very attached to in a very short period of time. Selfishly I thought, as long as the scabbard remained hidden in its current hiding place in the hayloft I did not care. It was not the best place, but the only one I could think of for now. I did think to bury it in the ground at some point, but where and when and how without being seen!

  Merlin picked up another piece of fine cloth and then discarded it to one side. “You know Arthur all these things are immaterial.” He said absently. “Unimportant trophies of wealth.”

  “You think so? I suppose.” Arthur replied again without real commitment.

  “True wealth is not found in things, but deeds.” advised Merlin.

  “I had proposals for marriage as well as gifts being offered!” Arthur also added a little more light heartedly, not that it made a difference to Merlin who even looked a little repulsed at the idea.

  Alain however took the comment very seriously. “Ah now any such alliances should be very carefully considered, something we will need to speak of in time of course.”

  Merlin coughed purposefully before adding with a sarcastic edge. “For strategic value no doubt! Marriage should be lead by love and not tactual advantage. You may plan all you like, but in my experience in the end nothing stands in the way of love and man will do anything for it. Man will break treaties, end friendships, ride the length of this land and even cross the dragon’s breath for it. Love is not strategy. It’s a far more complicated thing. Make plans, but trust me that is the one thing you can’t control.” Merlin’s words dropped away as something on the floor gained his attention, “Ah, now this is something.”

  Merlin had grasped the shield from next to the table and examined it closely. I could see it was the same one I saw last night.

  “The shield?” I asked and realised it was out loud.

  No one looked at me and I was thankful. It seemed I just spoke everyone’s thoughts and this was acceptable. Merlin turned it over. The dragon painted on it was red.

  “This is the crest of Pendragon, the older version I see, yet someone has remembered.” Merlin explained and asked Arthur, “Who gave this to you?”

  “Oh, I don’t know.” Arthur stammered, “Most gifts were sent to my room and didn’t always see who gave them.”

  “It was me.” stated Ector after there was a short pause, his voice low and he shifted his weight from foot to foot.

  “Father, I didn’t realised you’d given me something.” exclaimed Arthur.

  Ector nodded, but looked a little embarrassed about it and did not meet anyone’s eyes. “I wanted you to know, well I wanted,” struggled Ector attempting to explain, “That is, you can be Arthur Pendragon and still be my son.”

  “There you are.” Merlin announced loudly at once before anyone had a moment to consider Ector’s words, “True wealth being a deed of love of a father to his son.”

  Both Ector and Arthur looked suddenly very awkward and Merlin having just made victory of his own argument failed to notice. Alain seemed bewildered not appearing to have understood a single word.

  Thankfully this was the moment Bedivere entered the room, allowing Arthur and his family to regain their privacy and recover their relationships and bonds in peace. “My lords, a messenger has arrived and he’s from southern C
aledonia.” He said very urgently.

  The look on Bedivere’s face said it was important without needed to speak. Of course where the messenger had come from instantly caught my attention. It was just north of my homeland, and was King Lot’s land. Caledonia was the Roman name for it, a land they never conquered and realising there was little point built a wall across the border. Locals knew it as Lothian. To name the land after yourself perhaps said more than enough about the man who ruled it.

  “Very well,” Alain decided, “There’s little more to be done here.”

  Almost glad I suspected of a reason to leave, Alain seized the opportunity and followed Bedivere out who had not stood still once. He wasn’t a man to ever appear at ease when inside a building. With a few glances of concern between us we followed.

  I stayed back to wait until last and this time Kay was not looking for me to be close to him. I could have perhaps had left them all, but penitently I found myself walking alongside Arthur, our first opportunity for a private conversation of the day and while such opportunity was not wanted by me I was forced to find some words. Guilt tugged hard again, but I had still got enough resolve to follow the path I had chosen and it did not abandon me.

  “Sorry bout the sword.” I offered, quite sincerely for obvious reasons.

  “It’s my fault,” He replied, “Never thought of someone wanting to steal it.”

  If guilt was a knife, someone just impaled my chest with a lance.

  “Just worth some coin.”

  “I guess.” Agreed Arthur.

  Arthur was not initiating any conversation of his own at first and we got down a staircase before I tried to talk again. “You are Arthur Pendragon now?” I baited, hoping for a bite and a change in subject.

  Arthur was too preoccupied to consider my words, but he finally decided on his own. “It wasn’t the fact it was Excalibur or anything. Just, just it was my first sword, my own and not some old thing Kay didn’t want or something borrowed from the stores.” He explained, not looking at me but determined to punish himself and me as well without knowing it. “Something of mine, special, powerful or not it didn’t matter.”