The Poison Rose: A King Arthur Tale

by Matthew Argyle

  Arthur knew he was the king and for many years he thought of people as basically good, and because of this was always so cheerful and adamant about serving his people. But this woman, he now knew, was changing his view, not just of people, but of the entire universe. This one woman, one seemingly beautiful and innocent woman, was causing him to change.

  “And perhaps this is what she wanted all along!” thought Arthur. “Perhaps she wanted to change me, make me something that I wasn’t…to turn me, not into a statue or a decrepit servant, but into someone as evil as her!” Arthur was truly afraid now—afraid to move, afraid to breathe, afraid to do anything that might aid in this transformation.

  He knew he was changing. He could feel it. But he was not hardening into stone. He was also not feeling a desire to serve her any more. Instead, his desire was to use her just as all the men in the past had used women for their selfish pleasure!

  The good part of him, the part that was not being consumed by this fiery anger of betrayal and revenge, was wondering why these thoughts were even entering his mind. Was the witch Dani putting them into his mind? Arthur thought this was ridiculous because he knew that by now she must be asleep. This led him to only one conclusion. This was that these thoughts were coming from himself, from his own heart and mind, and that is what frightened him the most.

  Who in his kingdom would ever suppose King Arthur to fall to such basic feelings and carnal desires? If anyone else knew about this Arthur would certainly feel embarrassed. So Arthur tried to repel these thoughts and desires. But, at around midnight, he could repel these thoughts and desires no longer. “The witch deserves it!” thought Arthur. “She is evil, not me. I shall have what I most deserve—a beautiful woman to serve me. She will finally have justice done to her and I will be the one to do it! Ha! Foolish woman! She will pay for her insincerity and lack of loyalty to the true king! She is the sinner and now I will have my revenge!” All of these thoughts erupted like a volcano in Arthur’s mind, causing him to spring up out of his bed, quietly get dressed and move downstairs into the collection room.

  The entire collection room was bathed in a pale moonlight. There, in the middle of the room was the Poison Rose, encased neatly in glass that seemed to glow. Arthur took a moment to gaze at it, but the rose was not what he was after. He believed Dani when she said that nobody could destroy the rose. Plus he didn’t want to just destroy Dani. That would be too merciful. What he was after, however, was the red phial of magical potion that sat on the potion table. He moved over to the table and stared down at the potion. It had a bright red glow that made it stand out even more in the darkness. He picked it up, held it neatly in his hand, and took a few moments to examine it. It read, “LOVE POTION.” Arthur smiled. This was it, the love potion that would grant him all of his wishes.

  It made him so excited just to hold the love potion, for he suddenly felt like a wizard, as if he had just as much if not more magical power than Dani ever would have. It filled him with an intoxicating joy. Then, with the phial of liquid in hand, he moved upstairs to Dani’s room where he could finally enact his plan.

  He had never before entered Dani’s room and he was anxious to find out what magical concoctions lingered in it. There were many variables in this plan he knew. There were many ways it could fail. First of all, he didn’t even know for sure if witch’s actually needed to sleep. He supposed they did, as do all other beings, but he wasn’t entirely sure because he had never seen a witch sleep. In addition, he had never been in the woman’s room before and wasn’t even sure it was her room. But he had a hunch since this was the room she pointed to on the tour and, in the short time he had occupied the palace, he had seen her come and go through that room.

  However, there were still other potential flaws in his plan. What if the witch woke up when he entered? What if there were animals or magic objects in the room that alerted her to his presence? He knew she was smart, but how smart? How much did she know about what Arthur was feeling, what he knew, or what he was going to do? He didn’t know how it would work out, but he had to try.

  The witch was powerful and he had no better weapon to fight against her than her own magic. And plus the longer he waited the more his kingdom suffered, and indeed, the more he suffered.

  According to what Dani said, all he needed was one drop for the potion to work and Arthur hoped that Dani would be sleeping face up so that somehow he could quietly slip a drop of love potion between her lips. If he could get it to that point he knew that all would be well, that is, as long as the potion worked. For all he knew Dani could have lied about the potion just as she was concealing the truth about this other man. But if it did work, after that point it wouldn’t make a difference. Dani would already have the drop of potion in her. She would see him, fall in love with him, and it would all be over.

  So Arthur made his way up to the third floor with the phial in his hand. He then quietly scurried across the corridor hallway until he reached a door at the end that he knew must be Dani’s. To Arthur’s surprise he found the door slightly open, which meant that he could move quietly into the room without Dani hearing the sound of an opening door. After opening the door he entered her room and, from the distance, could see a bed and her nestled quietly and peacefully on top of it.

  The room was basically an ordinary room, at least from what Arthur could observe from the moonlight pouring through the window. Arthur smiled. This would be easier than he thought. There, underneath the round open window, he could see Dani through the moonlight, now appearing sound asleep. Arthur approached the bed and stared down at her beautiful face in the moonlight, her body wrapped tightly in the sheets of her bed. The moonlight made her appear so harmless and she slept so silently and peacefully there that it made Arthur wish he could just jump into the bed next to her. But he knew he had a mission to accomplish.

  Arthur held up the phial in his hands and examined it for a moment. Then he gazed back down at Dani, who leaned over and pointed her closed eyes straight up at Arthur, her hair pulled back behind her face. He could do it now. He knew he could. Now was the time, the time to pour the liquid down through her lips and it would be over.

  So Arthur pulled the cap off of the phial, pointed the phial downward, and watched the liquid level off slightly. He then moved it down by her mouth and angled it down until the drop was nearly ready to fall.

  But then doubts suddenly began to surface. Looking at this woman in her bed made him somehow feel like she was less evil, like she was a young lion cub that simply did what she did out of bodily impulse and not maliciously. He knew she deserved it. She deserved to fall by her own evil magic. But yet something deep inside Arthur pained him to do it. His thoughts suddenly drifted to Guinevere. She wouldn’t want him to win this way and this much he knew. Guinevere would be ashamed. Arthur looked down at Dani, still sleeping soundly in her bed. Then, just before a drop fell from the edge of the flask down through her lips he pulled it back. Arthur watched as the drop fell down onto her hair, missing her mouth entirely. He took a deep breath.

  Luckily the drop falling didn’t seem to wake her, but he would not be caught dead in her room now with the phial. Instead, he walked out of her room and back through the hallway. He went back into the collection room and there placed the phial back where it was on the table. Hopefully she wouldn’t even notice.

  Arthur then suddenly heard some noise coming from Dani’s bedroom, like the creaking of a bed and the sound steps. He knew that she must now be awake. Perhaps she noticed or felt the drop of potion hit her hair? He didn’t know, but he couldn’t take any more chances. Arthur moved up the stairway slightly in an attempt to return to his room. But as he was near the hallway to his bedroom he suddenly heard a door open from the hallway above. He knew it must be Dani. She must be in the hallway.

  Arthur knew he could not reach his room in time. Surely Dani would see him going into his room and would immediately suspect him. He moved quietly back down the stairs, his heart pounding frantical
ly. He found he was back in the collection room, but he looked around the room and found there was no place to hide.

  He continued hearing her steps, now coming closer and closer to him. Arthur dashed down another level of stairs, again trying to keep as silent as possible. Once down the stairs he found himself in her study, but again there was no good place to hide. Arthur moved into the kitchen and tried desperately to find a place to hide, but again with no luck. There was nothing large enough to hide him. Arthur then moved from the kitchen towards the living room, suddenly noticing a small hallway as he passed. He backed up and then thought it odd—for the hallway seemed entirely new to him. Then he remembered that Dani didn’t show him this hallway on the tour.

  Arthur suddenly heard more steps again coming down the stairs. So he panicked and dashed down the hallway, which opened up into another long, spiral, stairway that descended at least another twenty feet into the darkness. He didn’t know what was down here, but it was his only chance of hiding out until Dani went back to her bed.

  Once he had reached the bottom of the stairway he moved down another long, skinny hallway. The hallway was bright white just like all the others, but, different from the others, for this hallway contained a type of thick wooden door that looked very old.

  Arthur reached the door and suddenly stopped. He knew this door must lead to the room that Dani spoke of previously—the forbidden room. Arthur looked back and didn’t see anyone. In addition, the sound of footprints had suddenly stopped. Arthur took a deep sigh of relief. But then his curiosity suddenly began to churn within him. “What is in here?” he thought. “What is so important in here that it is to be kept a secret?” Arthur didn’t know the answer to this question, but was ready now more than ever to find out.

  Arthur looked at the door and saw it was latched shut with a metal bar. Arthur lifted up the latch. It then required all his strength to heave the door open. Once the door was open it filled Arthur with a chill as cold air came bursting out on him. Arthur turned back to make sure nobody was following him. Then, when the way was clear, he stepped forward and looked into the room. The sight before him was something quite unbelievable. He was shocked and couldn’t bear to take another breath. In this moment he knew without a doubt that Dani was embodiment of all evil!

  Chapter 11: The Witch’s Revenge

  The last thing Arthur ever wanted was for Merlin to be right about this woman—who she was and what she wanted. He just wanted it all to somehow work out, to somehow bring her back to the light without having to leave his kingdom to ruin. But he could deny Merlin’s words no longer, for never before had an actual image etched itself so far deep into his mind that it filled his heart with poison, making him reach for his chest to sooth it and comfort it.

  The sight before him was something unlike anything he had ever seen. The room was one massive round room stretching on the entire length and width of the palace itself and was filled with a dark but yet visible smog that crept slowly along above the floor, winding along like a snake and moving up and down like waves. Throughout the room Arthur could see rows of black bookshelf-like stands at least twenty high, and with at least five shelves each, with each row containing what must have been hundreds of small round, glass cases just like the ones that surrounded the Poison Rose itself. However, these glass cases did not surround roses, but instead, what appeared to be hearts. They appeared to be human hearts. They appeared to be pounding, as if they were somehow magically preserved. The glass seemed to emit some kind of light and the hearts were the first thing he saw. This was the most disgusting and mortifying thing Arthur had ever seen. He didn’t know what evil magic this was, but he hoped with all his heart that it was an illusion.

  Arthur moved forward into the room and immediately noticed that the floor was nothing but a mucky dirt. The walls of the room were of a dark grey stone and in the center of the room there was an altar made of a massive black stone. Arthur panicked. He knew he had to get out. Just as he turned around and prepared to head for the exit, torches all around the room ignited, filling it with light.

  Then, emerging into view from the doorway, were two figures. One Arthur clearly recognized as Dani. She was not in a robe, and it did not seem as if she just woke up. Instead, her hair was beautifully tucked back behind her and her body covered with a dark red tunic. The figure next to Dani he recognized as the dark, hooded figure that he had seen walking about in the garden with Dani, although he still had his hood on as to again keep his identity from Arthur.

  Arthur backed up slowly, afraid of what the witch would do to him now that he had defied her will and entered the forbidden room. But as he was backing up he suddenly hit his back against a hard stone object. Arthur quickly turned around and there, in the center of the room and in front of his face was a large, black stone altar. No part of it was cracked and there was no spot on the altar for chains.

  “It is no illusion,” said a woman in a soft, but powerful voice.

  Arthur turned around and realized it was Dani. It is safe to say that now Arthur’s feelings were entirely stunned. The fact of the matter was that he didn’t know what to feel. He had reason to feel guilty, both because he was caught in the witch’s forbidden lair and because he tried to give her the love potion. But he also had reason to feel confusion, confusion at what this all meant. In addition, he no doubt had reason to feel both fear and anger at this woman.

  “What is this place?” asked Arthur.

  “I told you some truth should not be revealed, but you wouldn’t listen. Instead, you challenged me. You insulted me and now you will discover the truth behind all of this. This room is the Room of Hearts, a place where many generations of witches have placed the hearts of their truest and most loyal and devoted followers.”

  “I don’t understand…”

  “Yes, well you see Arthur I told you of three types of men who fall in love with me. The men who serve me above are those who, as I said before, still have some love for me in their hearts. The ones who left after falling in love with me could not stand to be with me and would rather be miserable without me forever more. The statues in the garden are those men who fell in love with me, but then came to hate me, and because of that they were turned into stone. But there is still another group of people Arthur, a group of men who, despite knowing the true me still loved me so much that they were willing to give everything to me—even their own heart. So all the hearts you see Arthur are the hearts of those men who, since witches began, fell for a witch so much that they gave the witch their hearts.”

  “Or they were taken from them!” exclaimed Arthur.

  “Arthur, again you misunderstand. The hearts are from those who are truly dedicated to me. They willingly bring themselves to this altar and give their heart to me, and they willingly leave…”

  “Leave? What are you saying?”

  Dani smiled. “Yes, the men who returned to your kingdom from my palace are those who gave their hearts to me, but because of my magic, were preserved to live for my cause as my emissaries. For a long period of time I have had men throughout your kingdom perform my will. They often returned to report to me so I know much more than you know. I was even prepared for the potion you would attempt to use on me, because I filled the phial with magicless red liquid. I just wanted to see if you were truly dedicated to use my own magic to get me to fall for you. And you were!” Dani laughed and pointed to the hooded figure next to her. “This is one of my most loyal servants—the one who loves me most and whose heart is still in this room, beating for me…”

  Suddenly Arthur watched as the hooded figure moved into the light and removed his hood. Unfortunately Arthur saw a familiar face.

  “Mordred!” exclaimed Arthur. “It can’t be! You were my most trusted knight!”

  “He was working for me the whole time Arthur!” Dani smiled as she ran her hands along Mordred’s face. “It was many years ago that he fell in love with me.”

  “But how are you here? You were supposed to
be running the kingdom.”

  Mordred smiled. “Oh I was, but once the witch informed me that you had fallen for her and left to seek counsel, I was summoned here by the witch,” explained Mordred. “I then left the kingdom in charge of my ignorant brother Gawain, who foolishly agreed to take over management of Camelot while I came here to be with the witch and see your demise fulfilled and her power finally rise. It was all part of the witch’s plan—for you to fall for her and then be so angry when you see her with another man, a man that she loved far more than she could ever love you.” Mordred wrapped his hands around Dani, as he embraced her and kissed her lips. This gave Arthur a rotten feeling in his stomach. “And do not worry about your Alice. She is perfectly fine now.”

  “What have you done with Alice?” exclaimed Arthur, now very angry.

  Mordred smiled insidiously. “I took care of her, telling her that you had once again abandoned her. I let her outside of Camelot and because of that, I gained her loyalty. Her heart has now completely hardened against you. You will find that, if you ever see her face again, any love she had for you is now filled with a passionate hate. She will become the next witch, taking sides with Dani the Great, and not Arthur the Great. And it will not be you by her side Arthur, but it will be I, Mordred, who will stand by this woman. I will rule all of Camelot with her, thus possessing everything that you once had.”

  Arthur looked up at Mordred with disappointment and grief. “So be it old friend. You have chosen a dark path Mordred, a path that you should know only ends in pain and death.”

  Then Arthur turned and looked at Dani. “You are a fool as well Dani, to think that I would ever fall for a witch.”