5. Lady Scully
In two years time, Sir Mulder's name was famous throughout all kingdoms. By then, Mulder felt that it was time to return to Baltimore where he had left Sirs Frohike, Langly, and Byers. He had had, for the time being, his fill of adventures. Now what he wanted most was to find a good king to loyally serve and begin planning and preparing the downfall of the Smoking Man.
But Mulder seemed to attract adventures like bees to sugar. On the third day into his journey home, Mulder found what seemed to be a graveyard of fallen knights. Some of the bodies were already skeletons while more recent casualties could be recognizable even with their rotting flesh. As Mulder rode on the deaths seemed to be more and more recent. The trail of corpses led to the path of a crumbling castle. As Blue came to a stop at the start of the pathway, Mulder noticed one of the bodies lying closest to him move.
Hopping down from his horse, Mulder stooped down to the fallen knight. He was still alive though barely conscious. Mulder carefully propped up the severely wounded body and gave him some of his water.
"Good knight," said Mulder when the man was fully awake. "What evil monster is the cause all these deaths and your grave wounds?"
"It is no monster, but a monster of an man, Sir Donny Pfaster. Time and time again he has captured the love or lady of many a noble knight and challenged them to a fight to the death. He jousts by only two rules: if his contender finds victory, he will win back his true love. If Sir Donny proves victorious, the opponent will loose not only his life but also his true love. Not one of his adversaries has beaten him yet. I myself have jousted with him. By the grace of God I am still living, but I have lost my one true love, a fate far worse than death."
Looking very sullen, the knight took a good look Mulder. Surprised, he asked in shock, "Noble knight, are you not the great and famous knight Sir Mulder?"
"Yes, I am the knight that you speak of."
"You are called the greatest knight in the world and I have heard of the many great and noble feats you have accomplished."
"I am just Sir Mulder," Mulder said humbly, who had no idea that he was known so well throughout the land. "But I will go and fight Sir Donny in your name and in the name of all of the other noble men who have lost their lives here."
"Godspeed to you, Sir Mulder," said the knight. "And if my love is still alive, would you please give her a message from me? Please tell her that I, Sir Leopold of Albany, am truly sorry that I have failed her and that I pray that she forgive me."
Mulder gave Sir Leopold his word and made his way up to the castle. Finding no one to challenge him at the entrance of the castle, Mulder invited himself in. He found himself in a large chamber. At the opposite end of the chamber was a large basin and behind it, a grand fireplace where trophies of ladies' hair and fingers were displayed.
Before Mulder could go any further into the castle, a knight stepped out of the shadows denying Mulder the right to advance and challenged him to a fight to the death even though he had no lady with him. Mulder accepted and they were soon engaged in a ferocious battle. Mulder had never faced anyone with such strength before.
Five hours into the battle the two agreed to take a short breather. In this time Mulder asked Sir Donny why he used his talent for evil when he could become a great and respected knight. He received no answer. Mulder realized that he was not capable of doing anything but evil. Sir Leopold had been right, though he was human, he was nothing more than a monster that was pleased by the death and torture of others and had a fetish for the hair and fingers of ladies. They assumed their joust again and fought well into the evening. Finally, at nightfall Mulder dealt Sir Donny a mortal wound.
Believing that was the end of Sir Donny, Mulder cast off his bloodied armor for it had become burdensome and went in search of Sir Leopold's beloved with a torchlight in his hand. He went to the end of the chamber and found a small door. Opening it, he found two beautiful ladies bound and gagged on the floor of the small closet.
He quickly undid their bindings and let them out of the dark enclosure. With the light of the torch he recognized one of the ladies as Lady Kate, whom he had rescued years and years before. It was she who turned out to be the love of Sir Leopold. She thanked Mulder for his services again, reminded him her that her home would always welcome him, and hurried out to find her beloved.
The other lady turned out to be the daughter of the infamous King Skinner, Lady Scully. Mulder was immediately awestruck by her beauty and grace as she stepped into the light.
"M'lady," said Mulder, bowing courteously to her. "I did not find any other living knights with Sir Leopold, but I will escort you safely back to you kingdom."
"That would be very much appreciated, good knight," replied Lady Scully. "Good sir, are you not the famed knight Sir Mulder?"
"I am he," said Mulder. "But I think I would recall meeting a lady as fair as you."
"I know you only by reputation."
"I did not know my name had spread so far through the land."
While they talked Sir Donny stirred on the ground where he had fallen when Mulder gravely wounded him.
Meanwhile, Mulder and Lady Scully talked about the kingdom of Quequeg, where the Lady Scully resided with her father King Skinner. The noble king was famous for being the only king ever to ward off an invasion by the Dark Lord by force.
"When we arrive at your father's castle, I think I appeal to him and ask if I may join his knights. I have been searching for a good king to serve, and I believe he may be the king I have been looking for."
"We would be honored to have you join our knights of the conference table," said Lady Scully.
All of a sudden Sir Donny dragged himself up off the floor and faced Mulder and Scully, a deranged look distorting his face.
"You're not going to join any conference table," he hissed. "I'm not through with you yet." And he lunged at Mulder with his sword. For the first time in his life Mulder was bewildered and helpless, caught off guard and unarmored. When his senses finally caught up with him, he had just enough time to duck away before Sir Donny went crashing down on the spot where he just stood. Sir Donny managed to drag Mulder down with him and slashed at Mulder with his sword.
While Sir Donny was savagely beating up on Mulder, Lady Scully managed to grab Mulder's sword from where he had left it earlier and brought it over to where the two knights were thrashing about. Finding that Mulder had no way to get a hold of his sword, Lady Scully did the only thing she could do, she stabbed the sword in to Sir Donny's back, killing him.
Mulder pushed away Sir Donny's body, shocked at what had just happened. But Lady Scully paid no attention to the lifeless body lying in a heap next to her. Instead, she fussed about Mulder's wounds insisting that she look at them and fix them up. Mulder stared at Scully in wonder and amazement while Scully cleaned up his minor cuts and wounds. When Lady Scully declared that they must be on their way to Quequeg so that she would have access to slaves and ointments that would heal Mulder more effectively, it was all the he could do to sigh. She looked so serious that he knew better than to argue with her. So in the middle of the night, the two set off on Blue to Quequeg, Sir Mulder leaving a trail of blood behind him as his lacerations bled and Lady Scully scolding him for not paying more attention to his wounds.