Arthur stared out the window onto the grey hills of Britain, the rain pouring down as it always did. It was a strange thing, that this country with its seemingly never ending showers, dull sky's and cool temperatures, should command so much love in the people living there that they fought so hard for it, gave up their lives for it. He supposed it must be what any man would do for his home.
Not that he was unhappy here, this was his home also, and his beautiful wife's home, and his people's home. Even after ruling the country for such a short time, a matter of months, he has begun to think of them as his people, he was their leader.
Guinevere stirred in their bed, she was waking up. He could still see the warrior in her face when she slept, although most of her waking hours were taken up doing a queen's duty.
Arthur walked over to his crown and picked it up, admiring it. It represented Britain, it was quite old and did not appear decadent, but it was strong and lasted through the ages, and once you took a closer look you could see the beautiful patterns carved into the metal symbolizing unity. He placed it carefully on his head and left the room quietly, taking care to not disturb his still sleeping wife.
As he walked the long hallways of his castle towards the table room servants scuttled out of his way, greeting him with a "Good morning your Majesty," and a bow.
Once he reached the room that still held the round table he so firmly believed in he sat down in the nearest chair. This room was used for all his knights and lords to come together and discuss any pressing matters, he of course has his thrown for ceremonies and greeting guests, but when ruling his country he wanted his advisers, his friends, to be at the same level as he. One by one the men walked in and took their seats, dressed in clothes ranging from rich and colourful robes to armour, they would talk to the man next to them until everyone was present.
"At least your not late again today." Arthur swung round, Lancelot stood behind him.
"Lancelot, I see you are well, I am surprised, was it not you last night declaring after all those ales that you would never see the next morning?"
"Yes, yes, Arthur. You make your point quite clear, and I will thank you not to talk so loudly."
Arthur laughed at his old friend, and then rose up and stood still until all talking stopped. "My friends, what have we to discuss today? Has the visit to the south completed?"
A lord Ingram stood up, he was of the one's dressed in the fine robes. "Your Majesty, Lord King, last night I received distressing news. The group that travelled south has indeed returned, well, two have. The others have disappeared."
"What? Disappeared? How do you mean?"
"I mean, sire, that on their way back they were ambushed. They quickly realised that they could not win this enemy so they fled. The two that made it back do not know what happened to the other four, they seemed to have been captured, probably killed."
"Why was I not informed of this sooner?" Arthur asked, his anger becoming more obvious.
"It was very late last night, sire, that they managed to contact me. I felt it would be best to wait till now to break the news, nothing could have been done about it at that hour at any rate."
"Do the two escapers know who it was that ambushed them?"
"Well...they do not know, sire, but when they began to describe this enemy to me I realised quickly who was behind it."
"Well who man?" Now it was Lancelot becoming impatient.
"They were riding wolves. Large wolves. The soldiers thought it was daemons at first. And, sire, you know who rides on large trained wolves."
"Belzar? It can not be possible...the Romans defeated his army and killed him." Arthur snorted.
"Arthur, you forget not to put faith in the Romans," Lancelot challenged, "They told stories of a great many thing, but most were fiction. What is more likely is they drove off Belzar to the south for him to gather his army yet again."
"But it is documented proof that he was killed." Another knight said.
"Documented by the Romans!" Lancelot barked.
"Your Majesty, may I advise you to send another group, smaller this time, of stealth soldiers to verify the situation before we do anything rash like declare open war," Lord Ingram raised an eyebrow in Lancelot's direction, "Or do anything so dense as to ignore a threat of this magnitude."
"Yes, a small group that has a direct mission is less likely to be found you majesty." A few other lords agreed.
"I do not like putting my men at further risk, but you are right, we can not ignore this or do anything unfounded. Send two men, but if they are not back in ten days I shall send out an army to fetch them, understood?"
There was a murmur of agreement through the hall.
"Good. Get on to it immediately Lancelot." Arthur instructed.
"Sire, I could..." Lord Ingram began.
"No Ingram. You have done quite enough I'm sure, and by the sounds of it you have been up half the night already. Lancelot will organise this."
Ingram scowled quickly at Lancelot, who returned the look. He did not like this lord, who always dressed as though there was a ceremony going on and made no noise as he crept around the hallways of the castle.
"Let me know as soon as possible." With that Arthur dismissed the council. He exchanged a few words with Lancelot and then hurried back to his quarters, Guinevere would want to know about this as soon as possible.
A pot figure of a knight hit the stonewall and smashed into tiny pieces.
"Lancelot? That fool! He is of no use to me!" Ingram picked up another figure and threw it hard at the wall in a fit of rage. "Lord Belzar will be most angry when he hears of this!"
"I don't understand sir," Ingram's assistant, Jan, asked, "I thought you wanted to send some emissaries?"
"Jan you fool, of course I did, but only to return saying they found nothing. That way Arthur would be on edge, afraid and suspicious, making him a much easier target, for when Belzars army did attach. Now Lancelot's men will find information and Arthur will most likely have his army ready in time for battle! When the outcome of a war is uncertain it never pleasant."
"But could you not warn Lord Belzar of the emissaries?"
"Yes, I will do that, but my men will not reach him before Lancelot's who have probably already set out. And they will more than likely not find them. And Belzar is not ready to send his army out immediately. This is a shambles!" Ingram stopped to take breath. "But nothing can be done now, I must act quickly." He turned to Jan. "Jan, get me cloak. We need to send out messengers now."