A Tale of Two Ages
Chapter Five– War and Peace
5th Century Britain
The Battle of Bedegraine
"Surrender, King Lot!"
Their swords collide with a resounding clang. The men forming a makeshift duel circle mutter amongst themselves. The smaller and more nimble knight jumps back. The knight ducks and her enemy's sword whistles through the air, narrowly missing her head.
"Never!" The large beast of a man roars. Thunder rumbles across the sky, seemingly as an answer to his call. It is something superstitious men might interpret as an omen of defeat or victory. But they see signs where there are none. The knight does not know which of them the gods favor, but she does not care. She will not fall here. She will not yield to any force, otherworldly or otherwise. She will stand and she will fight. But first, she has to defeat this man.
She grips Caliburn tightly in her right hand. Despite mowing through hordes of horses and men, its blade remains as smooth and as sharp as the day it was pulled out of the stone. She raises her shield and charges. There is a weakness in King Lot's stance. He turns and twists his greatsword of iron over his head, seeking to bat aside the smaller king. She ducks and advances, sword aimed at his armpit. Caliburn slices easily through his mail and King Lot cries out in agony and rage. She grins.
This will be over soon.
And then he hits her with his heavy sword.
She raises her shield just in time for it to take the brunt of the attack, but the force of it throws her off her feet. She grunts as she lands. Her body tumbles, arms flailing as her shield is wrenched from her hands by her own momentum just before her helmet strikes the dirt. Mud seeps into the gaps in her armor as the knight gathers her feet under her.
That was premature.
"Foolish boy!" King Lot bellows as he clutches his wound. One of his men step forward to try and help him but the large man pushes him away. "Do you think winning a few battles makes you King?"
Her shield is broken, splintered apart by that blasted sword. She gives it a regretful glance and realizes that her left hand is also broken. She grits her teeth.
I will not fall here. I will stand and fight. For if I do not, then my kingdom has ended before it has even begun.
She stands up and ignores the pains wracking her body. Lightning flashes overhead, illuminating the dark puddles surrounding their makeshift arena.
"Do you?" King Lot keeps talking as he watches the knight get up. "Or is it that sword of yours? The Sword in the Stone." A few of his men snicker. He spits on the ground. "King Arthur. Bah. You are nothing more than a boy playing at ruling."
He is telling her nothing she has not asked herself before, so she do not respond. The knight raises Caliburn and wields it with two hands. Once more, she ignores her body telling her to stop moving, to just lie down and stop fighting.
"Come then, King Lot!" She points the Sword of Appointment at him. "Get a taste of this boy's blade!"
He stares at her in surprise and then he grins. Bruised and battered, the kings charge once again at each other. He hits her helmet with the flat of his blade, she pounds him in the gut and steps on his foot, he squeezes her broken hand. They cause each other great pain, but blow for blow she matches him in strength and speed. Their battle must look like an oddity, a large bearded warrior is being matched by a young child in dented armor. A classic David and Goliath match, if only David and Goliath had hacked each other into pieces.
The knight yells and punches him in the nose with her broken hand. Blood flies and bones crack on both sides of the gauntlet. King Lot flails and falls, clutching his bleeding nose. He reaches out for his greatsword but she kicks it away. His gray eyes stare at her, and she sees an inkling of respect in his eyes. The verdict has been decided. David has won.
"Surrender, King Lot." The knight gasps. It takes everything she has left just to remain standing. She hopes that her men cannot see that her legs are shaking.
Two of King Lot's men jog to his side. Swords from her faction are unsheathed in retaliation. The knight ignores all of this. She places her sword against the other King's neck as such that she could end his life with one flick of her wrist. Lot wipes his nose with his hand, slowly as to not provoke the sword against his throat. He shoots her a grin with a few teeth missing.
She scowls. She does not understand what he finds so amusing. Cannot he just surrender so they can all go home?
Blood drips down his chin as he laughs. "So there is a reason you won all those battles after all. L-let me stand at least, 'tis poor form to… surrender in such a manner."
The knight lets out a sigh of relief and withdraws her sword. His men grab him in haste and help him stand.
"I, Lot Luwddoc," He proclaims loud enough for everyone to hear, as if he did not come from a battle and had his nose broken. "King of Lothian and Orkney, surrender and swear fealty to the High King of Britain, Arthur Pendragon."
"Eia! Salve Rex! Salve Rex!"
"Toileachas! Rìgh Artair!"
"Eia! Eia!"
The duel circle soon erupts in cheers. Men from both sides shout her name, or rather, they shout Hail King Arthur! Long Live the King! A sudden wave of fatigue threatens to overwhelm her as the adrenaline fades.
"Come on," Someone tugs at her sword and she resists until she realizes that it is her brother, Kay. He drapes a cloak over her shoulders and hands Caliburn off to a passing squire. "Let's get you inside before you die of cold in this rain."
Rain? She did not even realize that it was raining. "My sword…" She mumbles as she is being led away. Soon, she finds herself on a bed inside a sizeable tent that she assumes is hers. Her head starts to get foggy and her body feels light.
"That will be all, thank you." Someone speaks and her armor stops moving. Was someone fiddling with it? "I can take it from here."
"Lord Merlin. The King needs immediate-"
"Just Merlin please. And I can attend to King Arthur."
"But-"
"Leave. Now." Feet shuffle and her armor starts to move again.
"Merlin?" She opens my eyes but is unable to focus on the mage.
"Thank goodness I arrived before those healers took your clothes off. Else we would be in a very uncomfortable situation."
"My sword… Merlin."
"I am here and you ask for your sword?" He huffs. "Do not fret, Arturia. Caliburn will be here when you wake. Now, go to sleep. You did well today."
Her boots clink as she walks beside her brother. A hand casually rests atop Caliburn, but is ready to draw the sword at a moment's notice. Farmers, knights, and merchants alike stop whatever they are doing and bow as they pass. Some do so out of respect, some out of awe, while some do it while hiding their scowls behind perfectly crafted smiles.
"How are you feeling, brother?" Sir Kay asks.
Arturia does not respond immediately. Normally, she would utter 'I'm fine' and dismiss all further thought of her own well-being, but somehow, she feels that it warrants more of her attention today. "Well enough," She finally answers.
"I don't mean just physically," Kay continues. "Although you did take a beating from King Lot the other day…"
The war is officially over now. Duke Eustace of Cambenet, King Brandegoris of Stranggore, King Rience of North Wales, King Lot of Lothian and Orkney, King Idres of Cornwall and King Agwisance of Ireland have all surrendered and sworn fealty to Arthur, King Uriens of Gore escaped from the battlefield. Britain is finally reunited under the rule of the High King, Arthur Pendragon, son of Uther Pendragon.
"How are our allies doing?"
Kay frowns at his deflected question. He should know better than to expect much when he asks Arturia about her well-being. "Half of our allies are in their tents, celebrating and counting their spoils. The other half left yesterday, eager to get home before winter comes."
"I see. Tell the men not to celebrate too much. We are still in conquered territory after all."
Sir Kay draws closer to her and speaks in a lowered voice. "You think King Lot resents his defeat?"
She shakes her head. "No. I don't think King Lot is that sort of man. He'd rather challenge me to another duel than resort to underhanded means." She stops at the peak of a steep slope. Men and women sweep dirt and mud out of their houses, muck-rakers clean the streets of much more than just muck, and carpenters hammer wood onto broken houses. "But his people might."
Bodies are carted off by the hundreds. Beggars, commoners, soldiers, noblemen. Bodies of all kinds pile atop each other on the streets. Her hand grips Caliburn tightly. King Arthur has won the war. She only hopes that it was worth it.
Her brother sighs far too audibly. She scowls at him. "Stop frowning, brother," He says. "And stop thinking such grim thoughts. You'll get wrinkles and white hair before long." He smirks at her.
She rolls her eyes. "You know that I don't age normally anymore, Kay."
"Exactly. You scoff now, but you might get wrinkles and white hair tomorrow!"
"Don't be ridiculous." Her lips turn upward at her brother's silly attempts to cheer her up.
He laughs softly and exhales. "We can't do anything for the dead, Arthur. But we can help the living." Kay looks at her, his eyes serious. "Don't tell me you forgot what you fought so hard to secure Britain for. We can make the people's lives better. Protect them from the Saxons and the Picts, from Vortigern. We owe it to the dead, to fight for what they no longer can. And they did not die in vain, brother. Because you won. You won and you will make Britain great again."
Then he smirks and rubs her head. "No pressure or anything."
She groans and bats his arm away. "Shut up."
"Well said, Kay. Not as eloquent as I would have liked, but well said." Merlin suddenly speaks, causing the foster siblings to cry out.
"Stop doing that, Merlin." Arturia glares at the mage.
"Nonsense. Surprising you once in a while is healthy for the heart."
She rolls her eyes. Fighting and leading wars stress her heart enough, thank you. "Why are you here?"
"King Leodegrance and his army will travel with us on our way back." The mage says, fiddling with a branch he broke off as he leans against a tree.
"Very well." Arturia nods. "We can stop at Cameliard before moving on to Camelot."
"Yes." Merlin drawls, causing Arturia to look at him warily. She should have known that her teacher would not play messenger without something in return. "I think the fair maiden would also like to see you again."
She stiffens slightly and wonders how Merlin knew about her. The mage does have his weird ways and knows plenty that he shouldn't, but there was something about the maiden, her innocence perhaps, that made the King wish Merlin didn't know about her yet. She didn't want the maiden to become his new plaything.
"Maiden? What maiden?" Kay asks.
"Leodegrance's daughter. She met King Arthur when her father introduced them." Merlin smiles, his cat-like eyes glinting. "Oh, but she met Wart before that. By the lake in front of the castle, yes?"
Arturia scowls and the hand that rests atop Caliburn twitches.
"Wart?" Kay is absolutely perplexed and looks at Arturia. "Your old nickname?"
"Yes," She says curtly. "We cannot stand here chatting all day. We have things to do." She turns and walks away without waiting for the two men to follow.
Author's Note: Toileachas and Eia are both expressions of delight, much like the English 'Hooray!' or 'Cheers!'. The former is Scottish-Gaelic while the latter is Latin. Righ Artair is Scottish-Gaelic for 'King Arthur', and Salve Rex is Latin for 'Hail the King!' Do correct me if I am wrong though, I used Google for these.
The Scottish-Gaelic expressions are yelled by King Lot's men, while the Latin ones are yelled by Arturia's own. While they don't necessarily speak Latin in Britain (Britain was once a Roman outpost), I figured that adding expressions in other languages would be a nice touch.
On the topic of Arturia. In this stage of her life, she is prone to underestimating her opponents and acting rashly. She isn't the undisputed King of Britain yet, but is in the act of tearing down the rebellions. I took inspiration from the few characteristics Saber Lily has, being more idealistic and 'happier' than her older counterpart, Saber.
Obviously, Arturia does not look like Saber Lily here and is not called 'Knight Princess'. But even as idealistic as she is now, she is starting to feel the burden of war. Or rather, the burden of the victor. Have you guys heard of a pyrrhic victory?
P.S: I am need of betas to help me write and generate ideas for this fanfiction. It really speeds up my writing speed and ups the quality of the written work. Anyone interested? :)