"No! William, you can't die defenceless! I'm not letting you!" I stood my ground.

"No. You will not." William said firmly.

"You've got no sword, Vivien." Marco pointed out.

"I don't need a sword."

"No umbrellas or hockey sticks here, too."

"I'll improvise."

With what? There's only books. Hey, maybe I could use a dictionary as a shield. Or to whack Marco's head.

That's when I spotted the flower. Ok, not a flower exactly. It's a long thorny stick with a single flower that's dropped off. Its three feet long.

"Use a stick?" Marco was laughing. He took a sword behind him. He took off his shirt. He was wearing an "armour" made of… Metal plates. Those kind you put food on. Really!

He brandished the sword. "Clarent. I made your Queen present it to me. And a sacrificial amount of blood from her."

"You hurt Jennifer!" I was angry beyond words.

William and Marco was circling. "Stay out of this, Nancy. It's between Marco and me. It was meant to be. Arthur dieing in the place where he was born. It's fate."

But… Tintagel was the place Arthur was born in. Mordred and Arthur battled in Lake Tamar. You know what? Tintagel University has got a pond. Called Tamar.

Even if I wanted to, I couldn't fight Marco hand-to-hand. He's got a sword! And a real one, dusty though.

"You know, I saw you take that sword from that stone. I traded the real Excalibur with a fake one. So you'll lose for sure. Never tried slicing with it, did you? It's wood, covered by aluminium foil." Marco gloated.

What? A wooden sword against a metal sword. William's got no chance.

"Where did you put the real sword?"

"Not gonna tell you." He smirked.

"Here." I tossed him an Oxford dictionary. With a solid hardcover, "Use this as a shield."

William stared at me. "Do you know how heavy this is? Can't I use a library chair?"

"You wanna use a plastic stool?" I asked him, pointing to the cute little stools.

"I'm going. Marco, I'll come by after you killed him. I'm not gonna stay and watch you impale William."

In truth, I was gonna look for the real Excalibur. I'm gonna ride William's motorbike. It's much faster. Guess I'd have to learn how to ride one. Elaine did try to teach me how to ride one, though.

I rushed to Ms. Kali's house. Where in her immaculate house would Marco keep the real Excalibur? I remember William pulling 'Excalibur easily from the 'stone'. The real one must be…buried. Since

the 'stone' is like mud. From Ms. Kali's garden.

I got a shovel and went digging around in her neat garden. Almost immediately I could see a disturbed patch of crushed grass. I digged like a madwoman. Finallly! An old brown sword. I remembered how 'Excalibur looked so shiny. Now I know. It's wrapped with aluminium!

I went to a lake of a nearby garden. Hey, Excalibur is washed in a lake by the Lady of the Lake is not too cliché.

After I made sure its good, I rushed back to the library…