Review

Iskandr

Isn't photovoltaics just a fancy term for solar power?

Gargoyles are possible, they did appear in the show when a magic user brought some stone Gargoyles to life. Jumper Gothic could do it with hardlight holograms like the dragon that was one of the tests to overcome when SG1 were seeking the Sangraal.

Well the knights were only acting the part of watchman because of the murders, and he wasn't just standing around guarding some door, he was inspecting the security, which included making sure that the guards were doing their jobs. He wasn't actually guarding the castle himself he was just checking the security.

Sam Vines was a knight, his formal title is Sir Samuel Vimes, Commander of the City Watch.

Also it wasn't unheard of in medieval time for knights to guard a royal castle or even to act as bodyguards for important people. The Kingsguard in Game of Thrones are an example of this.

A dream catcher is an elegant solution, although it could backfire if discovered by Uther. Dream catcher do look a bit magical, which I guess is part of their charm.

Jump Chain 5 - Merlin

Part 13

Camelot. Albion.

While I'd been away things had not been so peaceful here, there'd been a griffon rampaging around and Lancelot had become a knight only to be arrested when it was discovered that he wasn't part of noble family. Then Lancealot had killed the griffon and been pardoned before he'd left the kingdom. All very dramatic, and while the monster had ended the lives of a few people things had calmed down again pretty soon.

It was a little worrying how quickly people got over monsters attacking the kingdom. I didn't think it was all a case of British stiff upper lip, and as Churchill would put it KBO (keep buggering on) People just seemed to accept that bad things would happen. Which made me feel a little sad.

"The people need their spirits lifting" I muttered to myself.

"What was that my lord?" a voice asked

I hadn't meant to speak out loud.

"Nothing" I told the tailor, as he took his measurements "I was just thinking".

Cameron, who was always concerned for my security, had recently pointed out that I was often seen in new clothes, but never seen buying any. Which might strike someone as odd so she'd made an appointment for me with the royal tailor, one who supplied the nobility with the height of local fashion. I didn't really care what he made for me, he was just here for the sake of appearances.

There was a knock at the door, and the prince entered my quarters. I'd been expecting to talk to him sometime today, however I'd thought that he would summon me his rooms.

"Your Highness" I said, while stepping off the small stool the tailor had asked me to stand on "Just give me a moment".

I dismissed the clothes maker, knowing that I could always finish my business with him later on.

"Is there something I can help you with?" I asked the future monarch.

The prince came further inside the room and took a seat at the table, which meant that I could also sit down. It wouldn't have been proper for me to take a seat before he did. Not that the prince normally cared about such protocol.

"I just finished speaking to my father about your idea for an archery contest" he told me.

That had been my idea. I figured that the dark mood which had settled over the city could be lifted with a nice sporting event. And there were plenty of events that were for knight only, such as the melee tournaments and the jousting, my intention was for the archery contest to open to all. A chance for the different classes to compete as equals.

"The king does not believe that it is right for knights and other nobles to compete against peasants" said the Prince.

I had foreseen that Uther might say something along those lines. If a common person beat one of the knights it might make the kingdom's elite warriors look foolish. Worse if it was Arthur who was beaten by some hunter, the people might see him as weak.

"A shame" I said "I really thought that a friendly contest might help bring people together".

Arthur nodded, and I could see that he thought that there would be merit in it as well.

"Your point about all the other yearly contests only being open to knights and how that was unfair on the people of this kingdom is valid" the future king was now saying "So I was able to convince my father of the merits. There is a possibility that we can recruit some fine archers for the army, and it would life people's spirits".

I was glad to hear this. The contest was my idea, and while its success or failure wouldn't alter my standing much, I was hoping that it would become a yearly tradition and that I would be remembered for it long after I left this world, and my Jump Chain came to an end.

"My father has agreed that the treasury can bare the expense of funding the contest" the prince told me "As long as you pay for the prize".

This made sense as the contest would bring more people into the city, and they would spend money while here, at the tavern and such, this income would be taxed, and those taxes would refill the treasury. At least in part, and I was sure that the king would find other ways to make money if he needed it.

"I hope that you'll host the contest" I said to Arthur as I poured us both a small cup of wine "I'm sure the winner of the prize will find it all the more satisfying if its presented to them by the prince".

The winner of my planned contest would receive a golden arrow, which was an idea I'd ripped off from the Robin Hoods stories, but if he ever existed, and he might do in this world, he wouldn't be born for hundreds of years so no worries there.

"Why don't you want my father to host this contest?" the prince wondered.

I had my reasons, and not all of them were to do with the fact that Uther was a despot that I loathed.

"You normally enter all the contests" I said Arthur "Which means rather than enjoying these events, you're busy training and preparing. I think it would make a nice change if you could sit back and enjoy yourself. Besides you'll be king one day, and you'll have to host many such events, this would be good practice".

Another good reason was that for most of these events the young royal was under pressure to win in order to prove that he was the best warrior in the land. He would always come out of these contests as the champion, but they had to stress him out. This time all he'd have to do is say a few words and hand out a prize.

Aside from the actual contest there would be entertainments of all sort, and a feast for the visiting nobility, that sort of thing. If nothing else these things would serve as distractions for my cousin, who was enraptured by Camelot right now, but I knew she'd become bored soon enough.

"You're right" the prince said as he nodded "It will be interesting simply to watch for a change".

I'd planned the contest out well so he shouldn't need to do much.

"Lots of people will want to enter" I was now saying "So we'll have try out to weed out the true archers with some tryouts, and the best they will compete for the crowds, which should take up a whole afternoon with each round eliminating more contestants".

There was a steward who had hard working staff that would take care of the finer details, while keeping things organised, and I could hire other people to help out if needs be. For the most part I intended to sit back and enjoy the event as much as possible. Assuming nothing odd happened.

Arthur quickly drank down the small amount of wine that I'd served him, and I got the impression that he'd not had a chance to eat or drink much today. While I intended court I wasn't part of Uther's council of advisors, as such I wasn't involved in the actual running of the kingdom, were as the prince was.

"I'll run this by my father and some of members of the court" the prince told me as he got up "Between us I'm sure we'll get it sorted".

Then he was gone, and a few moments later Cameron entered the room.

"What did he want?" the Terminator wondered.

I told her about that the contest that was moving forward as planned, and she told me that cousin had decided to retire early this evening. I hadn't even realised that it was getting dark.

"You know I think I'll go to the tavern" I said to Cameron.

I couldn't remember the last time I'd gone out just to have fun. I'd done plenty of enjoyable things, but most of the time during the last Jump I'd been completing some errand or otherwise running about to fetch something. It had been fun, most of the time, however it had rarely been relaxing.

"You don't drink" she pointed out.

I'd made sure to test my body chemistry and alcohol shouldn't have much of an effect on me, in fact my enhanced biology should allow me handle strong drink more easily than other people. Alliance Marines were gene modded to help them resist toxins and such that were found in hazardous environments, of course this modification had its limits.

"Best I come with you" Cameron said "You'll be vulnerable while intoxicated".

She was right, and while it might not be deemed proper for a knight to take his servant with him when going out for a drink I didn't really care.

"Come on then" I said to the cyborg "To the tavern of the Rising Sun!".

And to the beer. Assuming that it had been invented by this point in time. If not I may have to invent it.

(Line Break)

Camelot. Albion.

The Rising Sun, often known as just the tavern, was the drinking establishment nearest to Camelot castle. It was owned by Evoric, the innkeeper who ran it, and if you were human he was not the kind of person you wanted to make mad by not paying your tab, or by starting trouble in his pub. The Terminator was sure that Evoric could easily handle the roughest of customers.

Cameron was not concerned for her own safety as the weapons of this time were little danger to her, and while she could drink in order to keep up appearances, she didn't drink very much. No one paid much attention to the cyborg in any case as she sat by herself at the back, a position well suited to keeping an eye on things.

Nor was she concerned about the innkeeper threatening Gothic for none payment of goods and services as it was unlikely that Evoric would start trouble with a knight, a few of which did visit this tarven, besides Gothic always paid for drinks promptly, and even if did set up a tab he'd be able to afford his bills.

Most of Cameron's attention was currently on the arm wrestling event that the human she was suppose to protect was taking part in. This wasn't a totally safe activity, but he could be doing much dangerous things, and at least she could keep an eye on him while he drank intoxicants. Why fragile humans drank alcohol, which was a poison to them, remained a mystery to Cameron.

The rules of the game that Gothic was playing were simple, there was a pot, the combined winnings for this evening, and the person defending the pot had to win every match or he'd lose the pot. The person defending the pot could leave with his winnings whenever he wished however he'd then be done for the night.

So to Cameron it seemed that the trick to this game was to win as much as you could before you faced a superior foe, but the players of the game could only guess at who was superior, and they had to take into account how tried their arm really was.

The defender could of course refuse a challenge, but then they wouldn't be able to increase their winnings, and no would want to challenge someone, to risk their money, if they couldn't win big. The risk of losing it all seemed to be part of the thrill of the game.

Gothic was risking a big pot now, but he hardly needed the money and Cameron didn't think anyone here other than herself could surpass his physical prowess, however should he drink too much, he could lose, also there was a chance that a disgruntled player would resent losing and start a fight, or attempt to mug Gothic once he had left this building, but Cameron was prepared for such possibilities.

There was no need to concern herself with those potential dangers right now as it was still early in the evening, and no one's judgment was too badly affected by that they had been drinking. Which meant that she had some time to explore this new environment, and learn about the people who came here.

Looking around the Terminator noticed a game of chance that was being played for small amounts of money, it involved the rolling of dice in the hopes of reaching a certain number. Upon closer inspection Cameron discovered that the game was close to another dice game called Hazard, which was the prescourer to the dice game known as Craps.

The rules of this game were simple enough for an AI to understand, and Cameron was better able to calculate odds than any human, even when they were sober, she also had very fine motor control, as such she could control the dice rolls.

That combined with the small amount of money she had on person could led to her obtaining some winnings of her own. Not that she needed to win anything as she had access to replicators that could create for her any amount of money she wished, but playing this game would pass the time if nothing else.

(Line Break)

Camelot. Albion

"So only do we need to find someone stupid enough to not only marry Maeve, I also need permission from the king for the marriage to happen" I summarized "Well I can't see the second part becoming an issue".

Since it was my task to get my blabbermouth of cousin married I had to find her a husband who could not only put up with her, but also provide for her, and she might want children so he should be healthy enough to father them. If nothing else some brats would keep her busy.

While there were was no shortage of strong young men in this kingdom, however I couldn't force anyone them into marrying Maeve. She'd have to get their interest, and then I'd have to tempt them in marriage with an impressive dowry.

Which might require to buy some more land. All knights in this kingdom owned some land, and since there was a hierarchy of knights, some of us held more land than others. The kingdom was large enough that most of it was uninhabited so I could simply buy more of it from the crown.

"What about your attempts to court the Lady Morgana?" Cameron asked me "Perhaps you should concern yourself more with winning her over than pairing up your annoying cousin with some idiot?".

It wasn't very nicely put, however she wasn't wrong. Maeve was only my concern in the short term, I had to think long term with Morgana, not only because I wanted her as a companion, but also because I wished to avoid her becoming a villain, and dying after so many years filled with nothing other than pain, hatred and misery.

"Enhancing your reputation as a knight could aid in completing in both objectives" Cameron advised "If you were more well thought of the king might allow you to court Morgana and this would help you find a husband for your cousin".

Her suggestions had merit, and I didn't need to marry Morgana just befriend her, still it would be a lot easier to spend time with her socially if Uther approved of me. Already I was coming with a few ways to make myself more highly thought of by the court by increasing my standing. Making more money would help, but a knight's worth wasn't measured in gold.

One way would be to win some tournaments, however that would be hard to do as they weren't any right now, and if there had been then winning them would require me to defeat Arthur. Which wasn't something his father would be at all happy about.

I could leave Camelot for the tournaments held in other kingdoms, but that would take me away form Morgana who I was currently trying to get closer to. Still it was something to keep in mind in the future once I had Morgana committed to me.

There were other paths that led towards the fame and glory that I now desired. I could slay some dangerous beast, a dragon would be best, but they were in short supply and the one I did know about was a useful resource. Even if he hadn't been I'd fear to face him in battle. A dragon was a fearsome foe in battle, and the Great Dragon was the most fearsome of them all.

"I could go on some quest" I said to Cameron "The most famous of knights go on quests for some treasure like the Holy Grail".

Which in this world was called the Cup of Life, and while it formed the bases for the stories about the Holy Grail it was not the same thing. However I wouldn't quest for that as I already knew where it was, and that it was better off staying hidden away. Sure it was tempting to use its powers to make myself immortal, but that would require the aid of a High Priestess who could use the ritual to make me her minion. Which would make eternal life totally unbearable for me.

"The knight seeking a quest is suppose to be spend the night in some sort of mediation and in the process transcend his body so that a quest is revealed to him in a vision" I explained to Cameron.

Which sounded supernatural on the surface of things, but I knew enough of the human mind to know that it was far more powerful than people understood, it was simply that few knew how to access that power, and it could take many years to unlock even a fraction of that power.

It was possible for humans to have visions even without magical powers, but it required achieving a higher state of being, as a human did when on the path to ascension, it was amazing to think that Arthur of all people was capable of getting far down the path to ascension. Must have something to do with his magical origins.

That or some higher power got involved and used the vision to communication. That was possible, the Triple Goddess, who was the main figure of worship in the Old Religion, might send people visions in order to ensure that her will was done.

If this was the case then I should be able to achieve the level of consciousness required to receive such a vision from on high, in fact I shouldn't need the higher power, but I'd never had any visions. Not that I really wanted any as they tended to be unreliable.

"Are you going to attempt this vision quest?" the Terminator enquired.

I nodded.

"Yes" I then said "if nothing else it will prove that I am a real knight".

The opinions of others meant little to me, but I wanted to prove to myself that I was a true knight. If in the process I could return to Camelot to be showered in honour and glory, while bringing some great treasure back with me, then all the better.

"What about your cousin?" Cameron inquired.

I wasn't too concerned about her. My Terminator could look after her while I was away, assuming I got any visions, if I didn't then I'd have to come up with another plan.

"Well there's no rush for me to go on a quest" I said "And if I don't get a vision we'll have to research and discover some object for me to find or foe to defeat, as an excuse for me to return to Camelot with some riches".

As long as it actual challenged me as a knight it should still be a valid quest. For now however I had an archery contest to oversee and some improvements that needed to be brought about.

(Line Break)

Camelot. Albion.

"How did you find this place?" Cameron asked me.

That had been simple enough I'd just gotten Cortana do a scan of what was under the castle, and she'd found a few chambers that were cut off from the network of tunnels that were below the Citadel. The tomb had defences, but there was nothing that could stop me from simply beaming in, and the traps here were no match for me. Poison tipped darts meant nothing to people with kinetic barriers and body armour.

"I have a satellite in orbit over the kingdom" I reminded the Terminator "Its sensors aren't that complex, but they were able to find this place with the right kind of scan".

We were here on a whim so I'd not had time to fill Cameron on everything she needed to know.

"This is the tomb of Cornelius Sigan" I told my protector and companion "There are stories about him that say back when he was alive he could turn the tides, change day into night, and even helped build Camelot itself. His life's work was to defeat death and he found a way".

Sadly for me he hadn't figured out some sort of immortality, he just found a way to stop his soul from passing on to the afterlife when he died. Which wasn't knowledge that would help me as while obtaining any form of immortality would be nice I desired something that would prevent me from dying in the first place as that would end up my Jump Chain.

Immortality hadn't concerned me much in past Jumps as I couldn't actually die while on Jump Chain, I'd get a game over and be sent home if anything truly awful happened to me, but now that I had access to things that were supernatural I felt that it was worth looking into.

"Sigan became very powerful, perhaps too powerful, and the King at the time ordered him to be executed" I was now saying to Cameron "Before his death, Sigan cursed Camelot, saying that he would one day return and raze the city to the ground. The stories say that he didn't want his wealth and power to die with him and that up until his execution he worked on a way to cheat death".

In the show, after Camelot miners uncovered his tomb, a thief called Cedric worked his way up to a position in the royal household and he uses his access to the citadel in order to enter the tomb. He intended to steal Sigan's riches and jewels, including a large blue heart shaped jewel that one of the miners had told him about.

The jewel was sort of like one of Voldemort's horcruxes, only the jewel contained all of Sigan's soul rather than just part of it, and when Cedric took told of the jewel, he become possessed by Cornelius Sigan's soul. Sigan soon launched an attack on Camelot that forced Merlin to ask the Kilgharrah, aka the Great Dragon for help, despite them being at odds at the time.

After witnessing Merlin's magic, Sigan tried to recruit the young warlock. However, when Merlin rejected the offer, so Sigan attempted to possess him in order to increase his already considerable powers. Using a spell that Kilgharrah recently taught him, Merlin was able to trap Sigan's soul back inside the jewel.

I explained all of that to Cameron, and about how much damage Sigan could do to Camelot, which to me was simply unacceptable, a lot of people would die because of one thief's greed, and because some miner just happened to dig around here.

"For now I can't do anything about the Sigan's soul" I was now saying to my cyborg bodyguard "Such things are beyond my power".

I was certain that a High Priestess I knew could handle the soul jewel thing, but she would most likely unleash Sigan and ally with him to destroy Camelot, which wasn't something I wanted. I lived in Camelot, and besides I didn't want the common folk to be slaughtered.

Therefore it was for the best if I took this entire tomb out of phase until I could deal with the sort of horcrux. Even if I never found a way by the time the generator that was powering the phase cloak stopped working Camelot would be long buried and mostly forgotten.

(Line Break)

Camelot. Albion.

After setting up the phase cloak I'd returned to my room for some reading, and this time I was actually looking for something rather than just studying. I wanted to find something that would help Morgana with her nightmares as while the visions she had were important they were causing her a lot of distress.

My studies were helping a lot as recently I'd learned to detect scrying, I couldn't stop a certain High Priestess from spying on me, but I could feel when she was thanks to my growing powers. When I got that feeling of someone watching I knew that I had to act as boring as possible.

"Here's something" I said to Cameron "Adder stones are believed to have many magical powers which they can bestow protection against eye diseases or evil charms, prevent nightmares, curing whooping cough, the ability to see through fairy or witch's disguise. Also they can detect traps if looked at through the middle of the stone, and help someone recover from a snakebite".

That all sounded super useful and as long as the stone was small enough then Morgana should be able to hide in her chambers.

"Also a true adder stone will float in water" I then added.

I read some more.

"There are two origins of adder stones mentioned in this book" I was now saying "One origin is that the stones are the hardened saliva of large numbers of serpents which are massed together. The second claims that an adder stone comes from the head of a serpent".

Didn't sound very hygienic.

"Must be a big serpent" Cameron commented.

I gave it some thought. A dragon might count as a big serpent, but the one kept below Camelot would not do anything to help Morgana, and I'd rather not trick him. Pissing off a giant, fire breathing reptile was never a good idea, even if was chained up.

"They're connected to the druids" I said "Sounds as if I might need to seek them out".

Which would be tricky as the druids were hunted by Uther and I worked for him. Still I might be able to locate and talk to them if I came to them as a man with magic rather than a knight. If anyone had an adder stone or could make one for me it would be them, and I could trade goods for their services.

"What about a dream catcher?" Cameron suggested.

I considered it. It sound like a simple solution to Morgana's nightmares.

"Might work" I said to her "but I don't think a replicated one will do the trick and the real things are made by the Native Americans, who won't make contact with Europeans for hundreds of more years so we'll have to be careful if we make contact with them".

At least we had some options, and getting to North America wouldn't be too much work as now that I had the fortress operational I could launch more satellites and Cortana could use them to track down a tribe of Native Americans for me. I should be able to safely handle them.

Of course it might radially alter history if a white made contact with them centuries before any colonization efforts. I did have to wonder if I should warn the natives or not. It could save millions of lives if I told them to kill anyone trying to settle that part of the world. It was something to think about.

"It can wait until after the archery contest" I said.

Better to wait for that to be over before I did any more travelling.