Batman and King Arthur

Paladin of Gotham

by Matthew Snee

Chapter Five

Much mead was drunk and many violent promises were made against Mordred and his men. Finally, during a lull in the conversation when the men stared vacantly, the dark-haired barmaid picked up a lute and began to sing in a sonorous voice:

"Oh, Autumn hath swallowed the world,

the dead leaves scurry about,

nothing goes unspoiled,

there is only one way out.

Winter beckons her children,

of cold wind and icy sun,

neither Christian nor heathen,

can declare the world won.

If there is such thing as spring,

hiding behind the days,

If there is such thing as a king,

who can dispense the sun's rays.

Summer a scant memory,

warmth only in the hearth,

the body is a treachery,

until we're interred in the Earth."

The melody of her song had quieted the men and made them contemplative, but also lulled them into a daze, and when the barmaid was done, they rose to go off to sleep. Batman said goodnight to Durant and the other men as they went off to the common room were hay beds awaited them, but the Dark Knight himself was not tired, and sat at a table watching the fire as the innkeeper and barmaid cleaned up.

"That was a beautiful song," Batman told the dark-haired barmaid. He had indeed been touched by the sound of her voice and the words of her song.

The barmaid smiled but the innkeeper eyed him warily. "Thank you," said the barmaid. "I try."

"No, you do not try," said Batman. "You do."

She laughed. "Well, I appreciate your kind words." The barmaid was quite pretty, and suitably voluptuous.

"What is your name?" Batman asked.

"Appavain," she told him. "And you are the Paladin of Gotham, Sir Bruce?"

"I am," he said, getting used to the title.

"Are you really going to rescue to Queen?"

"She must be rescued," the Batman responded.

"I know you are right," she said. "But it seems impossible."

"It seems impossible that anyone could sing as lovely as you," said Batman. "But you do. I will do the impossible too."

Appavain smiled, but said nothing, continuing to clean up. Batman stared at the fire for some time, and then went off and found a hay bed for himself.

At dawn they awoke and made their preparations. Durant explained the layout of the castle to Batman, who asked many thoughtful questions. Then he was given his requirements: padded leather armor, a grapple, rope, and a black hood with the eyes and mouth cut out. It would take a day's ride to get to the castle - perfect for an assault planned at night.

"If you can provide a distraction that rouses the attention of the men on the battlements, I will breach the tower," said Batman.

"Are you sure you don't need any help?" asked Durant.

"I work best alone," said the Batman. This axiom was never truer. Who knows what he would find in there? It was rumored Mordred had taken Guinevere as his wife, but no solid facts had escaped the tendrils of the castle.

Batman, Durant, and the rest of the men saddled up and galloped into the day. Immediately, Batman noticed that once he had put on the hood, a mystique grew about him that was lacking the night before. He began to feel like himself again.

The ride was long but uneventful. When they stopped to rest for lunch, Durant asked him further about the West, and Gotham. "Do you have a great king there?"

"No," said Batman. "We have a republic, like old Rome, as you might know."

"I know a little. It is no more. It is new Rome now."

"I have heard that is where Arthur is," said Batman.

"No. He is in France, waging war on Lancelot."

"I see," said Batman. He had been told Lancelot had betrayed Arthur with Guinevere, and killed his friend Gawain's two brothers before escaping to his land in France.

"Mordred has amassed a fleet that awaits. I hope Arthur is prepared," said Durant.

Batman thought about it. If anything, Arthur's vengeance would be confused - Mordred was his bastard son, a man he had entrusted Camelot too. It seemed that all the men Arthur had trusted had failed him.

"I hope so too," Batman said.

Then they were off again.

Batman knew the only distraction that would summon Mordred's men would be war, so as Durant and his men skirmished at the front of the castle, he approached it on foot from the rear, where the battlements were highest. He had been trained by his former master Ra's Al Ghul to scale such heights unequipped, so this was nothing. But what concerned him was that men were fighting and dying to protect his entry to the castle, and he knew that his success had to be certain.

He slowly crept up the rock wall, using the rope and grapple when he could, and finally reached the top, which was unguarded, Mordred's warriors obviously beckoned to the front of the castle where the enemy was. Once upon the battlements, he headed towards the nearest door, which he knew from Durant led to the King and Queen's living quarters.

So far, he had been undetected. But now he tread most dangerously, with only a narrow escape available should he be found. He snaked through the torch-lit halls and passed both tapestries and closed doors that didn't interest him. If anyone was about, they lay secreted in their rooms.

Finally he came to a thick, reinforced wood door that guarded the Queen's chambers, which he found not only unlocked, but slightly ajar. He slipped inside quickly, where it was dark except for a few candles on the walls. Such darkness would frighten other men in such a situation, but it comforted him. He was in an antechamber, with a small sitting area. On the wall in front of him he spied another door, which he knew led to the Queen's bedroom. This door was also unlocked and ajar, but inside was even darker than the room before.

Inside, the Queen lay on her plump bed, lying on her stomach crying into a pillow. Confidence filled the Batman, but he knew he still had to be terribly careful.

He snuck up behind the woman, and when he thought the moment was right, he leapt upon the bed, and wrapped one arm around her to cease her movement, and with his other hand, covered the Queen's mouth so she would not make a noise.

She struggled, but he was strong. "Shhh," he whispered. "I am a friend of Arthur, come to rescue you."

Guinevere turned and looked him in the eye. Batman knew many models and actresses in Gotham, beautiful women all, but even in the darkness and in her wretched state, there was no one like Queen Guinevere, and he was momentarily taken aback by her beauty.

"Come," he told her. "We escape. Now!"