Batman and King Arthur

Paladin of Gotham

By Matthew Snee

Chapter Six

Batman pulled Guinevere up from the bed and guided her silently to the door to her bedroom. He peered into the antechamber, and seeing no activity, led her through there until they were at the door leading to the hall. It reminded him of a Robin Hood film he had watched as a child. Perhaps I will swing from a chandelier of hang from a tapestry before I am done here, he joked to himself, despite the seriousness of the situation.

They crept into the hall, headed for the exit, which was farther than he would have liked. All was silent. The torches on the walls flickered, casting a golden orange light on the stone walls and floor. They passed a staircase leading down and closed in on their exit.

But then - a noise! Footsteps, coming from the direction they were headed, along with the sound of armor chinking together. Someone was coming.

Too late, Batman decided to head back to the staircase they had passed, and while he turned and pulled Guinevere in that direction, a knight came through the exit they had once been bound for. Upon seeing the hooded Batman and Guinevere together, the knight cried out: "Alarm! Someone has taken the Queen!"

Then the knight drew his sword, and chased after them. Batman took Guinevere by the hand and led her down the stairs, which opened onto a balcony over a large dining hall where a group of knights conversed below. They quickly heard the alarm and looked up, seeing Batman and Guinevere immediately.

They were surrounded on both sides, with nowhere to go. "What will we do?" asked the panicked Queen.

Batman gritted his teeth: there was always a way out.

He cast his grapple and rope upon a wooden rafter on the ceiling, and then grabbed the Queen close to him. Then he jumped off the balcony, swinging together with the Queen over the dining hall and men below to another balcony on the other side of the room, just as the first enemy knight made his way down the steps behind them. All of the enemy was dumbfounded for but a second, and then one of them yelled: "After them, you fools!"

Batman didn't have time to recover his grapple and rope: and they were to be their escape from the battlements. He realized he needed a new plan. But first, he took the Queen by the hand and led her into a new hallway out of the dining room.

He had of course discussed this area of the castle with Durant as well, considering everything. He knew there was a window leading out over the moat not far from here, and it was towards this he urged the two of them. Combat with any of the knights would not only slow them down, but also put the Queen at risk: he hoped they would escape without being assailed.

They quickly ran through the hallways, coming to the room that was their destination. The door was locked; he bashed through it with all his strength. Once inside, the window was in view, and large enough to accommodate both of them.

"You're crazy!" Guinevere told him. "I can't, I..."

"You have to. We have to. There's no other choice," the Batman said.

He pushed her out the window into the moat two stories below. He didn't wait for her splash before he jumped himself, falling through the air.

When he hit the water, he knew now that plan was concluded, he needed a new one. They both swam to shore, just as Mordred's men found the window and peeked out to see what had happened. But they had not the courage to follow. Instead they yelled for sentries and informed each other that the Queen and her rescuer had escaped the castle into the outer grounds.

Quickly, Batman and the Queen got to their feet. They were still within sight of their enemy. Batman decided he would head towards the front of the castle, where Durant and his men fought. It would be dangerous, but he knew any other choice was fraught with more risk.

"Sir Bruce!" Durant yelled as he saw the Batman approach with Guinevere. The knight bashed his combatant down to the ground, and then ran to the Dark Knight and the Queen.

"We don't need a distraction anymore!" said Batman.

"Understood!" said Durant. "Men! We retreat! Protect the Queen!"

Before the soldiers realized what was happening, Batman and the others climbed upon horses and escaped.

The Queen rode on Batman's horse behind him, her arms wrapped around his waist. "Thank you," she gasped as they ventured away from the castle.

"You don't have to thank me," said Batman. "I was only doing the right thing."

"Regardless, I appreciate it," she said. "You don't know... what Mordred put me through."

"You're safe now," he told her.

"Am I? Where will we go?"

"Your husband is on route from the continent. Mordred's time is limited."

"You're an optimist," Guinevere said. "The days are frail and a dark wind blows."

"Yes," said Batman. "That may be so. But you - you are safe."

She pressed her head into his back and sighed, gripping him tighter, but said nothing more.

Durant pulled his horse next to Batman's as they rode. "They follow!" Durant shouted over the sound of hooves.

"We must ride faster!" answered Batman.

"There are only six of them!" Durant continued.

"There will be more behind!" Batman argued.

"They will catch us!" Durant told him. The red-haired knight, Batman's first and only friend in this time, stared him deep in the eye. "You will protect the Queen. I will slow them down."

"No!" said Batman. "You will be killed."

"If I am, it will be a glorious death," Durant said. He pulled his horse to a stop and Batman raced past him. The Dark Knight turned his head back and took one last look at the knight.

"Remember me, Paladin of Gotham!" Durant called into the night.

They never saw each other again.

"Such bravery, such wasted life, for such a terrible person as I," said the Queen, a few minutes later.

They raced onward. There was the Batman, the Queen, and four other of Arthur's knights remaining. It would be all they could do to reach the village again alive.

"You mustn't think like that," said the Batman. "Men who sacrifice... must sacrifice."

"I've never sacrificed anything," said the Queen. "I have only been treasonable and wicked."

Batman knew she had betrayed Arthur with Lancelot, and now had been spoiled by Mordred.

"I didn't fight him, when Mordred came," she told Batman. "I just pretended I was somewhere else, someone else. I didn't want him to hurt me anymore than he already would, I knew there was no escape, I..."

"It's okay," said Batman. "Our greatest sins are against ourselves."

She did not reply to that for some minutes. Then she finally said: "I became with child. Mordred's child. Mordred is Arthur's child, my step-son. It was a girl, an innocent girl. I killed it. I had to."

The Batman took a moment before responding. "Your pain and guilt are your own. But you are safe now. You must live."

She gripped him tightly, weeping. "Can I see your face? When this is over, I mean?"

It was not a luxury he afforded many he saved. "Yes," he told her. "You may."

They continued to ride into the night. Batman's thoughts turned back to his own time, which surprised him. He found himself suddenly lost, both awash with the Queen's sadness and the mounting odds against them. Was he like Durant? Could he sacrifice his life without thinking, for good? Didn't he miss Gotham, Alfred, Robin, his home, and his routine as "The Impossible Batman?" He found he did. But the reality of his situation was cold upon him - he knew he still had to save Arthur if he could, and whatever was left of this war torn land.

By dawn, they arrived, finding more of Arthur's knights had amassed in the village. Mordred would not attack them here; it would spread his forces too thin.

The rescue of the Queen catapulted their spirits into the air; even news of the death of Durant could not sway them from a new found confidence: Mordred would be defeated and Arthur would triumph, thanks to the Paladin of Gotham.

While the knights camped and stood guarding the village, Guinevere retired to a room in the inn, and Batman ate a meal and then slept himself. When he awoke, he found Appavain sitting in his room, watching him.

"You!" he exclaimed, surprised she could sneak up on him.

"Aye," she said.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said, wringing her hands. "You, you are...something. I can see it, I can see the glow around you. There is a spirit in you I do not recognize."

It dawned on Batman suddenly: "You are a pagan," he said.

"Yes," Appavain admitted. "Indeed, a druid. There are few of us left. But those who are remember the old ways."

"The others don't know."

"No," she said. "Do not tell them."

"I won't," he promised.

She stood, thought for a second, and then climbed into bed with him.

They kissed. He pressed his lips fully into hers, without hesitation. She was warm and soft.

He let Autumn swallow himself as well.