The Legend of King Arthur

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If Dayhawk's post gets in place before this one, assume this one to happen just before Dayhawk's if that makes more sense. -- CF

King Pellinore obediently returned to his seat...physically dragging the lust-intoxicated Sir Sagramore with him. In the minutes that followed, Pellinore cast frequent glances at the younger warrior, wondering just HOW deeply intoxicated Sagramore was.
 
BarbarianKing said:
"Tell us if you can, a tale about our mother, or about your youth growing up not knowing her."
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(ooc ughhhhh lets just say Morgan's child hood timeline doesn't coinside with Arthur's)

"Well I dont know a tune to o with it, but..." she looked at her harp, "mother was alot like this harp. She was graceful, sweet, kind, but also not fully content. She loved my father very much so, but, I believe she wanted a son for him. Alas she wanted me to be his son, to carry out his name. I believe it was her one true disappointment. Oh but grants she loved me. She and I when I was so little would pick flowers every morning and laugh and sing the way back home. But she knew I was...strange, as you lot put it. Grant Merlin never gets called it, but I did. She sent me to my aunt Morgause so that my strangeness would be developed.

"And it did. But how I missed her. Last time I saw her was when I was coming back from my first visit from our aunt Vivian, great lady of the lake. My mother was riding to see your father, Authur, and was so surprised to see me. She had a babe with her. A boy. The son she had always wanted. She didn't tell me his name, but clearly it was you dear brother. She said to me, "Tis your brother Morgaine, and I love him dearly as I love you, but I fear you can not grow up with him. Your strangeness will not serve him well."

"Now, free from Avalon's protective gate, I come to know the little babe my mother held so fondly. And that dear brother, is the story of me and my mother."
 
Pellinore silently watched Arthur as well as watching Sagramore. Pellinore was not so ignorant as Morgan thought; nor was Morgan so knowledgeable as she wanted them to think she was--or she would not have said that Merlin would not be called strange, when in fact Merlin was called "The Devil's Son" by many who did not understand Merlin's complicated role in Britain's reality.

As for the so-called "Mother Goddess": although Pellinore would not say this to be true of all Goddess-worshippers, he _knew_ there were many of them who, while eager to accuse Christians of hypocrisy, were _themselves_ quick to discard all this talk of "loving all creatures" as soon as a creature human or otherwise was inconvenient to them. Pellinore was reserving judgment about whether Morgan was (1) of the best sort morally among pagans, (2) of the worst sort, or (3) not OF the worst sort, but deceived BY them. In any case, he was quite certain that Morgan would not permit her Goddess-worship to be so clearly contradicted on _her_ home ground as she was being permitted to contradict the Christian faith on _Arthur's_ home ground.
 
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(ooc: Close enough, Kim :D)

"It is good to hear that you knew our mother. I am glad you were able to talk to her, even if only for a short time. And I hope my Lady that you stay here in this court. Accommodations for you and for any in your company will be provided, of course."
 
BarbarianKing said:
(ooc: Close enough, Kim :D)

"It is good to hear that you knew our mother. I am glad you were able to talk to her, even if only for a short time. And I hope my Lady that you stay here in this court. Accommodations for you and for any in your company will be provided, of course."
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"That I had planned brother, and I will be most honored to stay." She said. She felt something in one of the men, Pellinore, to be exact. A sense of doubt and uncertainty in her. She eyed him with a subtle piercing gaze and then looked back at her brother.
 
Sagramore's ears tingled at Arthur's words. He _had_ been disappointed to have to take wardenship of Camelot and miss tomorrow's expedition to help King Leodogrance; but _now,_ his remaining here would keep him near the eye-catching Morgan.

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MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE (supposing this to be evening, to bring us closer to the time of the expedition):


Merlin had reached the shores of the North Sea at sunset. The last of daylight came from inland; the roaring sea was all darkness--but not a darkness that could thwart Merlin's knowledge. Here, _exactly_ here, Saxons would come ashore before dawn. There was time still to lay traps for them. He dismissed the two geese that had assisted his flight with words of blessing upon them.

Grasping a seashell with each hand, the wizard strode inland only as far as necessary to come to soil instead of sand. Calling up what the distant Chinese would call chi--for Merlin did not need to be a Buddhist or Taoist to know all the potential of mind over body--he began to dig pits faster than twenty ordinary men with shovels could have done. With the help of his axe, he cut sharp stakes to make the pits deadly, then made covers for them. Enough bloodthirsty invaders would perish in these pitfalls to teach the rest caution...and Merlin was far from finished preparing his welcome.
 
"Very well, Sister, it is arranged. In the meantime, let us eat and then we must rest to be prepared to leave at first light to the aid of King Leodegrance. Please My Lady, before you retire, sit at the place of honor on my right."
 
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BarbarianKing said:
"Very well, Sister, it is arranged. In the meantime, we must rest to be prepared to leave at first light to the aid of King Leodegrance."
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"Then I fare the well," she said, "and good brother, when you return, do catch up with me." She said and curtsied to all the men and her brother as a maid came to take her to her rooms.
 
OOC: Mike, it was said that Morgan was going to be allowed to sit at Arthur's right hand AT the Round Table. Could you edit in that she gets to do so, and has more refreshment, before the party breaks up? Then comes THIS....


Sagramore was all too clearly longing to flirt with Morgan; but Pellinore, physically one of the strongest knights of his generation, again coerced the younger knight to come with him--to inspect the guard stations where the few men-at-arms left behind were to be posted. Only castle servants--and, while needed, Sir Kay--remained in the hall to see to Morgan's needs.
 
Shortage of players allows extra post because Merlin said so

OOC: We _will_ assume that Morgan and Arthur sat together for some amount of time, and that he told her some fairly innocuous things about Camelot.


Merlin's thoughts were much upon Morgan le Fey as he labored on his traps. His thoughts were not so crudely lustful as Sagramore's; yet it would be false to say that her charms had had absolutely no effect on him, for he was more human than many supposed him to be. The people saw a white beard, wise eyes, and mysterious actions; within, Merlin knew himself to be a man deprived of life's more common fulfillments, and not entirely happy about being celibate.

Still, his real concern was with Morgan's intentions respecting the kingdom. He already knew by his supernatural insight that she wished power for herself, and that she considered herself as a lawful offspring to be more of an heir to Uther than the sinfully-sired Arthur. He also knew that her Goddess-worshipping mentors had taught her selectively, encouraging her to think of Christians as narrow and unenlightened, and herself as gloriously superior. But as Merlin knew well, _anyone_ lacking the presence of Christ, whatever power they might wield....was missing out not merely on sophistication, but on the very meaning of life.

Merlin wished he could be the one to teach a better way to Morgan. But the role he had been forced to play in her father's death probably precluded his ever having a genial relationship with her. If only _Arthur_ could be kept safe from his half-sister's grudge....
 
After having their meal, and exchanging many tales with his sister, Arthur retired to his chambers to get some rest. There were only a few hours left before they set out to help Leodegrace.
 
The Saxons were bold sailors, and made good time arriving out of the North Sea before sunrise. The first of their ships was sliding ashore--exactly, to the inch, where Merlin had foreseen--scarcely an hour after Merlin's traps were completed. For the wizard, that last hour's interval had mainly been spent in praying for Arthur, and in manufacturing a bow and arrows on the spot. For the latter activity, his ultra-keen _human_ skills had again been enhanced with just a little magical effect, Merlin being the embodiment of humanity's _transition_ out of magical thinking into spiritual thinking. The most distinctly supernatural part of the operation was turning grass into a sturdy bowstring.

Goddess-worshippers in their more pacifistic moods would have professed to be shocked at Merlin for ambushing the Saxons so cold-bloodedly, without bothering to try diplomacy; but if confronted about this, he would have brusquely replied that murderers who have no reason to fear you, will never negotiate with you.

Soon Saxon warriors were beginning to be killed or injured by Merlin's spiked pits, and by other traps such as propped-up dead trees falling onto them. When enough casualties had been inflicted to create disorder, Merlin began shooting with deadly accuracy, racing from one hiding place to another between shots; at the same time, he projected his voice to still other places, to make the Saxons think they were surrounded.

By the time he ran out of traps and arrows, and was obliged to retreat, the Saxons had lost more than thirty men. They still had more than a thousand effectives; but their general advance was halted while they tried to figure out where the enemy was.
 
Early the next morning, King Arthur, most of his knights and five hundred other horsemen left to reinforce King Leodegrace. It wasn't a very big army but what the lacked in number, they made up in valor and experience.
 
Sir Kay and King Pellinore each took command of part of the force, which with the remainder directly led by Arthur made flank and center companies. The distance was too great to reach their destination the same day, but hopefully they would be there the next morning. [Thus I urge skipping a day within game-time soon. -- CF]

At one point, Pellinore found an opportunity to say to Arthur, "Your Majesty, forgive my bluntness, for it is occasioned by solicitude for your best interests. I believe that your half-sister, if not quite malicious, is at best intent on goals not consistent with your security as King Of All Britons. And I dread that Sir Sagramore is so besotted with unseemly lust for her person, that in our absence--and still worse, Merlin's absence--he will do whatever she desires him to do, even if it be treason."


OOC: I may not be able to post anything all day tomorrow; I'll be heading back for Colorado. Assume Merlin to be continuing hit-and-run tactics against the Saxons, aided soon by Baron Kevin and his small armed force, to keep the Saxons from joining up with Kings Lot and Uriens.
 
Copperfox said:
Sir Kay and King Pellinore each took command of part of the force, which with the remainder directly led by Arthur made flank and center companies. The distance was too great to reach their destination the same day, but hopefully they would be there the next morning. [Thus I urge skipping a day within game-time soon. -- CF]

At one point, Pellinore found an opportunity to say to Arthur, "Your Majesty, forgive my bluntness, for it is occasioned by solicitude for your best interests. I believe that your half-sister, if not quite malicious, is at best intent on goals not consistent with your security as King Of All Britons. And I dread that Sir Sagramore is so besotted with unseemly lust for her person, that in our absence--and still worse, Merlin's absence--he will do whatever she desires him to do, even if it be treason."


OOC: I may not be able to post anything all day tomorrow; I'll be heading back for Colorado. Assume Merlin to be continuing hit-and-run tactics against the Saxons, aided soon by Baron Kevin and his small armed force, to keep the Saxons from joining up with Kings Lot and Uriens.
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(OOC: OK)

"Yes, Sir Pellinore, that is a possibility. Somehow my long lost sister didn't strike me as completely noble. But let's deal with that when the time comes. Right now I am hoping you would assist us with imparting your knowledge of battle tactics to some of the ranks. I know my Knights have been trained in their skills, but the ranks may need some teaching. We are not a big force, but we want to be an effective one."
 
Morgan took a hot bath and had her maids brush her long auburn hair. She contemplated the faces of the round table, her brother, and the woman her brother was (or would be with) from her dream. She had seen Guinivere before, a long time ago once when Morgause showed her around Britannia. She was beautiful, fit for the wife of the king. But other dreams had came to her before, and Morgan saw that Guinivere would bare no children.

Who then would rule Britain when Arthur dies?

The possiblities fell onto another dream, the dream about her son.
 
Time being short, King Pellinore asked the High King to order that all men in their force who had not been in any actual battles be placed under Pellinore's command. These constituted a little over a third of the home-base Camelot army--some of Arthur's more experienced men being stationed at remote garrisons where they served a purpose but were not available for the present emergency. Other warriors were shuffled to Arthur's or Kay's commands. Arthur would command the left wing in a set-piece battle--this being the traditional place for the top leader--and Kay the right wing, placing Pellinore's company at the center.

Pellinore further divided his own reorganized contingent to create a reserve. This would comprise some fifty men-at-arms, or about a quarter of Pellinore's troops. He put these under the leadership of one of the most promising of the young knights, Sir Lucan. They were made to understand that it was their honorable service NOT to enter action too soon, but to await orders or the most obvious need.

For all the green troops, then, Pellinore explained the means of communication used by their experienced brethren: flags, horn calls, and so on. Even the youngest of these men already knew HOW to wield weapons; what was crucial was that they know WHEN AND WHERE to fight. So all the instruction Pellinore had time to give concerned organization, rather than individual battle prowess. Organization included such plain good sense as not crowding a comrade so closely as to hinder his movements in combat.

"One warrior with his wits about him," Pellinore told them, "will vanquish ten foes who are in confusion and know not which way to turn. Awareness and discipline will make us as if we were thrice as numerous."

If Sir Dinadan made it back to them, Pellinore would set him as second-in-command of the center, in case Pellinore might fall. As good old Sir Grummore HAD fallen, dying gallantly in one of the earlier battles for Arthur's throne.
 
Arthur thanked King Pellinore, and took his place on the left wing. They were still a long way from King Leadegrance's palace, but they all were covering the ground very quickly.
 
When the way narrowed, Sir Kay took his company in the lead in column order, followed by Arthur's company, then Pellinore's. In the event of coming to open ground and seeing foes, the two flank companies would spread out and let Pellinore's center force come up between them.

OOC: Josie Caspian, if you see this in time, you should be the one to decide if King Lot's and Uriens' forces have encircled Guinevere's home by now; also, whether Sir Dinadan's recon party was able to communicate with Leodogrance and Guinevere before they were surrounded.
 
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