The Legend of King Arthur

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A banner bearing the device of the sword and the two doves was a welcome sight to Merlin as the first daylight wafted out of the sea. "Baron Kevin! Praise be to God, you made it! Have you a bow and quiver of arrows that you can spare? Time has become too short for me to make another temporary bow."

The Baron provided what Merlin asked, saying, "My lord, do you mean that the Saxons have landed already?"

"They have; and if not struck severely, _they_ will strike the first town in reach before another hour passes. They are straight north up the coast from us now. You can count to a hundred, can you not, Kevin?"

"You should know, Merlin--you taught me!"

"Very well. As soon as I leave you, I want you to count to a hundred, then count to a hundred once more. When this is done, start your men moving toward the foe at the quick trot. No trumpets, nor any unnecessary noise. I will be keeping the Saxons' attention in the opposite direction, so you should be able to achieve surprise falling upon them from the south. You will be outnumbered; but you need not expend your men's lives trying to beat them all shield to shield. Enough if they are stalemated long enough for more help to reach us. God be with you all, and confusion to our enemies!"

Merlin went bounding away like a deer; and Baron Kevin started counting.
 
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Copperfox said:
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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(ooc: good idea, lets wait for her to decide)

IC:
King Arthur had a strange feeling and he remembered he had felt something similar years ago, the day he was crowned king. That day, he could not find Kay's sword and pulled the sword from the stone as a replacement. This time, the feeling was almost the same, except this one was not of dread but of a great change in his life that was about to happen.
 
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That same morning, back at Camelot, Sir Sagramore had already begun his first full day as castle warden with ridiculous attentions to Morgan le Fey: bustling about her with excesses of helpfulness, and seeking to converse with her about everything and nothing, almost as soon as she was dressed and out of her guest suite.

 
Copperfox said:
That same morning, back at Camelot, Sir Sagramore had already begun his first full day as castle warden with ridiculous attentions to Morgan le Fey: bustling about her with excesses of helpfulness, and seeking to converse with her about everything and nothing, almost as soon as she was dressed and out of her guest suite.
Click to expand...

Morgan and her ladies took a stroll around the garden. Morgan loved the ixias that grew there.
 
Sagramore still pursued her, telling her all about the plants in the gardens, oblivious to the fact that his total botanical knowledge was less than Morgan had possessed by the age of six.

But at least the peasants around Camelot had cause to rejoice--for as long as Sir Sagramore was degrading himself with besotted behavior toward the High King's half-sister, he was not inventing superfluous tasks for them to do.
 
While Sagramore gawks with dropped jaw.....


Walking on water, strictly speaking, was another thing not within Merlin's power. But with his ability to lighten his body and reduce inertia, he could run through shallow water with much less hindrance than a normal man. Using this ability now, he ran to the seaward side of the Saxon force, ran south some fifty yards through the surf while whipping up more spray to obscure himself from sight, and then charged ashore, striking the Saxons from the last direction they had thought they needed to watch.

Men did not think of Merlin as a warrior with material weapons; but this was not because he was unable to fight thus. He sought no glory in this arena, for it would be grossly unfair to compete for prestige, with his supernatural advantages, against men who had to earn their prowess the hard way. Besides, no matter how powerful, he remained only one man and not indestructible; so he was not about to throw his life away on bad luck in some brawl. He wielded arms only at great need--as now. He dispatched nine Saxon spearmen and wounded several more, until his axe was stuck fast in a split helmet, and his sword was broken. Metal can break.

But Merlin was never unarmed, as long as he was Merlin. Speed and flexibility belying his years kept his body unpierced--long enough for him to get his first opening for a barehanded attack.

Years ago, on the day Arthur had duelled King Pellinore in a test of manhood, when Pellinore had prevailed after a match well-fought on both sides, Pellinore had feared that Arthur might be as vindictive as his father Uther would have been; so in a moment of panic--not for himself, but for his family--he had been going to finish off the young High King and hide his body. That was when, as tales had it, Merlin had cast an enchantment of sleep on Pellinore until Pellinore should awaken and be made to swear fealty to Arthur. But what Merlin had really done was to spring upon Pellinore and strike the heel of his hand against Pellinore's helmet, projecting the impact right _through_ the unbroken iron to stun the warrior.

Merlin was doing the same thing now, but with no care to avoid killing. Saxon necks were broken by the force of his palm-strikes, hearts collapsed within armored torsos. And even as he fought, Merlin was projecting his voice to a point in the _midst_ of the enemy host. In flawless Anglo-Saxon, he shouted, "We are attacked from the sea! Look to the sea!"

The confusion thus generated mattered more than the sixteen foes he slew in all on this attack from the surf. Being, as has been said, not invulnerable, he now broke off, dived headlong into the waves, and swam underwater like a seal to escape.

With Baron Kevin's men pressing them the whole while, the remaining Saxons lost heart. Merlin's plan had left their path of retreat to their ships open; they took it now. As soon as he could, Merlin cast his voice to within hearing of Kevin: "Break off! Let them go--to carry fear back home with them!"

Once back with the faithful Baron, Merlin tended to the wounded himself, including wounded Saxons who had been left behind and were now prisoners. Then, while honorable burial was arranged for those Britons who had fallen in the line of duty, he said quietly to Kevin, "I have another reason to let some Saxons go, _besides_ the likelihood that we could have lost all our own men if trying to kill or capture every foe. I want the Saxons to return to their King Kerdik with the tale of how they were set upon as soon as they came ashore. Then Kerdik will suspect that Lot and Uriens turned against him as a way to make peace with Arthur."
 
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Messenger's from King Leodegrace who had evaded the enemy troops brought details of the enemy force and their locations. This will make it easy for Arthur to dispose of his men to a good advantage.
 
OOC: I assume, based on the above, that Josie gave her input on the matter of how far along the assault by Lot and Uriens is. And if some of Leodogrance's men got through to Arthur, then Sir Dinadan must have made it back too. So I will assume that, as earlier suggested, Pellinore will take Dinadan to be second-in-command of the center company while leaving Sir Lucan in command of the small reserve.

Merlin will still be occupied on the east coast for awhile; but if you like, you can say that he is able to command some wild bird to play carrier pigeon and carry a note to Arthur that the Saxons will NOT be joining the attack on Leodogrance and Guinevere.

Let's do this! For Christ, Arthur and Britain!
 
"Dear daughter keep your head down please!" scolded Leodegrance.
Guinevere ducked down from the crack in the wall she was looking through.
Leodegrace noticed that the enemy of over two thousand men were out infront of the wall where he and his daughter were taking shelter.

Leodegrance sat up to look through one of the larger holes.
"Father!" Guinevere cried as she saw a bird fly overhead. She was worried that it could have been an enemy bird.
"Daughter please be assured that it is Merlin's bird." The bird swooped down and landed on her fathers arm.

He opened the small letter on the birds leg.
"The Saxons have turned around, they will not be joining Urien and Lot." Leodegrance gave out a sigh of relief.
 
King Lot of Orkney had brought his eldest son Gawain and next-eldest son Gaheris to see what a real storming was like. Gawain would be old enough for war in another three years or so, and should get used to the sight of blood.

But Lot had no time to explain details of tactics to the lads just now. He and King Uriens were busy wondering why the Saxons had not joined them for the assault. "Maybe they never intended to work with us," muttered Uriens anxiously. "Maybe when you made the offer to them, they simply saw it as the advantage of knowing that many British warriors would be busy fighting each other at an inland location, making strong opposition less likely if the Saxons chose this time to plunder the coast."

Lot scowled even more harshly than usual. "Are you calling me a fool?" he snapped.

"No, only saying that anyone may be deceived. I also believed we had a sure alliance with the Saxons."
 
As Arthur and his men approached Leodegrance's castle, he saw the vast group of enemies arrayed ready to assault it. Arthur ordered his men to stop on this side of the hills to be out of sight of Lot and Uriens host, then, the three groups arrayed themselves in the order they had previously agreed on, Arthur on the left, Kay moved to the right with his men to give Pellinore the center.

Arthur took a good look at the enemy force from a concealed position. They numbered well over 2000 men, while his force barely consisted on no more than 800 of all arms. However, Arthur was counting on the leadership and bravery of Sir Kay and Sir Pellinore, as well as his other Knights who had demonstrated their skills in battle. Arthur was also counting on Leodegrance defenders to keep at least a good part of the besieging army at bay.
 
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Because Pellinore had all of the LEAST experienced Camelot men in his company and the reserve squadron, the Leodogrance men who had come back with Dinadan's party were arrayed in the front line of Pellinore's force, in order that the center's first contact with the enemy would be borne by men who knew their business.
 
Arthur was pleased to see Sir Pellinore's arrangement. This would give Leodegrance men the honor of charging first to defend their home which Arthur knew they would welcome that honor and would fight more valiantly. Arthur gave the order to hold until Lot and Uriens began their assault as this will have them busy looking at their front and will give Arthur's force more time to surprise them
 
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Sir Lucan, insecure in his first command, told six of his men to spread out from the body of the reserve: three to the left and three to the right. These men would watch for any sign of enemy flanking movements, and would be alert for any message from the wings of the Camelot force...but were to fall back into formation if they saw the reserve being committed to action.
 
Arthur also had spared some a couple of his very young soldiers but who were good horsemen to go to go one to the left and another to the right to to advantageous positions and scout for any sign of the Saxons. Arthur had not received news from Merlin, but he trusted Merlin to send immediate news if there was any threat from those quarter. He had not received such massages at all but nevertheless, Arthur wanted to have advance warning just in case.
 
Meanwhile, back at Camelot, Sir Sagramore was feeling like an idiot--which was, had he understood it, his merciful opportunity to become wise. He had been smitten with Morgan le Fey, and had acted like it, and yet had been stunned when she had admitted to being aware of his infatuation. Whereas he had been hovering around her, now he avoided her as far as he could without rudeness. But he had at least the sense to tell Dickon and other servants to take note of what the royal guest did in the public portions of the great castle: for instance, whether she seemed to be studying the defenses in the manner of a potential attacker.
 
Thank you, Josie...

One of Arthur's outriders was the first man in the Camelot army to see the attack starting in earnest: foot soldiers racing toward the walls with siege ladders, only to be mowed down by the defending archers. The scout gave a hand signal to Arthur, who gave Lot and Uriens a little time to get more deeply engaged in their attack...then gave his own hand signal, that the army should advance for action, without war-shouts or trumpets. They would get as close unseen as the terrain allowed, and their only way of announcing their charge would be the charge itself. Since Leodegrance was aware of their nearness, Arthur hoped that his ally would have a sortie troop ready to emerge and counterattack their assailants at an opportune moment.

In the center company, directly behind King Pellinore, was his eldest son, Sir Lamorak--like Lucan, Bedivere and others, a newly-dubbed knight, eager to prove himself worthy. Though Lamorak did not wish death on any of the brave men in the front line, he was tensely ready to shift forward from the second line if a gap should appear on either side of his father.
 
Arthur was pleased to see that everything was going according to plan. Lot and Uriens host had no clue what was about to happen to them.
 
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