The Legend of King Arthur

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"Finally it was time to start the ceremony. Sir Ector moved to the stage, along with the other knights who would also be knighting others. Kay approached:

ooc: write me a vm if you think this should be done differently. However, if you set some kind of stage or mood or line, I can follow it. I hope we can get back to the sword pulling soon.
 
~ This way of dubbing is fine.

Squire Kay became Sir Kay under his father's hand, hoping that his late mother was watching from above. When all the new knights had been thus knighted, they received from the Archbishop their first Eucharist as knights.

Meanwhile, Merlin was watching the continuing jousts. There were also contests of infantry skills, including archery and axe-throwing. Numerous men in these contests were men personally indebted to the wizard--in many cases, because he had healed them or their loved ones from deadly diseases. These brave, sturdy men, of whom the knights took little account, all knew that this day Merlin might need to call upon them to defend the revealed King against treachery.
 
Sir Ector beamed with pride as his son, the new Knight Sir Kay, made it to the pavilion to begin the preparations. His turn at the tournament was coming and he wanted to be fully prepared.
 
Heralds announced the soon commencement of a round of jousting and sport-swordplay exclusively for the newly-made knights. Only the best three of the new knights would be allowed to join the line, once it formed, of those men waiting to try their strength at pulling on the Sword in the Stone.
 
Sir Kay, aided by Arthur, began to dress and put on his new shinning armor made by the finest armorer in London. His helmet was of the new style, with a flat top. Of course he had to wear a padded leather head covering underneath it.

When Sir Kay had put the armor, he asked Arthur to fetch the sword from the last trunk. Arthur began looking for the trunk.
 
Though Merlin did in fact believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal salvation, his unusual status as a bridge between worlds and eras--the unconventional way of life which had brought him the nonsensical title of "The Devil's Son"--meant that he was not often in the company of the clergy.

Unless it were with clergy who understood him. Such a man, the Archbishop, was praying _with_ Merlin right now in an out-of-the-way spot, _for_ the young Arthur.
 
Arthur began to look for the trunk that contained several weapons, including Sir Kay's new sword.

"The trunk! The trunk!"

Arthur kept repeating as he looked for it among the many other belongings. He asked the servants, but no one had seen it. He told everyone too look.

"It has to be here, it has to," he said to himself. "Good way to begin my life as a squire if I forgot that. Sir Kay will never forgive me if I can not find his sword."

Suddenly, it dawned on him that he had been feeling uneasy since they left the manor. Was this what he forgot? A sinking feeling came to Arthur, but he was determined to find Sir Kay's sword at any cost, or at least a replacement.
 
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Sir Grummore, who was partly in Merlin's confidence, was circulating among knights who Merlin had said could be trusted, quietly telling one after another to be on guard in case treachery reared its head within the next hour.
 
Sir Kay began to get impatient and started yelling at Arthur to hurry up and find his sword. He told Arthur that if he was disqualified in the tournament, Arthur could never be a squire, ever, for anyone. Sir Kay would make sure of it.

The trunk with the weapons could not be found anywhere in the pavilion or the in the other tents. Arthur thought that maybe the trunk was left at King Uriens castle, where they had spent the night.

"WELL, GO GET IT!" yelled Sir Kay. "AND HURRY UP, ARTHUR!"

Arthur took off in a hurry toward King Uriens castle, but his horse was not here, his horse was at the stables, and to get there, Arthur had to go around the entire field where the tournament was taking place, and then cut across St. Paul's yard. He hoped the trunk was at King Uriens place and not back at their manor. Arthur ran as fast as his legs would carry him.
 
Several small but alert bodies of armed men, seeming to drift along by chance, found themselves drawing near St. Paul's from different sides. One of the groups was led by Sir Grummore.
 
On the Eastern end of St. Paul's churchyard, the great stone was there with the sword stuck in it. On one side there was this writing:

HE WHO PULLS THIS SWORD
OUT OF THIS STONE
IS THE TRUEBORN KING OF ALL BRITAIN
​

Arthur was beginning to cut across this side of the yard.
 
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Merlin sensed it now: the unseen evil, the hateful darkness, which wanted selfish rulers like Lot to be the norm. Out of hearing of others, he addressed this evil in a language which no one around would have understood anyway.

"Evil spirit, I rebuke you in the Name of Christ! The powers I have been granted are not intended to force MY will upon the world--which is the spirit of witchcraft; and I will not allow YOU to make this evil prevail always among mortals! The Kingdom of Summer is coming, foul spirit; and you cannot prevent it from enduring at least long enough to leave mankind an example and a hope! So begone, dark demon, in the Name above all names!"

And he felt the frustrated unseen force retreating.
 
Arthur suddenly stops when he sees the a sword on the stone. The shadow of the great church of St. Paul is already over them. Slowly, he walks up to the huge block of stone. Arthur saw the gold lettering on the side but for the first time, he was not interested in reading something. He steps up to the plinth and stares at the sword.

“I must have a sword for Sir Kay,” he says, and without knowing why, Arthur closes his eyes. He extends his left hand; his fingers close around the grip and for a moment, nothing else exists in Arthur’s mind, only this sword. Then he pulls it, as easily as if it was resting on water. For some strange reason, the sword felt just right in Arthur's hand. But he was not thinking about that now.

He did not even look at the sword, instead, he ran back to the pavilion to give it to his big brother, Sir Kay.
 
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There happened to be two other new knights loitering near Kay, passing the time before they would go to the lists for the young men's jousting. These two young men, thinking of the contest, had unaccountably found their thoughts drifting into angry, hateful directions--into a mood susceptible to violent rage.

But, unknown to them, this morbid mood had vanished from their minds at the same time as Merlin had rebuked the evil spirit. Now, as Kay waited for Arthur's return, they were NOT feeling disposed to seek deadly strife. Others like King Lot were not softened by Merlin's intervention, because THEIR OWN true choice propelled them; but these two young knights, standing crucially near the spot where the boy Arthur would soon stand, were now shielded against the external evil which would have influenced them.

Their names were Dinadan and Sagramore.
 
Sir Kay sees Arthur approach with the sword in his hand. He recognizes the sword at once for he has seen it many times before. Arthur reverses the sword and offers the hilt to Sir Kay.

"Thank you Arthur," he says with a smile. "Arthur, if you want to see the tournament, you should wait by the fence near the other pavilion."

"I will, thank you Sir Kay," says Arthur and walks out.

Sir Ector walks in at that moment and stares at the sword in Sir Kay's hand.

"Arthur was taking too long," said Sir Kay, "so I rode over to the churchyard and pulled this sword."

"That isn't your sword," answers Sir Ector."

"No. It's the sword that was in the stone."

Sir Ector stares in amazement. Meantime, other servants had walked in and heard the exchange between Sir Ector and Sir Kay. Some ran out excited and the rumor began to circulate around the field. It does not take long for the townspeople to hear that someone has pulled the sword from the stone.

"Let's go over to the churchyard," Sir Ector says, "if you have pulled the sword, then you are the King of All Britain."

Sir Ector takes Sir Kay back to the churchyard. Arthur follows them.
 
Still psychically keeping track of the whereabouts of key figures like Lot, Mark and Uriens, Merlin sensed that dishonesty was at work much nearer to Arthur. Hesitating to intervene, lest men say that he rigged things in favor of his own pupil, Merlin stayed where he was and prayed.
 
By the time Sir Ector, Sir Kay, and Arthur reached the churchyard, there was a crowd already assembled there. The Knights stopped the tournament and many were already making their way to the church.

"Sir Kay," began Sir Ector, "you will swear before this people, the Archbishop, and before God that you will tell us the truth. How did you get this sword?"

"Sir Kay knew that the charade was over almost as soon as it got started. His only recourse, as he saw it, was to tell the truth.

"Arthur brought it to me," he said avoiding his father's eyes.

The crowd gasped and Sir Ector turned to Arthur.

"Is that true Arthur?"

"Yes, Sir."

"How did you get the sword boy?"

"I pulled it Sir, I am sorry. Was that wrong?"

"Was anyone guarding it? Anyone say you do it?"

"No. No one, Sir."
 
The young knights Dinadan and Sagramore, in place of the evil power which wanted to move them to a murderous hatred against Arthur, now felt a very different Power moving them to a very different action. As one man, the two newly-dubbed knights displayed their own swords held hilt-up as the sign of the Cross; at the same instant they both knelt, and shouted in unison:

"Hail Arthur, King Of All Britons!!!"
 
"Do you hear that Arthur?" Sir Ector asks. "I believe you are the king of this country."

"I can't be," says Arthur."

"No one can draw the sword unless he is the trueborn King."

"But I am not."

Sir Lot and and others whom Arthur did not recognize began to shout:

"HE COULDN'T HAVE PULLED THE SWORD! HE'S ONLY A CHILD!"

Sir Ector looks at them but says nothing. Then he turns to Arthur.

"Show us," he says. "Do you think you can put the sword back into the stone and pull it out again?"

"I think I can."

Arthur slides the sword back into the stone almost to the hilt. He steps back. Sir Ector walks up to the plinth and tries to pull the sword. It does not budge. Sir Kay walks up and gets his try. He can't pull it either. Two other Knights also try but the sword does not move.

"LET THE BOY TRY AGAIN!" yells someone. All the townspeople agree.

"YES, LET HIM DO IT AGAIN! LET ARTHUR PULL THE THE SWORD!"
 
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When Arthur drew out the sword yet again, King Lot of Orkney bellowed, "This is trickery and fraud! I see not Merlin here; no doubt he is hiding, casting his spells to make the sword move only for the boy!"

"And if Merlin _were_ here in plain sight, you would also say that his _presence_ proved witchcraft," chided the Archbishop, who had joined them.

Merlin _was_ casting a spell of sorts, as it happened--but not one that affected the Sword in the Stone. He was throwing his voice to where Sir Grummore's party and the other groups of armed men were waiting: "The rightful King is Arthur! Do not question it, just hail him, at once!"

The men held in reserve accordingly converged upon the yard of St. Paul's, all shouting, "Hail King Arthur! Long live King Arthur!" The sight of them caused even the rash King Lot to hesitate to attempt violence.
 
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