Lancelot Part 7

Blood kins .

It was soon after his defeat of Edward on the joust, when Lancelot came upon a small town. It was named as Bentley, and he decided to rest there. While Bran took the horses to the stables, Lancelot took himself to the Tavern. Its a small one that houses a long bar and three long tables with the benches for the occupants. There are three rooms available for lodging at the rear alongside with the owner's and next to it was the cooking area with bath area.

There were three person sitting at the long bench having their drinks, and they looked more like brigands than villagers. They are dressed in assorted of leather paddings that acts as protection while their belts hold the swords and daggers. One fo the three had a hawkish look in his eyes and he was the one keenly observing Lancelot who just walked.

Lancelot almost missed the another occupant with an average built that sits at the window sill by himself dressed in a simple tunic and tight leggings, but his belt carries a knight sword; one that is long and broad in the length. He is looking out the window to the street outside and holding a dagger with an apple on the end. He is not eating it but swinging downwards it to and fro like a pendulum.

Lancelot walked to the long bar and approached the owner. He asked for lodging and food, while placing some coins on the table.

"Aye, sire. We have one room left." Lancelot took note of that as he could only afford one anyway and more than that, Bran was never one to sleep in his bedding, if he can find a wench to bed elsewhere.

"May I have some food served on the table? May it for two as my companion would be coming in soon." Lancelot moved to the unoccupied table and seat himself. The food came just as Bran stepped into the tavern. Bran did not bother to clean up as he sat down on the table to help himself.

"Oh, what a stench!" The man with the hawkish eye spoke out loud. "Did we just invite in a hog to sit at the table?"

Bran took offense to the insult and stood up as he reached for his sword. The three so named brigands also stood up and drew their swords. Lancelot stood up and reached out to Bran to hold his action.

"See that boys, they are holding hands. I knew they were one of a kind when they only took one room." The man with the hawkish eyes laughed. "If I took only one room, then my companion would be someone with slit in the front and back."

"You insulting me, you loud oaf." Bran shouted out in anger.

"Oaf? This man has insulted me." The hawkish eye man retort back. "That calls for a duel in my books."

The owner stepped forth with a wooden club in his hand trying to stop a fight here.

"Boys, please take your fight outside. Here I am ...." The owner keeled over holding his left thigh where the hawkish eye had cut at him.

"Stay out of my fight unless you can fight as good." The hawkish man caution the owner. It was then the apple can flying across the table and hit the man. The man looked towards the one sitting at the window sill.

"You threw that?" The man asked and the one at the window sill had moved to stand there with a dagger now. The one with the dagger move forward to the table where the brigands are standing at.

"I could had thrown the dagger but I want you to know that I prefer to give you options." The man with the dagger told the brigand. "The options to retreat or die by the sword. Your choice."

"The heck with it. Attacked them..." The hawkish man shouted out to his two other companions. They all drew their swords and took to their target. The hawkish man selected the man with the dagger with his sword raise above his head. The man with the dagger charged in low and thrust the dagger into the hawkish man at the groin. Then he pull out the dagger and thrust it into the right elbow. The hawkish man fell writhing to the flooring holding his groin injury.

Lancelot had his share of the brigand that came at him. He is smallish frame guy with a face cover with a thick beard. Lancelot kicked at the bench that hit the brigand at the knees and Lancelot followed through with a run along the bench to kicked at the brigand in the face. The brigand fell down unconscious.

Bran did not wait for his fight; he was too worked up and charged at the brigand. His version of the brigand was a tall man with slim limbs now holding a sword. Bran swing his shorter sword at the brigand which the other blocked and punched at Bran with his left fist. Bran took the blow and swing his sword in again this time lower and then at the last moment he move the swing upwards. The brigand did not see the change in the swing as the shorter sword cut into his left armpit and almost severe the arm socket.

"We are done." The man who was at the sill walked over with his dagger dripping blood. The man stopped at the one dropped by Lancelot. He placed his right boot at the unconscious man's neck and pressed down hard. Lancelot can hear the bone crunching below the boot.

"Why did you kill him? He was no threat." Lancelot protested to the man with the dagger.

"He is to me. He threaten you and I don't like that." The man told him. "Not when he is my cousin."

"Cousin?" Lancelot spoke out in surprise.

"Yes, I am. The name is Lionel." The man introduced himself. "I am your King Bors' son. Your Guardian told me where to look for you."

After the death of King Bors, the estate of the King dissolved as the loyal subject fled the castle. Queen Evarice took her son Bors named after the father and fled the castle. She was afraid of the reprisal of King Claudas who had just killed her King. She find difficulty moving as she was in her advance state of carrying the other baby of Bors. She made it to a woodcutter's abandoned hut before she gave birth to the baby boy.

She cried on delivering him as it was the difficult time for them; on the run from the Frank's and her King dead. She picked herself up and cleaned up the blood. The baby start to cry for his feed and she fear the sounds would bring the Frank's. She ran to him and placed him at her teats. He suckled at milk that seeped from his mother and soon he was bonded to her.

She stayed there for a while to recover and also to considered her options. She could flee with the two children or she could.... consider killing them. The later would ease her burden and she is still young to wed another, even she may lead life as a commoner. She looked at the children and see their smile as she approached them. Why don't they feared her as she was to take their life, but they keep on smiling.

"Queen Evarice, there is another way." She turned to see a lady in white standing there at the doorway.

"My name is Lady Nimue. I am from the Lake and I am offering to take your children to safety." Lady Nimue stepped past her and stood between her and the children.

"I would take care of your children. I would nurture them and one day they would reclaimed their father's land." Lady Nimue promised her. "I would care of them like mine."

Queen Evarice looked at her children. She knows that with this lady they might have a chance of living. She looked at the young one in the cradle.

"Name him Lionel. His father wanted to name him that." She then fled the hut and was never seen again. Lady Nimue took the children with her and placed them at the palace in the lake, but she placed them in a secluded section far from her sister' knowledge and more so she did not allowed them to mix with Lancelot then.

Just as she taught Lancelot, she also teach the two growing boys and released them on their adulthood to be knights. Just as she looked to them, she did on Lancelot. Both the boys grew up and roam the land as knights.

It was by coincidence that she saw Lionel on the same trail as Lancelot. She contemplated her decision and then made it for them. Its time for the cousins to meet, and it may be also a learning experience for them. She seen Lionel character as he undergo his adventures. He was never the same as his elder brother Bors who had the mother to guide him for the first years. Bors learned something more than Lionel; he learned real motherly love and that shaped up his character.

But not Lionel who was without a real mother but one that appears on occasions to check on their progress. Lionel grew up yearning for love but he could not find it except companionship by Bors. Like most growing boys, or more specially unmanaged boys, they were always tempting the risks and they have the scars to prove it but Lionel was mostly more reserved in his ways. He never showed them to Bors when he hides in the dark corners to torture the small preys he captured. He feels the pleasure of ending their life with his hands. Soon as an knight, in some battles, he did just the things without displaying to Bors. He was very careful in his ways.

Lady Nimue wanted him to meet Lancelot. There was a task that awaits them.

"So we are cousins." Lancelot sat at the table looking at the other knight sitting across him. He was very intrigue to know his roots; something that the Guardians never told him.

"Yes, we are, as Lady Nimue told me. She felt it times that they meet. We were staying at the Lake too, but the palace is larger than what we expected. We were at one end while you may be at the end."

Lancelot remember that even though he may had stayed there for years, but he never got to explored the whole palace or its ground at all. It just large to cover by himself.

"But why now?" Lancelot asked Lionel. "What is this task she wants us to performed?"

The three of them are standing in front of the entrance to a mine. Both Lancelot are dressed in their armor and carrying the shield with their sword. Bran is also holding his shorter sword and he had acquired a narrow oblong shield for himself.

"According to Lady Nimue, there are demons that dwell in there. She wants us to remove them."

Bran handed over to the other two a set of torch that he lighted up. The three of them walked into the mine. The entrance leads them to a long dark tunnel that seemed to lean downwards. After a short walk, they reached a junction which opened up to three more tunnels.

"We would each take one." Lancelot spoke up and took the one on the far right. Lionel went for the middle one, and Bran left with the last tunnel but he took the one Lancelot took. He figured out that the squire responsibility was with his sire. Bran raced to followed Lancelot but could not find him at the front. He finds more of himself alone in the tunnel. Lancelot find himself in a cavern and he find himself facing an image of himself in the armor, even down to the sword he carries.

"This is great. I have battle many but never myself." Lancelot muttered to himself. He walked up towards the other image of his. He raised his sword and the other image of himself took a different stance. Lancelot smiled as the image does not replicate his moves as he expected. He charged at it and it blocked him with ease as if expecting him to do it. Lancelot pulled back on his attack and the image took a low thrust at him.

"That was close." Lancelot muttered out. "Never thought I would that to myself."

The image did not stop there and lunged at him with more swings and thrust until Lancelot had to retreat to the tunnel. There he noticed the image did not followed him in, but stood at the cavern.

"So you have a weak point." Lancelot spoke up to the image. "Well, I don't have any fear of tunnels."

Lancelot spoke up and then lunged at the image with this shield. He pushed the image back and kicked at the legs of the image, causing it to fall. He went for the fallen foe, but the image if himself kicked out on Lancelot' chest. Lancelot fell back at the tunnel. Lancelot was not to give up as he stood up.

"If you are truly me, then you would understand this." Lancelot threw aside his sword and shield. "Let us fight with our body and see who is the better of the two."

Somehow the image of him, also did the same and took up the gloved fist to faced Lancelot. Lancelot removed his head cover so that he can have a better vision of the foe, but the opposite did not do so. It kept its head cover.

Lancelot did not hesitate to move forth and then circle the image. He is looking for an opening which can be used for him to land a deadly blow. Its an unusual fight for him but he had bouts of it during training with Bran. The image of him lunged at Lancelot with a swinging left towards the head but that was blocked by Lancelot who replied with a low blow to the bottom chest. His gloved fist hit onto the armor plate there did not caused much damage but it threw the opponent slightly off his balance. Lancelot moved his left arm in with the twist of his body forward, which made contact with the opponent's right shoulder. That blow jolt the opponent back on his feet, and Lancelot followed through with a hand chop on the right side of the neck just below the head cover. He find his hand slipping in as if there was nothing there, and then the head cover came off falling to the ground.

There was no head in the armor.

Lancelot was stunned and the opponent took the opportunity to punch him in the chest. Lancelot fell back on his back but he was still to comprehend what he just saw.

"Are you real?" Lancelot asked as he sees the opponent stoop down to pick the head cover. "What manner of creature are you?"

The opponent placed the head cover on its shoulder and then turned to walk away to the opposite of the cavern. It disappeared in through another tunnel there. It was also then when Bran turned up from the tunnel.

"Sire, are you alright?" Bran asked of his master. "I was caught in a maze and keep on running to find you. I can hear fighting but I cannot find the source of it until just now. For once I felt worried about myself and later you. I had to find you to assure myself. We are friends....no, we are more than that....."

Lancelot stopped Bran from speaking. He motioned Bran to assist him up. Bran helped Lancelot up, and picked up the weapons that belonged to Lancelot. Lancelot told Bran to picked up the other weapons that was laid there by his opponent. Together they walked out of the cavern back to the entrance of the mine.

Lionel was not there and may still be in the tunnels.

Lionel walked the tunnel that was on the right and he came onto a small forest; where the trees are larger than the ones he had climb in the woods. The undergrowths here are as tall as him with the grass reaching to his waist yet when Lionel looked up he finds no sunlight that feeds them but an artificial glow that emits from the roof above. Its an eerie feel here, and Lionel drew on his sword to slash at the undergrowth.

Suddenly a dark figure sprang out and fleeted past him through his legs. Lionel stepped aside to see what was that; and saw that it was a hare that twice the normal size; but what chases it was more frightening to Lionel. Never had he seen such a serpent that is as large as hound and yet it trails the body length of thrice of man in height. The serpent jaws caught hold of the hare and bit into the tender flesh. The hare struggled in the grasp of the deadly bite, but it was a lost effort and the serpent raised its neck to dropped the hare into its open jaw.

Lionel watch with an unusual feeling on the scene; he was stunned by the attack and yet he finds it fascinating on the terrifying action that took place. His hand holding his sword was wet with sweat yet he does not take it up to protect the innocent hare. Then Lionel noticed the serpent coiled up its body and rested in front of Lionel.

It speaks to him.

"Sir Lionel, I am honored to see you here." The Serpents speaks yet its jaws does not move. Its speaking to Lionel by thoughts.

"We are alike in many ways; orphaned at birth, penned up in a cage like area, made to learn on how to survive or die without surviving. When I was smaller, I was hunted and mocked by them, but now I hunt them for my appetite."

Lionel looked at the Serpent and recalled his own life; he always felt like in a prison, with daily rituals to performed , and then to re-do the same the next day. He seeks love from Lady Nimue but she was scant in presenting it. There were times his other trainers bullied him and even his own brother Bors. It was at the age of five years, when Lionel stumbled on a hare that had part of its front limb injured. He caught hold it and he reached for the injured limb to see the hare grim in pain. Instead of soothing the hare, Lionel actually pulled at it more to see the reaction from the hare. He finds it fascinating that he can actually hurt it, and continued doing it.

That was his first and not his last. When he later started on his quest, he donned the armor of black to fight the others. Most times he would wound his opponents in many places before he do the final blow. Or he would looked down to an injured one and delivered the fatal blow. Bors did asked him why is so merciless in his approach.

"Bors, they are dying and I just sent them there a quicker way. I did no wrong in that."

Now the Serpent have shown him a mirror of his aggression.

"Do you fear it, Lionel?" The Serpent asked of him but before he could answer the Serpent, a larger prey that resemble a giant Lion yet this one is of thick hide of dark green, and an over protruding jaw on the large head. The new predator bit down into the Serpent' head; crushing the skull piece and jaws with its own mightier jaws. It reached with its front limbs that is small but able to grasp the neck line of the Serpent while the large predator bigger rear limbs stepped on the middle portion of the Serpent body.

The predator chomped hard on the crushed head of the Serpent and then took another bite at the fleshy neck line to cut the Serpent into two parts. It was then the predator saw Lionel and it threw away at the half eaten Serpent. It looked at Lionel like it was assessing a more palatable meal than that Serpent.

"Ain't you going to tell me something?" Lionel asked giant headed predator.

The giant predator shook its head and growled at Lionel in which Lionel raised his shield to protect himself should the predator attacked him. The predator did not do so, but move to the side with its sight still looking at Lionel. For once, Lionel felt the fear as the giant looms over him. He asked himself if that is how the others felt when confronted by him when he tortured them. He felt some moving thoughts of his action then, but that was soon to disappear as the giant predator charged at him. Lionel used his shield to block the attack causing him to fall back and his sword dropped from his hand. He used his shield to block the next charge and barely held it against the large jaw.

"Aargh!" Lionel cried out when he felt his left leg stepped on by the giant predator. The weight of the predator have fractured his shin and he grimace in pain. Thankfully, the predator moved its limb when it charged against at Lionel, but this Lionel had rolled to the side. Lionel tried to get up but his left leg would not stand properly. Lionel dragged himself to a nearby tree trunk and leaned against it.

The giant predator still stands there looking at Lionel but then it looked back at the dead Serpent. It turns it attention back to the dead Serpent and dragged it with its jaws into the tall trees. Lionel took a deep breath of relief at the departing giant and then he reached down to his injured leg. Its very painful, and that section of the armor legging have been split into two halves.

"How do you feel, Sir Lionel now?" There was a hare that crouched there before his eyes. It looked like any hare but this one had an injured limb. "Doe you feel the pain as I have then?"

Lionel shook his head to clear the disbelieving sight before him. A hare talking to him now. There was one that was just being eaten by the Serpent, but this one talks to him. He must be going crazy.

"You are not crazy but you are not thinking right in your head, if I may say." The hare replied. "Here in this cave, many had assumed a demon dwell here, but actually they are wrong. Everyone who comes here, is a demon himself. We just mirrored it to them, and hopefully they would learn."

"Lancelot and you are of one blood breed, but your qualities are different as both of you took on the different traces. Lancelot is his ego, after battling so many foes, he is becoming over eager. He thinks himself too well, but I just showed him what it feels to lose his head. His squire, Bran was soon to be too casual in his life, that I had to showed him how it feels to be lost. But not you, you are special. Lionel, you need to be shown humility and kindness. You think that by hurting others, you could take out your rage. But as you saw just now, your rage hurt others. I hope you see it like Lancelot did on his action."

Lionel looked at the hare and then he threw the shield at the hare. The shield missed the hare which jumped aside and then transformed to become Lady Nimue.

"Lionel, you disappoint me in that action. I thought you may had learned but you have much to learn." lady Nimue told the young knight. "I think the best lessons are taught by those you would look on as leader. I am sending you on a quest with your brother Bors to the courts of King Arthur. Serve him well and be a better knight. Bors would look after you from there."

Lady Nimue disappeared from his sight and he felt also his leg have healed. Lionel got up to retrace his steps back to the mine' entrance.

Lionel soon came out and did not speak a word to the other two on his experience nor they of theirs. Lionel just excused himself on a need to do some quest, but before he left; he made a comment.

"Whatever happened there and remains there. I am not amused at the works here, and the heck I would change for for anyone. I am Lionel and I would be always be me." He then left in a hurry.