Lancelot Part 18

The seal ing and unsealing of fate.

It was a long time for Lancelot although he been back with his lady and their newborn child at Castle Joyous. It was a joyous event for the last three days and nights, but every time he paused to see his guests; he felt sad that she is not here. Arthur who had rushed back on hearing of his Queen predicament, did turned up on the last day of the feast. He congratulate Lancelot on his heir, and partake in the feast. Not a word was spoken by him on his Queen, but he praise Lancelot on his heroic act.

"If I was there to see Meleagant, he would had felt my blade in his chest for the shame he created." Arthur told Lancelot, but then he added in; "I hope you would pacify Sir Kay whom you had assisted twice against his honor. He still feel sighted by it and perhaps a toast from you would change things."

Lancelot took the advice but he finds Sir Kay stare does not reflect his forgiveness. He wanted to explain it more, but

he left the matter be for the feast.

Across the land, in Camelot another soul laid on her bedding in pain. She is not suffering the pain of the body, but of the heart. She is still thinking of her current fate and whether there is a way she can change it. She did welcomed the return of her King, but he was cordial in his concern. He stayed with her not for long, and later told her that at all times, she was to be escorted.

"Can I have any knight of my choosing, my King?" She asked of him.

He paused in his reply and then nodded to her consent. He added to his words, that Sir Kay would be staying at Camelot during his absence. Whatever that was to indicate to her, she just choose to ignore it. It was soon put to test when Arthur took to see some Lords in the outer lands. He left at dawn without saying a word to her. That morning itself, she took her horse out, and there was Sir Kay with a detachment of guards.

"Sir Kay, I am just riding to Castle Joyous to see the young baby. Is it necessary to be escorted by such a large contingent?" Queen Guinevere asked of the knight.

"My Queen, its for your protection." It was then Lancelot rode in to Camelot. He inquired on the issue and Sir Kay explained to him.

"I would escort the Queen to my Castle as I was on my way to there. I just came back from a nearby village." Lancelot offered to do the same. Sir Kay insist on following but the Queen counterman on his orders. She then left with Lancelot, leaving Sir Kay sitting on his horse in rage. He was in mind to confront Lancelot but then he respected the Queen's order. In the end, he went sulking into the castle.

"My Queen, would you not harsh with Sir Kay?" Lancelot asked of her as they rode to his castle. She choose not to answer him and change her direction. He tried to tell her but she kept on riding and soon they find themselves at the creek where they used to rest when she learned to ride. She got up from the horse and walked to the cold stream there. She removed her shoes and placed her feet in the water. She just stood there without a word.

Lancelot dismounted and stood by the horses. He has scouted the area, and there are no signs of intruders. Suddenly, the Queen called him. He walked over to her.

"Remove your tunic. I want it now." She told him as she pulled at her gown.

"Guinevere," he called her by her name. "It may not be appropriate for us......"

She had hushed him up as she stepped out of her gown and standing there naked. He felt embarrassed at that, and immediately untie his belt and then removed his tunic. He passed it to her with him only wearing his leggings. She took his tunic and slipped into it. She then walked out of the stream to her horse and mount it like how she was taught. She rode off and in haste, Lancelot jumped on his horse to give chase. Lancelot can feel the sunlight on his back as he rode with the wind blowing into his body. She was not stopping for him when he called her to stopped. She just kept on riding and ignoring that some one may had seen her. She soon turned the horse around and rode back to the stream. She got off the horse and walked to the stream again. She squat herself into the running water to feel the soothing effect of it on her buttocks and thighs. Lancelot also rode up and also dismounted with his sweaty body from the ride. He walked over to the stream ahead of the Queen, and washed his face.

"Is it sweet, Lancelot? I just peed in it." Guinevere asked of him and then she giggled like a little girl. Lancelot stopped his washing and looked at her. He then scoop up the water and splashed her with it. She could not avoid it but she retaliate in kind. Soon there were like a couple of children playing at the stream. She soon got out of the stream; all wet and she lied down on the grass. Lancelot slept next to her and reached out to hold her hand.

"Guinevere, I love you." Lancelot whispered to her ears, and she smiled. She then turned on her side, and reached into his leggings.

"Prove to me that you are." His desire reveal his love for her. She sat up and pulled down his leggings. "I can see a speck there. I wondered what it taste like."

Lancelot wanted to protest, but he declined as the feeling was too good to describe. He reached down to hold her head as she tasted his body for the nectar that he can offered. He wanted to push her up, but it was she who did the turn. She climbed over him and sat down. She leaned over and whispered to his ears.

"Be my horse. Let me ride you." She did and he was as obedient as a trained stud not letting up on the energy and holding to the end.

Their rendezvous may be arranged or at time when opportunities arises as the years went by. If one would to say that age dampens the mood, then they have not had illicit affairs before. When you are in an illicit affair, part of the desire was channel by the illicit part and the other part was being elusive towards the possible captors.

More so when Arthur now finds his land being invaded by the Saxons. He had arranged his knights to reinforced the borders, but when it comes to Lancelot, he just ignored him. His excuse was that Lancelot deserved to stay back and guard Camelot, There is no other more suited than Lancelot. This was not seen as agreeable to Merlin who confront his King.

"Arthur, years ago when you asked me on your union with Guinevere, I told you against it, but you went ahead on the union as it would strengthen your alliance with King Fisher and his lords. You felt then your kingdom needed friends more than enemies. But there were other ways to win alliance, and you chose the simplest one. One that fits your ego, as you wanted her more than the alliance." Merlin told off his King as he was not afraid to speak his mind to the King.

Merlin was appointed by the lines of destiny to serve King Arthur from the moment he discovered that he was the bastard son of King Utter. Merlin fought with him against his enemies including his own half sister. Morgana, and even helped to get the sword that he cherished so much; Excalibur. But he was against the union with Guinevere which Arthur never listened.

"No, Merlin. You were not wrong. I desired Guinevere when I first laid my eyes on her. I wanted her to be my Queen, and for years I have let her stood there. She knows her place there, comes with a responsibility to bear my heirs' but she done none of that yet. Instead she is the Queen to another who sits on my Round Table and ..... Despite all my efforts then, her womb is empty." Arthur explained himself. "I used to love her, cherish her, but now I find only grief if I am near her. I cannot bear to with her. Her flesh felt to me like those of the uncurable diseases. She is back with her lover, Lancelot; that pleases her more.

"Lancelot...... I should had killed him when he fought me as the Black Knight. " Arthur added in to as the mistake he had made then.

"Blasphemy! Arthur, did you forget your vows to her? Lancelot with her are just rumors, now and then. Did you ever catch in the act of betrayal to you? None! Yet you blame the lady and not yourself. " Merlin told off the King again. Then he looked at Arthur in the eyes.

"Or....... Were you in bed with another?" Merlin asked of him as he grabbed hold of Arthur' arm. He can sometimes feel the lies and also the vibes in a person. Its an uncanny abilities of his that he seldom used on his friends.

"No, you are cursed by her........ My Holy Ones, you are also cursed by her." Merlin stepped back in anger and looked to the walls. "How can that be........ Both of you are related...... She is truly evil to incarnate you that way."

"Who do you speak of in evil?" Arthur looked at Merlin. Then he shook his head. "You knew..... I should had known. Your magic are ever potent..."

"Not as potent as your half sister, my King." Merlin spat it out. "Did she seduce you? If yes, tell me now."

"No! She did not......" Arthur denies it.

"Arthur, she is with a child that could be yours. She would not disclose the identity of the father." Merlin spoke out in a hard tone. He then looked towards Arthur. " Tell me the truth.."

Arthur have not seen his half sister since that night. More so as he was away from Camelot and to avoid Guinevere, he had stayed away from most other Lords. Arthur looked back to Merlin.

"Then its fated that Camelot would fall as prophesied by the stars. She had taken your seed meant for Guinevere. My King, I cannot asked you of much but for you to prepare to fight hard for your kingdom should you want to keep it."

"Fight? You just told me that the fate is sealed. So how can I fight that?" Arthur asked back Merlin.

"There is a hope. Its depends on you. Lancelot could be the one to change the destiny. He must be with you for the last fight."

"Lancelot? He is the one I wanted dead now." Arthur shouted out. "I left him out of my battles now as like my Queen, I do not want him by my side. He may yet stab me in the back during battle."

"No, Arthur. Lancelot may be your savior. On his acts with the Queen, please allow me to investigate. I would do the needed to unravel this rumor." Merlin left his King to his own thoughts as he left the chamber. He knows the King now is troubled by the possibility that Morgana could be having his son, or Merlin' as he earlier thought. His liaison with her were few but it possible.

Merlin first task was to ride to the castle which Morgana have taken refuge. He was refused entry but he forced his way in on the name of the King. He confronted Morgana in her chamber as she was dressing in her chamber.

"I see that you have arrived, Merlin." Morgana looked up from her dressing to looked at Merlin. She looked at her bedding where a man was asleep. "Ignore him please. He is from the stables, and he is good hard man, but lacks the finesse of a lover."

She pulled up her robe to look decent. "If you are looking for me on my son, then you are late by many years. Like then when you asked me whether he was yours."

"Morgana, I come to asked you again, if that is our child or someone else." Merlin asked her directly.

"Why do you keep asking? Did you feel the guilt after so long an absence from my side?" Morgana taunt at him. "Or perhaps you needed to be milked? A man at your age, may need some works to be done."

Merlin turned away to looked at the chamber content. Its a simple room with the basic furniture and she has still has the cradle build for the baby. Its a simple one and yet functional.

"Did my half-brother send you this time?" Morgana shocked him with the question. "Tell him, he need not accept any responsibility either. I am fully able to take care of my .... own child."

"Woman! Have you no shame? He is your ....blood kin......" Merlin shouted out loud.

"And you think he is the one. After all these years, yet you never asked. You always thought it was yours and now you wake up another possibility. Merlin, you make me very sad? I thought I knew you well but I was wrong." Morgana stood up.

"Who are you to judge me, Merlin of Camelot? Did I said its his, or yours? I only said none of you are to take responsibility of the child. I would raise him myself." Morgana spoke out in stern tone and then lower her voice as she looked towards the doorway. There was the young lad which was in their discussion. Merlin stormed out of the chamber past the lad and rode back to Camelot. When he was back at Camelot, he find a discussion was headed by Arthur.

"I want you all to retrieve me the Grail." Arthur saw Merlin walking in.

"Merlin, I am sending Sir Percival to locate the Grail. It has been on my mind for sometime, and I want it done." Arthur told Merlin.

"My King, please send Lancelot along."

"Lancelot, do you love really me?" Guinevere asked of him after they had spent an afternoon in this ruined cottage in the fields near Camelot. They had hid the horses inside the cottage unit while they retired to the part of the cottage which offered more privacy.

"I love you. If I could, I would bring you away." Lancelot replied to her. "But..."

"You fear Arthur? Or is it Elaine who holds you child?" Guinevere asked of him as she sat up on the flooring. The sunlight that shone through the ruined walls basked on her back which was coated with some dust.

"It my you, I am afraid. I am afraid that you cannot bear the hardship of life from the Castle." Lancelot spoke up. Guinevere turned back to look at him.

"You are a bad liar, Lancelot. You fear not the King but for your child." Guinevere told him off. "She holds him to keep you there."

Lancelot looked away from her as he recount the day he told Elaine that he could not find the love for her five years ago.

"It was a mistake of mine to take away your virtue and also to wed you. I am so sorry." Lancelot told the mother of his child. "He is still my son and would be mine to keep him well."

"No, Lancelot. The child is mine and never yours. How many times have you held him in your arms since he was born? Do you know how big your son is now. You can count the times by your fingers when you had held him, but he is older than those fingers of yours."

"Lancelot, you never loved your son. You only loved the woman who sits on the throne next to the King." Elaine shouts at him. "Do not deny it anymore? You have not been to my bed for some time now. If it was, it was cursory to do your part as requested by you by the vows, but your heart was not there."

Elaine looked the wooden horse that her son used to play on and asked many time for his father. She would tell him that he is away when she knows he is with his Queen. Today, he is almost nineteen now and yet he does not run to his father when in pain. He seeks his mother and only her. The child knows not who is Lancelot anymore.

"I lain with you for love, and you did it to me out of ..... self denial. You deny your own heart and seek one whom you can never get. You are a bastard, Lancelot."

Elaine stood up and left the chamber. He did not see them for the next few days then. It was said she went back to see her father, King Fisher. He did not pursue the matter since then or not anymore when she go home to her father. Not until today that he remembered the event again.

"Guinevere, I must go." Lancelot got up to leave as he picked up his clothes.

"No one leaves!" The voice belongs to Merlin. He stand there at the opening to the section which Lancelot and Guinevere just had their union. The lady jumped up and grabbed her clothes while Lancelot approached Merlin.

"Merlin, its not what you think...." Merlin raised up his hands to stop Lancelot.

"I saw every thing. Lancelot, I am over your excuses. I would tell Arthur of what happened here." Merlin threaten Lancelot. "I warned you, Lancelot; even with your skills, I am still a sorcerer with some bad tricks."

Guinevere dashed out during the conversation, and Merlin did not stopped her. He was still facing Lancelot.

"Merlin, if you tell Arthur; do you understand the implication of your action. She would be thrown out without hearing her part of the tale. I am okay, as I am the bastard here. I probably end up fighting several knights which are probably my friends. I would had killed or wound some of them. Maybe even Arthur before I got killed by the guards." Lancelot told Merlin.

"You had finished your threats. I am responsible for Arthur." Merlin replied to him.

"Then let her go away. Let her be away from him.He does not love her anymore. Find another one for your King. Do

your task and do it right this time." Lancelot pleaded with Merlin.

"I would, but you must also be gone. I am sending you to seek the Grail. Your task is to assist Sir Percival in retrieving it. But I must asked one more of you; please bring along your son, Galahad." Merlin told him. "What you cannot see, he may have the sight."