The Knight Behind the Pillar (15 page)

             
Another long pause and unseen battle of will transpired between us before Merlin looked away and sat back.  I took this as a victory, as hollow and meaningless as it might be seen by others.

             
“Anyone can tell you about Uther and his queen, the graceful Ingraine.  She being Arthur’s mother, also dead of course, very sad.”  He informed and stood up to walk the room to continue.  “I was the king’s advisor, my particular talents and knowledge were of use to him and at the right time I was entrusted with the safe keeping of Arthur.  His birth of course at the time was not public knowledge.”

             
“Why was it a secret?” I asked, finally considering that I might be getting somewhere. 

             
“They were difficult times.  Uther was not a popular king anymore by the time Arthur arrived.” He said, putting to one side casually. 

             
This was a block and Merlin said nothing more finding some other interest in the darkness.  My hope that I might get some answers began to fade.

             
I tried again, “You were asked to protect him, Arthur?  How were you able to protect him when a King couldn’t?” I asked, trying to sound keen and interested or even endorsing this man’s ego to my benefit, but it came out wrong and my words gave away my thoughts of disbelief and quickly achieved distrust of this old man.

             
Admittedly he had done nothing to undo my first impression of him and I was a good judge of character.

             
“Perhaps.” Said Merlin vaguely, still finding something more of interest on a shelf close by than me.

             
I was losing his attention, losing a chance to gain the knowledge Arthur sought and so I stepped forward with purpose.  

             
“What does that mean, you either was or not and why were you asked to take Arthur?” I replied and to my regret my annoyance was now clear.

             
Merlin had a knowing smile again, but a serious expression at the same time.  He had answers and appeared to me to be getting pleasure from not providing them.  I found this deeply infuriating despite my efforts to remain calm.

             
“There are some answers that are only for Arthur’s ear,” He answered quietly, “not yours and some answers that are not mine to tell.”

             
I bit my bottom lip and stopped myself from shouting something.  This man was so frustrating I was surprised he had not been killed for it.  I exhaled noisily to make a point and scowled.  “What can you tell me?” I yield. 

             
“Ah, the correct question at last. “ Answered Merlin, his tone lightened as some sort of success had been achieved and smiled widely at my verbal defeat.  His hands returned from the shelf and he stepped over to me in a sudden rush.  “I can tell you that I am convinced that Arthur’s fate is to be a truly great leader, he will rejoin this country, defeat the enemy and be glorious.”

             
“And how do you know that?” I asked bluntly, which could have been taken for rudeness, but I cared not at this point.

             
His face too close to mine for comfort, I concentrated hard not to finch and held my ground.

             
“You see some people have greatness imposed upon them but fail to be great themselves.  They are nothing more than warriors than leaders.  Others are great leaders but never lead, never have a chance or realise what lies within them.  And some, but very few, are truly great leaders whose actions shape the world for the better of all and get a chance to do it.  This will be Arthur.” 

             
He sounded absolutely certain, confident and a spark had lit brightly from behind his eyes as he spoke.  I wanted him to be right, I had nothing against Arthur, but no one could know what may be ahead.  More importantly this was not genuine fact or news to give Arthur.  I had nothing to tell Arthur except his mother is also dead along with a dead king for a father and this Merlin remained as much a mystery as before. 

             
I decided to retreat and rethink my approach to this problem. 

             
“Thank you Sir.  If that is all, I will take my leave.” I uttered with no feeling.

             
Merlin simply tilted his head in thought before he withdrew back to his makeshift desk saying nothing more.  I had dismissed him and it was uncomfortable strangely to find he had accepted this.  I had no choice but to turn to leave.  Most would have expected a final word from a man like Merlin, but he was a man you could not anticipate and not surprisingly no further word was spoken at any time as I walked out and closed the door.

             
Outside I muttered a few choice words before the tension I had acquired from my encounter began to subside.  I felt overwhelming relief to be out of the room.  For a while I wondered what to do next.  Did I seek out Arthur or make some attempt to complete my everyday work and duties that were not now an attractive prospect given the length of time I had avoided them.  As much as I had convinced myself that I was not eluding work, but carrying out other requests of greater importance instead, I knew I was stretching the point.  As I was on the edge of deciding when all of a sudden I no longer needed to make any decision as a great cheer resonated around the fort’s walls.  My curiosity ignited and took over any other thoughts.  I raced away from the back of Merlin’s door and through the narrow passageway to find the nearest staircase or ladder. 

             
Looking out of a slit window on my way up the steep spiral staircase I found I could see the crowd from yesterday had returned and filled the courtyard below.  Nothing unusual about that I thought to myself compared to everything else and I was bemused.  The stairs lead to a small chamber, an open store of various forms of weaponry as well as oil and other items to throw over the enemy from the battlements.  Onwards, I needed the ladder to one side that lead up through an open trap door to the roof itself.  A bean of light showed the way and I pulled myself out onto the top of the world to see the fort below and town of Caerleon beyond that.  Despite there being lots of ways to get up on the battlements themselves, for the most part this was private world.  It was the land of the guards, this was their domain and few others had reason to be there.  Your were not denied access, just needed to have a good sense of balance, have no problem with heights and you also needed a keen eye for the missing stones and timbers as you walked along.  Despite never being told you were not welcome, you never felt wanted.  For now this did not matter as I only wanted to take a moment to look and I could bear a few odd glances and staring from the old guards for a time. 

             
Views out to river valley were always impressive, but these were forgotten behind me as I looked down into the fort and across towards the stone stairs outside the main tower itself.  The stairs joined one of the wider external doorways on the side of the tower to the courtyard.  Guards not familiar to me had fanned out at the base of the stairs and formed a human shield to hold back the crowd within the courtyard.  I doubted they would be successful if the people forced their way forward given the sheer numbers of them, but the crowd were at least respecting the idea and giving the guards a good distance.  Within this guard barrier at the base of the stairs, were also a collection of some of the more privileged, lords and ladies, kings and queens who had gathered to Caerleon over the last few days.  Some I recognised from the chamber yesterday. 

             
From my position it was like looking at a lake, the shallows represented by lighter shades of sun soaked light brown cloth not unlike my own rag of a tunic.  While the deeper sections of the gently rippling mass of people were clusters of lords in deeper shades of silk and fine cloth.  These were the people with clothes not as faded by daily exposure to the sun, not least because they were not short of anything else to wear.  Among these folk I could spot King Leodegrance and Lord Morvid.  Standing a couple of steps up on the exposed stairs themselves as so to rise himself above the others the Archbishop Dubric also stood.  He was looking rather out of place and not overly pleased.  Perhaps he was expecting to be at the top I wondered and now found himself awkwardly lingering, trying to appear of use.  Guards had gathered along the battlements to see what was happening as well, along with a number of my fellow squires and some pages who dared. 

             
My eyes now finally drifted to the top of the stairs and like everyone else I focused on one particular person standing there quietly.  He stood next to King Alain who was addressing the crowd and I had yet to bother listening to him.  Instead I watched for a moment the future king, son of Uther Pendragon.  The Pendragon reign would be reborn and he was a man who will be the greatest leader ever seen if Merlin was to be believed.  His face was difficult to read especially from my distance, but he stood there perfectly still, staring out to his people without a hint of emotion, fear or joy.  I could not begin to contemplate what I would be thinking if that were me.  I would be praying to get through it quickly and back inside I guessed.  Alain had his hand placed securely on Arthur’s left shoulder.  Distilling his support for Arthur, visually demonstrating his allegiance to the future king or just guaranteeing Arthur was not looking to escape.  In the shadows just beyond the open door I spied Kay and Ector.  Seeing Ector standing by his adopted son could only be a positive sign and I hoped that last night had indeed gone well for the three of them. 

             
Finally my attention turned to what Alain was saying.  He stood confidently and had gathered all of this authority around him, his free hand out stretched to the people and conducted his speech. 

The top of the open stairs was an ideal pulpit for him for his address.  “…stands before you good people as the son of Uther Pendragon,” Alain gained a low level sound of astonishment from the crowd now being told that not only had Arthur pulled the sword from the stone, but was in fact the son of the last high king anyway.  I was a bit behind what had been said, but Alain was clearly enjoying the audience not to have said much too quickly and I doubted I had missed a lot to be worried.  “Yes good people after many years of being lost to us the true heir of the throne of Briton has been found.  For too long our enemies have made significant inroads into our lands and for too long we have let them.  Instead of standing as one against them we have fought between ourselves.  For too long our weakness has been that we serve our individual kingdoms and not our country.  Well my friends.  Well now it is time for a change, time to make a stand, here today and right now.  Because today stands the lost son of Pendragon and tomorrow he will be our new king.  And together under one banner we will fight as we have never done before for our lands, for our survival.”  Alain paused with purpose, perhaps expecting a cheer. 

              Instead there was silence, indeed this was just as powerful for there was no movement, no sound, and in fact so much nothing it was unnerving.  Alain hand that had formed a fist dropped away, I could not work out if it was disappointed at the response. 

He was too much an expert in these matters to let any disappointment show as he continued with a lower more dramatic well measured tone.  “Yes we must fight.  It will be a battle worth fighting to push back our enemies.  And yes, my friends, there are challenges ahead as not everyone shares our hopes for a united kingdom and despite our new alliance they are some who wish to remain inward looking.  Some who think they can guard their own boundaries alone and find our vision a threat!  We have little time and we must act quickly, but for now we must rejoice the arrival of our new King.  Arthur’s coronation will be tomorrow and then…” He paused having rushed the last words ready for the big rallying call to the people.  “And then after dancing and feasting ceases, we will set about rebuilding this country as one, stop falling back and stand tall for Briton.”

              Everyone was stunned and a fraction of a second was forever as we stood there and considered Alain’s words that had echoed around the stone walls.   I wondered if such a performance was enough to fulfil the crowd’s expectations, especially as it had been delayed for over a day.  It was a performance, expertly planned and each word had been used for an exact purpose even if in some cases the purpose was not to say much.  My head fell, a new world was promised, but to get there everyone knew the cost, yet more battles and more lives lost.  Everyone, if they wanted to admit it or not, also knew everything Alain had just said about the fight to come was true, except now it was spoken aloud made it real and unavoidable.  Saying it made it exist in the actual world rather than hiding behind thoughts of how to survive lunch or how to avoid work.

             
Alain was right invaders were slowly eating away at our lands coming in from the coast and even between the various lords there were lots of fights and feuds.  A new king was going to change everything. 

             
Finally a shout of “for Briton” was heard and I doubted it was genuinely from a crowd member, but was enough to signal a half hearted cheering to fulfil Alain’s expectation, before the noise of a thousand new conversations shortly followed.  The people could now begin to understand and fear what was outlined as their future.