Lancelot and the Lord of the Distant Isles

by Patricia Terry

  Gawain told the servant that he intended to stay where he was, ready to fight anyone who attempted to drive him away. “But it seems to me very strange that two knights would hide from one!”

  Galehaut, informed, thought this excessively haughty and, to teach the knight a lesson, sent one of his best fighters to challenge him. The drawbridge was let down, and Gawain saw a horseman galloping toward him. “Surrender to me or fight!”

  “If it’s up to you to guard the place, there’s no need for me to surrender!” With that taunt, Gawain rode out onto the bridge and charged. An instant later, the knight was catapulted backwards off his horse, hitting the ground with a thud. Gawain quickly dismounted, drew his sword, pulled the helmet off his opponent’s head, and demanded that he yield. There was no argument. Gawain secured his prisoner, while Galehaut, watching from the castle, admired his prowess. He called for his armor. But Lancelot insisted that he would be the one to challenge the stranger, and Galehaut reluctantly agreed.

  Although he was now wearing different armor, Gawain recognized the Red Knight from the way he sat his horse. The queen had been right: he was now facing the man he had long been seeking. But in the instant his opponent came charging toward him, he remembered too the greatest knight he had ever seen, a man in black armor against whom no one could stand. Gawain and Lancelot came together with such tremendous force that both fell to the ground with their horses on top of them. They quickly disengaged themselves and jumped up, swords in hand. The duel went on for a long time. After noon Gawain’s strength diminished, as it always did at that time; Lancelot began to prevail. Gawain’s shield was in tatters, and there were gaping holes in his coat of mail. He felt he was close to death. But Lancelot too had suffered serious wounds. Gawain succeeded in surmounting his weakness; indeed, his strength gradually doubled. Now Galehaut feared for his friend. Gawain’s fighting was brilliant, but just when it seemed that Lancelot was facing defeat and death, Lionel arrived at the drawbridge and watched, aghast, the two friends who had turned into foes.

  Just then, Lancelot sprang at Gawain with new ferocity and power. In a moment, he had the advantage. Lionel cried out to him, “Stop! By the order of the queen!” Lancelot instantly drew back, and Lionel shouted that he was fighting Sir Gawain. The two adversaries stood immobilized.

  Sick with grief and shame, Lancelot threw down his sword, and gasped, “What have I done?” He ran to his horse, but Gawain jumped up behind him and held him so that they rode through the gates of the castle together. Galehaut was there when they dismounted. He saw that Lancelot was in such distress he could not speak, and asked Gawain to wait for a few moments until he recovered. While servants attended to the visitor, Galehaut led Lancelot into a chamber, where he tried to find out what had happened to grieve him so. Finally Lancelot blurted out that he had lost the queen’s love forever by injuring her nephew. Galehaut helped Lancelot take off his armor and wash his face. Then he said, “I’ll bring Gawain to you, and you can ask his forgiveness. Tell him you’re ready to do whatever he wishes.”

  Galehaut returned to Gawain. “Tell me, my lord,” he said, “do you know who it is you were fighting?”

  “I know that it was the Red Knight, who won the field when you first brought your army against us.”

  “. . . and who because of you is mortified with shame and grief!”

  When they entered the room, Galehaut said, “Here is my lord Gawain.”

  Lancelot fell to his knees before him and asked his forgiveness. Gawain was astonished to recognize the young man whose beauty had touched everyone when he had first come to court with the Lady of the Lake. He raised him to his feet and put his arms around him, saying, “King Arthur charged me to find the Red Knight, but I have also found the one who rescued me from hopeless captivity.”

  “Can you forgive me, my lord, for the harm I have done today? Truly, I did not know who you were.”

  “You have done a hundred times more for me than I for you!” And as he uttered those words, Gawain saw, in a flash of recognition, the Black Knight leaving the field with Galehaut’s hand on his shoulder. “And not just for me! Isn’t it thanks to you that my uncle still rules his kingdom? that the Lord of the Distant Isles sacrificed his honor and surrendered? Truly, you owe me nothing. But out of friendship, tell me – I would be grateful to know – tell me, at last, who you are.”

  The young man said, “I am Lancelot of the Lake. My father was King Ban of Benoic.”

  They embraced, elated and moved by all that they now understood. But both had serious wounds, and Galehaut’s doctors, attending to their treatment, insisted they rest. Nevertheless, all that afternoon and far into the night, they talked. Now Galehaut learned how Lancelot had conquered Dolorous Guard, “and then brought me the help I sorely needed when I was being held by Brandis,” added Gawain.

  “My lord, I have never forgotten how kind you were to me when I wasn’t yet a knight.”

  Then Gawain asked how it was that the Lady of the Lake had brought King Ban’s son to Arthur, and Lancelot told more than he had yet confided even to Galehaut. He spoke of those years when he knew nothing about his father, and believed that Viviane was his mother. A time would come for him to avenge his father’s death and reclaim his birthright.

  They spent several more days on the island, delighted to be with one another. Lionel spoke privately to Galehaut, giving him the queen’s message. Galehaut kept it to himself for a while, knowing that, the moment they heard about the invasion, and regardless of their condition, the two knights would insist on starting out. When their strength was somewhat restored, he gave them the news and the queen’s instructions. They were all to go to Scotland in disguise, but wearing the tokens Guenevere would recognize. She herself would inform them how they best could help the king. Galehaut asked the King of the Hundred Knights and the First Defeated King to go with them, along with a number of his household knights and squires. Lionel was included, as a reward for having carried out his missions with courage and good sense. Before setting out, they waited only long enough for a pack train to be loaded with their equipment.

  They had not ridden very far when they encountered the girl who had helped Gawain find Lost Island. When they asked her if she had heard news of King Arthur, she told them that indeed she had – reliable news – but did not intend to give it away without a promise from them. They must agree to accompany her whenever she required it, up to a league’s distance away.

  “We will do as you ask,” said Lancelot, and Galehaut also gave his word.

  “The king is already at Arestel. You will find him besieging the fortress they call Saxon Rock.”

  They commended her to God, and she returned their farewell. Then, leaving the pack train to follow them more slowly, the knights galloped northward.

  BOOK SEVEN: LANCELOT AND GUENEVERE

  DAYS OF HARD RIDING WENT BY before they arrived at Arestel and learned that the king was indeed encamped before Saxon Rock, a fortress so strong that only famine could overcome it. It had been secretly built by the treacherous Vortigern, the king who had let Saxons into Britain many years before. Four leagues lay between the town of Arestel and the fortress, and everything in the area had been razed to the ground except for one manor house, very close to Saxon Rock. There lived the enchantress Gamille, a Saxon by birth, and extremely beautiful. She had thoroughly bewitched King Arthur, who went every day to plead for her favor, without ever receiving the slightest encouragement. He could think of nothing but her.

  Saxon and Irish knights had come out onto the battlefield in great numbers that day, hoping to inflict enough losses on the Britons to make them withdraw. As the sound of fighting grew louder, Gawain told Galehaut that because of his oath he could not enter the king’s presence unless to reveal the successful accomplishment of his quest for the Red Knight. Galehaut asked him to wait until the end of the siege, “and then Lancelot will surely go with you.” Gawain agreed.

  The queen and Blaye of Malehaut were in t
he tower of a house where they were lodging. Watching the armed men ride by, they recognized Lancelot and Galehaut by the red pennon on Lancelot’s helmet. It was not long before Lancelot received a message from the queen, telling him that she would be pleased to have the fighting, should he be in it, take place where she could see it from her tower.

  The king himself was fighting that day, surpassing himself in valor; he was eager to impress Gamille. There were not many men with him as he galloped toward a large company of Saxon warriors. Lancelot, heeding the queen’s command, suggested that the forces brought from Sorelais ride up behind the Saxons as if to reinforce them. Gawain hesitated to appear to attack his lord and uncle, but Lancelot assured him that the king would benefit in the end. At the sight of so many unknown warriors approaching, Arthur’s knights began to retreat toward the river near their camp. The Saxons, frantic to have their victory, followed them over the ford, not far from the queen’s observation post.

  Suddenly there was a shout of “Let’s get them!” from Lancelot, and Arthur, recognizing allies, was able to turn his knights back toward the enemy. The Saxons were surrounded. Lancelot, Galehaut, and Gawain rode side by side at the entrance to the ford, cutting down any who hoped to escape that way. The bodies were piled so high they made a dam in the river, and the place was known thereafter as the Red Ford. Meanwhile, attacking the enemy horde from the other side, King Arthur’s men captured Aramont, the Saxon king’s brother; and many others were made prisoners or left for dead. Lancelot had taken so many blows that his helmet was dented and cracked. The queen, frightened for him, sent a splendid new one – indeed, a helmet belonging to the king – but with a message ordering him to stop the slaughter and let the remaining Saxons escape.

  They hurled themselves across the ford, but King Arthur’s men and Lancelot’s were soon upon them again, making them pay dearly for any distance they gained on their flight back to the fortress. But the Saxons and their Irish allies were skilled and courageous fighters. Had it not been for Lancelot, Arthur would have fared very badly in this encounter. Two of the king’s horses were killed under him, and the third fell and broke its neck. His own men were too involved in their chase to notice, and it was Lancelot who remounted the king each time.

  It was almost dark when the surviving Saxons regained their fortress. Gawain made himself known to a few of the knights of his household who had been on the field, while Galehaut and Lancelot rode off toward the queen’s tower. She and Blaye came down to greet them. When she saw Lancelot with blood streaking his left shoulder, Guenevere feared for his life, but he said he was scarcely hurt, and “besides, I have no fear of death, as long as you wish me well.” She took him in her arms, chain mail and all, and promised that she would heal him before morning. “You must leave me now,” she whispered, “but send Lionel to me later.”

  The two knights rode to where their tents had been set up between Arthur’s army and Arestel, in a peaceful site on the edge of a woodland. It was surrounded by a tall palisade, and closed with a gate; someone from Arestel had planted a garden there. Galehaut’s pavilion was magnificent, with ample room for both him and his companion, and also for the ten squires he had with him. The knights would ride out from there to join the fighting, and return only after dark so they would not be recognized.

  When King Arthur left the battlefield, he rode to Gamille’s manor, accompanied by only one discreet squire. This evening, for the first time, the lady had sent word that he might visit her there. The king was overjoyed when she came to the gate to welcome him. “My lord, you are the most valiant man of our times, and you have allowed me to believe that you love me above all other women. Now I will put your courage to a test.”

  More tempted by this enchantress than he had ever been before, Arthur did not hesitate, but said, “There is nothing I would not do for you.”

  “That remains to be seen. I want you to sleep with me tonight – not here, but in the fortress of Saxon Rock itself.”

  Arthur was no less direct in his response. “If you promise me the pleasure a knight may hope to have with a lady.”

  Assured that all his desires would be fulfilled, he said he would come to her as soon as he had seen to his knights and dined with them.

  She replied, “My messenger will be waiting for you just beyond your camp.”

  His knights had never seen their sovereign so exuberant. He sent a message to the queen, saying he would not be with her that night, and inviting her to rejoice in the success of the day’s fighting. Guenevere was not particularly sorry to have this news. When Lionel came to her lodgings that evening, she sent him back to tell Lancelot that she would meet him in a garden inside the walls, on the far side of the tower, later that night. The gate would be unlocked. But he was to come on horseback, fully armed.

  As soon as the knights in the king’s tent were asleep, Arthur and his nephew Guerrehet, who was in his confidence, rose very quietly and armed themselves. Gamille’s guide was waiting for them, and they rode together to the fortress, full of expectation. The lady welcomed them warmly, while squires helped them remove their armor. A lovely maiden led Guerrehet to another room.

  Alone now with Gamille, Arthur was too enthralled to realize how vulnerable he was. She was, after all, allied with his enemies, and he was even meeting her in the fortress he had resolved to conquer. But her allure was too potent to resist, and her readiness to comply with his desire swept away all caution. She guided him toward a splendid bed whose soft fur covers merged with the smoothness of her flesh to work an inescapable magic.

  King Arthur was so caught up in his pleasure that he failed to hear the heavy footsteps and the clink of armor just outside the door, and was astonished when armed knights burst in, more than forty of them, swords in hand. The king jumped up and reached for his weapon, but he was unclothed, and could not defend himself. Torches were suddenly blazing in the chamber, and Arthur realized that all he could do was surrender. Guerrehet was taken in the same way. They were given their clothes and thrust into a room whose strong walls and single iron door made escape impossible.

  Lancelot and Galehaut waited until everyone else was fast asleep, then rose, and, with Galehaut’s help, Lancelot armed himself. Galehaut bade him goodbye outside their pavilion and stood for a long moment watching wistfully as Lancelot rode away.

  At the tower, the young knight found the garden door unlocked as promised. There were no guards on this side because deep water and marshlands protected the walls. He closed and locked the gate behind him and rode in. The queen was waiting. The horse was stabled, the visitor disarmed, and the couple went to a private chamber in the part of the tower which housed only the queen and her ladies.

  For Lancelot and Guenevere, the night was both a culmination and a new beginning, a moment snatched from battle and from a marriage fixed in loyalty if not fidelity. Galehaut’s sacrifice had led to this night’s union, the more easily because of Arthur’s indifference. As warfare and subterfuge trapped the king, Guenevere could grant her lover the unreserved fulfillment he had longed for. He had dedicated his valor to her, had fought to win renown the better to deserve her love, had wielded his powerful sword ever aware that, having come from her, it demanded the utmost bravery of its possessor. One woman had foreseen what his destiny would be, and had nurtured in him the gifts necessary to achieve it; another was at last acknowledging his merit.

  From their first, life-transforming, kiss, the queen was now allowing them to progress to the full realization of their love; a yearning of which they had often heard the poets sing was now producing the wondrous union that the singers could only imagine. The night’s rich darkness brought them perfect joy.

  Toward midnight, the queen arose, remembering the mysterious shield sent by the Lady of the Lake, the shield that would not be whole until the world’s most valiant knight and his peerless lady came together to celebrate the perfection of their love. Now, in the darkness, Guenevere ran her hands over the heavy tooled leather. The
crack was gone. The shield was flawless.

  The next morning, Lancelot, too, was filled with wonder, gazing at the restored shield. What it might portend was soon put into words as Guenevere softly began to urge her lover to give his allegiance to the Round Table and remain at the royal court. She, who at first had been hardly more than amused by his infatuation, could not now bear the thought that he might leave with Galehaut. She knew that Lancelot had found in this great king a companion of extraordinary generosity, a potent ally in any attempt he might make to reconquer the land which was his birthright. In Sorelais, his interests would be more than amply served. But she loved him too much to sacrifice his presence for his welfare, and believed that Lancelot would feel the same way. He responded only by telling her that he would return the next night.

  Lancelot was no sooner back at Galehaut’s pavilion than the two companions heard great roars resounding from Saxon Rock, and it was not long before they grasped that these were sounds of rejoicing. The explanation was soon apparent. King Arthur’s shield, along with Guerrehet’s, hung from the parapet! It could only mean the two men had been taken captive, and it was a painful disgrace. The Britons were overwhelmed with grief to find themselves bereft of their powerful leader. Sir Gawain was near despair, but Lancelot vowed, “We’ll rescue him or be taken prisoners ourselves.” The queen, too, had just learned the news and sent word to Lancelot and Galehaut to come to her tower. She was anxious for their help – but they had already disappeared.