Tales of the Once and Future King

by Anthony Marchetta

  Charlie tensed up, and he felt Lauren clutch his arm and draw closer to him. His heart skipped a beat again, and not because of the darkness.

  But the dogs were not worried. The pack was still sitting calmly around them. They did not bark or whine or howl.

  A pale light was now filtering through a square that had appeared in the air above the water. The tiny beam began to stretch, growing until it was a rectangle tall enough and wide enough for a person to walk through.

  Charlie wasn’t sure what to do, but didn’t want to leave the protection that the dogs offered, either. If anything else supernatural was going to make a pass at them tonight, he needed the dogs around to protect himself and to protect Lauren.

  But his fear of something horrible coming through the doorway was misplaced. A woman, more beautiful and ethereal than Charlie had ever seen, including on television, stepped out of the door in the sky. Her bare feet dipped into the shallow water at the end of the pond. The ripples her toes caused spread outward, clarifying the murky water so it became crystal clear.

  She was wearing a purple and blue dress that shimmered like water around her. Her long pale hair shone in the starlight. After a moment, the portal closed behind her, and the lamps around the park turned back on.

  All the dogs but Cabal rushed to greet her, barking loudly and jostling to get in a position where she could pet them.

  The mysterious woman laughed at the antics of the dogs, and greeted them each with their name and a scratch behind their ears. After she finished petting Aned, who was the last in line, she turned to face Cabal.

  “Cabal, you stubborn boy. I have been looking for you,” she scolded the shepherd. Cabal looked deeply bored with her words. She shook her head in amusement, and then turned her attention to Charlie and Lauren.

  “Good evening, children,” The lovely woman said, coming to stand in front of them. Charlie stood up on shaky feet and took a half step forward so he was standing between the woman and Lauren. He didn’t think she was a threat, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

  “My name is Nyneve, and I must thank you for returning these dogs to me,” she said in a light voice, smiling at Charlie. He blinked a couple of times. He felt his jaw go slack, and beside him, Lauren seemed to be just as taken with her beauty as he was.

  “I didn’t do anything, they came and helped us,” he admitted, and half-gestured at the corpse of the vampire that was still impaled on the lance of the goofy looking knight.

  Nyneve turned to look at what he was gesturing at. Her beautiful face twisted into a look of disgust.

  “I am glad they could save you from that demon. Either way, I have found them now,” she replied. Glas nosed under her hand to get her to pet his head again. Nyneve complied, smiling.

  “What is going on?” Charlie asked, slightly dumbfounded. First vampires, then massive packs of dogs, and now a mysterious lady who was walking out of holes in the sky.

  “You’re the Lady of the Lake,” Lauren said suddenly, and Charlie looked at her for a moment.

  “What?” she said defensively. “Cabal was King Arthur’s dog, and I’m not sure the water in that pond has ever been that clean.” She explained, and Charlie loved her all the more for knowing those things.

  “I am one of them,” Nyneve conceded, smiling. “And I am afraid that some time ago I managed to lose King Arthur’s dogs. They were bored, I suppose, locked in the kennels. There is no evil to hunt in Avalon, so they came here looking for it.”

  Nyneve turned to address the dogs again.

  “It is time to go home. Arthur will miss you if he wakes and you are gone,” she told the dogs, who could obviously understand her.

  The dogs around them began to wag their tails, barking and prancing around in excitement. Only Cabal, the white shepherd, stayed sitting calmly. He was eyeing the beautiful woman thoughtfully, and Charlie swore his expression was annoyed. Nyneve rolled her eyes at him.

  “Sixty years is long enough for an outing, Cabal. The children are safe, and you belong with your master,” she said firmly, and Cabal huffed in irritation. But when she ordered Cabal to come, he obeyed. The other dogs fell into order around her, Cabal standing at her right side. Nyneve bent down and cupped her hands, filling them with water from the pond. Then she splashed the water in the air, making the portal she had come through reappear. The lights went out again, leaving them in only moonlight and starlight.

  She opened the portal and pointed at it, clearly instructing the dogs to go through. Ledewic bounded through first, barking excitedly. The other dogs soon followed.

  “You are all filthy, and smell of Earth. You need a bath immediately!” Nyneve said as the dogs walked through the doorway. Cabal was last, and he turned to look back at Charlie. He was quite the regal dog. Charlie could believe he belonged to a king. Cabal held Charlie’s gaze for several moments before obeying the Lady of the Lake and crossing through the door.

  She paused before following the hounds to continue speaking with them.

  “The sun will turn that monster into ash. You may go home. There is nothing else for you to do here,” she explained, and stepped through the door. Charlie didn’t need to be told twice to leave. He wanted away from the vampire, even if it was dead.

  “Arthur’s dogs will only come to the aid of those who are worthy,” Nyneve said after a moment. “And they will only obey Knights,” She looked meaningfully at Charlie. The portal closed behind her as she smiled at him, Charlie looking at her in surprise.

  He really hoped that Lauren had heard that last part. Him, Charlie the Nerd, was a worthy Knight in the eyes of King Arthur’s hounds. He grinned a huge grin to himself.

  Lauren was still sitting on the ground behind him, looking rather shell-shocked. He turned and walked over to her.

  “Hey Lauren,” Charlie said, offering his hand to her to help her stand. This time his hand didn’t even shake when her fingers grasped his.

  “Yes?” Lauren answered, her other hand nervously finger combing the strands that had been pulled out of her braid. Charlie took a deep breath, looking intently into her pretty face. You just faced a vampire. You can do this, he told himself.

  “Will you go to prom with me?” he asked her. On the inside his heart was thumping madly, but on the outside, he sounded calm and cool. Not at all how he felt.

  Lauren looked surprised for a moment, but she was still holding his hand. Charlie willed himself not to add any qualifiers or ramble on and on. Just the simple, straightforward question was enough.

  “Yes, Charlie, I will,” she said after what felt like an eternity, her face lighting up with a smile. Charlie let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, his heart soaring.

  Today hadn’t turned out so bad after all.

  CHAPTER 7

  A certain magic lingered in the air for moments after Fox spoke, but when the lingering effect went away Maddie started to get annoyed. “Okay, Fox. I get it. We need to be brave and fight for the ones we love and all of that. But what does this have to do with what we were talking about?”

  Fox shook his head. “You really don’t see it?”

  “Vampires,” said Brand suddenly. Everybody turned towards him. “The creatures from the town. Bloodless, pale things that we couldn’t afflict with any wound. And those horrible shrieking, flying beasts… they were bats. Weren’t they, Fox?”

  Fox smiled and nodded. “I think so. The angels who the ancient Greeks once called the muses rarely tell me outright why my stories are important; they leave the interpretation up to us. But I think the message here is clear. Although,” Fox looked pointedly towards Maddie, “Perhaps you would do well, Maddie Calvin, not to make light of the bravery and sacrifice that are required to fight for those you love.” Maddie felt herself blush, suddenly ashamed for a reason she didn’t quite understand.

  Bennett spoke next. “Okay, I’m sorry, but I still don’t understand what we just learned here. Brand was attacked by vampires?”

  Fox
nodded, looking very grave. “Yes. Though I am afraid the true vampire is much harder to kill. A Crucifix, on its own, will not affect them. In earlier times perhaps, but black arts have become far more shrewd since then; if they are servants of Morgana, you can be sure they know wards against such things. Mere silver or iron never truly had the ability to wound a vampire, of course. The only effective weapon against the flesh of an undead thing is Holy Silver, but its like was lost long ago, after Charlemagne died and the reign of legends ended.”

  Gavin spoke for the first time in what felt like hours. His voice was very quiet. “So what do we do about it?”

  Fox shrugged. “I have no idea. I am merely a Bard. I send messages and interpret if possible. But coming to a course of action is something I have no experience in.”

  Everyone sat silently for a moment, then Bennett spoke.

  “Okay. So what do you want, then? Do you want us to take back your village from those invaders?”

  “No. Just a mission to rescue any of my people that might still be imprisoned. Especially…” Brand swallowed. “I was engaged. She went back to look for children that were left behind and—she’s still there. I can’t just leave her there.”

  “Do you know if she’s still alive?” Bennett asked gently.

  Brand stood. “She has to be,” he answered, “I left. I didn’t go back for her because it’s too dangerous. No, I have no proof, and it’s been months, but I can’t give up on finding her. I will not.”

  Bennett had predicted the forest dwellers’ circumstances beforehand, and Maddie marveled at how accurate he was; it almost seemed to rival what she had seen of Fox’s strange abilities. Brand’s tale of being driven out by invaders and forced to live in the woods as outlaws to their own homeland fit the facts as Bennett had guessed them (the vampires admittedly were an unexpected development). Unfortunately, displaced people were becoming less and less uncommon in Britain as the invaders swept across the country. No other story really seemed to make sense. He could perhaps be planning to ransom them, but then why bargain with them at all? He could have been planning to use them as shock troops in some sort of planned robbery, but it was hard to see an alternative angle to a simple rescue mission. Brand, it appeared, was not lying.

  Maddie wanted to be angry, but despite the desperation of her journey her heart simply wasn’t in it. She thought of Fox’s words: Perhaps you would do well, Maddie Calvin, not to make light of the bravery and sacrifice that are required to fight for those you love.

  She considered Brand’s story. His fiancée was probably dead, yet Brand would do anything to rescue her.

  Her father had been missing for months, yet she would travel the length and breadth of Britain for the smallest chance that he could be saved.

  Maddie’s reluctance finally gave way. “We’ll find her. I give you my word on behalf of my friends. We’ll rescue her.”

  Brand looked at Maddie gratefully. He reached into a pouch tied to his waist, producing a faded photograph. Maddie wondered how his village had managed to get a camera. “Her name is Isabella Barlow,” he said. “Find her, and anybody else you can save, and you will have the loyalty of my people for the rest of our lives.”

  Maddie looked at the photo. The woman didn’t look older than Maddie, with long hair that curled past her shoulders and a long, flowing dress.

  “Give us one night to come up with a plan,” Gavin said, “and we’ll be ready tomorrow morning.”

  “Thank you.” Brand took a breath. “Before I go and relay the news to my people, I need to ask you something. This Michael Maddocks. Who is he?”

  The four of them sat silent for a moment as they thought through the implications of the question. To their surprise, it was Gavin who spoke. “Michael Maddocks is… amazing. I knew him once. He was my friend.”

  This was news to Maddie and, it seemed, everyone else. Lance looked especially shocked. “You never told me this.” It was less a statement than a question.

  Gavin turned to look at him, but continued without answering. “One title I’ve heard used for King Arthur is the Once and Future King. Well, Michael is the Future King. When I first met him, he was alone. When I left him, he had a kingdom—small but growing. There were warriors and women and children, people he swore upon his life to protect and who swore their lives to him. You must understand, he never forced any of these people to join him. They went willingly, and believe me, they made the right choice.

  “No better leader ever existed or will exist. Michael Maddocks is the Future King. Michael Maddocks is the new King Arthur returned.”

  Lance spoke next, gently. “I have not met him, but I can still confirm this: Michael Maddocks is the last hope of Britain. If it can be saved, he can do it.”

  Brand nodded gravely. “Fox has told me as much, but I needed to hear it myself. Thank you. I will communicate the news of our alliance to my people.”

  As soon as he left, Lance looked at Gavin. “Later you’re going to tell us what that was about. But now, we need to focus.” Gavin merely bowed his head.

  Lance turned to Bennett. “Do you really think this is a good idea?”

  Bennett shook his head. “No. Of course not. It makes no sense. But you’re Knights of King Arthur. You’re supposed to be helping people. Sometimes you need to forget about what’s smart and do what’s right.” Bennett stopped for a moment and looked down, then continued. “And we’re a team. If you’re going to be Knights, then we’re not going to abandon you. Not now.”

  Lance nodded gravely. “Thank you.”

  Maddie sat down, breathing out. She could hear, vaguely, the sounds of people talking in the background.

  Bennett started pacing back and forth. “We have no idea if Isabella is even alive,” he said. “Who knows what the invaders would have done with her? But if she is, they would want to keep her well-guarded.”

  “The town has to have a jailhouse,” Lance said, “if she’s anywhere they’d keep her in there.”

  “Along with any of Brand’s people that were left behind,” Bennett added, frowning, “but that means heavily guarded, and we don’t know which cell she’s being kept in. We’d need to figure that out... Maddie, can I see the picture?”

  Maddie was looking off into the distance toward Fox’s troupe.

  “Hey, Maddie Calvin!” Lance said, “are you even paying attention?”

  “Sorry,” Maddie answered, “But I keep going back to those vampires.” They all shivered, almost involuntarily.

  Lance raised his eyebrows. “They are a problem, yes, but do we even know they exist?”

  Maddie shrugged. “Why would he make it up?”

  “They exist,” said Gavin suddenly. They all turned towards him. He was still looking at the ground.

  “How do you know that?” asked Lance suspiciously.

  Gavin looked up. His face was pale, his eyes haunted. “I’ve fought them myself.”

  Everybody stared in shock. Lance spoke first. “You what? Why did you never tell me this?”

  “I was… too ashamed,” said Gavin. His voice was so low Maddie had to lean in to hear him. Gavin looked around at them all. “I think it might be time for all of you to learn how I met Lance. When Lance found me, I had collapsed from sunstroke in the Scottish Highlands. I was delirious and I was dying. It was Lance who saved my life. He found me in the desert and nursed me back to health.

  This was news to Maddie. “Why didn’t you ever tell us about this, Gavin?”

  Gavin turned toward her. “I was getting to that. When I was younger, my family was killed. I think it had to do with some conflict from a neighboring village. It doesn’t matter. I had nobody left, and nothing to live for. I decided to run. I don’t know why. Maybe I just didn’t want to be reminded of them all the time…

  “If it wasn’t for Michael Maddocks, I don’t know what would have happened. He was my age, and he was alone, but he was like nobody I’d ever met before. He was almost wild, an adventurer, but a born leader. H
e inspired people. And I’d never, ever seen him lose heart or hope. Never.

  “He was my friend. Together, we decided that we couldn’t let Britain die. We decided to find the displaced people of Britain—people like us—and bring them together. And then, one day, we would unite the island again, drive out the invaders, and bring back peace.”

  Gavin didn’t even seem to be looking at anyone anymore. He just stared ahead, his eyes dead. “A good plan, right? Long term, maybe, but if anybody could do it, it was Michael Maddocks. And I was with him 100%... At first.

  “It was Morgan le Fey. The Queen of Air and Darkness. She appeared to me in a dream. I tried to stand up to her, but she just laughed. This huge blanket of darkness seemed to rise and overwhelm us. I screamed and screamed, but nobody could help me. She said she was coming. She said we could never stop her.

  “I warned Michael. I told him she was coming. I told him to leave Wales. He wouldn’t hear it. Wales was our home. Michael wouldn’t abandon it. I begged him, but he wouldn’t listen.

  “Things seemed fine for a while. We were growing. I thought I might have been wrong. That it was a dream. And then... It was night when we were ambushed. Michael was prepared, of course. We weren’t fools; we had a guard out. We were warned. But it didn’t seem to matter. No matter how quickly we got organized, no matter how well we fought, we couldn’t beat these fighters. They were pale—very pale. And they seemed to be able to see in the dark. They were stronger than us. And they never seemed to get exhausted.

  “But the very worst part was that they wouldn’t die. We would stab them, shoot them, Michael got the idea to burn them at one point… nothing. They would heal before we could land the next blow.

  “It was a testament to Michael’s leadership that not one of our men fled. We were terrified, tired, and it became clear that we were going to get wiped out, but Michael was fearless. He was laughing, even. If it hadn’t been for him, we would have panicked. But he wasn’t an idiot, either. We were getting slaughtered. He called a retreat. We tried to flee.