I felt a pulling on my jerkin, a quick weight on my left foot, a soft pressure against my shoulders and slender arms about my middle. Then Star Boy moved again. He went slowly, cautious step by step.
"I thank you for the knife—but I didn't have to use it," I said.
She made no answer. After a short silence, I spoke again.
"I was unmannerly to you, at the cave. I regret it. . . . Why did you give me the knife?"
"In case you might need it," she murmured. "In kindness."
"Gramercy," I muttered.
She murmured on: "For the same reason I killed Stark."
"Your I cried. "God's wounds! It was sunk to the haft."
"And for the same reason that I woke you to defend yourself from Simon," she murmured.
"Gramercy," I muttered. "I thought it was a bird."
My head was in a daze. Soon a confused sound as of wild voices pulsed on the still black air, waxing and waning and waxing again; and now Star Boy quickened his pace.
"Hold fast!" I cautioned.
The slender arms tightened around me. A minute later we issued from the forest onto a field of stubble, and beheld the red and yellow of scores of torches tossing against the night and flinging sparks like stars. They flamed again in the black water of the moat, and tossed from end to end of the drawbridge. They tossed around the battlements.
Star Boy neighed and broke into a trot.
"Hold fast!" I cried; and the slender arms closed yet tighter.
Now my head and heart felt as strong as my legs and arms.
"A Pendragon!" I shouted. "A Pendragon! Saint George for England!"
The great horse galloped. My companion held to me with arms and breast and her face pressed hard to my left shoulder. I waved the great sword high in one hand. Torches came tossing to us. I saw men shouting up at me, with wide mouths and the torch-shine red in their eyes— "A Pendragon! A Pendragon!"
They thickened about us. Star Boy galloped through them, holding straight for the drawbridge. Cheering Dragonlanders sprang away to right and left before him. Planks drummed; beams creaked; great links of iron twanged like harp-strings—the whole bridge boomed and swayed to the fury of our passage. We gained the courtyard in a spurt of sparks struck by iron-shod hooves on stone.
The courtyard flamed, smoked, rang with welcoming torches and shouts: "A Pendragon! A Pendragon!" I saw Ben Tinker and Ralph Forester, bawling and pressing through to us. "Home again, my dear young lord!" "Welcome home, Lord Pat!" I saw old Nick Pottle clawing a passage to me through the archers. But I paid them no heed. I twisted about and took Blanche Devereaux in my arms—and the old sword flamed over us like a tongue of fire.
"I would hold you safe here till life's end."
"In pity."
"Nay, in love. In love and worship, till life's end—by God's wounds!"
More Pendragon Books from Green Knight Publishing
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The Pagan King
by Edison Marshall
The mysterious Song of Camion tells of a mighty warrior who will win the crown of Cambria. This is Arthur's great destiny—or so prophesies Merdin the seer.
To claim his birthright, the simple Welsh rustic must overcome the tyrant Vortigern, his brilliant son Modred, and the other formidable foes arrayed against him. Is Fate the architect of Arthur's success, or is his rise to power determined by the strength of his sword arm and the shrewdness of his advisors? The naive young warrior must learn much about his enemies, and the prophecies that so rule his life before he can step from the pages of dark history into glorious legend.
Long out of print, The Pagan King is one of the first modern novels to rediscover the Arthurian legend's Welsh roots. In Edison Marshall's splendid retelling, readers will share the agonizing losses and thrilling victories of one of the world's greatest heroes.
PRAISE FOR THE PAGAN KING:
"True fans of Arthurian legend and of history will revel in this re-telling."
—Realms of Fantasy
"A very fine historical novel."
—Science Fiction Chronicle
GK6209. ISBN 1-928999-17-4. 336 pages.
$14.95 US; $21.95 CAN; £10.99 UK
Available Now
Exiled from Camelot
by Cherith Baldly
The court of Camelot is unsettled by the arrival of Loholt, King Arthur's illegitimate son. Driven by the need for an heir, the king embraces the stranger, though not everyone in Camelot so readily accepts the mysterious young man. Arthur's seneschal and foster brother, the redoubtable Sir Kay, is especially wary of Loholt's motives. And when Loholt is killed, Kay finds himself under suspicion of murder.
Stripped of his knighthood, Kay forges an unwilling alliance with the renegade Briant and his lover, the enchantress Brisane, who seek to bring down the men closest to the king. If Sir Kay cannot redirect their plot or win back the court's trust, nothing will save Camelot from the twin threats of war and evil sorcery.
PRAISE FOR EXILED FROM CAMELOT:
"An original novel of considerable merit."
—Science Fiction Chronicle
"A remarkable story."
—Realms of Fantasy
"One of the half-dozen best Arthurian novels I
have yet read."
—Phyllis Ann Karr,
author of The Arthurian Companion
GK6207. ISBN 1-928999-16-6. 320 pages.
$14.95 US; $21.95 CAN; £10.99 UK
In Bookstores November 2001
Legends of the Pendragon
edited by James Lowder
Green Knight Publishing's second original anthology is a collection of stories exploring the earliest days of Arthur's realm. What made Britain ready for the coming of Camelot? How were the Round Table's victories and failures foreshadowed in the tragedy of Vortigern, the tyrant who welcomed the treacherous Saxons as trusted allies; the prophecies and magical acts of the ever-mysterious Merlin; the deeds of Uther Pendragon, father to the future king; or the training and earliest adventures of the young Arthur himself?
Legends of the Pendragon presents all-new Arthurian short fiction with a wide range of tones and styles, including works from such notable and best-selling authors as Phyllis Ann Karr, Cherith Baldry, Nancy Varian Berberick, Darrell Schweitzer, and Keith Taylor.
PRAISE FOR GREEN KNIGHT'S FIRST ORIGINAL ANTHOLOGY, THE DOOM OF CAMELOT.
"A truly successful collection of arthurian tales, notable for its variety of perspectives and its poignant homage to a dream's demise."
—Ceridwen's Cauldron
"A distinguished addition to modern arthurian fiction."
—Tipworld. com
GK6211. ISBN 1-928999-19-0. 320 pages.
$16.95 US; $26.95 CAN; £12.99 UK
In Bookstores November 2001
The Follies of Sir Harald
by Phyllis Ann Karr
It isn't easy to be a villain in King Arthur's Britain, particularly when the opposition is so formidable and even the furniture in your castle is dead set against you. After six long years of struggle, the Quillerstone Couch still turns into a ravening lion whenever Sir Harald tries to sit on it. And that's the least of Harald's problems. To Sir Kay he owes both horse and armor, yet the mysterious knight who owes him the same has vanished.
The field of romance is no less perilous for Sir Harald, populated as it is by: the Aloof Fair One, for whom he turns renegade; brave Deborah, for whom he could wish himself a Jew; Maid Procne, who has, alas, already recorded the story of Harald's shame; and the puckish Joiselette, who somehow becomes his guardian elf. ...
From Phyllis Ann Karr, author of the classics Idylls of the Queen and The Arthurian Companion, The Follies of Sir Harald is a wonderfully whimsical tale of love and adventure set against the colorful backdrop of Camelot.
GK6212. ISBN 1-928999-21-2. 256 pages.
$15.95 US; $25.95 CAN; £11.99 UK
All Green Knight titles are available through your favorite local bookstor
e, on-line bookstore, or by mail from Wizard's Attic, 900 Murmansk Street, Suite 7, Oakland, CA 94607. You can also see Wizard's Attic on the World Wide Web at www.wizards-attic.com.
Table of Contents
Title Page
More Titles from Green Knight
Pendragon™ Fiction
The Merriest Knight is published by Green Knight Publishing.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Introduction
THE MERRIEST KNIGHT
Author's Introduction
A Purfle for a King
The Quest of the Saracen Beast (A Tale of Knights Errant Indeed)
A Fairy’s Child
The Madness of Sir Tristram
A Quarrel for a Lady
Sir Dinadan and the Giant Taulurd
The Goose Girl
For to Achieve Your Adventure
Mountain Miracle
Quest’s End
SPUR AND THE PRIZE
Young Wings Unfurling
Strike Hard! Bite Deep!
The Merlin Touch
Castle Cavanaugh
LEGEND'S END
Revolt in the Forest
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In Bookstores November 2001
The Merriest Knight Page 57