“Gabriel!” Melora called.
I rushed over to her, followed by Galahad.
“What should I do?” she asked, pointing at a dark spot on the horizon.
I peered at it, and made out Alwena astride her bay horse, at the head of her soldiers in formation, awaiting her orders.
Galahad approached Melora. “Tell the archers to move into position.”
“Archers, in position!” she commanded in a loud, confident voice.
They instantly took up spots along the sentry walk, and aimed their bows from behind the crenellated walls or arrowslits.
Galahad then told her to order the knights into formation.
“Knights, in formation!”
Her footmen positioned themselves before the wall in ordered battalions, forming a front, while the mounted knights fell into tight rows right behind them. Finally, teams of knights, or conrois*, grouped around the proudly-lifted banners of the knights of the Round Table, ready to charge. Galahad, Percival and Bors joined their troops. The drawbridge was raised once again, while a group of combatants furnished with lances took up positions to protect access to the queen.
Bedivere, Geraint, Kay and I formed her bodyguard, reinforced by Viviane and her magical powers.
We’ve won the battle but not the war, I thought, observing the still-numerous army facing us.
After waiting a long while, Alwena finally gave her order to charge. Melora countered, and from that instant on, the fight raged furiously. The battlefield rapidly took on a vivid red hue, even under the moonlight, and the sound of whinnying, of roaring and of anguished moans, combined with the clashing of arms, rose all the way up to the highest ramparts.
In great apprehension, I watched as my friends fought, splitting heads with their swords, mutilating our adversaries. Our archers shot at those who managed to get through. Cadavers piled up in front of the castle. As dawn approached, it became obvious that our assailants would not be able to enter Comper. Alwena must have arrived at the same conclusion, because she rose in her stirrups, held up her hands and pronounced some words I couldn’t hear, an incantation most likely. Distrustful, I scrutinized the horizon and saw a dark cloud appear far off. Studying the voluminous mass as it approached, I realized it was a flock of quetzadus, a kind of giant pterodactyl, and they were heading straight toward us.
“Viviane!” I exclaimed, but hadn’t time to say more, for the black birds were already angling down at us in attack posture. Even as our archers let fly their arrows, they swooped down, grabbing men in their talons and throwing them over the parapets into the void. Their screams as they fell froze our blood.
The soldiers posted in the courtyard threw their lances as hard as they could, but were quickly outnumbered. Some of the quetzadus picked up and carried enemy soldiers to the top of the castle walls to attack us on all sides.
Bedivere and I protected Melora, our swords in hand, while Viviane called up powerful gusts of wind to make the quetzadus spin, lose control and fall out of the sky. I heard a shout, alerting me that Bedivere was in difficulty: two quetzadus had carried him off, and were about to drop him over the wall overlooking the courtyard. Horrified, I could only watch him fall, beating his legs and arms desperately.
“Bluen!” I exclaimed, directing the spell at him. It stopped him, to my great relief, a few inches above the ground, where he floated like a feather. The terror left his eyes and I saw him sigh with relief as he touched ground. He grabbed his sword, which had fallen into the courtyard, and rushed back into the fight.
It was becoming harder and harder to beat off our opponents.
“Melora, go back into the castle!” I ordered her.
“No! I’m staying with you. I won’t abandon you,” she replied, awkwardly hitting a quetzadu with her sword.
“This isn’t the time to act stubborn!” I stormed. “You don’t even know how to defend yourself. If you die, everyone dies!”
She capitulated, not without grumbling and clenching her hands like a child as she disappeared into the stairwell. The sight in the courtyard filled me with anguish: just as Melora started to cross it, enemy soldiers flooded into it, struggling against our army to get to the castle entrance. Bedivere was surrounded at the opposite end of the square and couldn’t reach her. Two kobolds caught her. Fear gripped me as I saw Excalibur waving through the air desperately, hitting more wind than her assailants. I screamed her name, and at the same time, she cried out my name.
Suddenly, I saw a group of quetzadus dive at her, and my blood started boiling. The end could only be fatal. As if possessed, I felt my body explode. This was the second time I’d experienced that sensation, but this time I knew what was happening. Without a second’s hesitation, I dove head-first from the top of the wall and as I fell, the transformation took place.
With a beating of my wings, I reached Melora at the same time as the quetzadus and struck them dead. When I moved around behind the young queen, the two terrorized kobolds fled as fast as they could. She stood petrified as I stretched out my wings as a sign of protection, and roared, warning my enemies to keep away, because any who tried to slip by me would end up carbonized by my burning breath.
I pushed Melora with my muzzle to make her understand that she should run into the castle, then I flew up to help our army. Seeing me, Galahad reassembled Comper’s forces and launched a new offensive at Alwena’s legions. Thanks to my help, her army was quickly routed. I expected Alwena to flee with them, as she had already done several times, but this time, she decided to confront me, taking the form of a huge, green-scaled dragon. She was far less imposing than I, but she must have thought she had the advantage, perhaps due to the presence of her quetzadus.
She flew straight at me, pivoting at the last second with great agility, claws stretched out at me. Her move took me by surprise. She dug her claws deep into my chest and held me to the ground, trying to reach my throat with her sharp teeth. I managed to free myself by jerking my head hard to one side, flinging her to the ground and leaping at her, intending to rip into her neck. A flock of quetzadus attacked me, though, piercing my flanks with their pointed beaks in several places at once. The pain shooting through me made me flinch and loosen my grip. Alwena shook free, but we immediately slammed into each other and struggled in close combat – a brutal, incredibly noisy combat. Her strength was far inferior to mine, and I was making headway until the quetzadus attacked again, from behind this time. I shrieked with rage but could do nothing – countless black birds covered me, preventing me from beating my wings and taking off. With a glint of satisfaction in her giant green eyes, Alwena took a deep breath and then released a long jet of flames, badly burning my chest.
I’ve definitely underestimated this girl! I thought wryly, even while my roars of pain ripped the air.
Suddenly, other shrieks blended with mine, and all around me, the quetzadus started falling, liberating my wings. Enormous lances pierced the winged tetrapod vertebrates, nailing them to the ground. I looked around to see where this precious help had come from, and saw Melora, Viviane and Galahad atop the castle wall, standing next to some immense bolt-throwers.
I thanked them silently. Forgetting my pain, I dropped like a bullet toward Alwena, claws in front, in imitation of her attack. My rapidity and strength made all the difference. I planted my sharp teeth in her neck and ripped apart her throat. With a long death rattle, Alwena breathed her last breath.
The black soldiers and carregs disappeared into thin air, and the few remaining kobolds fled into the forest.
My body slowly changed back into that of a man, awakening all my sufferings. The smell of burnt flesh filled my nostrils, and I could reply only with a groan when Melora called out to me. I sensed steps approaching. I heard sobs and exclamations and then Viviane asking Galahad to carry me before I sank into a thickening mist and lost consciousness.
When Melora saw Gabriel transform into a gigantic, terrifying dragon, she thought she must be hallucinating. Trust quickly re
placed her fright. After all, it was Gabriel, the man she loved, her protector. She felt safe, and when he, as a dragon, gestured that she should go into the castle, she did not argue. But as she saw him fly up from the courtyard, she turned around and went back up to the rampart, nevertheless – she just couldn’t help herself. She felt assured that no danger awaited her on this side of the walls now. She peered over the parapets, watching Gabriel, still uneasy for him, as he began fighting with the enemy, but when Alwena also transformed into a dragon, fear twisted her entrails once again. She suffered with every blow he received. At his every cry of pain, she cried as well.
She looked for Viviane, and seeing her, she entreated her, “We have to help him!”
Only Galahad replied. “We need our largest ballistae to kill those evil birds.”
Viviane looked at him approvingly. Outwardly calm, her voice trembled as she agreed.
“This is a good idea.”
Closing her eyes, she began mumbling words in a language unknown to Melora. Suddenly, the two drawbridge towers started creaking, and their roof slates flew off, revealing heavy wooden beams, which rose up and hovered in the air an instant before reassembling into five bolt-throwers. At the same time, the silver swords of some nearby soldiers leaped from their hands and floated up to the level of the bolt-throwers, where they melted and re-formed into sharply-pointed lances that dropped neatly into position in each ballista.
Melora didn’t wait for Galahad’s instructions: she commanded the soldiers to take aim and fire. With a sigh of relief, she saw Alwena drop after a furious struggle, but then Gabriel’s awful screams came to her ears, tormenting her anew. Viviane stepped between her and Galahad, grabbed their hands, and ordered them to jump off the parapet. A word from the fairy stopped their freefall, and they floated for a few seconds before landing.
As soon as her feet touched the ground, Melora started running toward Gabriel, suffocating with fear and half-blinded by tears. She fell to her knees on the ground, where he lay inert, in human form once more. She held him, sobbing and begging him to open his eyes, until Galahad picked him up and carried him to the castle.
Melora watched over Gabriel for four long days. The dark shadows under her eyes showed that she’d hardly slept, but she didn’t care. Gabriel had suffered so many deep slashes that it had taken a long while to heal, but the worst had been the burns. Melora could look with satisfaction now at his fine, muscular body, without a trace of the terrible wounds inflicted on it.
Not an ounce of fat, she thought mechanically, letting her glance slide over him, right down to the sheet covering his groin.
The sight of his naked torso, his athletic shoulders and hips sent a wave of heat through her body, troubling her.
She glanced up at his face right then, and realized that his blue eyes were fixed on her, and they sparkled with a dangerous brilliance. He was awake! Her heart skipped a beat, then started to race. She immediately lowered her eyes, blushing with embarrassment, and praying that he hadn’t guessed what suggestive images the delicious vision of his body had inspired her with. She let her glance linger on his hands for a moment, long enough to find the courage to look into his eyes again.
“How long have I been in here?” I asked Melora.
My voice was so hoarse and weak that it sounded strange to me.
“Four days,” she said with a gulp.
“And Alwena, is she –”
Before I could finish my phrase, she rushed to say, “She’s dead and everything’s back in order. You were seriously injured, and Viviane and Gliton had to help heal your wounds.”
I had to concentrate to attend to her explanation, because her confusion, her blushing cheeks and her intent gaze were going to my head. To hide my feelings, I reproached her. “What about you? By that tired look on your face, you must have been right here the whole time.”
“I’m fine,” she declared. “You saved my life, so watching over you was the least I could do.”
“And what does your fiancé think about all this?”
“He left with the other guests… And he’s no longer my fiancé.”
Feeling contrite, I took her hand, caressed it and thanked her softly. She started, and jerked her arm back, as if I’d burned her with a hot iron.
“You needn’t fear me,” I said sadly. “I won’t ever hurt you.”
“That’s not it,” she hastened to say. “I’m not afraid of you. On the contrary – having a dragon for a bodyguard is quite reassuring.”
Her gray eyes sparkled, and her smile was filled with mischief.
“What is it then?” I asked her, sitting up in the bed and looking at her gravely. I suddenly realized that only a light sheet was hiding my lower body, so I gathered the sheets up around me and made a superhuman effort to master myself. Melora turned scarlet, but she stood up and held my glance.
“I… I…,” she stammered, unable to speak out her thoughts.
We remained like that, immobile, for a moment that seemed an eternity.
How can I resist so much attraction, and why should I even struggle against it? We’re not doing anything wrong, I concluded.
My fear of losing her had been so great that I had to face the fact: she was precious to me.
I gazed at her, then slowly put my arm around her waist and pulled her to me. I touched her lips with mine, and she didn’t push me away. Not at all! She responded to my kiss with passion, with total abandon. Exhilarated, spellbound, locked in each other’s arms, we rediscovered the wonder and the taste of our kisses…
“You seem to be feeling much better,” declared an easily identifiable voice.
Horrified, Melora jumped away from the bed, almost losing her balance in her haste. Her already-pink cheeks turned pinker as Viviane calmly stared at us, her habitual mastery over herself leaving her face void of expression.
“ Damn… Grandma, can’t you knock before coming into my room?” I demanded angrily.
“Now, now. I would ask you to remain polite, and let me remind you that only yesterday you were still hovering between life and death.” Then, turning to Melora, she added, “Would you leave us for a few minutes?”
The young woman nodded and hurried out of the room. When the door shut, the fairy let a completely different expression show on her face: anger, reflected in her red skin, glaring, fiery eyes and clenched jaws. I saw, in those signs of fury, that a new battle was about to erupt, and my frustration at her untimely interruption was forgotten. Sure enough, she launched into me.
“I should have known! Have you lost your mind?”
“What is the problem?” I asked, trying to remain indifferent.
“What’s the problem?!” Viviane sputtered. “She’s the queen!”
“Is there anything written somewhere stipulating that I can’t kiss the queen?” I asked nonchalantly.
“N… no,” she said, losing her composure for once.
“I care for her, and I know she feels the same way!” I said heatedly. “So why shouldn’t we be together?”
Viviane sighed. “What will you do when she recovers her throne, though? We’re not in some fable where everyone lives happily ever after and has lots of children. In two hundred years, you will be dust, while she’ll be in the prime of life, barely thirty in the human scale of time.”
I couldn’t ignore Viviane’s argument, and all the joy I had felt with Melora only minutes earlier evaporated. My future seemed dark.
“You can’t prevent her from marrying an Avalonian,” Viviane insisted. “Her role requires her to consider her descendants before herself, for the good of Avalon. If you love her, be content with making sure of her safety. Nothing more.”
I suddenly felt frightfully tired, and I gestured to Viviane leave me.
Melora hadn’t left Gabriel and Viviane quite as alone as they had thought. Playing the spy, she’d remained in the hall with her ear to the door, and she’d heard the whole discussion, hurrying off only when she realized that her godmother
was about to leave Gabriel’s room.
Back in her own bedroom, her heart pounding and her legs trembling, she tried to gather her thoughts. An indescribable joy had filled her when she heard Gabriel announce that he cared for her, but her elation had been replaced by vexation when she heard Viviane’s reasons against it.
It didn’t matter to her if he got old before she did; he was the one she had chosen, not an Avalonian. She would have liked to talk this over with her best friend, and at this thought, her heart misgave her. For the umpteenth time, she felt how terribly she missed Caroline.
She had to find a way to share her thoughts with Gabriel. Whether it pleased Viviane or not, they were made for each other. Filled with this determination, she crawled into her soft bed, and despite her troubled thoughts, she was so exhausted that she immediately fell asleep.
At earliest light the following day, she took the path to the stables, persuaded that she would find Gabriel by Lightning’s stall, but she found only Galahad there, giving orders to one of the grooms, and he told her he hadn’t seen Gabriel that morning.
She searched for him all day, but it wasn’t until diner that she finally came across him, sitting next to Viviane at the dining table. He greeted her rather coldly, and did not address one word to her during the meal. At her attempts to converse with him, he replied with monosyllables.
The days passed, and his attitude stayed the same. He had become distant with her, and Melora had to conclude that he was avoiding her. Near the end of the fifth day, she decided to vent her frustration. Excalibur in her hand, she walked to the stables and found Galahad busy sharpening his blade. The young queen walked straight up to him and planted her sword at his feet. The knight slowly lifted his eyes to hers with a questioning look.
“I want to learn how to fight,” she announced abruptly.
“Fighting with a sword like Excalibur demands strength and endurance,” he commented, before going back to his task.
Heirs of Avalon: The passage Page 17