AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You want me to try to steal it, don’t you?” I realized.
A spy and a thief. Was this what I had returned for? I reminded myself I had returned to be whatever they needed me to be.
And in the end, there were worse things they might have asked me to do.
Like kill Arthur outright. In a way, I was surprised no one had suggested this yet.
Looking at Lancelet’s face, I was fairly certain she wanted to but knew Merlin would erupt if she dared.
“It’s the first way to weaken him,” Merlin said. “None of us can imagine the consequences of him possessing such a weapon. Every day I thank the Three that he has not found some terrible way to use it yet—against our people or against his perceived enemies. Can you think of a better way?”
“No,” I admitted. “It’s... not a bad plan.”
“Well, well, we’ve given Lady Morgan a great deal to think about,” Tyre said cheerfully, rubbing his hands together. His words seemed to be a subtle hint.
Merlin nodded and rose to her feet. Tuva the owl was still perched on her shoulder. The bird seemed in no hurry to fly off.
The High Priestess hesitated, then placed her hands on the stone table.
“We’ll adjourn for today. I know for some of you, our plans move too fast. For others, not fast enough.” I caught her quick glance at Lancelet. Was she worried my friend would protest, disrupt the meeting’s conclusion somehow?
If so, she was right.
“Once again we’ve accomplished precisely nothing.” The words were spat bitterly.
I caught others glancing away, not wishing to meet Lancelet’s merciless stare.
“Arthur haskilled. And he hasmaimed. And he hastakenfrom us. From all of us. From some more than others. And yet still we do not act. We stew in indecision. We hesitate. We—”
There was a small commotion near where Lancelet stood as Guinevere rose to her feet and pushed past her without speaking or raising her eyes.
She came around the table and reached the door, fumbled for the latch, then pushed open one heavy, oak panel and slipped out into the corridor beyond.
But before she’d disappeared, I had glimpsed her face. Caught the sheen of unspent tears in her eyes.
Silently, the bird on Merlin’s shoulder lifted into the air and flew from the room in the direction Guinevere had taken.
Lancelet looked briefly shaken, then enraged again. “We are all cowards,” she hissed furiously. “Sitting here, pretending we have any choice in what we must do next.”
She glared at each of us in turn, her eyes filled with condemnation.
I resisted the impulse to squirm under that glare. Was I not the most deserving of her censure? I, who had only just returned and who had done the least of anyone to stop Arthur’s mad course?
“Rushing in with a hot head is a good way to return headless.” I turned to see Tyre looking at Lancelet with a reproving expression.
Next to me, Merlin touched the table’s surface again as if to steady herself.
“Tyre speaks truly,” she said slowly. “Oh, bold-hearted Lancelet. Make no mistake, your courage serves you well. But spend it wisely. Conserve it until the time is right, then strike true and strike hard. We would not see you make a futile attempt only to be felled for it, never to rise again.”
The words hung in the air like a solemn warning.
Slowly, Lancelet sank back into her seat. Her face remained sullen, but the fire had gone out of her.
“This table,” Merlin continued, her hands still upon the stone, “has sat within the walls of this temple for hundreds of years. There was a time when no monarch of Pendrath would have failed to consult here with the High Priestess and other wise advisors before taking any significant course of action for the kingdom. Before beginning a negotiation, forging a new alliance, or entering into a war.”
It went without saying that Arthur had broken with tradition. I wondered if our father, Uther, had ever sat in the room.
“Within the courts and palaces of the world, few such tables as this will be found,” Merlin went on. “Why? Because the table is round. There is no head, and there is no foot. Where an individual sits at the table says nothing about their rank or their value. All places at the table are equal. All voices are equally important. That is the significance of this round table, this piece of circular stone that has witnessed so much of our history.”
