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It was over shortly after that. The Viking fell so hard, the ground veritably shook.
When they chased the invaders back to their ships and threatened dire consequences should they ever return, Lancelot did not dismount from his stallion as the men retired to the village to rest and heal.
“Where are you going?” Arthur demanded, grabbing a fistful of the horse’s mane.
Lancelot never rode with saddle blankets and harnesses. He always controlled the animal with just his body.
Arthur wished he would use that control onhim.
“Elsewhere,” came the unhelpful answer.
Arthur frowned at his secrecy. But then, Lancelot had a tendency to be mysterious, and it didn’t even seem to be on purpose. It was just the way he was.
“When will you return?” Arthur asked instead.
Lancelot had not left his side in years, not since he became King. They always traveled together and stayed together. Onthe other hand, Lancelot had pledged his loyalty to Arthur, but not his constant company. He was free to come and go, as he said on that hilltop many weeks ago.
Lancelot tilted his head in that considering way of his, as if he didn’t know why Arthur asked so many questions.
“When I am done with what I must do,” he said patiently, indulgently, as if he was speaking to a grasping child.
Arthur resisted the urge to growl in frustration.
He was silent for a while, glaring intensely at the man who drove him mad. Lancelot merely returned his gaze with that blasted equanimity.
“Come back soon,” he finally commanded, getting no commitment of timeline from the knight no matter how hard he tried to transmit his wishes telepathically.
Lancelot did not answer, but he did slightly incline his head the slightest bit. An acknowledgement that Arthur was heard, if not obeyed.
And then, with a nudge of his knees, his stallion took off, leaving Arthur to look after him for a long, long while.
A few days later, Arthur and his men came upon the small kingdom of Cameliard ruled by King Leodegrance. It was one of the outlying kingdoms toward the West. Arthur did not feel the need to conquer it for his own, for King Leodegrance had already pledged his allegiance and was a great ally in the defense of coastal lands.
Arthur had been invited to visit his majestic castle fort for many years but never found the opportunity. Disputes and battles had always taken him elsewhere.
Now, as he entered the outer gates of the fortress, beyond the miles of curtain walls that surrounded the bailey, a strange gloom descended upon him.
The sense of foreboding stayed with him as he and his men gave their steeds to awaiting pages to take to well-stockedstables. Still with him as he mounted the steps to the castle keep, entering a well-lit great hall, whose swept stone floors were covered in places by woven rugs. Colorful murals decorated the walls.
In the center sat a throne, and upon the throne sat the king. A woman stood beside him.
The richly robed man rose to his feet upon Arthur’s entrance and came forth with a welcoming smile. The woman beside him Arthur would have assumed to be his queen if not for the fact that she was very young. He supposed, however, that the difference in age was not a real deterrent for political marriages. So perhaps it was his queen after all.
Except the king said, after the initial courtly greetings:
“May I present my daughter, Guinevere, the fairest maiden in all the lands…”
The king said something else, perhaps continuing to extol his daughter’s virtues, but Arthur heard none of it.
The moment he turned to look upon Guinevere, he was…lost.
Stunned into incoherence and numbness.
Hours and days later, if anyone asked him, he wouldn’t be able to describe her features, except to say that she was beautiful. He wouldn’t understand why he was standing before her, surrounded by his men and King Leodegrance’s court, holding her pale, slender hands, except that they were being married.
He wouldn’t recall removing their clothes that very night, except that he was suddenly inside of her. And as he looked up into her face as she rode his body and took his seed, he saw nothing.
Felt nothing.
