King Arthur, Merlin, and the four remaining knights walked with heads bowed and spirits low. Draped on the king's griffin were the bodies of Sir Kay and Sir Bors, stark reminders of their utter failure. Their mounts had fled the area, wanting nothing to do with a dragon, forcing the armoured knights to walk back to camp on foot.
Little was said for quite a time until Sir Galahad spoke, his voice heavily choked with regret. "I couldn't stop it. It was as if my blade had a mind of its own... I was not strong enough..." He glanced back at the griffin padding quietly behind them, eyeing Sir Bors's headless body and then shifted his gaze to King Arthur. "I failed you, my king."
King Arthur shook his head. "No, Galahad, I failed in protecting Selvina. I should have had a firmer watch on her whereabouts."
"I mean no disrespect, my lord," Sir Tristan was saying, leaning heavily on Sir Perceval and putting as little weight as possible on his injured leg. Merlin had stopped its bleeding but, already exhausted from giving life to the beaten knights once before, could not heal it fully. "But we all failed this day. The empress bested us, despite being outnumbered. We were not prepared..."
"She wasn't even in her dragon form," Sir Lamorak muttered, frowning deeply. "We should have had the upper hand. How could we fail so completely? We lost two of our brothers and the one girl we were tasked in keeping safe, the only one that gave us a fighting chance in this war. Now the enemy has her!"
"Stead yourself, Lamorak," Merlin cautioned. "There is no benefit in placing blame and wishing things had happened differently. All is not lost."
"How can you say that?" Lamorak asked with a growl.
"Selvina is taken but not dead. The empress, powerful as she is, would not kill her."
"You don't know that for certain."
"If she wanted her dead she could have killed her on the road," King Arthur noted. "For whatever reason she wishes her alive and that gives us a chance, albeit a slim one."
The knights returned to Maron over an hour later and were met on the road by Queen Marian and General Little, both of them looking shocked and confused.
"The war tent," Queen Marian ordered, her face grim. "Now."
****
Once everyone was gathered within the war tent, all finding a seat at the Round Table, Queen Marian spoke. "Tell me everything."
And so King Arthur and Merlin did, their voices low and halting. The defeat fell heavily upon them and Queen Marian could tell they felt utterly ashamed and guilty. Her brows were furrowed, however, and no sympathy came from her. The Knights of the Round Table, renowned for their prowess and victorious conquests, could use a few defeats, she thought.
"I should have had her watched at all times," King Arthur was saying with a shake of his head. "I knew offering her too much freedom was dangerous. It is my fault she was captured, your highness, and it is I who should take the blame."
"No, my king," interjected Sir Galahad. "I should have fought harder."
"As I should have," added Sir Perceval.
"I should have been more careful," added Sir Tristan.
Sir Lamorak began to talk but was interrupted by a fist slamming on the table. The knights turned their gazes to Queen Marian, who was frowning deeply.
"Sorry to interrupt your little pissing contest about who is the biggest failure," she started angrily, "but all of you are equally at fault and thus all to blame."
"Queen Marian," Merlin stated quietly but firmly, gazing at her hard.
The queen ignored him. "Your great and noble selves were defeated by a single woman and now you can't come to grips as to why that is. Let me tell you why. First of all, you failed completely in understanding the empress. You may have fought her in the Gold War, Arthur, but she is far more powerful now than she ever was then, which I clearly don't need to remind you. If she is walking down a forest road on her own then she is fully confident in her abilities and attacking her with a handful of knights is laughable. You should have known better.
"Secondly, not a single one of you understands women. I fail to see any female knights seated at this table and thus I must assume there is some archaic law about denying them the ability to be knights. Times are changing, Arthur, and you're staring at and healing from what a woman can truly do in battle. We aren't the fragile little crumpets you believe us to be."
"I mean no disrespect to women," King Arthur replied, his voice hard. "The Round Table laws preventing women from becoming knights were written long ago and—"
"So change them! You're a king, are you not? Anyways, I'm not here to tell you how to run your little brotherhood. I'm here to tell you that placing extra guards around Selvina would have been another mistake."
"Why do you say that? It would have offered her increased protection and she would have never been caught alone. Where is the fault in that?"
Queen Marian sniffed and shook her dark-haired head in disbelief. "Tell me, Arthur, when you were busy forging Avalon into a united nation, where was Guinevere?"
King Arthur's face hardened and his lips pursed tightly. The air within the tent suddenly crackled with energy and the tension was thick enough to grasp. "Tread carefully..." he said slowly.
"She was in your tent, well protected and kept locked away," Queen Marian went on. "Tell me again how that went?"
King Arthur shot to his feet, red-faced and furious, and reached for Excalibur. "Silence, Marian! Leave Guinevere out of this!"
Queen Marian smirked and remained seated. She had the king exactly where she wanted him. "Selvina would have escaped her protection sooner or later, Arthur, no matter how many guards you had watching her. She is young and brash and full of energy. She has been through more ordeals than most of us here had at her age. She has been captured, abused, terrified, beaten, bruised, kidnapped, and put through so much danger it's a wonder she yet lives. She is far stronger than you give her credit for."
"She is but a girl," Sir Lamorak said with a grimace.
"No, she's a godsdamned warrior, Lamorak," the queen shot back. "She may not ride into battle like you or lead nations like Arthur and I but she is every bit a warrior in her own way. She is not even of this world. Do any of you not realize how amazing that is? She comes from a place where there are no dark empresses or pirate lords or mad queens in lands that make no sense. She grew up pampered, safe, and secure. She never even saw a real sword until she came to this world. And look at her now! She has been here for a few short months and she's the bravest woman I've ever known! I was still trying to get my father to let me finish off injured trolls at that age. I wasn't even allowed to battle and she's already overthrown a queen, defeated the lord of all pirates, survived captivity by the trolls, killed a basilisk, and you want to tell me that she is just a girl? Ha!"
King Arthur sat down and sighed deeply. "Then why did she run, Marian?"
Queen Marian spoke calmly, seeing the pain in the king's eyes and not wishing to hurt him further. He had made a mistake and she didn't need to rub it in his face. "You were choking her, Arthur. Her friends, the people she loved most in the world, left her alone and she was just supposed to stay in Maron the whole time? It isn't exactly a thriving metropolis, in case you haven't notice. There is little for her to do here except rebuild the walls and buildings, which, honestly, I don't blame her for not wanting to do. I despise that kind of shit.
"She needed freedom and she took it for herself. It got her captured by the empress but no one here could have seen that happen. You could have taken some time away from all the war preparations and spent it with her." Queen Marian gazed down at her hands and added, "We all could have..."
The knights exchanged glances with one another and there was silence for a while. General Little shifted in his seat and glanced at his queen, offering a nod and a proud smile. She smiled back, always grateful for his support. She knew she should watch her words more carefully sometimes but when she wanted to get a point across she wanted to ensure that it went across as pointedly as possible. To know that the general thought she had done well was enough to put her at ease.
"I appreciate your insight, Queen Marian," King Arthur said sincerely. "I was too focused on keeping her protected to even consider any of her needs. I should have been more of a friend to her and less of a king..."
"I'm not blameless for that either, Arthur," Marian said.
"None of us are," added General Little.
"Now that we've determined that we're all to blame," started Sir Lamorak, "what shall we do about it?"
King Arthur glanced to Queen Marian, wordlessly asking if she had any ideas. She had none and thus said nothing.
It was Merlin who spoke next. "I will go speak to Empress Rhiannon. Perhaps I can persuade her to return Selvina into our care, once she discovers her true purpose."
"She took her for a reason," said Sir Tristan. "Wouldn't she already know Selvina's purpose?"
"She may but the empress's capital is much closer to where The Writer resides and Selvina would be safer here. I will ensure that the empress would understand that."
Queen Marian chuckled and shook her head, once again in incredulity. "I don't believe it. In one ear and out the other with you men! Do you not hear yourselves? Again with the thoughts on keeping her safe and sound. You even put the empress's needs before Selvina's!"
King Arthur and Merlin exchanged a confused glance.
"What would you have us do, leave her there?" asked King Arthur. "She is dangerously close to The Writer."
"So what if she is? Who, at this moment, can offer her better protection than the empress herself? She's defeated all of you on her own! I can't believe I'm saying this but if anyone can protect Selvina it's the empress!"
"This is madness!" barked Sir Galahad. "Selvina could be enduring unspeakable tortures at this very moment and you would have her stay with that vile witch?"
"Gods, no, that's not what I'm saying at all. I want to shove a sword into that bitch's face as much as you all do, trust me. All I am saying is that consider what Selvina wants first. We should definitely go speak with the empress and try to find out what she has planned for Selvina. Obviously if Selvina is in danger we'll rescue her but...if not..."
King Arthur was shaking his head. "No, we cannot. We cannot trust Empress Rhiannon. Selvina must remain with us. The risk is far too great to leave her with the enemy."
"Selvina isn't here to battle the empress. She is here to stop the Writer."
"The empress may not be her true enemy but she is indeed ours. With Selvina in her grasp, Rhiannon can do as she pleases and we'd be powerless to stop her. If we tried anything she could have Selvina killed. No, I do not think keeping her with the empress is a good idea at all, your highness."
"Ugh, please stop calling me that. You make a good point, Arthur, and one that I indeed considered, but at least for the moment let us not rush into anything. You know that the empress isn't going to send her legions during the winter. We'll have Sworden to deal with soon enough, however, but the Ice Queen doesn't have Selvina as leverage. In a way, as difficult as it is to agree with, Selvina is safer with the empress, at least for the winter."
King Arthur slammed his fist on the table in frustration. "Damn this! Damn it all! You speak the truth, Marian, but I'll be damned if I enjoy the thought of it." He calmed down somewhat and continued. "With Selvina now gone from this camp we need not worry about her getting injured or taken during the Swordenish raids which I know are coming. This only comforts me if I know for certain that the empress will not harm her."
"I will go speak with her," Merlin said once more. "Queen Marian, as much as I dislike to agree with it, speaks wisely. If the empress means Selvina no harm it may be prudent to forbear any rescue attempt, at least for now."
"What could the empress want with her, though?" asked Sir Tristan. "She knows that we weren't about to march into her empire until spring so what other reason would she have to take her?"
For a long while no one spoke. Queen Marian eyed each knight in turn and gave Tristan's question some thought. The empress had told King Arthur that having Selvina would guarantee her victory. Did she just mean that it would prevent King Arthur from attacking her or was there some other reason? Marian despised the empress as a person but she deeply respected her as a rival. She, a woman, had carved out Faeryum's greatest empire on her own and Marian would forever marvel at that. Unlike the empress, she had no magic or dragon form she could rely on. She had only her sword and shield and sometimes they weren't enough. Had Selvina and Robin Hood not arrived in time with a note of ceasefire from the troll chief, her small kingdom would have been lost forever to the trolls. In some ways, Marian envied the empress and, though she hated herself admitting it, she looked up to her. In a world of men, a woman from nowhere had become the greatest power to ever be. Love her or hate her, Marian couldn't deny her greatness.
Merlin cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention. "There is the matter of the Black Knight, which we have not discussed. If Selvina is to remain with the empress, it may work out in our favour."
"Yeah, perhaps the gods will be kind and the Black Knight and the empress will both die in combat," said Lamorak with a smirk.
The other knights nodded in agreement, none of them apparently seeing any fault in that reasoning.
"We must first determine if Selvina is safe or not," Merlin reminded. "If she wishes to return to us we will not deny her that, Black Knight or no." The wizard glanced at Marian, who nodded.
It's about time they understand that Selvina is a person, she thought.
King Arthur spoke. "Selvina told us when we first met her that a part of her quest brought her to the empress anyhow. She would need to ask her help in stopping The Writer. With her now in her company, and if she is not in any danger, there is a chance she could accomplish that task. I wish Sir Bors and Sir Kay had not died for us to realize this but, regrettably, we did indeed strike first. Perhaps had events transpired in a more diplomatic fashion we could have come to an agreement with the empress."
"You speak as if she is an ally," Sir Lamorak said in disgust.
"Against The Writer, she is, Lamorak. Once Selvina's task is complete I am ready to war against her once again, if only to stop her needless conquests and to protect New Avalon."
"This is all so confusing... I don't know whether to hate her or like her!"
King Arthur smiled lightly. "I understand your struggle. It is not an easy task to see the empress as an ally but, if Selvina can somehow acquire her aid, we are obligated to assist them both in stopping The Writer."
Lamorak threw his hands up in the air. "And then we'll go right back to fighting each other!"
King Arthur chuckled. "Welcome to politics, my friend."
Queen Marian exchanged a glance with Merlin. No words were said but both of them were hoping that Selvina was in no real danger and that the empress didn't have any nefarious deeds in mind for her. If some measure of trust could be gained with the empress, it could, potentially, clear a path to peace.
What in the Abyss will I do with myself if I'm at peace with both the trolls and the empress? Queen Marian thought with a small smile.