Chapter 16
King Arthur, having welcomed Queen Igraine, held a feast for Hallowmas, but he asked her nothing, for he feared what she might answer. Therefore Sir Ulfius at his behest pretended to grow drunk at the feast, and said loudly at the feast, where all the lords and nobles might hear, "You are the falsest woman in all the world, a traitress behind fair face."
Then King Arthur said to him, "Beware what you say, for this is a serious charge."
"And yet it is true," said Sir Ulfius. "I know whereof I speak, and I will cast down my glove against any man who will deny it. This woman is the cause of all the harm you have received from the northnern kings, because she kept silent. Had she only spoken of your birth in the days of Uther Pendragon, who would have dared to raise a hand against you? But the barons of the realm knew nothing about who your father might be. And if any man say otherwise, I will prove him wrong on his body."
Queen Igraine was at first caught in surprise and anger and could not speak, but at last she said, "I am a woman and can take up no sword, but let some good man take up my cause. Nor am I without a witness, for Merlin knows it all, and you yourself know, Sir Ulfius, that King Uther came to me at the castle of Tintagel at Trevena in the likeness of my lord, whom I only learned later had already been dead a full three hours. Thereby he begot a child on me, a son. But of this son I knew almost nothing, for although after a time Uther married me, when the child was born, he commanded that it be given to Merlin, and I never saw him ever after, and never even knew his name."
Then Sir Ulfius said to her, somewhat ashamed, "In this, Merlin is without doubt more to blame than you." And Queen Igraine swore before them all that she had known nothing of what had happened to her son.
Then Merlin, who was at that time in the hall, although none had seen him enter, took Queen Igraine by the hand and set it in King Arthur's, and said, "Behold, O king, your mother." Then the king took his mother the queen in his arms and they wept together. Afterward, when Sir Ector came to court, he told all of his own part in the story.
Thus was Queen Igraine vindicated, and Sir Ulfius ever afterward attended her when she was in court.
Chapter 17
Morgan, the daughter of Queen Igraine and King Uther, was said by many to be the most beautiful young woman in all of Britain, and without doubt there was no woman greater in acuity of mind. She was betrothed, and had been since childhood, to King Urien of Rheged and Gor, Count of the British and son of Cunomarcus the Cold, but she was flirtatious and drew the hearts of many men toward her. And almost from the beginning she had turned her hearts on Merlin, for she was far more lustful for knowledge than she was for men.
Merlin was a striking young man, fair of countenance, his face being such as men and women alike trust, but when he was in court, he was often alone. Very few, whether man or woman, could bear his presence for long; eventually even stouthearted knights would seek to be away, for his eyes were clear, piercing into the soul, and anyone in his presence began to feel as the mouse does in the gaze of the owl, or as the lamb does when being considered by the wolf. Moreover, he never slept at all, so that those whose business took them well into the night or early in the morning would sometimes find him walking the halls or sitting at a window, and if his eyes turned toward them, they would be unsettled all the rest of the night.
It was on such a night that Morgan came upon him sitting at a window; she had sought him deliberately but pretended it was by accident.
When she had greeted him, Merlin looked intently at her, and she shivered under the force of it, as if she were at the mouth of the den of a terrible beast. Then he said, "Why have you sought me out?"
Then she begged him to teach her all that she could learn of magic and other hidden arts.
Merlin looked out into the darkness of the night in silence for a while, then he said, "What you ask is not the sort of thing that can be done lightly. I will do it, but first you must swear to do something I wish by an oath so unbreakable that if you break it, you will die, and so secret that if you ever tell it, you will die."
Morgan then was in great doubt, for she had heard that he was the devil's son, and she feared some trap. Therefore she said, "Surely I cannot swear an oath, especially one so solemn, without knowing what I will be swearing to do?"
Then Merlin told her, and then she swore the unbreakable oath, and in days afterward he taught her many things beyond the knowledge of ordinary men. He was impervious to her flirtatious devices, however, so she turned her attentions toward Sir Guiomar of Cameliard, a young man and newly minted knight who was a relation of King Leodegrance and brother of the knight Sir Sadones.
Chapter 18
Having achieved his high throne by adventure and by grace, and having defeated many in order to retain it, King Arthur began to consider how he might better consolidate his kingdom and the strength of his position among the other kings. Therefore he came to Merlin and said, "My barons will not let me be; they demand that I should take a wife, and it seems to me that they are wise in doing so. But this seems a grave matter to me, and for that reason I will not take a wife without your counsel."
"A man of your wealth and position should surely not be without a wife," replied Merlin, "and it should not be done without an eye to the strength of the kingdom; but is there a woman you have met that you think you can love?"
"Yes," said King Arthur, "for I met in the court of King Leodegrance his fair daughter, Guinevere, and she seems to me more lovely a woman than any in the world."
"Sire," replied Merlin, "you will find few who are more fair or more valiant, although in wedding her, you will wed sorrow. If your heart were not set, I would recommend another maiden, but you cannot fool me in this matter; you wish not for my advice but for my confirmation."
Then King Arthur said, "You are perhaps right. But surely such a delightful woman cannot bring me any sorrow at all."
"Were she less delightful," said Merlin, "she would perhaps bring less sorrow. She is a woman destined to be great and renowned, and she will bring greatness to your kingdom, but she will also break what she brings. Nor can such a woman rest wholly satisfied with a mere king."
"I do not understand any of this," said King Arthur, "and I find myself even more certain that I wish to wed her than when we began to talk of this."
"As you wish," said Merlin. "And with this, all things begin to fit themselves into place, and the grounds shall be laid for the coming of the Cup of Christ and the building of a wall against the Antichrist that will last many years. But hear my counsel on this, that all things may be done well. King Leodegrance knew your father King Uther Pendragon well. King Uther formed a fellowship of knights and for it had built a round table, at which this fellowship could sit as brothers, none being more favored than any other. After your father's death, this table came to Leodegrance, but it is a table enchanted for a great purpose and he has never been able to use it himself. Therefore if you will hear my counsel, ask nothing in dowry for his daughter except his blessing and the Table Round which belonged to your father."
Then King Arthur was fired by this idea, having before his mind the vision of establishing a Fellowship of the Round Table that was greater even than that of his father King Uther. Nor was King Leodegrance averse to this, and in addition to the Table Round, he gave to King Arthur a guard of fifty men, who with Sir Ulfius and some others became the Fellowship of the Queen's Knights, the first but not the greatest of the knightly fellowships of King Arthur's realm.
to be continued
