Arthur

Gwalcmai moved to his prisoner, pulled her roughly from the saddle, and stood her on her feet. Gripping her tight by the arm, he dragged his prisoner before the High King.

'Who is this woman and what has she done that she is treated so?' demanded the Pendragon.

'She is an enemy, Lord Arthur,' replied Gwalcmai. 'I have brought her to brave the justice she has so long eluded.' With that he raised his hand, lifted the veil and pulled the hood from her head. It was…

The Lady of the Lake!

But no… Even as I gazed in stunned surprise at the woman before me, I saw that it was not Charis, but someone very like her. Beautiful she was, undeniably beautiful, but hard as chiselled stone. Hate seethed within her and flowed out from her like venom from a serpent's bite.

I glanced to the Emrys, seeking his reassurance. But I saw him grim and distant. Like a wild animal caught in a snare, he seemed frightened and uncertain whether to flee or fight. The appearance was so unnatural to him that I turned my face away at once and did not look back.

'An enemy?' wondered Arthur.

'Even an enemy is allowed some dignity,' Gwenhwyvar said sharply. 'Release her, Gwalcmai. We are not barbarians.'

The warrior did as he was bade and loosed his hold. The woman drew herself up and stared boldly into the eyes of the king, who asked, 'Who are you, woman?'

'O, Great King,' she replied, in a voice as cold and hard as heartless steel, 'this man,' she spat the word, 'demeans me with slander. He calls me traitor. Where is my treason? I demand to know why I have been brought here.'

'You have been brought here to answer the accusations against you,' Gwalcmai told her, 'and to confront the High King's justice.'

'Accusations?' the woman mocked. 'I have heard no accusations. You know nothing of me.'

'But I know you, Morgian,' replied Myrddin, his voice taut and low.

The Emrys stepped forward. Bedwyr laid hold of him, crying, 'No! Myrddin, for the love of Jesu, do not do it!'

'It is before me,' the Emrys told him, laying aside Bedwyr's hand. The High Ring made bold to stay him. 'Peace, Arthur. It is my time. Trust God.'

I heard his voice, strange and taut. I turned and gasped at what I saw, for the Emrys had visibly changed. The fear I had seen in him had vanished utterly and he seemed to have grown larger. He now loomed over us with great and terrible strength, golden eyes blazing with a fearful light.

He advanced to where Morgian stood and faced her. She lowered her head and parted her lips in a smile both beguiling and dire. My knees went weak to see it.

'Oh, I know you well, Morgian. You were ever a seducer with lies. Long have you fought against the True God and his servants, but I tell you this day your fight is ended.'

'Is this the crime you lay against me?' she scoffed. 'Where is the hurt? Where is the injury? Who have I wronged but your weak and fallible god? If he is so easily injured by the trivial actions of a mortal, let him come before me now and declare it!'

Oh, she was quick and subtle. She appeared at once so unjustly wronged that I believed her. The others wavered in their conviction. Myrddin alone remained steadfast.

'Stop, Morgian. Your wiles cannot avail you now.' He turned to the High King and said, 'The hurt this woman has done me, I readily forgive. It is for the harm that she has caused others that she is to be judged.'

'You are not my judge,' hissed the woman.

'The High King of Heaven is your judge,' the Emrys replied. 'And the Pendragon of Britain serves as the steward of his justice in this worlds-realm.'

'Well spoken,' said Arthur. 'Let us hear the accusations against her.'

The Emrys turned once more to Morgian and raised his arm, forefinger extended. 'I charge you with the countless treasons great and small, practised against humanity and against Britain. I charge you with sedition, perfidy, wickedness and blasphemy. I charge you with evil most loathsome and foul. I charge you with the murder of Pelleas, my friend and loyal servant of King Arthur. I charge you with the death of Taliesin, my father.'

The Pendragon heard this gravely. 'What do you say to these charges?'

The Queen of Air and Darkness tilted back her head and laughed. A more ghastly sound I hope never to hear. 'Do you think I care about these trifles?'

'Murder is no trifle, woman,' Arthur said.

'No? How many men have you killed, Great King? How many have you slain without cause? How many did you cut down that you might have spared? How many died because you in your battle-rage would not heed their pleas for mercy?'

The High King opened his mouth to speak, but could make no answer.

'Do not listen to her, Bear!' cried Bedwyr. 'It is a trick!'

'Speak to me of trickery, Bedwyr the Brave!' Morgian whirled on him. 'You who have lain in ambush for unsuspecting prey, who have attacked and killed by stealth! How was it in Celyddon when you sneaked through the wood? Did not your heart beat fast with the thrill of your deception? Did it not leap for joy to see the fire spread at your enemies' backs? You are a master of trickery, it seems to me.'

Bedwyr glared at her and turned his face away. Cai rushed to his defence. 'It was war! We did only what we had to do.'

Like a cat with claws unsheathed, Morgian leapt on him. 'War! Does that absolve your guilt? You murdered men whose only crime was wanting to feed their children and see them grown. You made orphans of those same children and gave them up to the slow agony of starvation. You made widows of wives who knew nothing of realms or rulers. You stole the breath from their lungs and light from their eyes for ever. But how would you know – you, who have never shared bed with a wife?'

Cai, red-faced, was shamed into silence. But Morgian was far from finished. 'Nothing more to say, bold Cai? Come, speak to me again of the cruel necessity of war.'

'Hold your tongue,' warned Gwalcmai ominously.

'Are you displeased, my son?' Morgian turned on him. 'You and your brother should be the last men alive to seek my death. We are blood kin, are we not? What would your father say if he learned his sons had caused his mother's death?'

'You are no blood kin of ours!' spat Gwalchavad.

'Ask Lot of Orcady about that,' she answered sweetly in reply. 'Or have you never wondered how he came by twin sons when his own wife was barren?'

It was an awesome display. She knew precisely the words to say to cow each and every one of them. I began to wonder if any man alive could stand against her. Surely, she was the Queen of Air and Darkness!

Gwenhwyvar stepped fearlessly forward, chin thrust out. 'You are shrewd, woman,' she said. 'I give you that. But sons are not responsible for their father's actions.'

'Oh, yes,' replied Morgian archly, 'speak to me of fathers and their sons. The Barren Queen – is that not what the people call you? Obviously, you know so much – you whose womb is sealed like a gravemound. And why is that? Could it be that you fear the ancient prophecy of your people, that your husband will be killed by his son?'

Gwenhwyvar was astounded. 'How do you know that!'

'I speak with the druids of Ierne, where it is a matter well known – and well known also what you do to prevent this prophecy from its fulfilment.'

Arthur glanced at his wife in shock. 'She is lying!' cried Gwenhwyvar. 'Arthur, my soul, believe me! It is a lie!'

'All our sins,' said the Emrys slowly, 'will be answerable before God. Yours are answerable to the High King now.'

'How can you even think to condemn me when you all have practised crimes far in excess of mine? Where is this justice you are so proud of? Answer me!'

Morgian raised her arm and flung the accusations back at us. I cringed before her wrath. 'You condemn yourselves! Your words are meaningless. Your accusations are the bleatings of dying sheep. Contemptible race, you fly headlong to your own destruction!'