“Name him. Tell us, Ganelin, who it was. Who killed you and your brother?”
“Ohhh.” The corpse groaned. “I cannot. It is too painful.”
“I have restored your life. Now I command you, by the Stone of Bran. Name your murderer!”
Suddenly with a loud roar Mark pushed through the audience and leaped onto the stage, brandishing his sword. “No! You are dead. Do not speak my name. Do not profane it with your moldering lips!”
He lunged at the boy, and Merlin pulled him out of harm’s way to the side of the stage. Mark swung his sword at Merlin and he ducked.
Arthur jumped to his feet and drew Excalibur. Instantly, the two men, Arthur and Mark, were locked in a duel. They circled one another, they threatened, they slashed. Mark lunged and his sword hit home in Arthur’s left arm. Blood flowed, but Arthur recovered himself quickly. He rushed at Mark and knocked him to the stage, then stood over him with Excalibur poised directly above his throat.
More knights rushed the stage, surrounded the prostrate Mark and caught him. He struggled, shouting, “No! This is unholy! The dead cannot speak to the living. The dead cannot indict the living. This is blasphemy!”
“Take him away,” Arthur said quietly. “To the dungeon. Lock him away.” With Mark still struggling fiercely against their hold, they did so.
Away from this action, Merlin placed an arm around the boy in the shroud. And slowly the shroud fell away, revealing him to be the young actor Watson.
The audience, still in shock from Mark’s attack and capture, took a moment to react to this. Then, as they gradually realized who the “dead” boy really was, soft, nervous laughter began to spread through the hall. Merlin made a gesture to wave everyone out of the hall, and slowly, by twos, threes and fours, they began to leave.
Nimue, dressed again as Colin, climbed to the stage and put her own arm around the boy. “Go ahead, Merlin. I’ll take care of him.”
Merlin crossed to Arthur. The king was still excited, still breathing heavily and plainly tense in every muscle. “Arthur, it is over. You can relax now.”
“It is not over. I want to know why he did it. Find out for me.”
“Calm yourself. We have him. Everything will come out in time.”
“Merlin, this is not what I wanted. Not what I tried to build.”
“You’ve said that before. Let me look at that wound. Can you make it up the steps to my tower? I have a salve that will help, and bandages.”
“It isn’t bad. A lot of blood but not much pain.” He took a deep breath and looked into Merlin’s eyes. “I’m the king. Why can’t things be as I want them to be?”
“Perhaps because kings are only human beings with circles of metal on their heads.”
Arthur finally let himself relax. All the energy seemed to leave him, and he slumped. “Nothing that glib and cynical could be true.”
“Do you want me to lecture you on the nature of truth?”
“For God’s sake, Merlin, no.”
“Then come with me and let me see to your arm.”
TEN. KING AND COUNSELOR
Merlin had slept late this morning. After Mark was arrested, Arthur had ordered even more feasting than usual for the rest of the Midwinter Court, and Merlin, in a jubilant mood, had quite uncharacteristically drunk two cups of wine-not much by Camelot’s standards, but more than he was used to.
So he woke to find Nimue standing over him, shaking him. “It’s nearly noon. Don’t you think you should get up?”
“My head is going to explode. Go away and leave me to die.”
“No one can find the king.”
“Arthur?”
“He’s the only one we have.”
He sat up and rubbed his eyes. “Blast whatever demon first fermented wine.” He looked at her suspiciously. “Why aren’t you hungover?”
“I only had one goblet of hock. I know my limits.” She put on her best sarcastic grin. “I live a life ruled by reason.”
“Be quiet.” Roc and the other ravens were scratching for food on the stone floor. “Go and get them some bread crumbs or something, will you?”
“Yes, sir.”
She started to go.
“Wait. You said Arthur is missing.”
“Yes. We’ve looked everywhere. No one can find him at all.”
“I can’t tell you how much I hate court life.”
“Do you have any idea where he might be, Merlin?”
“I think I might. I’ll have to go and see.”
“I’d brace myself if I were you.” She reached for the door.
“Stop. What are you talking about?”
“Your reputation. Bye, now.”
“Stop. Damn it, who taught you to be so smug and sarcastic? ”
She stared at him. “Heavens, I have no idea.”
“What are you talking about? What about my reputation? ”
“Your reputation as a wizard. After last night, people are more convinced than ever that you have mystical powers. Everyone’s saying so.”
“That isn’t possible, Nimue. They saw that the living corpse was really an actor. I demonstrated the foolishness of believing in superstitious nonsense. It was Mark’s downfall. ”
“You also sawed a woman in half and reassembled her, remember?”
“A conjurer’s trick, no more.” He stood up and stretched. “Wine never used to make me stiff and sore. It must be something Mark’s vintners did.”
“It couldn’t possibly be old age encroaching, could it?”
“Haven’t you ruined my day enough already? If you keep needling me, I may saw you in half for real.”
“I’ll see you later, wizard.”
“Wait. Are they really saying that about me?”
She nodded.
“Damn. Do you… do you still want to study with me, then?”
“Of course I do. You’re the only one I know who’s more disagreeable than myself. Besides, I’ve told you a dozen times, I like being Colin. Do you still want me for a student? ”
“Yes, naturally.”
“I guess I’ll stick around then. Try not to limp too badly, will you?”
Before he could say anything she was out the door.
Eight inches of snow blanketed the countryside. But thankfully it had stopped falling. Yet there was an icy chill and a bitter wind. In moments when the clouds parted and sunshine broke through it was possible to see ice crystals swirling in the air.
Arthur stood in the snow at the burial ground, perfectly still, staring at the graves of Anna and the twins. In the whole landscape as far as he could see, there was no movement. Then a field mouse scampered across the surface of the snow, and an owl swooped down from a nearby tree, fell on it and killed it. Its blood stained the snow. The bird took it and flapped away.
Merlin came up behind the king, leaning heavily on his cane. Arthur heard his footsteps crunching in the snow. “Merlin. I didn’t know you came here.”
“I don’t. I’ve been looking for you. So has everyone. You should let people know where you will be.”
“Is something wrong? Something else?”
“No, of course not. But you are the king, after all. People grow uneasy when you can’t be found. We’ve been looking everywhere. Some people are quite certain you’ve disappeared into another of those damn hidden passages of Pellenore’s. At least it has distracted them from chattering about my supposed magical powers. I seem to be the only one who thought to look here.”
“Clever man. You know me. No one else does.”
Merlin shrugged. “Isn’t it my job?”
“Is that all? Is that the only reason? Don’t be glib. Please. I need a little quiet support. So they all think you’re a genuine wizard now.”
“I don’t understand it. My fraud was so obvious. It was supposed to accomplish two things-to entrap Mark and to show the rest of them how foolish superstitious belief is.”
“My friend the magician.”
“I’ve taught you better than that. Kings don’t have friends, only courtiers.”