Launcelot's shoulders were bent forward now and his breathing had deepened. The shapes loomed larger before them.
"Why, I know this place," he gasped. "Yet, I do not know it. Stonehenge does not stand so today. Even in Arthur's time it lacked this perfection. How did we get here? What has happened?"
He paused to rest, and Merlin halted to accommodate him.
"This night we have walked between the worlds," the sorcerer said. "This is a piece of the land of Faerie and that is the true Stonehenge, a holy place. I have stretched the bounds of the worlds to bring it here. Were I unkind I could send you back with it and strand you there for-ever. But it is better that you know a sort of peace. Come!"
Launcelot staggered along behind him, heading for the great circle of stones. The faintest of breezes came out of the west, stirring the mists.
"What do you mean—know a sort of peace?" "The complete restoration of my powers and their increase will require a sacrifice in this place." "Then you planned this for me all along!" "No. It was not to have been you. Lance. Anyone would have served, though you will serve superbly well. It need not have been so, had you elected to assist me. You could still change your mind."
"Would you want someone who did that at your side?" "You have a point there." "Then why ask—save as a petty cruelty?" "It is just that, for you have annoyed me." Launcelot halted again when they came to the circle's periphery. He regarded the massive stands of stone.
"If you will not enter willingly," Merlin stated, "my servant will be happy to assist you."
Launcelot spat, straightened a little and glared. "Think you I fear an empty suit of armor, Juggled by some Hell-born wight? Even now. Merlin, without the benefit of wizardly succor, I could take that thing apart." The sorcerer laughed.
"It is good that you at least recall the boasts of knighthood when all else has left you. I've half a mind to give you the opportunity, for the manner of your passing here is not important. Only the preliminaries are essential." "But you're afraid to risk your servant?" "Think you so, old man? I doubt you could even bear the weight of a suit of armor, let alone lift a lance. But if you are willing to try, so be it!"
He rapped the butt of his staff three times upon the ground.
"Enter," he said then. "You will find all that you need within. And I am glad you have made this choice. You were insufferable, you know. Just once, I longed to see you beaten, knocked down to the level of lesser mortals. I only wish the Queen could be here, to witness her champion's final engagement."
"So do I," said Launcelot, and he walked past the monolith and entered the circle.
A black stallion waited, its reins held down beneath arock. Pieces of armor, a lance, a blade and a shield leaned against the side of the dolmen. Across the circle's diameter, a white stallion awaited the advance of the hollow knight.
"I am sorry I could not arrange for a page or a squire to assist you," Merlin, said, coming around the other side of the monolith. "I'll be glad to help you myself, though."
"I can manage," Launcelot replied.
"My champion is accoutered in exactly the same fashion," Merlin said, "and I have not given him any edge over you in weapons."
'"I never liked your puns either."
Launcelot made friends with the horse, then removed a small strand of red from his wallet and tied it about the butt of the lance. He leaned his stick against the dolmen stone and began to don the armor. Meriin, whose hair and beard were now almost black, moved off several paces and began drawing a diagram in the dirt with the end of his staff.
"You used to favor a white charger," he commented, "but I thought it appropriate to equip you with one of another color, since you have'abandoned the ideals of the Table Round, betraying the memory of Camelot."
"On the contrary," Launcelot replied, glancing overhead at the passage of a sudden roll of thunder. "Any horse in a storm, and I am Camelot's last defender."
Merlin continued to elaborate upon the pattern he was drawing as Launcelot slowly equipped himself. The small wind continued to blow, stirring the mist. There came a flash of lightning, startling the horse. Launcelot calmed it.
Merlin stared at him for a moment and rubbed his eyes. Launcelot donned his helmet.
"For a moment," Merlin said, "you looked somehow different. ..."
"Really? Magical withdrawal, do you think?" he asked, and he kicked the stone from the reins and mounted the stallion.
Merlin stepped back from the now-completed diagram, shaking his head, as the mounted man leaned over and grasped the lance.
"You still seem to move with some strength," he said.
"Really?"
Launcelot raised the lance and couched it. Beforetaking up the shield he had hung at the saddle's side, he opened his visor and turned and regarded Merlin.
"Your champion appears to be ready," he said. "So amL"
Seen in another flash of light, it was an unlined face that looked down at Merlin, clear-eyed, wisps of pale gold hair fringing the forehead.
"What magic have the years taught you?" Merlin asked.
"Not magic," Launcelot replied. "Caution. I anticipated you. So, when I returned to the cave for my stick, I drank the rest of your elixir."
He lowered the visor and turned away.
"You walked like an old man. ..."
"I'd a lot of practice. Signal your champion 1"
Merlin laughed.
"Good! It is better this way," he decided, "to see you go down in full strength! You still cannot hope to win against a spirit!"
Launcelot raised the shield and leaned forward.
"Then what are you waiting for?"
"Nothing!" Merlin said. Then he shouted, "Kill him, Raxas!"
A light rain began as they pounded across the field; and staring ahead, Launcelot realized that flames were flickering behind his opponent's visor. At the last possible moment, he shifted the point of his lance into line with the hollow knight's blazing helm. There came more lightning and thunder.
His shield deflected the others lance while his went on to strike the approaching head. It flew from the hollow knight's shoulders and bounced, smouldering, on the ground.
He continued on to the other end of the field and turned. When he had, he saw that the hollow knight, now headless, was doing the same. And beyond him, he saw two standing figures, where moments before there had been but one.
Morgan Le Fay, clad in a white robe, red hair unbound and blowing in the wind, faced Merlin from across his pattern. It seemed they were speaking, but he could not hear the words. Then she began to raise her hands, and they glowed like cold fire. Merlin's staff was also gleaming, and he shifted it before him. Then he saw nomore, for the hollow knight was ready for the second charge.
He couched his lance, raised the shield, leaned forward and gave his mount the signal. His arm felt like a bar of iron, his strength like an endless current of electricity as he raced down the field. The rain was falling more heavily now and the lightning began a constant flickering- A steady rolling of thunder smothered the sound of the hoofbeats, and the wind whistled past his helm as he approached the other warrior, his lance centered on his shield.
They came together with an enormous crash. Both knights reeled and the hollow one fell, his shield and breastplate pierced by a broken lance. His left arm came away as he struck the earth; the lancepoint snapped and the shield fell beside him. But he began to rise almost immediately, his right hand drawing his long sword.
Launcelot dismounted, discarding his shield, drawing his own great blade. He moved to meet his headless foe. The other struck first and he parried it, a mighty shock running down his arms. He swung a blow of his own. It was parried.
They swaggered swords across the field, till finally Launcelot saw his opening and landed his heaviest blow. The hollow knight toppled into the mud, his breastplate cloven almost to the point where the spear's shaft protruded. At that moment, Morgan Le Fay screamed.