Simon Green - A Hard Day's Knight

“You might be right,” said Stark. “I’m Knight Apostate. Not worthy to bear Excalibur. But luckily, I know a man who is.”

And he turned and threw Excalibur to me. The sword seemed to hang on the air, turning end over golden end, and I had all the time in the world to reach out and grasp the hilt as it came to me. I snatched the blade out of mid air, and the blade blazed up even more brightly, a terrible, piercing light that filled the whole Court from end to end. I swept the sword back and forth before me, then looked Merlin full in the eye. He stood up abruptly from his iron throne and shoved one hand out at me. Magic blazed and crackled on the air, rewriting reality itself as it forced its way towards me ... and the sword absorbed every single bit of it. Sucked it right out of the air. I grinned at Merlin and cut suddenly at his extended hand. The golden blade flashed through the air, and Merlin snatched his hand back barely in time to avoid losing it. I stepped forward and thrust Excalibur straight at his heart; but the blade couldn’t reach him. It slammed to a halt a few inches short. I cut at him again and again, grunting with the effort I put into every blow, but brightly as the sword blazed, it still couldn’t pierce his protections.

Stark and Julianne stood to one side, hand in hand, watching patiently.

Morgan Le Fae raised a hand to fire magic at Suzie, who gave the elf both barrels of cursed and blessed ammo at point-blank range. The bullets slammed to a halt against an invisible shield, and fell harmlessly to the floor. Suzie took a step forward and fired again and again, working the pump action with smooth precision, and every time the bullets got that little bit closer.

Eventually, Morgan ran out of defences, and the blessed and cursed ammunition smashed right through her pale chest and out the back of her throne. Blood flew on the air, and Morgan’s face held a long expression of shock and surprise before she slumped forward over the wreckage of her chest, golden blood spilling from her mouth. She twitched a few times and was still. Suzie turned to help me, but I’d already had another idea.

Maybe Excalibur on its own wasn’t enough to kill Merlin Satanspawn. But I still had my ace up the sleeve. I raised my gift and sent it out to find the spirits of all those people who should have died here in Camelot’s Court. And I took the magic that bound their souls to their dead bodies and broke it in my hands. Thousands of men and women cried out in one great exultant voice, and their souls rose out of their broken bodies, shining bright as the sun, free at last, leaving only mutilated corpses hanging from the walls and ceiling. And all those thousands of spirits, with a single will, gave themselves freely to Excalibur, filling up the ancient blade, until it blazed so brilliantly even I had to turn my face aside. Merlin cried out, afraid at last, and rose from his throne as if to run; but I stepped forward and blocked his way, and ran him through. Burning bright, Excalibur thrust aside all his protections and shattered the inverted brand on his chest, slamming his body back and pinning him to his throne. He cried out at the last like an angry child who’s had his toys taken away from him. I twisted the blade in his chest, destroying his heart, and he slumped in his throne, dead at last.

Just another bloody sorcerer, in the end.

I jerked the sword free and held myself ready for any last surprises; but there was nothing. The Court was still and silent. Merlin and Morgan lay dead on their thrones. Merlin’s blood dripped quickly off Excalibur, leaving the golden blade clean again.

“Not the first Merlin I’ve killed,” I said. “But definitely the most satisfying.”

Suzie moved quickly forward and looked me over, checking me for damage. It was her way of showing concern. And then I looked round sharply, because the Court was full of ghosts. Thousands of men and women, standing in long, shimmering rows, looking at me and smiling. Freed at last from their torment. I saluted them with Excalibur. Because it was more their fight than mine and because I couldn’t have done it without them. One by one, the ghosts disappeared, leaving this world behind, and I put Excalibur away. Every now and again, I feel like I’ve actually done some good, something that matters. It’s a good feeling.

Even though I’m not worthy and never want to be.

“I tried so hard to be a villain,” said Stark. “But in the end, I didn’t have it in me. Once a London Knight, always a London Knight. So, Julianne, Mr. Taylor; what do I do now?”

“You could go back,” I said. “I’m pretty sure they’d take you back.”

“No,” he said immediately. “Not after all the things I’ve done. Not after letting the elves into Castle Inconnu. My brother knights might forgive me, but I never could. I need ... to redeem myself. To atone for all the wrongs I’ve done.”

“ ‘I could not love thee, dear, half so much ...’” said Julianne.

“Loved I not honour more,” said Stark.

“Then stay here,” I said. “This world needs a King to lead it out of darkness. Who better than a man who knows the darkness in himself? It won’t be easy; not after centuries of ingrained corruption and evil. But the sheer number of bodies nailed up here shows that Merlin didn’t have it all his own way. You could spend a lifetime in this land, trying to put things right. Surely that’s enough atonement for anyone.”

“You could be right,” said Stark. He looked at the two iron thrones. “But I’m damned if I’m sitting on one of those ugly things.”

We all looked round sharply at an unexpected noise; and there, in the middle of the Court, a fountain sprang up. Clear, bubbling freshwater, rising a good twenty feet into the air, falling down to wash away all the years of accumulated blood and filth on the floor. And out of that clear water stepped a tall young woman in a long blue gown, with dark hair and a face I immediately recognised. Gaea, mother of the world. It only took me a moment to realise this wasn’t the same woman I’d met in Castle Inconnu; this Gaea was gaunt and harried and had nothing of Gayle’s easy humanity. This was the Queen of all the Earth, free at last of Merlin’s domination, come walking amongst us.

She smiled on us all and nodded easily to me. “You’re still not worthy, but my sister chose well when she granted you dispensation to bear Excalibur. Be grateful. It’s not every man who gets to be the world’s champion.” She turned to look at Stark. “The land needs a King,” she said bluntly. “You have my blessing. You do know who I am, don’t you, Jerusalem Stark?”

“I know who you must be, Lady,” he said. “But ... I must be honest with you. I don’t know anything about being a King.”

“Best kind,” Gaea said briskly. “It’s always the ones from long lines of succession who cause no end of problems. They have so much to unlearn. You can do this, Jerusalem. But you won’t have to do it alone.”

She turned her gaze upon the ghost Julianne. “You’re not nearly as dead as you think, my dear. You soul was bound to your heart; you are dead but not departed. And so I call you back, to the man and the world that needs you.”

Julianne cried out as she suddenly snapped into focus; real and solid, flesh and blood, and very much alive. She breathed deeply and clapped her hands to her chest, to feel her heart beat and her lungs move; then she laughed aloud and threw her arms round an unbelieving Stark, and the two of them hugged each other like they’d never let go. Gaea looked on them fondly.

“Don’t you love a happy ending?” said Suzie.

“It’s not over yet,” I said.

Suzie looked at me. “What?”