all sides with humans. I know you do not trust the dragons as much as you appear ”
“King Arthur!” Makaidos interrupted. “I sense danger!”
Arthur straightened, raising his sword with a tight grip. “How near?”
“It is strange,” Makaidos said, his ears twitching rapidly. “Somehow the danger lies between the two of us, yet there is no one here.”
“An invisible enemy?” Arthur asked. He sliced his sword through the air, then back again. “If he is here, he has no body that my sword can cut. Perhaps a ghost?”
“Even as you move the blade,” Makaidos said, “the focal point of danger seems to move.”
Arthur held up the blade and squinted at it. “The sword is dangerous?”
“I have heard of swords that seem to have a life of their own,” Makaidos said. “Where did you get that one?”
Arthur held it close to the dragon. “This is the very sword I pulled from the stone as a lad, but it is no more alive than the stone was.”
Edward cleared his throat. “Sire, if I may be so bold . . .”
Arthur nodded. “Speak, squire.”
“While you were scratching the mud, I think I noticed a slight quiver in the blade. Could it have been damaged during this morning’s skirmish with the enemy’s scouts?”
Arthur gazed at Edward curiously, then bent down and banged the sword against the ground. The blade broke cleanly away from the hilt.
Makaidos stretched his neck and sniffed the broken blade. “Yes, that must have been the danger.”
Arthur shook his head. “If this had happened in battle, I would have been helpless.” He rose and bowed to Makaidos, then to Edward. “I am in debt to both dragon and squire,” the king said.
Edward took in a deep breath, swelling his chest. He couldn’t resist the feeling of pride. He had made another step toward proving himself worthy of his father’s name. Now, if he could only get another shot at Goliath.
The king threw the worthless hilt on the ground. “It seems that I need another sword.”
Instantly, the sound of a dozen swords sliding out of their scabbards rose into the air. Edward thrust his forward first. “Take mine, Your Majesty.” His words echoed from the lips of every knight within earshot of the king.
Arthur laughed. “My good soldiers, I cannot take any of your weapons. Then you would be disarmed and ”
A haunting moan drifted in from the swamp, starting with a loud hum that slowly formed a stretched-out call. “Arthurrrrrr!” The voice seemed to stir the mist with its breathy echoes. Every man and dragon shifted toward the sound, the swords swinging away from the king and toward the shadowy water.
Near the shore, a ghostly female form hovered over the swamp, her long hair and gown flowing as the mist swirled all around her. With her body veiled, she seemed a phantom, perhaps even an embodiment of the mist itself. She raised her arm, holding an indistinguishable object in her hand.
Edward shifted his weight on Thigocia’s neck, trying not to tremble. The sound of murmuring filtered through the ranks.
Arthur raised his hand. “What are we? A pack of boys playing at war? Where is your courage?” He turned to Makaidos, his eyes alternately fixed on him and the phantom. “Do you sense danger from her?”
“Without a doubt, Sire. If she is not a demon, then she is something akin to one.”
“But she bears a gift,” Thigocia added, “and it is something holy.”
“How do you know?” the king asked.
“I can sense it.” Thigocia turned on her eyebeams and pointed them at the apparition. “Her aspect gives her away. She holds the gift as if it is abhorrent to her essence, as if its goodness invades her nature like a foreign army.”
The voice drifted in again, louder and more pleading. “Arthur, I have been called to give you the ultimate weapon.” With a mighty heave, she threw the object toward them, a sword spinning end over end until it pierced the ground near the shoreline.
Devin stepped forward. “Shall I fetch it for you, Sire?”
Arthur laid a hand on Devin’s chest and called out to the floating specter, “Who are you, and why do you offer this gift?”
“You may call me the Lady of the Lake. You will need this sword to conquer your greatest foes. It is called Excalibur, for it can cut both steel and stone. You will also learn to use its most powerful secret, the secret of holy fire.” The mist created a whirlpool of fog over the surface of the