The Darkest Knight (Guardians of Camelot #3) - Victoria Sue Page 0,53

Caerleon and were gone before we knew about it. Two ships. The men were slaughtered. Women raped. Some of the children taken. Arthur was for following them, but he was advised it might be done just to tempt him into exactly that. Then we got a message from France to say the Romans had been sighted, who were a much bigger threat.”

“I take it Morgan didn’t like this?”

Lance shook his head. “She thought it weak of Arthur and called him a coward. She said she should be named queen and she would lead their armies in retaliation, and Arthur laughed. The next thing we knew, Arthur was writhing around on the floor as if an unseen force had him by the throat. Merlin got there just in time, but before she could be restrained, with a clap of her hands she became a raven and soared right through the open window. Arthur had no choice but to name her an enemy to Camelot and put a bounty on her head. She was never caught as you know.”

“I don’t see what she has to do with the Hospitallers five hundred years later,” Tom said, and Charles smiled to himself, grateful that Tom still was his friend.

“It doesn’t,” Lance agreed. “The problem is I don’t think Charles has anything to do with the Hospitallers either.”

Charles gaped. Even though he understood the knights were suspicious of his motives, he hadn’t expected to be called a liar. He stood. He wasn’t about to—

“I haven’t finished.” The words were cold and challenging. “The least you owe us—owe Kay—is to hear me out.”

Charles dipped his chin once at Lance and sat. He would hear him out, but then he was leaving. He would go and find out himself what was going on.

And Kay? the small voice inside him asked.

Lance turned to Tom and Mel. “Do you know anything of the druids?”

Mel shrugged. “Only what Gawain has told me and the little personal history I researched.” Charles knew when he said personal he meant Merlin, but that would be difficult as everything was mainly mythology and supposition.

Tom nodded. “What I could over the last two years since I came to live with you. If the druids were mentioned to do with any of your history.”

“Well, the druids were an ancient religion as old as the third century BC. They were poets, scholars, and healers in the main, and exempt from military duty,” Lance continued.

“I thought they fought the Romans though?” Tom asked.

“Yes, but at that point they split. There was a smaller group who believed those that had magic should rule the land. They split from the druids and became worshippers of Black Annis, one of the third ancient Celtic war goddesses. The other name for Black Annis is Morrígan or Morgan le Fay. There are plenty of legends that say Morgan was Morrígan’s earthly incarnation or that she took her name as tribute.” Lance gestured to the screen. “These were what Morgan’s followers wore as tribute.”

The office was quiet as everyone absorbed what Lance had said. Charles stared at the screen.

“Are you sure?”

Charles dragged his eyes away from the screen and focused on Tom. “I don’t know.” Charles could barely choke the words out.

“No,” Tom said softly. “I mean about the cross. Are you sure the symbol was the same? It was a long time ago.”

Tom was giving him an out. A chance of redemption. A chance to believe that his life wasn’t built on a lie. “But I was sent to save Tom.” It sounded pathetic to his own ears. “And your mother. Mary was there.”

“But Morgan desperately wanted her sister back. We know that. It could easily be that she was there in some form helped by Aalardin, but instead of helping Morgan, she worked against her,” Lance argued.

“Maybe their purpose overlapped,” Mel said suddenly, and Tom shot him a look that spelled of betrayal. Which was the last thing Charles wanted. He couldn’t drive a wedge between these people.

“What are you thinking?” Lance prompted.

“About Aalardin and what Morgan may be doing.”

“What do you mean?” Lucan asked.

“He means,” Gawain explained, “that we might have missed something before. We kind of glossed over it, but in different ways it applies to Mary, Elaine, Aalardin—”

“Galahad,” Lance ground out.

“And they have limited powers,” Mel continued. They are all present either in a very limited capacity, or perhaps more significantly their time is limited.”

“We know both Mary and Galahad are limited in not only how they appear but