“We will be finished with our task before Gawain is done helping My Lord into his armor.”
“I see. In that case, what are we doing?” Lancelot asked as they entered a small meadow.
“I want to see what kind of charger this borrowed mount is,” Sir Kay said, hefting a lance in one hand and leading the milk white horse Merlin had bargained for in Camelgrance with the other.
“But why?”
“I need to know how well it can joust. My Lord must have a trustworthy steed.”
“But I didn’t think Arthur was going joust? And why would it matter how skilled it is? Any halfwit knight can joust,” Lancelot said.
Sir Kay narrowed his eyes. “That is King Arthur to you, and never mind why.”
“I don’t understand,” Lancelot said with a grieved sigh.
“You don’t have to. Just stand right there,” Sir Kay said before swinging up on the horse’s back.
Lancelot shrugged as Sir Kay rode the horse to the far end of the meadow.
Sir Kay wheeled the horse around, lowered the lance, and the mount burst forward in a canter.
Lancelot shifted as Sir Kay and his mount charged across the meadow, their pace increasing rather than decreasing.
“Sir Kay,” Lancelot shouted to his fellow knight. “Sir Kay,” he tried again when the horse and rider still bore down on him.
Kay and the horse were maybe three horse lengths from him before Lancelot realized they weren’t going to stop. “Sir Kay! KAY! What has gotten into you, man?” Lancelot yelled as he started running.
“Kay, KAY!” Lancelot said, his voice started to grow a subtle hint of desperation as Sir Kay and the milk white horse chased him across the meadow. “Stop it, turn off, turn off! KAY!” Lancelot said, changing his strategy and fleeing to the trees when it became apparent that Kay was going to keep on chasing him.
Sir Kay barely avoided hitting him, and slowed the horse down to a trot, a walk, and then halted it altogether when the trees grew thick again. “Yes, this mount shall serve My Lord well,” he said with great satisfaction.
“If you wanted to test its jousting skills I could have brought my horse and we could have had a practice match. That was dangerous,” Lancelot said, leaning against a tree as he breathed deeply.
“Where would be the fun in that?” Kay asked, cuing the horse forward.
“You weren’t really aiming for me, were you?” Lancelot asked, following behind. “Sir Kay?” he said when silence was his answer.
“The safety of My Lord will always be my priority, Lancelot,” Sir Kay said, disappearing into the trees. “Always.”
On the Observations of Sir Kay
By K.M. Shea
Kay rubbed his eyes and leaned back in the rough wooden chair. He sighed and pushed the two flickering candles arranged on the table back to make room for a logbook. It was new and almost cost him a fortune, but Kay couldn’t stomach writing about this new future king, Britt Arthurs, in the book he previously used to record his foster-brother’s progress.
Kay mended his quill and removed the lid of his inkwell before he started writing.
Today Merlin cast a spell to summon a proper king from the future. I had my doubts it would work, as the future king would have to touch the sword, but Merlin’s magic pulled through. Or so he claims.
The future king is no man at all, but a woman. She is older than me and arrived wearing odd, indecent clothes. She accepted Merlin’s explanation without much fuss, and indeed she seems to be an agreeable person. She speaks well, but she uses words and refers to locations and things that I have never heard of, a side effect of being from the future I should think.
Nice as she may be, Merlin is mad to try and place a woman on the throne, even if he is the one that is really ruling.
Kay sighed again and put his writing materials away. “Arthur, you fool,” he said with no feeling. His simmering anger with his foster brother had finally burned away to leave only regret.
Kay rubbed his hands together as he watched Britt scoot closer to the inn fireplace. It was in the evening hours of Christmas Day, and Merlin and his men were celebrating in the inn common room.
Knights toasted to the success, not so much in Britt’s ability to pull the sword and prove her worthiness in becoming King of Britain as in Merlin taking the first step towards unifying the country.
Kay swept crumbs off the table he sat at and set down his logbook and inks.
Today was the day of the tournament. Merlin insisted on making Britt Arthurs pull the sword as part of an elaborate play which I doubt more than a handful of people noticed and amused only himself.