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"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 ma
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 do
"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 ca
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 ru
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.
Launcelot turned and saw that she had fallen across the pattern Merlin had drawn. The sorcerer, now bathed in a bluish light, raised his staff and moved forward. Launcelot took a step toward them and felt a great pain in his left side.
Even as he turned toward the half-risen hollow knight who was drawing his blade back for another blow, Launcelot reversed his double-handed grip upon his own weapon and raised it high, point downward.
He hurled himself upon the other, and his blade pierced the cuirass entirely as he bore him back down, nailing him to the earth. A shriek arose from beneath him, echoing within the armor, and a gout of fire emerged from the neck hole, sped upward and away, dwindled in the rain, flickered out moments later.
Launcelot pushed himself into a kneeling position. Slowly then, he rose to his feet and turned toward thetwo figures who again faced one another. Both were now standing within the muddied geometries of power, both were now bathed in the bluish light. Launcelot took a step toward them, then another.
"Merlin!" he called out, continuing to advance upon them. "I've done what I said I wouldi Now I'm coming to kill you!"
Morgan Le Fay turned toward him, eyes wide.