Grail

TWENTY-TWO

'Rhys! Cai!' cried the Pendragon upon reaching the throng at the bottom of the hill. 'Find someone who saw what happened!'

The two were already moving to his command as Arthur, having mastered his shock, swiftly turned to the waiting Cymbrogi. 'The Grail is gone, and Caledvwlch with it. The guards are dead. Get more torches. Search the hill. I want to know how many were here, and which way they went.' In the moment of stunned hesitation that followed, he roared, 'Now!' and men scattered in twenty directions.

Seizing a torch from one of the sconces at the entrance to the shrine, I began searching the outside of the building and was quickly joined by Cador bearing another torch. We walked slowly, crouching low, examining the soft, dusty earth for fresh footprints, or for any other sign that the attackers might have crept up from behind the shrine to take the watchmen unawares.

There were all sorts of marks in the dust – the tracks of masons and the imprints where stone and tools had lain – but all these were old and scuffed about. 'Nothing fresh here,' Cador concluded.

Still, just to make certain we had not missed anything or overlooked any possible trace, however small, we made a second circuit of the shrine. This time, the only new tracks we saw were those Cador and I had made during the first circuit; I could identify them readily enough on the dry, dusty ground -which gave me to know that had there been any new tracks the first time, we would have recognized them. There were none.

'Go tell Arthur,' Cador said. 'I will look over there.' He pointed to the broad slope of the hill's rearward side.

Hurrying to the front of the shrine, I found the hillside ablaze with the light of torches as the Cymbrogi scoured the path and surrounding area. Arthur and Bedwyr were standing halfway down the hill talking to Myrddin, who was still on horseback. After a few brief words, the Emrys turned his mount and raced away again. Hearing my footsteps behind him, the king whirled on me. 'Well?' he demanded.

'We found nothing, Pendragon,' I told him.

'Look again,' he commanded.

'We have already searched twice, and -'

'Again!' The order was curt, and brooked no reply.

Bedwyr, grim in the softly fluttering light, nodded. 'We must be certain,' he said.

As it was easier to comply than to argue, I walked the shrine perimeter for the third time, more slowly and painstakingly, to be sure. Again I saw nothing I had not seen before. Nor did Cador's scrutiny turn up any traces that the shrine had been approached from the rear. Cador met me at the hilltop, shaking his head. 'Nothing,' he said. 'Whoever did this did not strike from behind.'

We hurried back, reaching the king just as Rhys and Cai came hastening up the pathway, dragging two others between them.

'There are at least three more dead down there,' Rhys informed us bleakly. 'Skulls split ear to ear. Another four wounded.'

'These two saw what happened,' Cai added. 'They are father and son – arrived after nightfall from east of- '

Arthur raised a hand and cut him off. Addressing the two men, he said, 'What did you see?'

The older of the two swallowed, then glanced sideways at Cai, who urged him on with a sharp nod. The man licked his lips and said, 'It was dark, Lord Pendragon. I fear my eyes is not what they was – 'specially in the dead of night.'

'Just say what you saw,' urged Arthur impatiently.

The man blinked, his face squirming in the torchlight; he licked his lips again, and worked his jaw. The second man, a youth with a club foot, blurted, 'It were terrible, Lord Pendragon. Terrible. The first thing I knowed something's amiss was when up there comes a shout – like a death cry, it were. We had just got ourselves a piece of the ground and rolled up in our cloaks to sleep, and this brought us up again something quick, I can tell you,'

The elder man nodded his agreement at this. 'Aye, the very truth.'

'Yes, yes,' growled Bedwyr testily. 'But what did you see!'

'Tell them and be quick about it,' coaxed Cai in a low tone, with another nod of encouragement.

'Up there,' the youth said, pointing to the shrine, 'men was all asudden fighting for their very lives. All of them at it, eh, Da?'

The man nodded. 'Every last one,' he murmured.

'They was fighting something fierce,' the youth continued, 'and must have been six or more against one – but the one, he were a fighter. He flew this way and that, slashing and slashing. And what with the shouting and slashing, I never seen such a sight. He killed them all, he did.'

'Every last one,' repeated the father.

'Who?' demanded Bedwyr.

The young man looked at Cai for help.

'His name!' said Arthur tersely, holding him to the task.

'I never heard his name,' the youth replied. 'But he were tall – taller than the rest, at least.' He hesitated, glancing around quickly, then added, 'And the queen were with him.'

The words hit me like a spear in the gut. Llenlleawg and Gwenhwyvar? Can it be true? I looked to Arthur to judge his reaction, but, save for a tightening of his jaw, saw no appreciable change.

Bedwyr, however, had gone red in the face, and was almost shaking with frustrated rage. 'How could you see all this from down there?' he shouted, pointing angrily down the hill at the place where they had stood.

'For the torches on the side of the shrine,' the young man explained. 'We saw it all. He killed them, and then he comes running down here, running like his legs is afire. We see him waving that great sword in one hand, and carrying something under his other arm.'

'What was he carrying?' demanded Bedwyr roughly.

The youth shrugged. 'A wooden box.'

'Is that what you saw, too?' Bedwyr turned his withering gaze on the elder of the two.

'Tell the truth, man,' Arthur cautioned, his voice tight.

The man licked his lips and said, 'Some of the people down here, they started shouting: 'The Grail! The Grail! He has got the Grail!' I do not know about that – all I saw was the box, and him running away with it.'

'You said you saw the queen – where was she?' Cai asked.

'Well, now, the tall one runs to where the horses is picketed over there.' He pointed to where the guards had tethered the animals. 'The queen was waiting there -1 never seen her at first for all the battle going on up the shrine. But I reckon she was waiting there all along.'

'What happened then?' said Arthur softly, almost trembling with rage.

'Well, they go to ride away. Some of those nearest by make bold to lay hold of the killer. Everyone is shouting, 'He stole the Grail! He stole the Grail!' and they try to stop him.'

'And it is dead they are for their troubles,' asserted the older man.

'That sword is up and he strikes them all down who lays hand to him. And then they both ride off that way.' The youth pointed to the east.

'Is that all?' said Arthur.

'That is the last I seen,' the youth answered. 'We never seen anything after that until you all came.'

The older man nodded and spat, adding, 'We feared you was coming to kill us, too.'

'There is nothing else – you are certain of that?' Bedwyr glared hard at both of them, daring them to add to or take away anything from what we had already heard.

The two shook their heads and remained silent, whereupon Arthur dismissed them, charging them to say nothing of this to anyone else until more could be learned. As soon as they had gone, we all turned to one another. 'It cannot be Llenlleawg has done this!' Cai insisted vehemently. 'It was never Llenlleawg and Gwenhwyvar.'

'Who, then?' snarled Bedwyr. 'Llenlleawg is the only one of us missing now – why is that, do you think?'

'It was someone else!' Cai maintained. 'Someone who looked like him.'

'Those two are confused,' I suggested quickly. 'It is dark. They were asleep when it started. They could not possibly have seen everything that happened.'

'Truly,' agreed Cai. 'Maybe they caught sight of Llenlleawg riding off in pursuit of the attackers, and assumed he had done it.'

'Aye, he rode off,' asserted Bedwyr, his voice an ugly sneer, 'taking the Grail with him.'

'What of Gwenhwyvar?' Cador wondered.

'Gwenhwyvar was with me,' Arthur said bluntly.

'Llenlleawg could not have done it,' Cai insisted. 'Anyway, Llenlleawg was sworn to protect the Grail with his life. If he rode in pursuit of the killer, he could never leave it behind.'

Bedwyr dispatched this lame suggestion without mercy. 'Then why not ride to the Tor? He could bring the Grail for protection and raise the alarm. If word of the massacre had not been brought to us by those confused people down there, we still would not know of it.'

'Since the queen was with Arthur,' Cador suggested, 'it must have been Morgaws with him.'

Arthur glared hard in the dim light. 'Yes,' he agreed sourly. Turning to Cador, the king said, 'Ride to the Tor and tell the queen what has happened; then find Morgaws – if she is there, bring her to me.'

Cador leapt to the saddle at once and raced away into the darkness. Swinging towards Bedwyr, Arthur commanded, 'You and Rhys take eight men and see if you can raise the trail.'

Bedwyr made to protest, but the look on Arthur's face warned him off and he departed, calling for men and torches.

'Gwalchavad,' the king ordered, 'you and Cai see what is to be done for those who have been wounded, then take word to Elfodd and remove the dead to the abbey.'

'I do not like this, Arthur,' Cai muttered under his breath.

Arthur ignored him, saying, 'I will talk to the people here. Someone may have seen something more.'

The king stalked off towards the distraught crowd. Cai made to follow, but I put a hand on his arm and said, 'Come, there are injured needing help. If you would go to the monastery, I will see to matters here.'

'You go to the monastery,' Cai said, staring at Arthur as he walked away. 'I want to talk to some of the others and see if anyone saw anything different.'

Thus, I found myself hurrying to the abbey to summon Bishop Elfodd. Owing to the fact that a few monks had been at the shrine tending folk through the night, word had reached the abbey before me. I rode into the yard to meet the bishop and five or six monks as they rushed from their lodging hall.

'I pray there has been a wicked mistake,' Elfodd said.

'It is no mistake,' I told him. 'There are dead and wounded. The king wants you.'

'Yes, yes,' Elfodd replied quickly. 'We will do whatever we can. Are you returning to the shrine?'

'At once.'

'I will go with you.' Laying a hand on the shoulder of the nearest monk, he said, 'Brother Hywel, I leave you in authority.' He then ordered the monks to fetch balms and bandages and hasten to the shrine.

'Ride with me,' I said, putting down a hand for him. 'The way is short and we are soon there.'

Two monks hurried to the bishop's aid, and we were soon hastening back across the night-dark valley. Upon dismounting, we proceeded directly to the shrine, where Arthur was holding council with Myrddin and Bors by fluttering torchlight.

'As much as it pains us,' the Erne's was saying, 'it may be the truth.'

The High King stared at his Wise Counsellor, his face grim in the fluttering light of hissing torches.

'At least,' Bors said, softening Myrddin's pronouncement, 'what passes for the truth – until we find Llenlleawg and learn why he has behaved like this.'

Then it is true?' I asked. 'Llenlleawg is gone?'

Myrddin replied, 'He is not at the Tor.'

'It is a tragedy,' Bishop Elfodd said, breaking in. 'I am shocked beyond reason. I thought the shrine well protected. I never imagined one of the Guardians – '

'We are no less dismayed than you, bishop,' Myrddin said pointedly. 'What this moment requires, however, is your sympathy and support, not your reproach.'

The bishop accepted his reprimand with good grace. He inclined his head in acknowledgment of his error and said, 'I am deeply sorry, Lord Arthur, and I want you to know that I am placing myself and my brothers under your command. We will do all in our power to assist you in any way we can.'

Arthur thanked him and said, 'Your skills would best be employed aiding the wounded and praying for Llenlleawg's swift return.'

'The wounded will be cared for, of course,' the cleric replied, 'and I will immediately establish perpetual prayer for the recovery of the Holy Cup.' Glancing at Bors and Myrddin, he said, 'Please, send word if you need anything.' With that he hurried off to direct the monks who were helping with the injured and dead.

Cador returned from the Tor, lashing his horse up the hill at full gallop. Without even pausing to dismount, he leaned from the saddle, putting his head to Arthur's ear. Even while he spoke, the Pendragon's face changed. Now, I have seen the Bear of Britain in his rage before, but have never seen him like this: his face darkened, his jaw bulged, and the veins stood out on his neck and brow.

Seizing Cador by the arm, the king almost hauled him bodily from the saddle. 'My wife – gone?' he cried.

'She is nowhere to be found,' Cador replied, trying to keep his saddle. 'I stopped at the stables – the queen's horse is gone, along with Morgaws' and another.' He hesitated. 'The stablers were asleep, but one of them says he thinks he saw the queen take the horses. Mind, he was half asleep at the time.'

Added to what Myrddin had already said, it seemed the two witnesses were right: the king's champion had murdered his swordbrothers and stolen the Most Holy Grail. What is more, it appeared he had been aided in this atrocity by none other than the queen.

That Llenlleawg could perform such a treacherous act was unthinkable; that Gwenhwyvar should be party to it was impossible. Yet there it was – a double betrayal of such abhorrence the mind shrank from contemplation of it. There must be some other explanation, I determined. Morgaws is involved somehow; find her, and no doubt all would be explained.

I stepped quickly to join those at Arthur's side and await his command. Cador was saying, 'Avallach wanted to come here, but I persuaded him to remain at the palace. He instructed me to say that he will await the Pendragon's return in his chamber. Charis has gone on to the abbey to help the monks.' Duty discharged, Cador continued. 'It cannot be what it seems, Bear. We will find them, but until we do, we cannot know what really happened.'

'He speaks my thoughts entirely,' I said, speaking up. 'We should not judge by the appearance of the thing alone. It cannot be what it seems.'

'I pray you are right,' said Bors. 'God knows, I have trusted that man in the thick of the fight more times than I remember, and I cannot find it in my heart to doubt him now.'

'Until we find Llenlleawg,' said Myrddin, 'we will not discover what happened. Therefore, our best efforts are given to the search.'

'Rhys and Bedwyr have already begun,' snapped Arthur angrily.

'It will be daylight soon,' Bors observed, striving to sound brisk and confident. 'They will raise the trail, never fear. We will learn the truth before the day is out.'

Away in the east, the sky was greying with the dawn. 'Come, Arthur,' said Myrddin, taking the king by the arm, 'I want to see the shrine.' Together they started towards the shrine to examine the empty building and, I believe, to speak to each other alone.

'What would you have us do now?' Cador called after them.

'Bury the dead,' came Arthur's terse reply.

Silent with our own thoughts, we stood and watched the thin grey line turn to silver, and then blush bright red as the sun rose on the worst day I have known since Baedun Hill.