King And Lionheart

Chapter 7- Arthur

Who was I? I had grown up with my foster father, Sir Ector, and his real son Kay. Kay had always harboured a dislike for me. In the past few months, it had grown stronger until he could barely be in the same room as me without hurling some hurtful insult in my general direction. I, in turn, had not been keen on him.

But how I missed him, now I had come to Camelot! How I missed those days when he would care, when we would sit and talk, about nothing and everything, about fighting and war and swordplay- and girls!

I had had girlfriends, certainly, in the past, because that was what was expected of me. But I had never really loved any of them, not really. But since meeting Guinevere… she wasn’t like any of them. She had expressed care for me, but she hadn’t fallen in love with me just because I was a lord.

Morgana, on the other hand… there was something else. A piece of the puzzle that I was missing. She hated me, and I didn’t know what for. Neither, it seemed, did Guinevere, Bedivere or Lancelot, though they promised that if they found out, they’d tell me. They swore it probably wasn’t anything important.

She rarely spoke to me unless it was necessary. The most acknowledgement she gave me was a bare nod of her head, or a quick raise of her eyebrows. Occasionally not even that. She would just sweep past me, the green cloak she always seemed to wear billowing behind her.

Whilst at Camelot, I was respected by most but treated with distaste by others. I was confused; I understood that I was a possible King, but as of yet untested, and many wished for the throne for themselves; but what I did not understand was why I did not take this test that they spoke of now?

I was certain I would fail the test, but then at least I could go home, back to Ector and Kay, back to the life I knew as a squire. On the other hand, if I passed it, and became King… what would become of me, and of Camelot? I knew not how to run a country, fight battles or end a war. How could I?