Offensive #2
The intersection of game and separate universe was giving him a headache. Did they really need to eat? Would they gain some sort of awareness with time? So many questions that he did not have the energy to pursue. "Where's our esteemed leader?"
"In the great hall with Morgan and Gwen. I don't know where the others have scattered to, but we're expected in the hall in about twenty minutes or so."
"Some of them wandered off to the practice yard," Mordred said. "I was helping Elaine with some of her nastier concoctions. She is still entirely too obsessed with poison for my taste."
"Poison and cure are the same coin," Elaine said primly. "It is not my fault that many men see one side of the coin far more often than they see the other. You cannot be too fussed, given you were the one who burned the bodies."
Dred grinned, as bright as a well-fed flame. "As often as you need, dove."
She returned the smile and then went back to her work.
One of the assistant cooks came up with a large plate of food for Lancelot, another for Mordred, and tankards of more hot ale for all three of them.
Leaving Elaine to her mischief, they headed for the great hall, where Arthur, Gwen, and Morgan sat at the head table, heads bent toward each other as they discussed whatever was related to the mass of papers and maps and what might be blueprints spread across the table.
They looked up at the sound of footsteps, and Arthur broke into a smile, standing up and leaping over the table. "Lancelot! You finally look well-rested. How was the lake? Did you see your mother? She must have been so happy to see you."
"Apparently there's a castle under there," Merlin said.
Lancelot again relayed the conversation with his mother.
"You do make it easy to forget you completely outrank all of us," Arthur said with a fond smile, clapping him on the shoulder and all but dragging him to the table.
"My status in water has little to do with my status on land.
Quit it." He took his seat to Merlin's right, Dred taking the seat beside him.
This was not the round table that had given their inner circle its name, but they still kept largely to that seating arrangement wherever they were.
Clockwise it would be: Arthur, Guinevere, Morgan, Gawain, Percival, Bran, Elaine, Bertilak, Tristan, Galahad, Iseult, Galehaut, Mordred, Lancelot, Merlin.
Hopefully, one day soon, their circle would be complete again.
One by one the others trickled in, settling around the table in a way that they were as close as they could be, easily able to talk to one another, instead of stretched out along one side as they might be at a banquet so they could all see the performances and the rest of the room.
Galehaut had always enjoyed the banquets.
Most castle dinners were not actually exciting, just people eating over the course of a set period of hours as they came in from their chores and drills and whatnot.
But holidays and other important occasions, and there were many of them throughout the year, always called for a banquet, and Camelot did not give a half effort for its banquets.
Galehaut had loved the excitement, the noise, the singing and juggling and more.
They'd danced countless times, until Lancelot grew overstimulated and begged off, and Galehaut had never begrudged him that, had often come with him, relaxed on the shore with a cup of mulled wine while Lancelot swam, or took him to bed and fucked him until they both passed out.
The longing made his body ache down to the bone, but Lancelot shoved the memories aside for what felt like the thousandth time and focused on the present. The final reckoning was coming, and he would save Galehaut whatever the cost.
After getting their attention, Arthur said, "Our goal is Ethelfleda.
It is clear that she is vital to Maleagant's goals.
If nothing else, she is one of the few on this earth who can face us squarely and not be guaranteed to die.
Our goal is to cleave her from Maleagant.
Preferably capture, but if death is the only option to guarantee we take her from him, so be it. "
Morgan added, "We're going to bait her out.
She has made it clear she likes her showpieces, so a show it will be.
Guinevere, Elaine, and Iseult will maintain the castle, as ever.
We do not anticipate another attack here, not now we've reclaimed it and locked the bastards out, but if they do, then those three are well-prepared. "
People had made the mistake before of assuming that three women in charge amounted to no defense at all, but they had every one of them been humbled, and often left for Mordred to dispose of later.
"The rest of us are bound for the Fairgrounds."
"I swear to god if you say the words 'jousting tournament,' I will throw you in the lake," Mordred said.
Morgan smiled sweetly and said, "Where we will be getting involved in a jousting tournament."
"You are the absolute worst, you conniving witch."
Arthur snorted. "She takes 'conniving witch' as a compliment."
Mordred sighed. "So we have to enter this stupid jousting tournament."
"You're already entered," Merlin said. "I did it this morning while you were helping Elaine in the kitchen."
Lancelot and Mordred groaned in unison then.
"I can't wait," Percival said. "Why are you two so grouchy? Tournaments are so much fun."
"Making a spectacle of myself is the opposite of fun," Lancelot said bitterly. He hated tournaments, being put on display, making games of war so people could laugh and cheer and place bets with extravagant amounts of money they should be using to help the poor and struggling.
"It'll be fun," Tristan said excitedly. "Stop being such a cynical old man. Do you think there will be centaurs? I always wanted to joust against a centaur."
"I don't know why, given what happened when you pissed one off," Mordred replied, "Or are you forgetting how you went tumbling into a well after one knocked you right off your horse. Hope you're looking forward to more of that."
Morgan glared all of them into silence. "The tournament is a genuine game thing. People must enter in groups of six. I have entered Arthur, Lancelot, Mordred, Percival, Tristan—" the two cheered as Lancelot and Mordred continued to sulk "—and Galahad."
"Should I be concerned or relieved I've been left out of the fun?" Gawain asked.
"You're with me and Merlin. We're going to lay down caging wards so that once Ethelfleda enters the tournament grounds, she will not be able to leave them.
We'll lay down two rows—a broader set around the entirety of the grounds, because she's guaranteed to go at least that far, and then a second row inside that to restrict her to the battlegrounds, if we can get her that far.
I anticipate we will, but the more barriers, the better anyway. "
She looked at Lancelot and the others assigned to his team. "Your job will be to keep everything going until the wards are finished and to draw her in. Then we'll all reunite to take her down once and for all. As stated, alive if you can, but dead will do."
"Understood," Lancelot replied. "So we keep the games going for as long as you need to set the wards and draw in Ethelfleda. How do we do that? I'd think you'd be the best bait we could offer."
"After we regained this castle when that clearly wasn't meant to happen?
" Morgan scoffed. "No, Maleagant will be enraged at her repeated failures, and she'll be desperate to make amends.
She will go for whichever heads she can remove the quickest and easiest. Arthur, preferably, but she'll likely go for you and Dred first, as your duty to protect Arthur at all costs makes you especially vulnerable. "
"Never thought I'd be grateful I'm not the popular one," Tristan said with a grin.
Lancelot narrowed his eyes. "All these centuries and you still can't watch your mouth."
"All these centuries and you still can't relax."
"I will assign you to everything except jousting."
Tristan pouted. "I might run my mouth, but I've never failed to do my duty to the best of my ability. Don't be mean just because you don't think I'm funny, Captain. Come on."
"We'll see," Lancelot said primly, even though they all knew that Tristan would get his way.
He and Lancelot might clash a lot in methodology and silence vs noise, but Tristan was right: he had never failed to do what was needed, no matter the cost to himself.
He had nearly burned the world down for Iseult, and he'd do it again without hesitation for any of them.
"Once she's captured or dead, we return here," Arthur said. "Preferably together, but we all know how these fights go. So don't waste time reconnecting if you find yourself separated from the group, just make haste back to Camelot."
"Your Majesty," they chorused.
"Go and prepare. We leave in an hour. The journey to the tournament grounds will take two days, as we are well north of their location."
Lancelot groaned. "Can't we just warp there?"
"No warp points," Merlin replied. "The nearest one still requires a full day of travel, as that is part of the entire event."
Percival tapped his fingers restlessly on the table. "Well, at least we can shave a day off then."
"No, we're making the two day journey."
Tristan and Percival groaned in unison.
"Wow, I haven't missed you assholes at all," Gawain said.
"Shut up, nerd," Percival said cheerfully.
"Brainless jock," Gawain retorted.
"I'm already regretting my decision," Arthur muttered, before saying loudly, "We're making the full journey by foot so we can spend the time reconnecting.
It's been a long time since we were gathered, we're still missing some members, and the world has changed significantly, even if the game puts us in familiar territory.
So stow the squabbling, or I will make you sit in a circle and give interesting facts about yourselves, am I clear? "