Excerpt from Lancelot: Arranged Marriage and the question of loyalty

                Zooey would be my Guinivere if my book were ever made into a film.

     “I’m nervous,” Arthur said. He and Lancelot sat in
the throne room.
     “How can the great King let some girl make him
nervous?” Lancelot laughed. “If you ask me, women don’t
have much use. I can do without them.”
     Merlin poked him with his staff, one of the more
irritating things the wizard often did.
     “You’ll eat those words one day, Lancelot.”
     “Women. All they do is sit around and try to look
beautiful, and then, some man sees how beautiful they are
and marries one. Then, the children come, and she is not so
beautiful anymore.” Lancelot crossed his arms like a kid
pouting.
     Merlin cleared his throat, looked Lancelot directly in
the eye and said, “Women possess a magic that is more
powerful than you can ever imagine. And children ...”
Merlin paused and looked away. “I don’t want to
discuss children.”
     “It’s all foolishness,” Lancelot said.
     “Watch yourself or you will find yourself ensnared by
this ‘foolishness’.”
    “What do you know of women, Merlin? All the
magic you possess would not conjure one into falling in
love with you.”
     “You don’t know anything,” Merlin snapped.
     His anger stunned Lancelot. “I was just teasing –“
     “Don’t ever tease –“
     Arthur interrupted them. “I don’t get this arranged
marriage concept at all. Why is it that someone else decides
whom I shall marry?”
     “It’s political, Art. You’re not old enough or smart
enough to know which alliance will best benefit the
kingdom,” Lancelot said. He looked at Merlin and it
relieved him to see the anger gone from Merlin’s face. In
fact, the wizard’s mouth curled into a faint smile.
     “Merlin, can I have him executed for saying that?”
     Merlin laughed. “You are the king. You can do
anything.”
     “Except choose my own wife. What if she is ugly?”
     “I have seen Guinevere. She is lovely.”
     “How could you have seen her? She has never been
in my kingdom at all.”
     “Magic,” Lancelot said for Merlin.
     “Sort of,” Merlin’s head bobbed up and his ears
perked. I believe they are approaching at this very moment.
A fanfare blew and the castle cannons fired a round of
welcome to Guinevere and her courtiers.
     “I didn’t get a welcome like that when I came here,”
Lancelot said.
     “I’m not marrying you.”
     “And besides, you had just beaten Arthur to a pulp,”
Merlin said.
     “I bet I could take him now,” Arthur said.
     “All you would take now is a shot to the head,” Merlin
said.
     The doors to the throne room opened wide. A woman
walked through the door.
     “I’m going to kill myself now,” Arthur said.
     To say the woman was not beautiful would have been
an understatement. First, she was old – at least 40, Lancelot
thought. Secondly, her hair was gray and her skin was
wrinkled. Third, she had set her face in what looked like a
painful grimace.
     “If you want, I’ll kill you,” Lancelot said. “Better for
you to die swiftly.”
     “Shut up, both of you. That is Queen Carmello,
Guinivere’s mother. You owe her your utmost respect.”
      “Your highness.” Merlin bowed to her as she walked
forward toward the throne. When she neared them, Merlin
took her hand and lightly kissed it. “It is good to see you
again.”
      “Merlin, we have known each other far too long to lie.
This is strictly business. You and I both are tired of all the
skirmishes and battles and deaths.”
     “Where is Lord Gordon?”
     “You know how he feels about you and about
Camelot. He had no desire to come here.”
      “Then, why is he even agreeing to all this?”
     “He’s not stupid.”
She paused and began to study Arthur. Lancelot
immediately disliked her.
     “So this is the King,” Carmello said.
     Arthur stood. “Your highness, I have no idea what has
hitherto transpired between you and this kingdom in general
and Merlin in particular. He can be a quite irascible old
man at times. I assure you that I am glad to meet you.”

He bowed to her, gently took her hand, and kissed it.
     “One of your kings with manners? That’s quite an
oddity. Fine looking young man also. Listen carefully to
me, King Arthur. If you do anything to hurt my daughter, I
will personally slice open your stomach and feed your guts
to the vultures.”
     Lancelot stiffened, and his face reddened with anger.
     “And you listen to me, Queen Carmello, if your daughter
does anything to hurt King Arthur—“
     “Please excuse my friend, your highness. Sometimes
his loyalty shuts down his brain,” Arthur said.
     “Loyalty is not such a bad thing,” Queen Carmello
said.
Lancelot frowned at Arthur, but then he saw Merlin.
The wizard was staring at him. He had such a sad look on
his face that Lancelot shivered.