One of his bodyguards stood in front of Lancelot
with his silver weapon pointed straight at the knight. Then,
the magic appeared. The crowd shouted. Lancelot saw
Rittlock's gaze shift to the skies, and his eyes widened in
fear. Lancelot looked up and saw the white unicorn. He
lunged forward. The guard started to push the button but he
unexpectedly groaned. He fell forward with a bolt sticking
from his back and dropped the silver magic. Lancelot left
his feet in a dive just as Rittlock grabbed Trilesa and
screamed, "Send him!"
Lancelot hit Trilesa and Rittlock at the same time as
the blue beam hit. Seconds later, he was rolling on the
ground with Rittlock and Trilesa in his arms.
He rolled apart from them.
"Seize him," Rittlock screamed.
Lancelot whirled to see three guards coming toward
him. He also saw Trilesa pull a short sword from a sheath
on her leg. She tripped one guard who fell face first into the
dust, and she drove her sword into the chest of the second.
The third one stopped.
"Kill him, you fool!"
The guard ran.
"Lancelot, watch out!"
Rittlock had a sword and he was swinging it at
Lancelot’s neck. Lancelot ducked and drove his shoulder
into Rittlock’s midsection, knocking the breath out of him.
He lifted him in the air and heaved him over his shoulder.
Rittlock hit the ground, but quickly rolled away from
Lancelot and scrambled back on his feet. At the same time,
he struck Trilesa in the face and knocked her sideways so
that she stumbled and dropped her sword. Rittlock grabbed
it and held it to Trilesa's throat.
"Don't move or I'll bleed her like the sow she is."
"Your reign is over, Rittlock."
"For now, Lancelot."
"There's always another time, just as there was
before."
"Before?"
"Poor stupid Lancelot. You don't even know who I
am."
"I don’t care who you are."
"Rittlock's a name I got from my mother, Ilsa, but I
got my life from your precious Merlin."
"You liar!"
"Do you think you are the only noble blood of the
Round Table whose soul is black with sin?"
A noise, like a peal of lightning, shattered the air.
Lancelot watched the skies split like a melon slashed with a
sword, and the white unicorn flew through the rent. On it
sat Merlin. As Rittlock turned his head to see it, Trilesa
drove her elbows straight into his midsection. The air
whooshed out of him as he dropped his sword and lost his
grip on Trilesa. Lancelot grabbed the sword Rittlock had
nearly killed him with. As Trilesa rolled away, Lancelot
threw the sword like an axe. It hit Rittlock in the chest;
blood exploded from the wound and Rittlock fell.
Lancelotstarted to him to see if he were alive; Rittlock smiled and
pulled one of the silver weapons from his pouch and turned
it on himself. Just as Lancelot reached for him, he pressed
the button. This time, red light enveloped Rittlock and he
disappeared.
Trilesa rushed to Lancelot who took her in his arms.
As he kissed her, he heard a voice.
"Well done, Sir Lancelot. Not exactly the way I
would have done it, but it worked."
"Merlin."
"It is my pleasure to finally see you again, Lady
Trilesa."
“It is you!” she said and hugged him. “I knew you’d
be back.”
Their conversation puzzled Lancelot.
“We know each other,” Merlin said. “I met Ilsa
here.”
"Merlin, is Rittlock truly…”
"I am afraid so. Even wizards have weak moments,
and the result of mine will haunt me forever."
"But he's dead."
"Maybe. Maybe not."
"Where did he go?"
"Another time, another place. But I don't want to
think about that right now," Merlin said.
"Where are we?"
"Teleported to another part of the village near his
prisons."
"Helen!" Trilesa said.
"Safe. We’ve already found her," Merlin said.
"Merlin, we have to go back to the town square."
"No hurry, Lancelot, the knights have defeated his
army."
"The knights?"
"Of the Roundtable. You have already seen some of
them."
"In the cave."
"You will be pleased to know that Gawaine,
Gumpley and Galena have joined them. And you two-if you
wish. But I will explain this later. Right now, we must
release the prisoners."
***
Dusk came and with it, great celebration. Families
reunited after Lancelot, Trilesa, and Merlin released them
from their prison cells.
The Knights of the Roundtable sat at a big feast
prepared by Jorn and his family. Eric and his wife and
children also joined them. In all, 40 people sat together.
As Gawaine told them his tale of the flying ponies
and the great unicorn, Lancelot listened patiently.
"I thought Mordred destroyed the Roundtable. I
don't understand this."
"I am the wizard, Lancelot," Merlin began. "The
stories that I live time backwards are not quite true, but I do
live long, on up into the days when science does so many
wonders that magic is unnecessary and even beyond. The
silver column is one of many space/time portals. Its key,
your sword, was lost when the two knights you found were
murdered."
“With Morgan’s help, Rittlock closed all the spacetime
portals.”
“Why is this time portal so important?”
"It is the one that leads back to Camelot."
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