Gawain and Ragnell Read online

  There was something very unreal to waiting in the crumbling Roman fort that had once been his home for an enemy who was himself a mystery, with his blank standard and his refusal to name sept or tribe or land.

  And then he heard it, the call of a kestrel from the south, the quick "kee kee kee kee kee."

  There would be fighting this day. He could only hope that with the help of the ruins and Ragnell's magic, they would be strong enough.

  The fog was growing thicker. And then a cry came, echoing through the stone walls of the Roman garrison, and was cut off short — hopefully one of Bertilak's men. Gawain had no way of knowing. Since he and his men were outnumbered, the only advantage they had was in stealth, in taking out individual enemy warriors from places of concealment, in doorways or behind half-ruined walls. And the hope that Bertilak had not left the hill-fort of Caer Camulodon completely deserted. Any men he left behind to guard his conquest would help their cause. If they had tried to storm the hill-fort or face their enemy in open combat, they would never have had a chance.

  Unfortunately, with the fog so thick, their enemy would be nearly as concealed as they, even without the advantage of hiding places in the ruins.

  Gawain strained to hear more of what was going on, but it was as if his hearing was as full of fog as his vision, everything muffled in the cloak of the mist drifting between tumbled down walls. Then he heard an eerie voice, as if it were speaking into his mind. Find backup and make your way towards the headquarters building. The green warrior and his men are headed in that direction.

  The voice was Ragnell's. Did he trust the magic? He did not know. But he did trust Ragnell, in particular her hatred of Bertilak, whom she would not even call by name.

  He crept along the wall in search of Donal and Gareth. Gawain found himself relieved that Gaheris and his skepticism were on the other side of the garrison — he would be much harder to persuade based on no more than the argument of magical voices.

  "Gareth!" he whispered when he was close enough.

  Gareth turned. "What is it?"

  "We must make our way to the headquarters," Gawain murmured under his breath. "Bertilak is headed that way."

  Gareth did not even question from whence he had his information, he simply nodded shortly and followed, motioning Donal to do the same.

  Together they crept towards the center of the garrison. Ragnell continued to talk into his mind, warning him whenever one of the enemy scouts drew near. Nonetheless, the walk through the crumbling and dismantled walls was filled with ghosts stranger than the fog that whispered among the ruins, shifting shadows in the midst of a place Gawain had once called home.

  There, at the corner of the former baths, a fragment of memory took shape, Arthur twenty years younger, his blond-brown hair free of gray but his eyes just as intense, raising his sword to attack.

  Gawain stopped in his tracks. Was he going mad?

  No, Gawain, it is not as you think. It is one of the enemy! They are channeling some magic of illusion to confuse you, the magic I mentioned before. You must attack!

  "We need to dispatch him," Gawain said, facing the warrior wearing the guise of young Arthur.

  "Who?" Donal said.

  "I see no one," Gareth echoed.

  And then Gawain's sword met that of the memory slipping between him and his enemy. At the sound of clashing blades, the other two warriors were beside him, despite being blind to their opponent. But even with that disadvantage, they soon left the man bleeding his life out at their feet.

  The sound of battle brought other warriors running — in likenesses of Cai, Bedwyr, and clanking mist, cloaked in illusions of friends, cloaked in shifting nothingness. Gawain found himself wishing Ragnell could break through the spell, allow them to see their enemies as they really were.

  I am sorry. That is beyond my abilities, Gawain.

  "Do you see any of them this time?" Gawain called out.

  "I see one who looks like you as a boy," Gareth said.

  "Attack him!"

  Donal sliced into what looked to Gawain like a patch of shifting fog in human shape, while he himself fought off the young Bedwyr. He couldn't trust what he saw — or what he remembered either, for that matter.

  If it continued to go this way, they would have no chance against combined illusion and greater numbers. If only there were something Ragnell could do.

  I am trying. But there is powerful magic at work here.

  Try faster, Gawain thought in answer.

  To his relief, no further ghosts or memories came to the aid of those they fought. Slowly the illusion shifted and faded, and they were fighting and defeating youthful warriors in green.

  With three more men dead at their feet, Gawain allowed no time to discuss what they had just experienced. "Come!"

  Go right! Two more of the enemy are there.

  Gawain could hardly see for the eerie mist, sometimes distorting vision in the normal way of shifting clouds, and sometimes turning it into nightmare; nonetheless, he did as Ragnell said. The magic might be powerful, but it appeared whoever was wielding could not maintain it over a longer period of time. They met two of the enemy who were obviously that, neither mist nor memory, and they dispatched them quickly.

  But then the next warrior who crossed their path came in the guise of Arthur's young son Llacheu. Gawain overcame the reluctance to attack what looked like a child. As he and Gareth fought the specter of their cousin, this illusion too slipped away.

  They left another warrior dead among the ruins.

  "We need to find the others before we face Bertilak and the rest of his men. We cannot fight this way." Gawain led them carefully around the circumference of the fort, collecting the rest of their troops from where they had been fighting their own shifting shadows, always listening for warnings from Ragnell.

  When they finally met Gaheris, all Gawain said was: "In this fog, we must face Bertilak in full force. The illusion subverts our strategy."

  Gaheris nodded shortly. "We lost a man but we killed all three of his attackers. We have been doing our best to use our ears rather than our eyes."

  By the time they were within sight of the central square, they had taken out a dozen of Bertilak's warriors, with only one loss of their own. But the warriors in green on the opposite side of the square were still a larger force — and heading for the headquarters, where Ragnell had taken shelter.

  "We must attack before they can enter the building!" Gawain lifted his sword and stormed toward the entrance. "For Ragnell and Caer Camulodon!"

  They raced up the steps of the headquarters, blocking access to the entrance of the building. With a roar of challenge, Bertilak raced across the square with his men to engage their forces. Luckily, whatever magic had been playing tricks with their perception did not seem to be capable of laying its spell over two war bands of several dozen men. Bertilak and his warriors were Bertilak and his warriors — not memories Gawain could not trust and could not attack without effort.

  Nonetheless, the mist drifting between the ruins in the gray half-light of morning was almost like its own illusion. Gawain did not like illusions. He preferred hard contours and physical facts. Like now, with a recognizable enemy that he could hear in the clang of blade on blade, could smell in the stench of sweat and the metallic scent of blood.

  They gained the portico at the top of the steps. They were surrounded on three sides, but they were fighting from above — and from here they could escape into the headquarters, which was still largely intact.

  As Gawain tried to pick out Bertilak among the helmeted warriors, he realized that Ragnell had gone strangely quiet in his mind. Given how uncomfortable magic and illusion made him, he should have been relieved, but he wasn't. It was almost as if he missed her.

  Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of Bertilak's men take advantage of an opening to attack Gareth, and he had more immediate things to be worried about than Ragnell's silence. He blocked a thrust from his own opponent with
his shield and swung his sword with all his might at the unprotected spot on the other man's neck between mail and helmet. There was a scream and a crunch of metal meeting bone. Gawain jerked his sword back, and Gareth's attacker slipped to the ground and tumbled down the steps, forcing a number of Bertilak's men to jump out of the way.

  Finally he spied Bertilak in the midst of his warriors.

  "There!" he called to Gareth. "If we take Bertilak, perhaps we can end this!"

  Gareth nodded, and they began to fight their way into the enemy's midst. The stones of the portico and the steps leading up to it were slippery with blood, but at their attack, the enemy began falling back. These men were not as well-trained as Arthur's companions, obviously more used to raids than pitched battle against a superior opponent.

  Then suddenly a voice called out in the middle of the fighting. "Peace! Throw down your weapons, men!"

  Bertilak threw down his sword, and the surviving men at his command followed suit, steel clattering against stone and thudding in dirt.

  "Hold!" Gawain called out. His men lowered their weapons but, wary, did not sheathe them.

  Bertilak elbowed between his men and came forward, empty palms outstretched to prove he was unarmed. "Spare my men," he said. "I offer single combat."

  Ragnell's voice finally called out in his head again: No, Gawain, don't! I beg you!

  Didn't she know that such an offer could not be turned down by a self-respecting warrior? Ragnell, I cannot refuse to fight him.

  There was no answer in his mind, and he stalled for time. "Why would you do such a thing? With the troops at your back, you have the advantage over us."

  "Not much longer. My sister's spell is no longer strong enough. When we set out for the old Roman fort this morning, we had at least double your numbers. Now —" He gestured at Gawain's men on the steps above him. "Now, dozens of my men lie somewhere in the streets among these ruins, and you and your monks have taken the steps of the headquarters where Ragnell hides."

  Gawain shook his head. "She is not there," he lied.

  "So I felt no more than illusion?"

  "She was here last night, but we brought her to safety before you and your men were halfway to the garrison."

  "And who are you?"

  "Her husband."

  The green warrior stood straighter, his weaponless hands clenched at his sides. "If that is the case, you have no choice but to accept my challenge."

  It was true, he did not.

  Gawain, no! He is not what he seems!

  Nothing here was what it seemed, including his newly wedded wife Ragnell — a woman who could speak into his mind and lure an enemy into a trap.

  "Tell me first who you are and why you became an outlaw," Gawain said. "What magic is this you wield?"

  Bertilak shook his head. "Not I — my dishonored sister. I am no more than a Rheged warrior whose family and inheritance was taken from him by a prince of Elmet."

  Don't listen to him, Gawain! He killed my family and raped me.

  But Gawain wanted to know, difficult as it might be. "A prince of Elmet," he repeated. "Of Ragnell's clan?"

  "Yes. Her youngest brother. He torched our home in a border dispute."

  "You would not have had to make rape part of your revenge."

  "Oh yes I did. I raped his sister as he raped mine — and I made him watch before we killed him."

  The thought made Gawain's stomach muscles clench and his hand clasp tighter around the hilt of his sword. While he could understand the need for revenge, Bertilak had not only forced Ragnell, he had multiplied the pain beyond anything Gawain could imagine by including her condemned brother as witness.

  "Then let us fight," Gawain said, his voice low.

  "Gladly."

  The warriors on both sides moved back to the edges of the small square, making room for Gawain and the knight in green to do battle.

  "Take up your sword," Gawain said.

  Bertilak bent to retrieve his weapon — but when he rose, he was a young Arthur again, slim and blond as he had been when Gawain entered his uncle's service.

  No, he was not Arthur. He was a rapist, a particularly cruel rapist. Apparently, the powers of Bertilak's sister were returning.

  Gawain attacked, concentrating on the green shield, doing his best to ignore the beloved face. Unnatural mist swirled around their ankles and snaked up between them, but Gawain focused on his adversary's helmet; he would not allow the magic at Bertilak's disposal to take the victory.

  Dawn crept along the ruins, and in the distance the twitter of birds announced the coming of day. Otherwise the only sound was blades meeting and sliding away and the grunts of the opponents. Bertilak was strong, but Gawain was stronger, and gradually it became clear that he was wearing the other man down. Bertilak's attacks had become non-existent, and his side of the duel was reduced to defending himself with shield and sword.

  Finally the green warrior fell for a clever feint, and Gawain responded with a twisting thrust that ripped the sword out of his hand and sent it flying.

  Bertilak knelt down in front of Gawain and laid his shield at his feet. "I am defeated. There is no longer any chance for me to gain revenge or hill-fort, so I beg you to cut off my head."

  He removed his helmet and bent his head, but Gawain was so surprised at this request that he could only stare at the bare neck of the warrior in green. Given what Bertilak had done to Ragnell, he might be sorely tempted to do as requested, but the principles of fairness followed by Arthur's companions dictated otherwise — and Pabius, Gaheris, and Gareth were watching.

  "But if you yield, there is no reason for me to kill you," Gawain said.

  Bertilak raised his head again to look into Gawain's eyes. "If you cut off my head, the warriors under my command will be set free. Then perhaps there will be some mercy for me in another life. This is not their fight."

  "Are they not your men?"

  "Not all. My sister bound them to me before we left on this campaign. I would not have had enough men at my command to carry out her revenge; many of them are enchanted and under her power."

  Gawain gazed at his opponent, undecided. If Bertilak realized the wrongs he had done, Gawain was honor bound to grant mercy.

  Then there was a commotion just past the warriors lining the square, and men were moving to the side to make room for Ragnell, striding through their midst. The scar tissue on the right half of her face was livid, and she clutched a rust-red cloak the color of blood to her neck as she approached.

  "Ragnell!" both he and Bertilak called out at the same time.

  Without responding, she hastened up to them. Before either saw what she was about, she pulled a heavy sword out from under her cloak and swung it high and down. The blade connected with Bertilak's neck, struck bone, and slid away. Blood spurted out of the deep wound, spraying their calves and thighs and drenching the stones and dirt at their feet.

  Bertilak screamed and clutched the wound. Ragnell swung again, with both hands this time, putting her whole body into it, shrieking like a fiend from the Otherworld. The splat of flesh and blood was followed by the crunch of bone and steel and another long drawn-out screech, which finally ended when Bertilak's head fell away, his mouth and eyes still wide, silently echoing the scream that had gone before.

  The men who had been watching stepped away as one, while Ragnell's sword clattered to the ground at her feet. Then silence, thick as the mist swirling between them in the ruins of the former Roman garrison.

  A shaft of sunlight cut through the milky winter atmosphere, reflecting on the bloody sword at Ragnell's feet.

  "There. It is done."

  At her words, the fog began to lift. Before their actions could become desertion in the unforgiving light of day, Bertilak's men began to slip along stone walls and down side streets and alleys away from the square and out of the garrison walls.

  In profile, the beautiful half of Ragnell's face was stark and unforgiving, like some ancient war goddess, Cymid
ei or Morrigu. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Gareth raising his arm and pointing. "Ragnell! What —?"

  Slowly, she turned and faced Gawain. Her beauty was as complete as he had ever imagined, the scarred half of her face smooth and perfect. He blinked and stared, unsure if he should feel elated — or perhaps even betrayed. He had accepted her as she was, had even learned to find her disfigurement beautiful in its own way.

  Only to discover now that it had been a masquerade all along.

  She stepped around the body of the warrior in green and took his bloody sword hand in her own, cupping the fingers that still clenched the hilt. "Not a masquerade, Gawain," she murmured so that only he could hear. "Merely a way to survive. Besides, how are you to know that this is not the illusion?"

  Despite his feeling of betrayal, he found the corners of his mouth twitching up in a smile at the words of his clever wife.

  "We can let them think it was a spell of the sorceress sister, yet another facet of her revenge," Ragnell continued. "Will you help me?"

  He nodded shortly. Dropping his shield, he lifted his free hand to her now scarless cheek. "Ragnell," he said loud enough for all the men remaining in the square to hear. "You are whole!"

  Her eyes widened, and he had to keep a smile of amusement from springing to his lips, in spite of all that had just transpired. She was a consummate actress — perhaps too much so. He would have to keep that in mind during their future life together.

  She brought her own hand to her cheek, tracing the smooth skin as he had, and laughed out loud. "The spell is lifted!"

  Any of Bertilak's men who still lingered dashed off at these words.

  "Verily it is, my dear wife." Gawain leaned forward to kiss her smooth cheek. "You have quite a bit of explaining to do yet," he whispered in her ear.

  "Is it not enough to know that I love you, but I needed to test you?" she whispered back.

  "You were 'scarred' when I arrived at your hill-fort," he reminded her.

  "That was to protect myself. I could not drop the illusion I had created simply because I had found you."

  Gawain decided to leave it at the strange declaration of love for the time being. There would not have been time to demand explanations anyway. His men had overcome their instinctive fear of a veritable Judith and begun to cheer at Bertilak's death and their own victory, doing their part to lift the gloom that had darkened the decaying walls of the Roman garrison.