THE SHIELD OF LOCKSLEY

PART TWO: THE TOURNAMENT OF YOUTH

What some readers say:

This is such interesting material! It's hard to do a fresh take on Arthurian material, but you've managed it.

Bill Hiatt

I'm enjoying your original take on the Arthurian legend. Very gritty and probably more like it would have been in historical time.

Richard Ritenbaugh

Such detailed gore and violence, Ben. It is like you are actually there reporting from the battlefields. You hold nothing back.

Sharron Bossano

CHAPTER 22…

THE SWORD

So I’ve decided that that’s the Shield of Locksley up there.👆🏻 There’s one more chapter after this, and we start PART THREE which is titled THE BOOK OF LAMORAK DeGALES. And who is Sir Lamorak DeGales, you ask? Well, as far as Arthurian legend goes, he was the son of King Pellinore, and the brother of Sir Percival, who was one of the Grail Knights. He’s considered to be one of the three best Knights of the Round Table, along with Sir Lancelot and Sir Tristan. He’s a beacon of chivalry; a hero of the people. He doesn’t come off so well in my story. In my take, he’s a bit of a Narcissist, and a cold-blooded killer who enjoys killing. He thinks “No,” means “Maybe,” and so can be considered more of a rapist than romantic. He’s not a nice guy by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, he’s been dinking the mother of Gawain and his brothers, and they’re pissed at him for it, and have sworn to kill him.

Gawain and his brothers are the new generation of knights hoping to take their place at the Round Table. Knights like Lamorak, and Bedivere, as well as Grummer, are members of the “Old” Guard. While Locksley and Gareth are the tail end of the new generation, along with Tristan. The Knights are divided in factions, if you will. The Orkney Knights — the sons of King Lot — are divided among themselves, as well. Gawain, the oldest, is sworn to the King, along with his youngest brother Gareth. The other three, however, (Gaheris, Agravaine, and Modred) are determined to create their own kingdom of Caledonia, Beyond-the-Wall. The only thing that stands in their way is Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

There is a lot of double dealing going on. Morganna “Morgan” La Fey, is siding with her Nephews, but has also sworn to take Locksley down after he discovered her complicity in a plot to take down the King. So far, everything she’s tried, has resulted in failure. Well, it’s not as if it’s anything she’s done herself to cause the failure, that’s just coincidence, and circumstance. She thought, by locking Locksley and Gwenellyn in the dungeon, it would be the end of her problems (they were both unwitting witnesses to her involvement in the conspiracy against the Crown), but they somehow managed to escape, as well as freeing the prisoners and bringing Tarquin’s Keep down at the same time.

So what does she do next? Goes back home and accompanies her husband and son to Camelot, of course. What else can she do? She has to regroup, and she does that by approaching Lamorak and making a deal for her son to marry Gwenellyn. It’s not a great plan, but a least she’ll be able to control the girl by hiding her away. Who knows, it might even work out the way she hopes it will?

But then, things have a way of spinning out of control, don’t they?