Camelot's Blood by Sarah Zettel Page A

“Din Eityn and control of the firth are treasure enough to tempt any commander with a brain in his head.”
    Arthur lifted his head and Agravain drew himself up, ready for the order. Requiring the order.
    â€œWhat I ask now, Agravain,” said King Arthur. “Is that you do not go to Din Eityn.”
    The words fell like blows against Agravain, wholly unlooked for and shattering all thought.
    â€œWhat!” Agravain shouted before he remembered himself. “My king, what …”
    â€œWe should not wait for the Dal Riata to make their move,” Arthur went on steadily, as if Agravain had not spoken. “A force may still be assembled and moved in time to meet the enemy before winter. The forts on the northern wall are still sound. You, Agravain will ride out with me and we will end this alliance of our enemies.”
    Agravain looked to Kai, who only shrugged one crooked shoulder, and to Gawain who stood silent and unsurprised. His brother did at least seem to recognize this was perhaps an awkward situation, and shifted his weight.
    â€œIf you go north without invitation, my king, it will be thought you go to conquer,” Agravain said, forcing reason back into his tone. “It will infuriate the chiefs and lords there, and call into question the open friendship you have offered.”
    â€œIt cannot be helped,” replied King Arthur. “This alliance and its architects must be broken.”
    â€œYou do not believe I can lead the army which breaks it?” inquired Agravain. It cannot be you do not trust me. It cannot be, my king, you doubt my ability or my loyalty.
    Arthur faced Agravain fully, and Agravain found himself assessing the king almost as he would an opponent before battle. Arthur was old, but still straight, still strong of arm and body. He met Agravain’s eyes with the certainty that must belong to a king.
    â€œI believe I do not want you to go alone to the place where your father was driven mad by Morgan the Fey,” said Arthur. “It would be too dangerous to us should the same fate befall you, Agravain.”
    Morgaine. There it was. The name no one in the whole of Camelot dared to speak aloud. The name of the one who was nemesis to King Arthur and Queen Guinevere both.
    The name of his mother Morgause’s twin sister.
    â€œWe cannot leave Din Eityn kingless,” said Agravain doggedly. “It commands both the old Roman walls.”
    â€œWhich mean far less than they used to with all the quarrels that have sprung up between them, unmediated,” said Gawain slowly. “Let the dogs fight over the bone a little, while the true threat is dealt with.”
    Agravain stared at his brother. Gawain could not really be thinking this way. It was Gododdin he spoke of. It was their place, their land and their people. It was the place that made them princes, and the place that they had been robbed of, and where their father was prisoner. He could not seriously be considering waiting one more day to take it back.
    But as he stared at his brother, Agravain saw Gawain was not thinking like a man of Gododdin. He was thinking like the one who must be the next High King. As Arthur’s heir, Gawain must consider all the lands and peoples that had entered into the Pax Arturus. Gododdin was but one piece in that puzzle.
    Would you sacrifice our north to save your south, Gawain?
It was not a question he had permitted himself to ask before, and in that he had clearly been foolish. When Gawain had left Gododdin, he had left the whole of it behind. He was fully a man of Camelot now, and would not be anything else.
    It occurred to Agravain then that Gawain and Arthur might have spoken on this very subject.
    Spoken on it, and not told me
.
    He felt anger take hold. Its grip enfolded his reason, cold and unyielding. He looked at his brother and his king, and saw how their plans hid behind their calm eyes. What was his kingdom to them? What care had they for