Guinevere Evermore by Sharan Newman Page B

them both up. He would see that their Galahad stayed where he belonged.
    The women’s section of the hall was empty that night. Anger and bitterness are poor sauces. The men pretended they did not notice and were all the louder and more boisterous. But more than one of them excused himself early and the lamps of Camelot burnt late. When they went out that night, not every woman cried herself to sleep. Tertia held her spent husband gently and smiled. For all her wanton behavior, Risa had given good advice. Men, she had explained, cannot be reasoned with. They don’t have the minds for it. But even a fool will think twice before he gives up a treasure in his own house to seek one far away. One simply needs to remind him of the value of the treasure at hand.
    Still, of the knights of the Round Table, nearly half remained determined to seek the Grail. With them were forty or so of the men-at-arms and older boys. When it was certain that nothing could dissuade them, Arthur declared a day of fasting and prayer, followed by a solemn .“neeting of the Table, since no one knew when they would all meet again.
    Arthur’s eyes dimmed as he regarded the men about him that last night. Some had been with him almost from the beginning: Bedivere, Gawain (asleep now, but leaving at dawn with the others), Agravaine, Cei, Lancelot. Only Cei and Agravaine were not going. Of the others, Sagremore, Percival, Morvid, Perredur Map Eridur, Kinlith, Meleagant’s son Dyfnwal, Gerontius of Dumnonia, Cunorix and Ebicatos, who had come to him from Ireland, and Palomides, who had come from the other end of the world, were now leaving. Arthur couldn’t help but feel that they were abandoning him, even though he knew the conflict in their hearts. But he would not send them away with harsh rebukes.
    He gave them all his blessing for the venture and assured them of their right to welcome whenever they chose to return. He asked only that they remember their honor as knights as well as the splendor of their quest and conduct themselves accordingly.
    “And now, we will break with tradition and drink one cup of mead here, to those who are leaving and those who remain, that neither may forget the other or fail to help them in need.”
    They raised their cups in solemn stillness. Galahad, who, for Guinevere’s sake, had been firmly forbidden to join the quest, watched from behind his father. But he could not see well and surreptitiously inched around until he came to an opening. Oh, how he longed to go with them! He tried not to be jealous of those who had been permitted to accompany their cousins or friends. If what he felt were true, then it shouldn’t matter at all where he were. If he made himself worthy, the Grail would come to him. But what could he do around Camelot to make himself worthy of anything? Galahad was growing light-headed. He had spent the night before in the chapel, praying for guidance, and had not eaten all that day. Perhaps he could just sit down a moment. It was weakness. The desert saints would not have succumbed to a mere one day without food. A true knight wouldn’t either. But he felt so dizzy! There was a stool nearby, he could pull it over for just a minute and sit down, just till his head stopped spinning. There. He sat.
    “Good God! Stop him!!” Lancelot knocked over three men in an effort to reach the boy. Someone else cried out, and all steeled themselves for the worst.
    Frightened by this reaction, Galahad jumped up again too quickly. Lamplight on the armour and cups glittered and blurred as he slumped in a faint onto the Table. He did not feel the carven words under his cheek, Siege Perillous .
    Hands shaking with grief, Lancelot lifted up his son and leaned the body against his shoulder. Galahad stirred and blinked.
    “He’s alive!” Cei breathed the obvious. "How can that be? Since Mallton, five men have died for sitting at that place.”
    “He had no evil intention,” Father Antonius said cautiously. “Perhaps