Morgain's Revenge - Laura Anne Gilman [0]
Grail Quest
Morgain’s Revenge
Laura Anne Gilman
For CGAG,
who came through when needed
Contents
One
The sunlight filtered down through the large window that dominated…
Two
“And so, sire, I must protest at this plan, even…
Three
Gerard paid no attention to dignity or manners on his…
Four
“How did you know to come here?” Gerard asked his…
Five
“So what did Arthur say when you told him where…
Six
“I think I preferred leaving without fanfare,” Newt said, frustration…
Seven
There were waves crashing outside, white-capped waters dashing into and…
Eight
“Oh. My. Lord.”
Nine
The morning of the fifth day after her abduction, Ailis…
Ten
“Blast it, Merlin! I need more information! How can I…
Eleven
Ailis had spent the night twisting and turning in the…
Twelve
“You have been very patient,” Morgain said. Ailis jumped in…
Thirteen
The air smelled of warm horseflesh and dry straw, with…
Fourteen
“Three touches of air to a dose of water, and…”
Fifteen
Ailis felt uneasy. Since the shadow-figure confronted her in the…
Sixteen
“Show me Morgain’s home,” Gerard uttered in frustration as they…
Seventeen
Their return to the village was much less impressive than…
Eighteen
“Morgain?”
Nineteen
“Why aren’t there any protections?” Newt wondered out loud.
Twenty
The three were quickly taken prisoner by ghostly servants summoned…
Twenty-One
Ailis led them up a short flight of stairs to…
Twenty-Two
“Witch-child, no!”
Twenty-Three
“Gahhhh!” Merlin glared at the three of them, then carefully…
Twenty-Four
“This,” Gerard said in satisfaction. “Now this is how you’re…
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ONE
The sunlight filtered down through the large window that dominated the room at the top of the Queen’s Tower; its glass was the clearest and finest that craftsmen could make. Only the best was offered to the Queen of Camelot, Guinevere, and her court.
Today that court, fifteen ladies-in-waiting, chosen for their good breeding, fine manners, and gracious speech, was scattered about the room, sitting on cushioned benches or padded chairs pushed together for better gossiping. They worked at their stitchery and listened to a musician playing a lute quietly off in the corner. The queen sat in the center of the solar on a simple high-backed wooden chair that was practically hidden by the long purple folds of her skirt. Two maids held up brocaded fabrics for her consideration, while a master craftsman stood off to one side, awaiting her decision.
“Oh, dear. Allison, what have you been thinking to let your threads become so…tangled?”
The woman speaking to her was Caitrin. The eldest daughter of one of the queen’s cousins, she was sweet-faced—but with the soul of a viper and a tongue as poisonous.
Ailis, still not used to the unfamiliar twist on her name that the ladies-in-waiting had given her, looked up from her embroidery. The soft, blue thread had indeed become less a field of flowers than a mess of knots in the fabric she was working on. A woman sitting on the chair nearest to her giggled, then hid her smile behind one hand and looked away when Ailis glared at her.
Ailis suppressed her instinctive response to Caitrin’s usual cruelty, and merely bent her head back down to her work. Calm. Be calm. She hadn’t asked to be lifted from the life of a servant, any more than she had asked to become a servant in the first place. She had little to say in her own affairs since her parents had died in a battle in the early years of Arthur’s reign. But when she and her friends, Newt and Gerard, had broken the sleep-spell cast by the sorceress Morgain, the queen had decided that Ailis deserved a better future. Gerard, a squire, had also been rewarded. He was given the opportunity to ride out with the great Quest to find the Holy Grail—the very Quest that Morgain’s spell had been designed to prevent.
But they never asked me what I wanted, she thought, many times since she had been sent here.
Being taught needlework, or how to read out loud in a properly modulated