The King Arthur Trilogy Read Online Free Page B

when he reached his father, ‘here is the sword out of the stone; here in my hand. It must be that I am the true High King of Britain.’
    But Sir Ector looked at his son steadily and kindly, and from him to Arthur and back again, and said, ‘Let us go back to the church.’
    And when the three of them had dismounted and gone into the great echoing church, all glimmering with tapers for Candlemas, he made Kay put his hand on the Bible, and said, ‘Now tell me in all truth, how you came by this sword.’
    And Kay turned from white to red, and said, ‘My brother Arthur brought it to me.’
    Sir Ector turned to his foster son, and asked, ‘How came you by this sword?’
    Arthur, troubled because he could not think what Kay had meant when he said that he must be High King of Britain, but still not remembering, said, ‘Kay sent me to fetch his sword, but the lodging was empty and locked up, and I could not think what to do – and then I thought me of this sword in the church garth, and it was serving no useful purpose there, while Kay needed a sword, so I pulled it out and brought it to him.’
    ‘Were there any knights standing by, who saw you do the thing?’ asked Sir Ector.
    Arthur shook his head. ‘No one.’
    ‘Then,’ said Sir Ector, ‘put the sword back in its place.’
    And when Arthur had done so, Sir Ector tried to draw it out again, and could not shift it. And then at his order Kay tried, but with no better success. ‘Now do you draw it forth again, Fosterling,’ he said. And Arthur, greatlywondering what all the to-do was about, drew the sword again, as easily as he had done the first time.
    Then Sir Ector knelt down before him, and bowed his head, and Kay also, though more slowly; and Arthur, beginning to remember and trying not to, and suddenly more afraid than ever he had been in his life before, cried out, ‘Father – Kay – why do you kneel to me?’
    ‘Because you have drawn the sword from the stone, and it is ordained by God Himself that none shall do that save he who is rightfully High King of Britain.’
    ‘Not me!’ Arthur said. ‘Oh, not me!’
    ‘I never knew whose son you were when Merlin brought you to me for fostering,’ said Sir Ector. ‘But I know now that you were of higher blood than I thought you.’
    ‘Get up!’ said Arthur. ‘Oh sir, get up! I cannot bear that you should kneel to me, you who have been my father all these years!’ And when Sir Ector would not, he dropped on to his knees also, to be on a level with the old man again.
    ‘I kneel to my liege lord,’ said Sir Ector. ‘I will serve you in all things and keep true faith with you. Only be a gentle lord to me, and to Kay your foster brother.’
    ‘Kay shall be Seneschal of all my lands, if I be King indeed,’ said Arthur. ‘And how could I be any but a gentle lord to you whom I love. And for the rest – I will serve God and the realm of Britain with the best that is in me.Only get up now, for indeed I cannot bear it!’ And he covered his face with his hands and wept as though his heart would break.
    Then Sir Ector and Sir Kay got up, and Arthur himself last of all; and they went to the Archbishop and told him of what had happened, and as the word spread, knights and nobles came pouring up from the tournament ground, demanding that they should also try for the sword, as was their right; and Arthur set it back into the stone, and one after another, they tried without avail.
    Yet they would not accept that a boy not yet come to his knighthood, and with no proof of his fathering, should be king over them. And so the Archbishop ordained another gathering at Easter, and then yet another at Pentecost, and to each of these the great lords swarmed in to try again; but none could draw the sword save Arthur. And at last the people cried that they were weary of this striving, and would have Arthur for their king.
    Then Arthur took his sword across both hands and offered it before the altar in the abbey church, and