The Death of King Arthur by Peter Ackroyd Page A

and waited. Then just before midnight Merlin roused them. ‘Come,’ he said. ‘Make ready. King Rience is riding this way. He has come with sixty of his knights to visit the Lady de Vaunce. He wishes to sleep with her. So you may surprise him.’
    â€˜Which one is the king?’ Balan whispered to him.
    â€˜There. Coming towards you.’
    So they rushed down upon him, and knocked him from his horse. Then they put to the sword most of his retinue, to right and left, while the rest of them fled into the forest. King Rience lay wounded on the ground, and the two warriors would have killed him if he had not surrendered. ‘Stay your hand, brave knights!’ he called to them. ‘You will win nothing by my death, but by my life you may win much.’ So they took up the king and laid him on a litter.
    Merlin vanished, and then reappeared beside Arthur at Camelot. ‘Your enemy has been taken,’ he told him. ‘King Rience is captured.’
    â€˜By whom?’
    â€˜By two knights, who would dearly love to serve you. You will know their names soon.’
    On the next day Balin and Balan rode into court with King Rience as their captive. They left him in the charge of constables before riding back to their lodging. On hearing of the arrival of Rience, Arthur came up to his adversary. ‘Sir king,’ he said, ‘you are welcome. How did you come this way?’
    â€˜By hard necessity. I was beaten in combat.’
    â€˜By whom?’
    Merlin answered for him. ‘By Balin, known as the Knight of the Two Swords, and by his brother, Balan. He is a knight of great virtue but, alas, he will not live long. But this is not yet a time for mourning. He will still do you more service very soon. Look abroad, sire. King Nero, the brother of Rience, is fast approaching with eleven kings in his retinue. Tomorrow morning they and their armies will advance against you. Prepare yourself.’
    So Arthur mustered his troops. Although he was outnumbered by Nero’s men, he was not outmatched by them. The king himself killed twenty enemy knights, and wounded forty more. He killed six of the kings. Balin and Balan were at the forefront of the fighting, slashing furiously on all sides; they killed six kings between them, including King Nero. Those who saw them believed that they were either angels come down from heaven, or devils sent from hell. No one admired them more than Arthur.
    So Arthur caused to be made statues of copper, overlaid with gold, in the image of the twelve kings who had fallen in the field. Each one of them held a taper in his hands that burned night and day. A statue of Arthur himself was set up in gold, with a sword drawn in his hand, and the twelve kings were given gestures of submission. Merlin completed this wondrous work, as a sign of Arthur’s success.
    Then Merlin told Arthur that, after the king’s death, the twelve candles would burn no longer; he also prophesied the adventures of the Holy Grail, and the dolorous stroke that would come from the sword of Sir Balin.

Wherein a virgin gives up a dish of her blood
    Within a day or so, Arthur fell sick. He pitched his pavilion in a meadow, filled with sweet medicinal herbs, and laid himself down on a pallet to sleep. It was hoped that the sight and the smell of the herbs might cure him. But he could find no rest. As he lay there he heard the sound of a horse galloping towards the pavilion; he looked out and saw a knight going past him with the sound of great mourning. ‘Stop,’ he shouted to him. ‘Why are you in such great sorrow? I may be able to help you.’
    â€˜Nothing now can do me any good,’ the sad knight replied before riding on his way.
    Then there came up behind him Sir Balin. When he saw Arthur he dismounted and saluted him with due reverence. ‘You are welcome, Balin,’ the king said. ‘There just came this way a knight in great distress, but I do not know the