The Squire's Quest by Gerald Morris

diplomacy."
    The meeting dispersed a few minutes later, and Terence left, his heart still unnaturally cold and heavy in his breast. Except for Kai's comments, which had sounded surly and peevish even to Terence's ears, no one had had anything bad to say about young Mordred. Terence felt suddenly helpless, realizing that he could say nothing against Mordred that anyone would listen to. His own suspicions of Mordred were based on his and Guinglain's deep feelings, not on anything that could be considered proof. Why is it, Terence wondered, that the things you know most surely are always the things you can't demonstrate to anyone else?
    Deciding he would just have to keep an eye on Mordred, Terence returned to his chambers to find Gawain awaiting him. "There you are. Come on. Arthur wants us."
    "What for?"
    "He just sent Kai to find the two of us and Lancelot. We re to meet him in his own chambers at once."
    When they arrived, Terence found not only Arthur, Kai, and Lancelot, but also Queen Guinevere waiting for them. "Shut the door behind you," Arthur said. "And bar it."
    Terence obeyed in silence, but his mind and senses were unnaturally alert. The king looked somber, but in another way agitated.
    "What's wrong, Arthur?" Guinevere asked. "What's going on?"
    "I need to talk about something, something that we never speak of."
    "What, my king?" asked Lancelot.
    "About the affair that you and Guinevere had when you first came to court."
    "Arthur!" exclaimed Guinevere, glancing sharply at the others in the room.
    "They all know, my love," Arthur said.
    "But all that's over now," Guinevere said. "I am sorry. I was young. I thought ... I was foolish. Why must we talk about it again? I wish it were forgotten!"
    Now Lancelot spoke. "The queen is right. That ... that episode is over. We both rejected it, and we have both been restored to your favor. Surely you do not suspect—"
    "I suspect nothing," the king said. "And I don't bring it up to accuse either of you. You are the love of my life, Gwen, and Lancelot, you are among my most trusted friends. Whatever happened has been forgiven."
    "But not forgotten?" asked Lancelot.
    "Please, Lance," Arthur said. "Let me finish. When the two of you were—well, during that time—I was driven to distraction, watching you. Maybe some of you remember how I was." Terence and Gawain and Kai all nodded. "To relieve my anguish, and maybe anger, I took to going out on quests alone."
    Guinevere's eyes grew wide. "What? But I don't remember—"
    "I told you I was going to a monastery for prayer and meditation," Arthur explained, a little sheepishly. "But what I was really doing was challenging every knight I met to combat, then bashing them about. It made me feel better. Only Kai knew what I was really doing. Oh, and Terence."
    Gawain blinked. "You knew this, Terence?"
    "I was one of the knights that got bashed about," Terence explained. "Back when you were trying to convince me to become a knight and making me practice jousting and such. Arthur found me working at it alone one day and, um, gave me a private lesson."
    "But one day, on one of these quests," Arthur went on, "I actually did something worth doing. I was riding alone, as usual, and heard a woman scream. I rode toward the sound and found her in a clearing, about to be attacked by a ... a dragon."
    Terence froze, feeling something horrible and inevitable clutch at him. Mordred! The knights were motionless as well. Only Guinevere, who hadn't been at the meeting of the Round Table, responded to this. "A dragon! Really?"
    Arthur nodded, his eyes meeting those of the other men, each in turn. "As for the rest, it happened much as young Mordred said. I fought the dragon, killed it, and rescued the damsel—and he was right about her, too: she was very beautiful. She cared for my wounds."
    "You were hurt?" exclaimed the queen.
    Arthur lifted a sleeve and showed them a long white scar on his left shoulder. "In a few days I was well