Week 11 Storytelling: A Clandestine Meeting

Careful to keep out of sight, one by one or in groups no larger than three they made their way to the tavern. Once there, a secret sign was given to the owner, who ferreted them into the back room.

Yvain was the last to enter, taking his time to ensure their tracks were well covered. Once the door to the room was shut firmly behind him, one of the hooded men to the right questioned him. “Does he suspect?”

Taking down his own hood, Yvain shook his head. “Not at all, Gawain,” he answered his friend. As if the name had broken a barrier, the men began to lower their hoods until the modestly dressed Knights of the Round Table were all revealed. Well, all of those currently residing in Camelot, at any rate. It was difficult to tell how many of them would be here at any given point of the spring season, but they did their best to keep a goodly number in attendance at the court. Conversation remained muted as they all took to their seats, and Yvain waited until all assembled were situated before beginning the meeting.

“There is planned a great feast but a week from now,” he revealed. To no one’s surprise, this announcement was met with weary groans. “It is far too soon after the last, and our King is becoming reckless as normal. We need to plan our course of action should another challenger arise wishing his head.”

Gawain shuddered, and Yvain clasped his friend’s shoulder in support. King Arthur had a habit of rushing headfirst into danger, but it honestly hadn’t mattered terribly much until the moment a green-skinned giant had entered the hall. It was all they could do to convince King Arthur to allow Gawain to take up the challenge in his stead, and while any here would die for their king in but a moment due to the loyalty he had won from them, none were quite sure King Arthur would have succeeded in the final challenge as Gawain had. The chilling fact that the King’s headstrong rash decisions could have returned to them his headless corpse was the notion that began these meetings. Meetings where they planned out who would stand in for their King should another similar incident arise.

“He’s being particularly stubborn this week,” Sir Kay stated with a frown. “We might have a difficult time convincing him.”

“Sir Guyon hasn’t come back from his latest quest yet, has he?” Yvain questioned with a slight hope. Heads shook, and he bit back a curse. Sir Guyon seemed to be the only knight King Arthur would allow to go headfirst into danger in his place without a long argument.

“Sir Lancelot will be back from his quest then, however,” one of the knights offered.

The mood was considerably brightened. “Right then,” Yvain spoke. “I believe it’s my turn to take the challenge, so we’ll send out feelers and hopefully have some sort of advanced warning this time. When Sir Lancelot returns please fill him in, Gawain, and if all else fails he can step in for damage control.”

The others nodded, agreeing easily. Gawain gave a large smile and threw his arm around Yvain’s shoulder. “Now that that’s all taken care of, it’s time I bought you that drink, my friend!” he proclaimed loudly.

Yvain laughed even as the others began dispersing. “After the week I’ve had? I believe it’s high time I took you up on that.” They reentered the main portion of the tavern, and Yvain began to regale Gawain with his long tale as the man ordered a round.

(no round table is complete without singing knights

"Knights of the Round Table" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail)

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Author’s note: So I had a class on Arthurian Romance last year, and one thing that kept popping up was King Arthur’s sheer rash nature. Literally any time a challenger came in Arthur rose to meet him, and the rest of the knights basically had to shove him in a corner and sit on him in order to keep the man from getting himself killed.

So when in my reading Arthur allowed Sir Guyon to face Britomart without a fight, I was shocked. It’s pretty much the only time I’ve come across that in my readings, so I wondered if it was particular to him, which led to thoughts of the other knights hating when he left and wondering who’d convince Arthur not to be an idiot when Guyon was out, which led to this little ditty. It was fun.

The referenced thing about a green giant coming and nearly beheading Gawain is from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, for those who didn’t get the reference. Yvain is one of Gawain's close friends, more commonly known as The Knight with the Lion.

Bib: Stories from the Faerie Queen by Mary Macleod (1916). Web source.