Orion and King Arthur by Ben Bova Read Free Book Online Page A

Then I drove my mount at the barbarian and slashed him from shoulder to navel witha stroke that nearly wrenched me out of my saddle.
    Waving Excalibur on high, Arthur urged his mount forward against a gaggle of barbarian warriors who stood naked but armed with swords and axes. I pulled up alongside him and we sliced the lives out of those men, their blood spurting as they screamed their death agonies.
    But still more were coming at us, roaring with anger and battle lust. Thefirst shock of our surprise attack had quickly worn off and now they were hot for our blood. They seemed to grow out of the very ground, no matter how many we killed still more rose against us. We waded into them as they swarmed around us, pulling men off their mounts, pulling down the horses themselves. Men and beasts alike screamed as the barbarians hacked them to bloody pieces.
    The knightsfared better than the lightly armed squires, but even they were being hard pressed by the teeming, swarming barbarians. Arthur and I weaved a sphere of death with our swords. Anyone who dared to come within reach of our blades died swiftly.
    But still more of the barbarians rushed at us, assailing us like swarms of wasps, surging like the tide of the sea.
    “We’ve got to get back!” Bors shouted.“Their whole army is aroused now.”
    “Yes,” Arthur agreed. “Sound the retreat.”
    The squire who served as bugler put his ram’s horn to his lips and blew mightily. We turned back toward the fort, fighting and hacking our way through the maddened barbarians. The Saxons made no effort to climb the hill and get through the guarded gate; they were content to drive us out of their camp.
    3
    We were tiredand dispirited as we alit from our mounts. Eleven of our number were gone, nine squires and two knights. Each of us was spattered with blood, mostly Saxon, although almost every one of us had been nicked or wounded.
    Except for Arthur. He was untouched and still brimming with excitement.
    “How many did we kill, do you think?” he asked.
    “How many did we lose?” Bors countered.
    Merlin watched usfrom the parapet as we dismounted wearily and helped the wounded off their horses. Several of the men groaned with pain. Many of the young squires were white faced with shock or loss of blood.
    “Well, you had your moment of glory,” Bors said sourly. “It didn’t do us much good, did it?”
    Arthur did not argue against him. Bors was an experienced fighter. Arthur had been named commander of this fortbecause he was the High King’s adopted nephew, and he knew it. The Saxons and their barbarian allies were still encamped around the base of the hill. There were fewer of them, yes, but still more than enough to take the fort when they finally decided to attack.
    At last Arthur said, “We’d better get some sleep. No sense standing here until dawn.”
    Arthur and the others headed wearily for the timberedtower at the far end of the wall. I went to the stables, where my pallet of straw awaited me amidst the steaming, sweating horses. The heat of their bodies kept the wooden shelter warm despite the breeze that whistled through its slats. I automatically tuned down my sense of smell; the stables and horse grounds were not the most sweetly fragrant areas of the fort.
    I stretched out on the palletand thought of my beloved Anya. She had taken human form in many placetimes to be with me. She and I had faced the alien Set in the time of the dinosaurs. We had lived together for a brief interlude of happiness in the beautiful wooded glades of Paradise.
    Always Aten pulled us apart, insanely jealous of her love for me. Yet time and again Anya had found me, helped me, loved me no matter whereand when I had been sent by the Golden One.
    I closed my eyes and pictured her perfect face, those fathomless silver-gray eyes that held all of eternity, her raven-black hair cascading like a river of onyx past her alabaster shoulders. She was a warrior goddess, a proud and courageous