Chapter 22: How Griflet was made knight, and jousted with a knight
AKA How an uppity teenage boy predictably says he can handle it when he can not, in fact, handle it.
Characters
Arthur
Griflet, but not that Griflet - this one is younger
Merlin
King Pellinore
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Summary
Griflet asks Arthur to knight him so that he can go avenge Sir Miles by jousting the knight by the well who mortally wounded their guy. Merlin says that the knight he'd be challenging is way out of the boy's league and he should just forget it because it would be a shame if the kid died - he would grow up to be a great knight.
Arthur considers this before asking Griflet, who is basically his age, to pinkie swear that he'll come back as soon as he's unhorsed. Griflet promises, and Arthur knights him.
Griflet rides out to the well and challenges the massive knight who is hanging out there. The knight looks at him and says "Hey man, I'd rather not kill you, so maybe don't do that." Griflet demands the challenge, and the knight obliges.
The joust goes predictably. Griflet is struck so hard that his shield is split in two, and both he and his horse fall.
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Social Media AU with Pendragon makes me laugh because the concept of Chrome having a vent account with only one follower on it and that being Shiguru where he posts about Ekusu leaving him is funny to me. Just imagine Shieru having a Chrome fanblog. Imagine the Social Media AU its funny i swear!!!!
Chapter 17: Yet more of the same battle, and how it was ended by Merlin
AKA Hey Merlin, maybe giving a 15 year old and army and telling him to go hogwild was a bad decision, actually
Light! I see light at the end of the tunnel!
Character
To be frank, there are a ton of guys named here including ones we've never heard of before so I'm just going to list the ones we *have* heard of because these sections are getting stupidly long
Arthur
King Ban
King Bors
Lionses
Phariance
Ulfius
Brastias
Ector
Kay
Lucas the butler
Griflet
Merlin
Bleise
King Leodegrance
King Rience
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Summary
Arthur and Kings Ban and Bors praise their gaggle of remaining knights (the text says forty, but I think this might be forty in the biblical sense, meaning "a lot") for their chivalry and feats of arms on the battlefield. After the pep talk, the knights charge to meet the eleven kings' army in battle once again (this time they only have their cavalry).
The knights charge, and the three kings join the fray. The rebel army is pushed back across a little river, when Merlin shows up and tell Arthur he's already done well enough.
In the aftermath, Merlin points out that his 30,000 men have become 15,000. Arthur may have been pressing the attack, but it was a Pyrrhic victory. He also mentions the kings of the north have other problems they may not be privy to yet - namely that 40,000 Saracens have landed in their lands to raid.
Merlin advises the boy king to give the bulk of the spoils of war to Kings Ban and Bors for their service so they may distribute it to their knights, as well as reward his own men for their valor. Arthur, deferring to Merlin, agrees and the army heads back. Merlin takes his leave, heading to his master Bleise in Northumberland to tell him of Arthur's battle so he may record it.
After dictating the story of the battle to Bleise, Merlin gets up to his classic shenanigans. He disguises himself as an old trapper, covered in dark furs and wearing big boots. He approaches Arthur and asks for a gift. Arthur initially brushes himself off, asking why he should. In his usual way, Merlin makes a cryptic threat about him losing everything.
Ulfius and Brastias look at each other, immediately clocking the wizard as being up to his usual antics, and tell Arthur, who is suitably embarrassed for comporting himself so poorly in front of Merlin.
Later during the festivities, Arthur meets a beautiful woman! No, it's not the one you think. It's probably not the other one either. This woman's name is Sanam, and she's the daughter of an unnamed earl at the festivities. Like father like son, he comes onto her, but unlike Ygraine with his dad Sanam returns the affections and they have a child out of wedlock named Borre.
As they prepare to go help Ban and Bors deal with Claudas, Arthur gets word that King Leodegrance of Cameliard, one of the first to bow before him, is under attack by King Rience of North Wales (I wonder what happened to Cradelment?). They decide to go rescue him on the way.
The rest of the kings, but they're mostly referred to in aggregate so don't worry about it.
================
As Lot marvels at Bors' capacity for intense acts of violence, Ban charges into the scene. The brothers leave destruction and gore in their wake. It was like this (Ban has the red shield, Bors has the blue shield)
Seeing the havoc they're wreaking and tired of being "the guy who rescues guys and horses," the King of the Hundred Knights rushes Ban and gets him with his spear.
The thing is, Ban is a badass, and in response to his charge the King of the Hundred Knights has Ban bearing down on him with a blow mighty enough to split his shield and his horse!
The King of the Hundred Knights retaliates, stabbing Ban's horse dead before retreating.
Lucky for Ban, Arthur was nearby and saw him get unhorsed
Arthur finds a random knight, kills him in a single blow and takes his horse to Ban.
Meanwhile, despite getting their asses handed to them left and right, the rebel kings (and Duke Eustace) refuse to back down.
Lot explains that they will shift to a cavalry-only strategy, and also for good measure they should kill anyone on their side who seems afraid or like they want to leave.
And that's the chapter! Doodling was fun, I'm sure I'll get better at it over time, but probably not much better haha
Now that we've gotten our yakkety sax horse roulette done, on to the rest of the battle!
Characters:
Arthur
Lucas
King Agwisance
Bloias de La Flandres
Gwinas
King Ban
King Bors
Briant
Bellias of Flanders (wait... Is this just Bloias de La Flandres??)
Lot
Nentres
Brandegoris
Idres
Uriens
Kay
Griflet
Ulfius
Brastias
Ector
Eustace of Cambenet
Cradelment
Clariance of Northumberland
King with the Hundred Knights
Lionses
Phariance
Bleoberis
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Summary
Lucas the butler sees the Irish King Agwisance kill Moris de la Roche and runs at him with his spear hard enough to knock him and his horse over. That's right we're still doing horse stuff!
While in the fray, Lucas saw Bellias of Flanders and Sir Gwinas, who are additional knights on Arthur's side in the fighting, and gets them some horses from unnamed low-rank knights. The text makes a point of mentioning that though the fighting is terribly hard on both sides, Arthur is glad to see his men on horses again. Did I mention last chapter they said the word "horse" or some variant of it (e.g. horsed, horses) over 40 times in 3 pages?? Anyway, no more horsing around - back to the fight!
Ban and Bors stand ready with their knights, who are so horny for violence they're literally shaking waiting for the go ahead to join the fray. Meanwhile, Lucas starts to form his own little squad within the battle. This posse consists of big names such as:
Gwinas, the guy from earlier!
Briant, some other guy we haven't heard about before!
Bellias of Flanders, also from just a bit ago!
The group finds themselves against six of the kings: Lot, Nentres, Brandegoris, Ides, Uriens and Agwisance. Eventually they are joined by actually important knights, Kay and Griflet! They press the attack against the kings, who are on the back foot.
Arthur himself takes to the field, slaying 20 knights and wounding Lot as he rides past, but leaves Kay and Griflet with the boys to win their own glory against the kings.
Ulfius, Brastias and Ector (the old guys squad), on the other hand, find themselves against the rest of the rebel kings (and one marvelous Duke): Eustace of Cambenet, Cradelment of North Wales, Clariance of Northumberland, King Carados, and the King with the Hundred Knights. They clash with these kings until the retreating Lot comes to them, wounded but not done yet. He tells the kings that with the way things are going presently they will lose. He devises a new strategy (I'm not sure when this happens, because I assume the old guys squad is right there??): He will take about half of the remaining men to retreat and rejoin the fighting after the half that stays tires them out. They agree on the game plan and Lot sets off with the King with the Hundred Knights, Agwisance, Idres and Duke Eustace of Cambenet. However, they're in for a surprise!
Ban and Bors signal the charge, leading their ambush into the fray. Lionses and Phariance from the tournament take the vanguard and engage King Idres in combat. Idres begins to worry, seeing his men around him falling left and right. Agwisance and Eustace see the position Idres is in and begin to ride to his aid.
Bors, however, knows the danger his two knights are in and rides in with a terrifying fury. Lot immediately sees Bors and realizes the position they are all in, and begins saying a prayer on the battlefield.
The King with the Hundred Knights asks him who the rider is, and he tells him that Bors of Gaul is a legendary warrior, and he wonders how he made it into Britain without them knowing (a knight tells him Merlin did it, but given there have been no knights in the conversation yet I like to think this is Merlin just hanging out being weird). King Carados says that he will engage Bors, and asks for Lot to back him up when he needs it.
Bors' godson Bleoberis (whose name makes me giggle like an idiot) is serving among Bors' bodyguards, bearing his standard. Bors, excited to test the mettle of these northern knights, immediately skewers a knight on his spear and kills him instantly. Drawing his sword, he engages the rest of the host and eventually Carados is struck down. However, before he is killed he is rescued by the King with the Hundred Knights, who is the best team player on the rebels' side.
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Chapter 14: How the Eleven Kings with their great host fought against Arthur and his host, and many great feats of the war.
AKA an ambush in the night turns into a violent game of musical chairs
Characters
Arthur
King Ban
King Bors
Merlin
Ulfius
Brastias
Duke Eustace of Cambenet (Previously just called The Duke of Cambenet)
King Clariance of Northumberland
Kay
Griflet
Lucas the butler
King Brandegoris
King Idres
King Agwisance
King Nentres
King Lot
The King with the Hundred Knights
Pinel
Melot de la Roche
Gwimart de Bloi
Clariance de la Forest Savage (not to be confused with King Clariance who is also present)
Ector
King Cradelment of North Wales
Sir Morganore
Lardans
======================
Summary
Ooooh boy does Malory not skimp on named characters during battles. Arthur's army attacks right at the end of the previous chapter, and this battle is chaotic right out the gate. The pavilions that the kings were sleeping in were knocked down on top of them, and by the time morning came around 10,000 men were dead already.
However, to deal with the numbers advantage that the eleven kings had, Merlin hatches a plan with kings Arthur, Ban and Bors. The french kings go to their host of 10,000 men hiding in the woods and wait, so that the rebel kings believe Arthur only to have 20,000 men and get overconfident. Then, after day breaks, they join the fray, fresh and ready for battle. Ulfius and Brastias are tasked with taking 3,000 men of arms to cut off any tactical withdrawals, where they hold the line and slay countless enemies.
The eleven kings, humiliated by how outclassed they are, take to the field in a rage. It is here where we begin to play Battlefield Musical Chairs!
Ulfius has his horse slain from under him, and begins fighting on foot. He is holding is own, but Duke Eustace of Cambenet and King Clariance of Northumberland have it out for him. As they move to attack him, Brastias rushes in and strikes the duke hard enough to knock both him and his horse down. Clariance turns his attention to the incensed Brastias, and they ride at each other hard enough that both of them fall to the ground with their horses (whose knees break, leaving both men *also* without a horse).
Sir Kay the seneschal joins the fray with his six buddies that seem to always be with him, cleaning up like they did during the tournament. He sees Griflet and Lucas the butler knocked to the ground, horse and man, by Kings Brandegoris, Idres and Agwisance.
Seeing Griflet on foot, Kay rides to King Nentres, knocks him off of his horse, and brings that horse to get him back in the fight. Kay then sees King Lot and strikes him hard as well. The King of the Hundred Knights rides to Lot's aid, strikes down Kay and takes his horse to give to Lot.
I have made a rudimentary aid to show what is happening right now. Squares are knights, triangles are horses (with the owner's knight listed on them):
Griflet rides through the battle and sees that Kay is without a horse, so he finds Pinel (just a guy, as far as I can tell - the book introduces him as "a good man of arms"), kicks him of *his* horse, and passes it off to Kay:
Lot, in similar fashion, sees that Nentres is unhorsed. He runs to Melot de la Roche (another guy we have not heard about before), knocks him down and takes his horse to pass off to Nentres.
The King of the Hundred Knights, not content to just be "that guy who had a bad dream," rescues Idres (who apparently ended up on foot at some point?) by bringing him a horse that he took from Gwimiart de Bloi:
Lot then strikes down Clariance de la Forest Savage and gives his horse to Duke Eustace. Uh-Oh! It would appear things are looking dire for Ulfius and Brastias, who are still on foot as the last king present is re-horsed. (Sorry Clariance, apparently you don't get a horse).
The kings swear revenge for the damage they've taken, but they are interrupted mid-synchronized monologue by Ector, bold and eager to fight despite his age. He is joined by Arthur, who slices through King Cradelment of North Wales, giving that horse to Ulfius. Oh! We aren't done! Cradelment is still up, if wounded, and who should ride to his aid but the King of the Hundred Knights, certified horse-getter! He strikes down Old Man Ector, taking his horse and handing it off to Cradelment before he can get injured any further.
Arthur, seeing Cradelment on Ector's horse, is so furious that he strikes Cradelment with enough force to break through a quarter of his helmet and shield, killing the horse! C'mon, man! The horse didn't want this!
Back to Kay, he finds Sir Morganore, seneschal to the King of the Hundred knights, and takes *his* horse to Ector, his father, who then mugged another knight named Lardans and took his horse to Brastias who "great need had of an horse," filthy and covered in dirt and blood.
Now we're in business! Brastias, newly horsed, sees Griflet rescue Lucas, who has fourteen knights on him. Really? Fourteen knights for the butler???
Brastias rides in to support, leaving a wave of gore behind him. He strikes through the top of the helm down to his teeth, takes another arm off which goes flying, took another guy's shoulder and arm off, and was a veritable storm of blood and body parts on the field.
Griflet, seeing Brastias absolutely clean house, takes one of the now-knightless horses and props Lucas on it, bidding him to "revenge his hurts," supporting Brastias in his butchery.
So somehow, by the end of all of this, almost everyone has a horse except for Cradelmont (who might be dead?) and Clariance of Northumberland, whom Malory did not deign to narrate getting another horse (or even participating in the rest of the battle).
Chapter 13: Of a dream of the King of the Hundred Knights
Uhhh yeah, basically what it says on the tin.
Characters:
Merlin
Arthur
The King of the Hundred Knights
King Ban of Benwick
King Bors of Gaul
===============
Merlin advises that Arthur's forces send fore-riders to scout ahead before the battle. They run into the fore-riders from the North, who are *also* scouting before the battle.
Arthur's scouts learn where the eleven kings are preparing for war, and proceed to ride back to tell the kings.
Meanwhile, the King with the Hundred Knights is asleep in his field-pavilion thing, and he's not sleeping well.
In his dream, a terrible wind blows down all their castles and towns, and a great flood washes the wreckage away. He wakes up to the sound of scouts yelling that they are under attack from Arthur's forces in the dead of night!
