Reign of Evil

Before Geraint, the enemy’s scourge,
I saw white horses, tensed, red,
After the war cry, bitter the grave

Then she ran through to the last lines:

When Geraint was born, Heaven’s gate stood open;
Christ granted all our prayer;
Lovely to behold, the glory of Prydain.

She soon found that “Prydian” was the Primitive Welsh word for Britain. She decided to search other sources and soon found that the location of Portsmouth as the site of the battle was in academic dispute, as was the year in which it took place. A scholarly text from a King Arthur site, citing earlier documents, believed that Llongborth was actually Langport in Somerset and that the year the battle occurred was actually AD 710. It also went on to say that King Arthur probably wasn’t present at the battle but that his men were, hence the sentence In Llongborth I saw Arthur’s Heroes / Who cut with steel. The poem never once mentions that the narrator saw King Arthur.

Which made sense later when she saw that the birth of Arthur was believed to have been circa AD 465. She continued searching and learned that Arthur was believed to have ruled the region known at present as Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall. His castle was located in Cadbury and was presently known as Cadbury Castle. Bones and artifacts from the area date back to 3300 BC, but it is argued that the fortification on the giant mound was created circa 70 BC.

An interesting excerpt tied Arthur into the poem: If Arthur was conceived at Tintagel, then as a prince of Dumnonia, Cadbury Castle would have been within his dominion. Dumnonia had been mentioned before as being the seat of King Gerren, the Geraint referred to in the poem.

Another detail caught her eye. Several sources said that Merlyn was purported to have written the poem but then explained that as he was a right-hand man to Arthur it would have been impossible for this to be true because of the time difference.

Unless Merlyn happened to be a Tuatha, she thought.

She blinked hard. What had she stumbled on?

She remembered that Cadbury Castle had been built upon a mound. What kind of mound? And what sort of artifacts had been found there?

Half an hour later she’d discovered enough to make her worry. She checked the time. It was 0912 hours. She put in a call to Ian. She got no response. She put in a call to Holmes, then Walker, and received no response from either. If she was right, then everything they were about to do might be wrong. In fact, it might be the very worst thing they could do.

CHAPTER 41

REDLANDS AIRFIELD, SWINDON. 0715 HOURS.

Paul Legerski lay in bed with the sweet smell of sex still welling from his body. He’d seen Megan at the pub three times before and had always wanted to talk to her, but she was just too bloody beautiful to approach. But last night was Christmas Eve and he told himself this was the night. Completely lubricated with courage juice, he’d gone over, only to find her crying.

This he was good at.

Her aunt had passed away that morning and Megan was at the pub drowning her sorrows. He spent time asking about her aunt, what was it she loved about her, what had she learned from her. In the back of his mind, he knew this was unfair, but he really wanted her to work as quickly through the stages of grief as possible.

And it had paid off. An hour before closing, they went out for some crisps, then found themselves back at his place. He had the best closing lines around.

What is it you do? they’d ask.

I’m a pilot.

As in a plane?

Then he’d shrug and add, I teach people to parachute too. Then he’d look at the girl and say, Do you want to learn how to jump out of airplanes? Do you want to fly?

Once he got his courage up, those were the magic words and rarely did they miss. Just as they hadn’t last night.

He pulled the covers up to his neck and imagined the mole she wore just below her left breast. He was reliving the moment when a pounding came at the door.

Bollocks! Don’t they know it’s Christmas? He closed his eyes and was determined to ignore it.

But the banging came again along with someone yelling, “Open the damn door!”

First of all, he’d never open the door if someone yelled that. Second of all, the voice sounded American.

He slid out of bed and wrapped a sheet around his midsection.

The man hammered at the door again.