But Sir Galahad's Dead

After awhile he turned and looked up.

"Sir Perceval!" he exclaimed, no doubt he had been expecting one of the holy fathers. "What a surprise! I didn’t think that you would be here for several more days."

"I made better time than expected," I said cryptically. "No time to explain, we must leave now."

Immediately, he armed himself then we departed from the monastery. Such a Knight! He would follow myself or any of the others without hesitation or question. Me? I would have asked why, just to make sure that the request was more important that my concerns. No wonder, the Grail knight had named him as the most perfect of us, and had accused me of pride.

Morgan le Fey had reappeared by the time that we had reached the henge. Sir Galahad first looked at her then at me in enquiry.

"She is here to help," I explained brusquely. "There was no one else that I could turn to."

My companion raised his eyebrows in mild surprise. Then, he dismounted to take her hand and kissed it.

"Greetings, my lady," he said as though she were some beautiful damsel that he had rescued and not the venomous, back stabbing sorceress that she really was. She inclined her head in reply, but made no comment. Then, the three of us walked into the central ring of the henge.

Again she worked her magic and again the lightening reappeared around the tops of the stones and the blackness filled the spaces between them. She then pointed to one and said, "Through that one."

Almost as if at her command, Sir Galahad led his horse through it and disappeared.

"Such a gentleman," Morgan le Fey remarked. "Not like some whom I could mention." She then followed him, leaving me to follow in my own good time.

On the other side, we Knights mounted our steeds for the long ride ahead. Then as we prepared to leave, the sorceress tapped me on the leg to gain my attention

"You will find me here, Sir Perceval, when you have finished your quest," she said. "Until then, adieu, sir gallant."

"And adieu to you, madam," I replied with a touch of irony in my voice before digging in my spurs and leaving her, a frail figure in black standing out against the white snow.

The sky was clear blue with just a few fluffy white clouds in it. The air was warm, the grass was green again and there were leaves on the trees. A rabbit scurried across the road and we could hear the sound of birds singing. It was good to be alive again! And amazing what change the Grail had wrought.

We rode through into a village and the people came out of their houses and waved to us. Their faces were still gaunt from the years of deprivation that they had suffered and they were dressed in rags. Still, there was a new light in their eyes and a poise in their bearing that had been missing just a day or so ago. The moment that they saw whom we were, they gathered around us, pulling their forelocks and giving their thanks for saving the Land.

I was about to stammer in reply that I had done nothing. That it was Sir Galahad who had answered the Grail knight’s question ‘Whom does the Grail serve’ with the words ‘It serves everyone’. That I had been merely his escort. However, my companion rested his hand on mine and my apologies went unuttered.

"We thank you, but we can not linger," he said.