Spoiler! :
Morgan was not usually so secretive. She used to recite our family history to me before I could crawl.
My grandmother was married to Gorlois, the Duke of Cornwall. The duchess had many lovely qualities, but she was known as Igraine the fair because of her milk white skin. She had three children, all daughters. Morgan, Elaine, and Morgause.
I think Igraine was happy in her marriage. Morgan says she was. It doesn’t really matter though, because “destiny" intervened.
The High King Vortigern and his contingent of Saxons had finally been vanquished. Uther Pendragon has seized the throne, and his first act as ruler was to summon all the lesser nobles to pay fealty to him.
Gorlois was one of Uther’s strongest supporters. He had been fighting alongside his lord for many years, and he was sick of battle. When the summons came, he decided to bring his entire household with him to participate in the festivities, including his beloved family.
Morgan still remembers what it was like. Everyone was in a celebratory mood. It seemed like Britain would be at peace for the first time in decades. Uther’s castle was filled with decorations. There was always feasting and dancing going on somewhere. It was like a dream to a little girl from the rocky cliffs of Cornwall. But the festive trappings could not hide the approaching disaster for long.
Igraine wasn’t stupid. She saw how the new High King was salivating over her. How he always seemed to be in the vicinity. She knew that this was a man used to getting what he desired. Of course she told her husband, who obviously wanted to get her well away before Uther decided to press his advantage. Unfortunately, he fled without making the proper diplomatic excuses.
Uther was incensed. How dare they run from him? Immediately he accused Gorlios of treachery and set out to take Cornwall, and all that came with the territory. The Duke was a great warrior, and to keep his lady safe he was willing to fight harder than ever before. Despite being heavily outnumbered, his armies were holding strong. Meanwhile, Igraine and her daughters were safe in their fortress on the coast.
But Uther had Merlin on his side. The wizard with a gift for looking into the future, whose machinations had earned Uther the crown in the first place. Apparently Uther was meant to be king, and now he was supposed to have Igraine.
Late one night, Igraine’s guards were relieved from duty by a man they thought was their lord, sneaking away from the fighting to spend an evening with his wife.
They were shocked when the messengers arrived at dawn. Gorlois had succumbed to his wounds the evening before.
Knowing that Igraine would never willingly betray her husband, Uther had disguised himself as the Duke. He needn’t have bothered. Once there was no one to protect her, she had no way to refuse when the king declared they were to be married. If he had simply waited a few ore days his son might have been considered legitimate.
Arthur was the result of Uther’s deception, and the price for Merlin’s magic. The king wasn’t too concerned about the loss of a child, especially one whose origins would always be questioned. He assumed that there would be proper heirs in the future.
Maybe Igraine objected to the wizard taking her baby from her. Perhaps she was passed caring at that point. She thwarted Uther in the end though. She didn’t live very long as his queen, and she never had any more children.
Cornwall was given to King Mark, one of Uther’s allies in the fight against Gorlois. Likewise Elaine was married off to Nentres, king of Garlot, as a reward. She settled in for a happy, if unremarkable life raising numerous children.
King Lot of Lothian was a special case. He was a man of shifting alliances. His marriage to Morgause, the eldest of Uther’s stepdaughters, was arranged to make him tentatively in line to the throne, hopefully circumventing any of his other plotting. No wonder he despised me so much.
The youngest daughter Morgan was sent to a convent for schooling. By the time she was old enough to even consider marriage she had developed a will stronger than anything Uther Pendragon could throw at her. She set out to pursue her own studies, which included witchcraft.
Arthur was raised as the fosterling of a man named Sir Ector. He wasn’t even told his own fathers name until Merlin came back to claim him. To tell him that his parents were dead, and that he was the true king of Britain.
Thus my father knew next to nothing about his origins, while I knew far too much. So much heartache could have been avoided, if only our situations had been reversed.
Gender:
Points: 2952
Reviews: 136