M. K. Hume [King Arthur Trilogy 04] The Last Dragon Read Online Free PDF Page B

protested as well. It seemed an unworthy and unnecessary act to desecrate a corpse, but in the throes of his anger and spite our master felt no such qualms. He cut off Trystan’s head, although he lacked the muscle to sever it with a single blow. He struck Trystan’s throat twice with his blade before the head rolled free.’
    Mellyr paused and someone pushed a horn cup of ale into his hands to oil his throat.
    ‘“Where’s your famed beauty now, Trystan, spymaster and whoremaster?” our master demanded. “Where’s all your courage now?” But our queen said nothing. She flinched when Mark kicked the corpse, but her face seemed frozen, as if she were already dead.’
    Mellyr could feel the eyes of the servants fixed on his face, so he gulped down half the ale in his cup. ‘Then our queen drew a pretty little knife from under her travelling cloak. I can see it still in my mind’s eye. It was heavily decorated with gold embossing and cabochon jewels, and didn’t seem strong enough to do any damage. The blade was so very slender.
    ‘“Would you kill me then, wife?” King Mark asked, and I confess I moved forward, ready to stand between them. But there was no need for me to intervene.’ Mellyr paused for so long that his audience became restive.
    ‘Well, finish your tale, man,’ Pedr demanded, captured by the vividness of the story despite his determination to remain untouched by the queen’s punishment.
    Mellyr sighed deeply. ‘Our queen was so beautiful that she could make even my old body stand to attention, and never more so than when she stared at her husband with her knife, a gift from her lover, held firmly in her hands. She was magnificent. “I’ll not sully this blade with your accursed blood, Mark,” she whispered. “I’m sorry that I’ll not see you humbled, or live to watch your accursed, miserly soul dragged to judgement for your crimes – but death is far better than another moment of life as your possession.” That’s all she said, but the king’s face became so pale that I believe he’d have killed her then for her insults, had he been given the chance. But Queen Iseult died the way she had wanted to live – on her own terms. She reversed the knife and used both hands to drive it into her breast, right here.’
    Mellyr tapped his own chest to indicate where the queen had driven the blade between her ribs, and directly into her heart.
    ‘She stood for a heartbeat, her eyes fixed on the king with an expression of such contempt that I’ll never forget it. Then she pulled the knife out with the last of her strength, and folded as if her knees had collapsed under her weight. She died where she lay, and the expression of loathing in her eyes never changed.’
    ‘What happened after that?’ Pedr asked. The description had been so vivid that he was desperate to know the king’s reaction. His long years of loyalty demanded some mitigating excuse in the tawdry tale of love, lust and revenge.
    ‘I don’t know. I fled like a coward, because I had seen what I should not have seen, and I feared the king’s retribution. The rest you know. Trystan’s body was set afire inside the hut and his remains were left for the scavengers, although Mark’s warriors were disgusted by such undignified orders. Lord Trystan was a warrior of many gifts, one of King Artor’s most trusted vassals, and to treat his corpse with such disrespect was a stain on their honour. We all knew that the Dragon would demand reparation for this murder – for murder it was, despite the provocation. But fortune favoured our king and Modred plunged us all into war before Artor could take action.’
    ‘Yet he buried Queen Iseult with all the dignity of her status, despite the fact that she’d made him a cuckold. Surely that stands to his credit?’ Pedr protested.
    ‘Some women are so lovely and so compelling that they drive men mad, regardless of their characters or their intentions. Our queen was married to an old man