Author's Note: I'm including this author's note at the beginning of my story (from the unit on King Arthur) to add context to it because I'm writing this from the perspective of Morgan le Fay, King Arthur's sister (or half-sister, there's a weird relationship going on there), as she plots to kill him. The italicized portions of the story represent passing time not from Morgan's perspective, and the text in "quotes" is her dialogue to other characters. So without adding anything else to this, here goes!
I've had it with Arthur. I can't stand him any longer. Everything always goes his way: the sword in the stone, killing the tallest Knight in the land -- which he wouldn't have done had that insufferable Merlin not stepped in -- and this the final straw, slaying my beloved Accalon. But no more will he escape the fate he so clearly deserves. Finally, I will have my revenge on him!
I can't do this while I have to be here, so I must request of Queen Guenevere permission to leave.
After asking the Queen for permission to take her leave, which the Queen grants, Morgan heads towards where the King is staying after a hard-fought battle.
My time has finally come. There will never be a more perfect opportunity than right now. All I have to do is get past those blasted nuns watching over him. Wait, are they going to wake him up to tell him I'm here?
"Don't wake the King! I'm sure he's lacking for rest after such a fierce battle. I will wake him when I think he's had enough sleep, so you can go now."
Wow, that was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Arthur is a fool for leaving his protection up to a group of silly nuns. What makes him think they could stop anyone from getting to him?
Morgan makes her way towards the King's chambers, where she finds him in a deep sleep.
I swear by the gods I have the worst luck. Of course Arthur has Excalibur close by! How then shall I slay him when he has the power of that sword in the palm of his hand? What did Merlin tell him? Oh, how could I forget?! The true power of Excalibur lies not within the sword, but its scabbard! Without it, Arthur is truly vulnerable.
With this realization, Morgan stows the scabbard under her cloak and makes haste to the forest. Arthur awoke and discovered his scabbard missing, and together he and his fastest men chase after her. Morgan escaped using some of her magical prowess, and quickly went to her own country of Gore and fortified her towns and castles.
Well, it looks like I missed the chance to kill Arthur once again. But there is one more idea I've been pondering. After such a bold attempt, Arthur would never be expecting a gift of apology from me. Let me see what I can throw together to do away with that swine once and for all.
Pulling out every magical spell she can think of, Morgan enchants a mantle of the finest quality with a deadly spell. The particular spell she's imbued within it is one that will cause the first person to put it on to be reduced to a pile of ashes.
There's no way the King can see this coming. Arthur's end is at hand!
"Bring me one of my fairest maidens to deliver this gift to His Majesty, the King! Make sure no one puts this on but him, do you understand me?
"Quickly now, make your way to Camelot to the King's Court and deliver this gift with my sincerest apologies."
Now the only thing left to do is wait for the news of Arthur's demise. I can hardly wait.
Bibliography:
King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang, illustrated by H. J. Ford (1902).
Story Source: King Arthur and Morgan le Fay
Additional note: I didn't change the story up very much because I didn't particularly want to write a story that ends up with King Arthur getting murdered, mainly because he's one of my favorite legendary characters. So the essence of the story is the same, the format it's delivered in is different!
I've had it with Arthur. I can't stand him any longer. Everything always goes his way: the sword in the stone, killing the tallest Knight in the land -- which he wouldn't have done had that insufferable Merlin not stepped in -- and this the final straw, slaying my beloved Accalon. But no more will he escape the fate he so clearly deserves. Finally, I will have my revenge on him!
I can't do this while I have to be here, so I must request of Queen Guenevere permission to leave.
After asking the Queen for permission to take her leave, which the Queen grants, Morgan heads towards where the King is staying after a hard-fought battle.
My time has finally come. There will never be a more perfect opportunity than right now. All I have to do is get past those blasted nuns watching over him. Wait, are they going to wake him up to tell him I'm here?
"Don't wake the King! I'm sure he's lacking for rest after such a fierce battle. I will wake him when I think he's had enough sleep, so you can go now."
Wow, that was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Arthur is a fool for leaving his protection up to a group of silly nuns. What makes him think they could stop anyone from getting to him?
Morgan makes her way towards the King's chambers, where she finds him in a deep sleep.
I swear by the gods I have the worst luck. Of course Arthur has Excalibur close by! How then shall I slay him when he has the power of that sword in the palm of his hand? What did Merlin tell him? Oh, how could I forget?! The true power of Excalibur lies not within the sword, but its scabbard! Without it, Arthur is truly vulnerable.
With this realization, Morgan stows the scabbard under her cloak and makes haste to the forest. Arthur awoke and discovered his scabbard missing, and together he and his fastest men chase after her. Morgan escaped using some of her magical prowess, and quickly went to her own country of Gore and fortified her towns and castles.
Well, it looks like I missed the chance to kill Arthur once again. But there is one more idea I've been pondering. After such a bold attempt, Arthur would never be expecting a gift of apology from me. Let me see what I can throw together to do away with that swine once and for all.
Pulling out every magical spell she can think of, Morgan enchants a mantle of the finest quality with a deadly spell. The particular spell she's imbued within it is one that will cause the first person to put it on to be reduced to a pile of ashes.
Morgan le Fay
by DeviantArt user, mari-na
There's no way the King can see this coming. Arthur's end is at hand!
"Bring me one of my fairest maidens to deliver this gift to His Majesty, the King! Make sure no one puts this on but him, do you understand me?
"Quickly now, make your way to Camelot to the King's Court and deliver this gift with my sincerest apologies."
Now the only thing left to do is wait for the news of Arthur's demise. I can hardly wait.
Bibliography:
King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang, illustrated by H. J. Ford (1902).
Story Source: King Arthur and Morgan le Fay
Additional note: I didn't change the story up very much because I didn't particularly want to write a story that ends up with King Arthur getting murdered, mainly because he's one of my favorite legendary characters. So the essence of the story is the same, the format it's delivered in is different!
I liked the different format you decided on! Especially the way you differentiated between normal text, quotes, and italics, as a way of establishing what everything meant. That really helped me make sense of what going on, and added depth to the story. One thing I might continue changing, and this is small, is that I'm missing why Morgan doesn't just kill Arthur once she steals his scabbard and he's asleep? Maybe there's some sort of explanation already but that was a big hole for me so a brief explanation of that would help me at least!
ReplyDeleteSmart choice on putting the author's note before the story to help the reader differentiate between time passing and thoughts of Morgans. I remember reading lot of King Arthur in high school english classes, so I am happy to see you have chosen this unit. It makes me want to pick it for this next week! I also like your use of some accurate and fun vocabulary words, such as "insufferable" to describe Merlin. Great job! I just wish I knew the ending!
ReplyDeleteI thought it was very cool how you added the changes in the time by putting the writing in italics. It made the story easy to understand and didn't lead to just thoughts from the main character going on and on the entire time. I read the King Arthur unit as well and I really enjoyed it. It sounds like you did too!
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