7.1 Part 2

The churchyard was dark and full of tombs! The feeling was creepy and Arthur began to tremble with fear.

“Oh, come on, boy!” Bragged Merlin, who was not afraid because he could see in the dark. “Look! Can you see that stone there?”

“Y, Y, Yes.” Stuttered Arthur.

“Well, there is a sword there, go on and pull it out!

Arthur was so scared that he could barely walk, but he had to get a sword for his brother, so he tiptoed up to the stone and seized it in his hand.

Merlin was so excited that he could barely breathe. If the boy could remove the sword, then he was the true king of Britain!!

Arthur held the sword hilt and pulled it gently… At that moment Excalibur shone like a blaze of fire, brightening the whole churchyard!

“Look!” Shouted Arthur, “it glows! And it has a name on the blade!
E X C A L I B U R! Excalibur! How strange!”

Merlin was speechless, he was in front of the true king of Britain!! But he couldn’t say a word… so he concealed his feelings and answered coldly.

“Yep, it’s shiny. Of course, it’s shiny! It is new, isn’t it? Well, there’s no time to lose! Let’s deliver it to Kay and then, we must replace it in the stone, where it belongs! Nobody must know we borrowed it!”

And with no further delay, they headed towards the tournament.

“Here’s a sword!” He said, holding it out to Kay triumphantly. “I couldn’t get yours, but… my friend Merlin led me to this one”

Kay recognized the sword immediately and before Arthur could finish his sentence, he had snatched it from him, tucked it under his cloak and rushed off to look for Sir Ector.

“Look what I’ve done!” Lied Kay. “It’s the sword from the stone! I pulled it out! I must be the trueborn king!

Arthur tried to explain what had really happened but Kay silenced him with a menacing glare.

Merlin was there too, red with anger. Kay was lying!!

“Woaw, I mean meow!! That’s amazing.” Exclaimed Merlin. “Pity you didn’t have an audience…well, never mind, if you did it once, you can do it again in front of us, like witnesses!

They all rode back to the churchyard, although they would miss the tournament.

Back at the church, Merlin marched them straight over to the stone.

“Now, Sir kay, could you replace the sword in the stone, please?” Said Merlin, bowing a little in sign of respect.

Kay jumped up onto the stone and tried to thrust the sword into the stone, but failed miserably!!

“Meow.” Whispered Merlin gloating victoriously, since he was exposing Kay’s lie. “It is strange that you could pull it out, but you can’t put it back… now… with all due respect, Sir Kay, could you tell us where you really got the sword from?

“From Arthur,” admitted Kay, not daring to look Merlin in the eye.

“Aha…” said Merlin, clearing his throat. “So, Arthur, Let’s see if you can put the sword back in the stone.”

Arthur was trembling, he was excited and afraid, but nevertheless, he took the sword from Kay and clambered up onto the stone. The blade slid back in, like a warm knife into butter. Sir Ector then climbed up next to him and tried to pull it out. He failed.

It was Kay’s turn… but he failed too!!

Finally, Arthur, still not able to understand what all the fuss was about, climbed up, grabbed the handle and once more, effortlessly pulled the sword from the stone.

When he looked down, much to his surprise, his father and brother were kneeling in front of him with their heads bowed.

“What are you doing?” Asked Arthur.

“Kneeling before our king”, Replied Ector.

“Bravo! Bravo!!” Cheered Merlin, when like a bolt from the blue, a ray of light stoke him lifting him in the air.

“Meow! Meowwwwwwwwwwww!” Shouted Merlin “What’s going on?”

He shut his eyes and by the time he reopened them, he was landing on the school yard, in the middle of the night.

The End.