Sam said, “There must be something we’re missing.”
Guinevere nodded. “I know, but that still doesn’t alleviate the simple fact that I have no idea what clue my brother was trying to give me.”
“All right, let’s start at the beginning and read the book.”
Guinevere frowned. “We might be here all day. It’s a long book.”
“I have the time.”
“No, you don’t. I thought you had an urgent project up at the Hanford Nuclear Site, and besides, have you forgotten we’ve left poor Caliburn waiting in the car?”
Sam said, “Okay, you’re right. Let me see the beginning of the book, and maybe I’ll flick through the book and see if anything stands out.”
Lindsay’s ears pricked up, and she moved over to greet them. “No one will be flicking through the book. That’s survived since the twelfth century and the pages are very delicate!”
Sam made a sheepish half-grin, forming a dimple on his cheek. “I’m sorry. Wrong use of words. I just want to scan through the book, looking for something in particular.”
Lindsay met his eye, “You’d better not wreck that book.”
Sam lifted his hands in a placating gesture. “I won’t, I promise.”
Guinevere turned the pages until she reached the start of the book.
On the first page, Welsh bishop Geoffrey of Monmouth, noted his purpose in writing the history.
Sam read the statement out loud, “I have not been able to discover anything at all on the kings who lived here before the Incarnation of Christ, or indeed about Arthur and all the others who followed on after the Incarnation. Yet the deeds of these men were such that they deserve to be praised for all time."
Guinevere said, “And that’s why we have Monmouth to thank for introducing the world to King Arthur and his honorable kingdom.”
“Pity most of it was made up though…” Sam said, as he scanned the next page. “But maybe not all of it.”
Guinevere said, “I don’t care if it is all made up or not. I just want my cipher to work so that I can find out what my brother was trying to tell me.”
She turned the next page.
It was written in old English, making it difficult to understand. The book itself contained nearly three hundred pages. It might take them days to make sense of any of it, and assuming her brother had used the book for the cipher based solely on its rarity, they would have wasted all that time.
She turned to Lindsay. “I don’t suppose you have a condensed version of this book?”
Lindsay smiled. “I thought you specifically needed an original copy of the book?”
“We do. But I want to get a better understanding of the whole book. I was hoping you might have a study guide or an abbreviation of the text in a format where I’m not going to damage this copy?”
Lindsay nodded. “I’ll see what I can find.”
She returned a couple minutes later with another book. This one was thicker and contained a reprint of the original Historia Regum Britanniae, as well as a study guide, and a highly abridged version, condensed into just a few pages.
Lindsay handed Guinevere the book, and said, “Try this.”
Guinevere took it and thanked her.
She and Sam then ran their eyes across the pages.
The Historia Regum Britanniae was made up of twelve books.
They scrolled through the description of each of the twelve books, but when Guinevere and Sam had finished reading the outline of the book it hadn’t revealed any clues about her brother.
She looked at Sam and said, “Well, that clears it up, doesn’t it?”
Sam sighed. “Yeah. It all sounds pretty fanciful.”
Lindsay approached them again. “Any luck?”
Guinevere shook her head. “No. It’s an interesting story about the development of early England, but I can’t for the life of me think what my brother’s trying to tell me by getting me to read it.”
“The cipher didn’t work?”
“No. Not even close. I don’t suppose there’s anything else that might be close to the original Historia Regum Britanniae? Something that maybe my brother got confused about? Like, maybe yet another version?”
Lindsay thought about that for a moment. “Actually, I’ve been giving this some thought. Did your brother specifically tell you that the answers you were looking for were in Historia Regum Britanniae?”
“Yes,” Guinevere said. Then, thinking about it, replied, “No. He said I needed to look for the earliest edition of the King Arthur Legend. I assumed that was the same thing. Monmouth’s book has been widely accepted as the first reference to King Arthur and the Sword in the Stone.”
“Actually, that’s not true.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Guinevere looked up at the helpful antique book specialist. “There’s an older version?”
Lindsay said, “No. You have the first edition of Historia Regum Britanniae. But that book was most likely based on the 830AD book, Historia Brittonum.”
Sam asked, “What’s it about?”
“It’s written by a Welsh monk named Nennius.”
“Did he have a first name?” Sam asked.
Lindsay shrugged. “If he did, no one knows it.”
Guinevere said, “So what did this Nennius write?”
Lindsay said, “It was basically an earlier version of the history of Briton. Some scholars believe that, if an historical Arthur ever existed, he was a sixth-century chieftain who helped Britons hold back the tide of Saxon invaders. Nennius describes Arthur by name, only he was never a king. Instead, Arthur was referred to as a chieftain who was larger than life, credited with winning many battles against the barbarians, single-handedly slaughtering nearly a thousand foes in a day.”
Sam said, “I don’t suppose you have a copy of that book?”
“Yeah, we do,” Lindsay said. “It’s worth close to a million dollars, but if you’re very careful you can look at it.”
“Thank you,” Sam and Guinevere said.
They waited while Lindsay brought the ninth century book out onto the mahogany table. It was written on vellum — made from fine quality lamb skin — and written in old English.
Guinevere found herself holding her breath.
Lindsay carefully turned to the first page.
Guinevere set the cipher over the top of the words. She started to copy the visible letters down. Her heart thumped as she quickly realized the cipher was producing real words.
GUINEVERE YOU MUST FIND BOTH PARTS OF KING ARTHUR’S FIRST SWORD!
USE IT TO KILL EXCALIBUR!
Sam grinned. “After so much discombobulation, that seems very specific.”
Guinevere sighed. “Sure, but do you have any clue where to find the damaged pieces of King Arthur’s sword, let alone how to forge it together again?”
“I don’t know about finding it, but when we do, maybe we just need to find a good blacksmith, I suppose.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“No. It doesn’t matter; I couldn’t tell you what happened to Arthur’s sword, much less why it’s in two pieces.”
Lindsay said, “I can answer that!”
“Really?” Guinevere and Sam asked.
“Sure. According to legend, Arthur was thought to have been mortally wounded fighting in the Battle of Camlann during the 6th century. As it turns out, Arthur survived, after he was taken to the Isle of Avalon and healed by the Seer Merlin, who went on to construct an even better sword for the famed king named Excalibur.”
Sam asked, “Who was Arthur fighting?”
Lindsay said, “Some believe that he was fighting his sworn enemy, Mordred, who ruled the invaders of Britain.”