Caractacus and Boo Dikka stopped at the edge of the clearing.
‘I will,’ said Amarilla, grasping Beowulf’s outstretched hand, ‘I will fight you!’
Beowulf allowed her to continue to hold his arm.
‘You will, will you? With what? How? What will you achieve?’
He thought a bit longer,
‘Why? Why will you fight me? You can’t think that he will be a better King than they?’ he gestured at Lewis and the Louis’ ‘None of them are worth anything. You are going to be the ruler of France no matter which of them survives; so why does it matter?’
‘I think you are right,’ Amarilla whispered, ‘I think that may be true, and if it is, then it matters very much. You don’t care at all for France, or her people; you care about your petty spite and profit and politics; so I don’t think that you should choose what’s best. I think that I should.’
Beowulf smiled,
‘A good argument from the girl who would be Queen, but I don’t think that you are choosing for France; I think you fancy the Briton in your bed. That isn’t a bad argument, but you can hardly say it is for the good of the state.’
Amarilla hesitated, blushed slightly and then glared at Beowulf again.
‘I will choose what is right for France!’
At this point Beowulf appeared to tire of the argument.
‘It doesn’t matter what is “right”, Louis is probably the King and Lewis is probably an imposter, but it really doesn’t matter; the will to power is all and I’m stronger than you and I have the knife.’
He shook his hand free and turned to where the fallen Lewis lay.
‘You’re right again,’ agreed Amarilla, still in a very quiet voice, ‘it doesn’t much matter what is right. I once heard it said that Louie-Louie was actually the first born and that they were mixed up at birth. I’m certain Lewis is an imposter; who ever heard of two identical and one non identical triplet? I thought you were supposed to be a man of science? There is a bit more to it all than just “will to power” you have to have the means to the end as well.’
Beowulf turned,
‘But I have the knife,’ he grinned.
‘So you do,’ acknowledged Amarilla, ‘but I have the army.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Look around,’ said Amarilla and gestured to the edge of the clearing where a number of the guards had finally arrived, ‘I may not be able to stop you, but I think that they can.’
‘Soldiers of France!’ she began in a much louder voice, ‘I am sure you recognise me, I am Amarilla de Cassiones and you are my Uncle’s army. This man here,’ she gestured at Beowulf, ‘is the famous Beowulf and he has rescued the true, first born King of France; King Lewis! King Lewis was wrongfully imprisoned by his two younger brothers to prevent France from becoming the greatest nation in Europe; but thanks to our friend Beowulf and our friends from Britain,’ here Amarilla bowed to the Britons who were also gathered at the edge of the clearing, ‘we have a chance to rescue the True King and punish the wrongdoers.’
The guards cheered loudly and two or three went to help Lewis up; others took hold of Louis and Louie-Louie. As he was helped up Lewis half regained consciousness,
‘Speak English!’ he mumbled, but the guards didn’t understand and cheered again.
Beowulf growled with frustration, but then laughed and put away his dagger. He eyed Amarilla with admiration,
‘Brilliant!’ he said, ‘I hate the concept of moral authority, but you make a case for it. Let’s see how King Lewis does.’
‘Take the King to my Uncle’s house so that he can recover. Also take these villains to his dungeons’ she indicated the Louis, who were still not aware of their fall from power.
‘The mighty Beowulf shall accompany us, to ensure that the King is kept safe,’ she said, and then in a softer voice, ‘and to make sure he is where I can see him.’
The guards, being very happy not to be caught in a desperate fight, were quite content to do everything Amarilla asked. They surrounded her and Lewis and began to march back to the road, taking Beowulf along with them.
As they departed Caractacus and Boo Dikka could hear Amarilla,
‘Well done, valiant soldiers, you have rescued the King! You are restoring justice and honour to France! March on! March on!’
When they had gone, Caractacus said,
‘She really has a gift for it, doesn’t she?’
‘Oh, yes,’ agreed Boo Dikka, ‘there’s a Queen if ever I saw one, but our plan has worked, hasn’t it?’
‘Oh, yes,’ said Caractacus, ‘their King is our King; he is going to do just what we want.’
‘And that is to turn over the Holy Gambling money to us.’
They both paused to savour the moment, as conspirators do when things are going well. They were just about to turn and go when a small woman dressed all in black came scuttling into the clearing,
‘Have you zeen Beovulf?’ she asked, ‘It iz important zhat he iz zaved? Have you zeen him, zhe Mazter said that zaved he must be, and so I must zave him.’
‘I think you are a little too late,’ said Caractacus politely, ‘I think he has already been saved. I think he is off to the Royal Wedding.’
‘Vhich king?’ said Gretza the angel, ‘ah, it matterz not, zhey all have zhe zame ztupid name. All zhat matterz iz zhat Beovulf iz still alive and my mission can be completed.’
She hurried off.
‘I think we should go to the Wedding,’ said Boo Dikka.
‘And the Parliament,’ said Caractacus.
‘Will anyone help me carry this gold?’ shouted Dorf, as they moved off into the night and, once again, he struggled to keep up.