Nightside 11 - A Hard Days Knight

I said finally. “Some of these halls are so big, I feel I should be adjusting my watch for different time zones.”
    Sir Gareth chuckled easily. “Oh sure; these are only the public areas, designed to awe and intimidate the casual visitor. We don’t actually use most of this any more, except for the odd game of polo, or the occasional martial re-enactment. We live in the inner quarters, which are built on a far more bearable scale. Much more comfortable; you’d hardly know you were inside a castle. We’ve got Gameboys and everything. I’m afraid you’re not cleared to see the inner quarters yet. Feel free to ask questions, though; and I’ll try not to be too evasive.”
    “All right,” I said. “Where is this castle, exactly? It’s not a part of the Nightside, or any of London’s other hidden worlds that I know of.”
    “You’re not cleared for that information either. Everything about Castle Inconnu is a secret unless you’re one of us. And even we don’t know everything. We have many enemies, and one of our best safeguards is that no-one knows how to find us. We could be anywhere, any time, and for all I know we are. The Green Door is our only link to London Proper, and you couldn’t get through that Door with an enchanted battering ram. And now King Arthur is coming back ... Well, you can bet everyone up to and including the Grand Master is in major panic mode. Everything we ever dreamed and worked for is finally within our grasp ... and we’re not ready.”
    “And possibly ... not worthy?” I said.
    “The Lady gave Excalibur to you and not one of us,” said Sir Gareth. “That has to mean something. That maybe we’ve spent too long hidden away from the world. Some of us will be making the case for war; for taking our fight public, for the first time in centuries. If King Arthur is coming back, perhaps it’s time for the Final Battle against all the evil in the world, when all things shall be decided, once and for all.”
    “I’ve been through a lot of battles like that,” I said. “Nothing ever changes.”
    “This is different,” insisted Sir Gareth. “King Arthur reborn and returned will be a major player in everything that is happening, perhaps even the Major Player. Especially the upcoming elf civil war.”
    “Is that still on?” I said. “What about the Peace Treaty?”
    “Didn’t work. No-one ever thought it would. Neither side really wants peace—just some breathing space to muster their forces. Both sides want this war, John. Their survival as a race depends upon it. They’re dying out. No elven children have been born for ages; either in Shadows Fall, under Oberon and Titania, or in the Sundered Lands, under the returned Mab. They will fight their civil war here on Earth, destroying our civilisation in the process, then the surviving elves will take this world for their own again. And thus restore their ... vitality.”
    “Could they really wipe us out while divided amongst themselves?” I said.
    “Who knows what a species can do with its back against the wall,” said Sir Gareth. “We’ve always known they had weapons beyond our reach or imagination. Either way, it won’t be good for the Earth. Which is probably why the Lady Gaea is getting personally involved for the first time in centuries. I’d be worried if I were the worrying kind.”
    “I did hear,” I said, “that the elves chose to leave this world, all those years ago. That they were running from something, and not us.”
    “Presumably, things have changed,” said Sir Gareth.
    “What makes King Arthur so important to the elves?”
    “His stepsister was Morgan Le Fae,” Sir Gareth said simply.
    “But who was she? I mean, yes, obviously, the clue is in the name. But was she an elf, a half-elf, or what?”
    “Good question,” said Sir Gareth. “If you ever find out, please let us know. We’ve got libraries full of books, from official histories to personal accounts, and none of them can agree on an answer. So much knowledge was lost ... after the fall of Logres and the destruction of Camelot.”
    “Merlin told me ... he never believed she was really family to Arthur,” I said.
    Sir Gareth looked at me sharply. “Of course; you had dealings with the Satanspawn, in the Nightside. None of us could ever talk to him; the Grand Master would never allow it. He always said Merlin disgraced himself by not being there at Logres when he was needed the most.”
    “He did say he regretted that,”