Pellinore grumbles. “It’s not going to be as easy as marching in and taking it back, Your Majesty. They’ll have it guarded, and the cost… it’s going to be enormous. Take another look.”

  I turn my gaze back to the page, and wince. “Whoa… they’re asking for ￡7,500,000… there’s no way we can afford that…”

  Merlin raises a finger. “YOU might not, but I CAN.”

  We all stare at the small girl. She wags a finger. “With each reincarnation, I made sure to stash away as much as I could in a private fund, accessible only with a code that I came up with. With each new ‘owner’ to that fund, I added to it, plus the interest rates, which means, that, in over twenty lifetimes, I have squirreled a very tidy… ￡40,000,000,000.”

  I reel. “You… have forty billion pounds?!”

  Merlin shrugs. “Of course. I’ve been hard at work, after all. It’s yours if you need it. I can certainly get your scabbard back. Just… don’t lose it again, yeah?”

  She winks at me, and I shudder. “You have my word, Merlin. I will safeguard it with my life this time.”

  “Good. That’s what I like to hear.”

  With everyone debating on how to deal with the retrieval of my scabbard, Merlin skips for the door, singing out, “I’m going to go and order food. What does everyone want? Pizza?”

  As everyone comments in assent, I blink. “That’s the round ft bread with… stuff on it, right?”

  Gahad bounces eagerly. “That’s right! You’ve never had pizza before, have you, Your Majesty? Soooo, we should get a few different ones with different toppings! That way, you can decide what you like!”

  Merlin pulls out a small magic ste, like the one Gawain had used. A cellphone. She swipes her thumb over its screen and looks up. “Who wants what?”

  Pellinore raises a hand. “Meat Feast, with extra bacon, please.”

  Gawain requests a pepperoni pizza with mushrooms and sliced paprika on it, stuffed crust.

  Merlin adds her own order, a Four Seasons, and then it’s Gahad’s turn. She smiles and asks, “Hawaiian, please and thank you!”

  Pellinore groans. “Ham and pineapple?! Gahad, do you want to traumatize our king?!”

  “Oh shut up, you lummox! It’s good! Besides, if she doesn’t like it, she can choose not to eat it. but, since she’s never tried it, we have to let her experience the glory of ham and pineapple!”

  I stifle a giggle, causing smiles to break out around me. Gahad leans over and gives me a gentle hug, her rainbow-dyed hair shining in the electric light. Merlin finishes pcing her order, and looks back up at us. “The pizzas will be here in thirty minutes. We have a pn, we have our king back, and we haven’t been observed by Morgana yet. Things are looking up.”

  In less time than I’d expected, the food arrives, and Merlin pays in cash, Pellinore helping the small girl to carry the rge boxes through into the kitchen, wondrous smells drifting from each one. He sets down a rge bottle of some dark liquid, and rummages through my cupboards for ptes and gsses. In just a minute, I’m presented with a pte containing one slice from each pizza, and a gss of the bubbling, fizzy liquid in the bottle. Gahad beams. “You’ve gotta have Coca-Co with a pizza!” she announces, and gets up to fetch her own pte.

  Cautiously, I sip from the gss, blinking furiously as my mouth is assailed by tingling, fizzing, and bubbling, which I was not expecting. Gahad giggles at my expression, and shovels half a slice of ham-and-pineapple pizza into her mouth, chewing ravenously. I slowly raise the same pizza slice to my own mouth, and take a bite. The base is perfect, with rich, tangy tomato sauce, plenty of delicious cheese, an abundance of smoky, tender ham pieces, and sweet, tart yellow pineapple.

  “Mmmph! S’good!” I mumble, as Pellinore groans in distaste around his own pizza.

  “Gahad, you broke her tastebuds!”

  She sticks her tongue out at him. “Blegh! I unshackled her from conventional fvour expectations, Pell!”

  While they pyfully bicker, I try each of the different pizza slices I’ve been given. Honestly, I can’t find anything I don’t like about any of them. They all taste incredible! Even the Coca-Co starts to grow on me, and I sip from my gss between bites of food. The constant, mild nagging ‘tug’ continues to pull me towards the West, but I ignore it for now. With good food, and even better companions to share it with, I’m… happy. Despite the changes I now have to deal with, my gender notwithstanding, I feel… Almost like I’m back in Camelot, surrounded by my knights, those I called friends, celebrating a victory or drinking te into the night.

  I raise my gss, smiling, and Gahad lets out a cheerful whoop, Pellinore and Gawain arm-wrestling as the woman grins, her teeth fshing as she challenges the big man. Merlin swings her legs idly, sitting on the kitchen counter and humming softly, her eyes shining a faint, eerie blue, as I recognize what she’s doing. She’s casting a protective barrier around this building, making it seem normal and uninteresting. Even if Morgana did notice us, any henchmen she sent would not be able to find us here. She’d have to come herself in order to break an enchantment this powerful…

  After eating, Merlin ushers me off to bed, with Gahad sprawling out on the floor next to my bed, wrapped in a bnket and snoring softly, her polychromatic hair spyed out over a rge cushion. I find myself restless, with the knowledge that my injuries will heal faster with Merlin’s care, and my knights gathering around me. My scabbard has been found, though acquiring it will be a different matter. As for Excalibur, and my long-standing archenemy… I’ll cross that bridge when the time comes…

  My eyes begin to grow heavy, and Gahad mutters something in her sleep, as I feel my breathing grow slower and softer…

  When I wake, Gahad is still sleeping peacefully, and the quiet sounds of conversation from downstairs continue. It doesn’t seem like there’s any trouble, but I have a sneaking suspicion that won’t be the case forever. If Morgana Le Fay is indeed out there, then I have no doubts she’s prepared well for the eventuality that I might one day return. I need to locate Excalibur before we recim my scabbard. That way, we can take my sword back immediately after. And I’ll not be found wanting this time, Morgana…

  By the time the sun is up, I’ve dressed and made my way downstairs to discuss with my allies.

  “I would like to find an archive, or some such repository of information. I need a map of this world. I’ve been sensing the pull of Excalibur, though I can only say it is somewhere far to the West. If we can locate it first, then we can retrieve it immediately after I recim the scabbard. With them both at my side, we will be far better prepared for anything Morgana, or any followers she has recruited, may try.”

  Pellinore nods. “The library. I’ve got a membership card, too. Feel free to check out any books you want, Your Majesty.”

  I blink. “Library! That’s it. I forget, most everyone can read nowadays. And books are… not expensive, either. Such luxuries were reserved for those of higher station; I have much to grow accustomed too, besides the food.”

  Gawain smiles. “We can leave whenever you wish, Sire. Though, I must insist that at least one of us safeguard you at all times. Even if your injuries have mostly healed thanks to Merlin, your strength is still diminished.”

  Pellinore stretches, raising a hand. “I’ll go this time. It’s my library card, and we look alike enough that I can cim she’s my cousin. You’ve already pretended to be her aunt, after all. Why should a simir ruse fail this time?”

  Merlin nods. “Sir Pellinore, your sword, please.”

  Pellinore reaches for his wrist, where a silver wristband is csped. Now that I notice it, I see that Gawain has an identical one on her left wrist. And wasn’t Gahad wearing one, too?

  He holds the cuff in his left hand, and then mutters something. The silvery metal warps and shimmers, and suddenly, his fingers are wrapped around the hilt of a rge, gleaming sword, freshly-oiled and honed to a razor’s edge. I raise my eyebrows as he grins.

  “What, you thought I’d dare be unarmed when guarding you, King Artoria?”

  Merlin expins. “Swords are illegal to be carried these days, but I decided to make them weapons that could blend in with the popuce. As such, they carry their bdes everywhere, and only unsheathe them when the need arises. Now, I’m going to pce a little bit of extra magic upon this one. If there should be cause, simply twist the pommel stone three times in any direction, and we will come at once to back you up.”

  Merlin’s eyes bze with eldritch blue light for a few moments as she chants in the ancient tongue of the Druids, the pommel of Pellinore’s sword glowing a soothing green, before the spell is woven in its entirety.

  Pellinore turns the weapon back into the silver cuff and csps it back around his wrist, nodding at Merlin. “My thanks, archmage.”

  “No thanks necessary. Just keep our king safe, Sir Pellinore.” The tweenaged spellcaster waves a hand casually, and I smile up at the spiky blonde knight as he flexes his fingers.

  “I’m ready when you are, Pellinore. Let’s go.”

  Thanks to the magic Merlin’s been using on me, my body has healed almost fully in just two days, and I can walk unaided, though I’m still feeling the effects of the fatal impact that Emily’s body had suffered before I ‘moved in’. I can still feel a powerful sense of guilt that she wasn’t expecting to end up dead and her body being used as a vessel for the one-time High King of Britain. I feel like a grave-robber.

  Sir Pellinore’s car is different to Sir Gawain’s, a sporty red hatchback, and I slide into the passenger seat as he holds my door for me. I can’t help but feel grateful that I’m not being forced to announce my presence to the people just yet. A little more time to recover my strength and regain my legendary sword, and I’ll be ready. I swear, it, my people…

  Pellinore’s a good driver, and the traffic isn’t too bad yet thanks to us missing the rush-hour. It doesn’t take too long before he pulls into a car-park that’s mostly deserted, parking up close to the entrance of a grand, though visibly-aged building, the stonework worn and pitted by weather and the passage of time.

  “Here we are. Let’s see if we can find you a map that shows you where that sword of yours is, Your Majesty…”

  I square my shoulders. “I’m ready…”

  I pop the door open, and step out, starting to get used to the sounds of the world around me. The roaring wind is actually the sound of motor vehicles passing on the roads, and the air, though far less pure than I’d like, isn’t unbearable.

  Reaching the doors, I note that they slide open on their own. Not wizardry as I’d have assumed before Merlin showed me the world, but science. Automatic doors, who could have imagined such things?

  With a little help, we’re able to find the Geography section, and Pellinore peruses the stacks until he finds an enormous fold-out ats of the world. Spreading it across an arrangement of tables, he steps to one side, allowing me to access the map. I let the ‘tug’ guide me, eyes flicking across the inked paper, the colours of the world id out before me. My fingers dance across the surface, as the ‘tug’ grows more insistent, until they alight somewhere in the centre of a great ndmass to the West of Britain.

  “America? Great, that narrows it down. Let me find another one, smaller in scale.”

  Pellinore folds away the huge one, and brings out a map of America, spying it out across the tables. With a narrower viewpoint, I manage to narrow down the location even more, to Washington.

  Pellinore turns the map over and folds it again, leaving Washington as the central state, in a street-view. I touch the final point, where the ‘tug’ is the most insistent, almost like an invisible fishing-line is tied around the pit of my stomach and being pulled.

  “Here. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”