Black Knight #2
The Black Knight
Norsemen have arrived on the shores of England led by Lief the Lucky who seeks to take over the kingdom of Camelot and rule England. Meanwhile not far away, Lady Rosamund is learning falconry with Sir Percy for company. She is impressed by his musical abilities but confesses that she wishes he could be a braver man. Suddenly Lief the Lucky and his men attack and Rosamund is taken prisoner. Percy attempts to defend her then remembers that an act of heroism could compromise his double identity and then appears to flee, leaving Rosamund to think of him as a coward. Sir Percy however is far from, and soon follows after Lief and his army after has changed into his alter-ego of the Black Knight.
Meanwhile, Lief has come to find Rosamund to be quite fair and decides to take her back with him to be his bride in Germany when suddenly the Black Knight arrives at the shores and attacks. The Black Knight easily fights off Lief's forces and rides after his boat before it can get too deep out to sea. The Black Knight attacks their ship, grabbing Rosamund and pulling back as the Norsemen flee the scene. With noblemen from Camelot approaching, the Black Knight leaves them in her care. Back at the castle, Sir Percy offers to sing Rosamond a song about falconry, but she cheekily suggests he plays one about how he fled the Norsemen leaving her to be rescued by the Black Knight instead.
Recurring Characters
Black Knight
Lady Rosamond
Thunder
The Black Knight
Mordred has won a series of jousting competitions proving that he is the champion among the people of Camelot. As Sir Percy once more try to woo Lady Rosamund (and fails, as usual), Mordred challenges King Arthur to a jousting match, reminding Arthur that it is his right to ask as champion of the match and King Arthur agrees. While King Arthur prepares for the match, Mordred slips into his tent where he meets with an loyal alchemist who gives Mordred a potent poison to coat his joust with it, telling Mordred that one single scratch from the poisoned weapon will cause King Arthur to die slowly and painfully, but yet appear to die of natural causes.
As King Arthur feats before the match, Merlin retires to his chambers and views his crystal ball, learning of Mordred's plot. He then returns to the banquet hall to warn Sir Percy, telling him to change into the Black Knight. Shortly thereafter as the King and Mordred prepare to duel, the Black Knight suddenly interrupts challenging Mordred to a joust instead, pointing out that Mordred cannot be named the champion until he bests him in a joust first. Mordred is forced to agree, however he believes this is his opportunity to rid himself of the Black Knight as well.
During the first charge of the competition, the Black Knight's lance is broken against Mordred's shield. However, when Mordred attempts to stab the Black Knight with his own on the reverse pass, the Black Knight slices off its poison tip with his Ebony Blade, winning the match. King Arthur calls for a feast for the Black Knight's victory, and Mordred takes this as an opportunity to try and learn the Black Knight's secret identity. He orders his men to slow down the Black Knight as he returns to the castle so that he can do a room-to-room search to try and uncover this identity. Returning to the castle, Merlin warns the Black Knight of this plot, telling the warrior to use a secret passage in his chambers to return to his room. The Black Knight is jumped by some of Mordred's men along the way but he easily fights them off. Using Merlin's secret passage up to his quarters Sir Percy strips off his Black Knight armor just as Mordred -- finding it hard to believe that his cowardly cousin could possibly be the Black Knight -- bursts into his room. He finds Sir Percy climbing out from under a desk, and Sir Percy claims that he hid under there to get away from all the loud noises from the jousting competition, allaying any suspicions Mordred might have had that Percy is the Black Knight.
Recurring Characters
Black Knight
King Arthur
Lady Rosamund
Merlin
Mordred
Thunder
The Round Table
Text story about King Arthur creating the legendary Round Table.
Recurring Characters
King Arthur
Guinevere
Merlin
The Crusader
Continued from last issue...
On his quest to join King Richard I of England, El Alemain, now known as the Crusader fights through the last of the Mongolian warriors whom he travelled with prior to meeting his late brother Sir John O'Dare. His travels take him to Egypt where he clashes with the Muslim warriors there coming to the aid of King Richard and his men, turning the tide of battle. King Richard learns of El Alemain's origins and quest to continue the battle for his brother, King Richard accepts him with open arms but some of his men are less than accepting. One knight even attempting to attack the Crusader, but King Richard stops him.
Suddenly, the Saladin of Egypt appears and the Crusader offers to battle him. The two clash with honor for one another, and although the Saladin proves to be a fierce fighter, he ultimately loses to the Crusader who lets the Saladin go free, hoping to meet him in battle again. While the lone dissenter against the Crusader believes this proves their new arrival is not loyal to the King, King Richard believes otherwise and officially knights the Crusader and welcomes him among his army.
Recurring Characters
Crusader
King Richard
Salading of Egypt
The Black Knight
With a peasant's holiday being celebrated, King Arthur and his knights leave Castle Camelot in order to celebrate with his subjects, leaving Mordred in charge of the kingdom in his absence. Watching the King and his men leaving the castle is the Black Knight who vows to protect the kingdom from Mordred's secret ambitions of ruling England.
As soon as Arthur is gone, Mordred and his wife Mordan le Fay begin plotting their conquest of Camelot immediately, sending one of their loyal minions out to inform Sir Robert Du Quincy of the Normans to attack the castle so that he can lead the palace guard, hoping that with Sir Robert's help he will conquer and jointly rule England until such a time that he can eliminate Du Quincy. When the Normans finally attack, Mordred leads them into battle. Seeing this is Sir Percy who knows that the King would never allow a counter attack in his absence and so he changes into the Black Knight to interfere with Mordred's plans.
With the forces of Camelot failing, the Black Knight arrives and turns the tide, ruining Mordred's attempts to "surrender" to the Normans. As the Normans fall back, Mordred orders the knights to return to the castle. While nobody is looking, Mordred strikes a blow to the Black Knight's head leaving him falling into the castle moat. Telling the others that the Black Knight has fallen, he orders the drawbridge raised. However the Black Knight has survived the blow and rises to the surface and sees men loyal to Mordred searching for him to finish the job. Using a reed as a make-shift snorkel, the Black Knight hides underwater from their search.
Sneaking into the castle as King Arthur is returning back, the Black Knight spots Mordred raising the rear portcullis to let the Normans in and joins King Arthur and his knights in battling the enemy invaders, easily defeating them. In the aftermath of the battle, the Black Knight departs to change back into his alter-ego. Sir Percy then listens as King Arthur commends Mordred for helping fight back the invasion, unable to reveal Mordred's duplicity due to a lack of evidence to prove his claims.
Recurring Characters
Black Knight
King Arthur
Mordred
Morgan la Fay
Thunder
