Igrain’s face softened at his plight. “No one expects you to be him, Uther. Or Constantine. It’s not like you’re king of the whole planet. You’re just going to help us get settled.” She waved her arm wide before placing it back on the handle bars. “All of this is open to us. We have cities to build. And bees to visit!”
She smiled and released the break, suddenly accelerating and blowing past him with a gust of wind and dirt. He watched her race away for only a moment. He didn’t want to lose her.
The couple sped around the empty meadows for much longer as the suns rose high and hung overhead. There seemed to be something magical in the fauna and flora that told them this was the best time to be out in Camelot. Everything was alive and buzzing with industry.
They raced over hills, scared flocks of creatures grazing, and up turned a flock of many a small colored bird. Uther guessed they were really far away from Fort Camelot now. The Humming Meadows had to be close. But something else blocked the way.
Uther slammed the gravity breaks on his hovering bike and Igrain did the same as their eyes alighted on the great city rising up out of the mountains ahead of them. Vortigern’s crest rose above it and a line of androids marched away. As they drew closer, fear gripped Uther’s heart as he saw that they were wounded and burned. Some were limping, sparking at the open wounds, while others were crawling away on their bellies.
“What happened?” Igrain called to them as they drew nearer. “Uther, can we not help them?”
“It was Vortigern,” one D.R.U.I.D explained through her own tears. “He said there was no room in Camelot for D.R.U.I.Ds. But that is not what the first Constantine said when he sent us here so long ago. I remember it! We are to have a land apart from the humans, he said. This is part of our land!”
It had been too easy for Vortigern to hide on a new planet. Uther had been heading east on the planet every day, marking the terrain, finding resources. He planned on searching east into the sunrise until he came up behind his own castle. But he made a grave mistake.
“This is my doing,” Uther said softly. “I should have looked for him. Murder, saboteur, traitor.” He glared at the floating crest. “Treason.”
Igrain exchanged a concerned look with Uther. “What is he doing?” she breathed.
Uther saw that the wounds on the D.R.U.I.Ds were done by laser weapons and energy swords. “He’s preparing to attack us.”
4
The First War
“We must get word to Lothian at once. Lot and Morgues will help us,” Uther barked at Merlin as he and the D.R.U.I.D examined the glowing maps in the dark of the astrodome. The central city where Uther’s army gathered simply called Fort Camelot after the planet they had been promised. The entire crew of the ship had awoken by this time and three weeks of planning and preparing had given Uther the strength he thought he’d need to defend himself and his father’s dreams for Camelot.
“Do you intend to kill Vortigern?” Merlin asked quietly as the other generals calculated how many war machines they would need to prepare for the battle.
Uther smoothed out his white uniform and the braids on his shoulders. “I intend to do what I must to save this planet. Vortigern has gone against everything we originally planned.” He stopped and rubbed his manicured beard. He kept seeing Igrain in the flowery fields. Whenever he thought of battle, he saw his dead brother. “I need Vivian. Get her for me.”
The ancient D.R.U.I.D would know what to do. She had been here since the beginning and was the only one who seemed to be able to pilot that mecha. He had seen her in it from time to time as though overseeing his progress. If there were more, then they could activate them and have more than a king’s chance to ruin Vortigern before he even got started.
“The first battalion is through with the simulation training, sir,” one of the generals announced on the tiny com-unit. “Shall we initiate the paratroopers?”
“Of course,” Uther replied. “How is the medical unit? Were you able to retrieve everything from the detached ship in orbit?”
An immediate reply. “Coming along splendidly, sir, and yes. The research the D.R.U.I.Ds have made on this planet is astounding as well! Our medics and scientists have been working with great enthusiasm. Cloning the original DNA of the D.R.U.I.Ds has allowed us cell reproduction and simulation like you wouldn’t believe!” The general’s voice grew in pitch with excitement. “And the communication technology they have built is faster and stronger than anything—”
“Thank you, general,” Uther grumbled as he shut off the communication.
Over the last few days, weeks maybe, Uther had put his men into overtime and overload with research and development. A hospital had been built within the boundaries of his fort and war machines had been excavated from the older settlements that the first Constantine had had built but that had never been inhabited. So far, his little city had expanded to three times its original size since he discovered Vortigern’s threat. He refused to let his people suffer for one selfish man’s traitorous plans. His city would prevail.
“You summoned me?” a low, smooth voice asked behind him.
Uther turned to see Vivian, tall and imposing in her soldier uniform, weave her way around the many glowing and beeping consoles.
“Yes, Vivian,” he leapt right into his reason for calling her. “That mecha you saved us with. Are there more here on the planet?”
She nodded slowly. “The D.R.U.I.Ds built them to quicken the production of your great city as you see.” Written plainly in her mysterious eyes was the rest of the truth. Uther waited for her to go on,
