Bump in the Knight

“What do you plan to do for Halloween?” asked Regina Penman, the Secretary of the ARC Arthurian Readers Club, which acted as caretaker for Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies.

“I do not usually do anything to observe Halloween,” replied Little Plump Jo, the current Artisan in Residence in the Cabin.

They were sitting on the porch of Cloudbank Cabin, watching the Arthurian characters going about their lives in the Fog Lake.Regina and Jo both had the ability to communicate with animals and fictional characters.

“Some of those people are preparing for Samhain,” Regina said. “We often get people coming here to Cloudbank Cabin trick or treating, because the place is so steeped in the Arthurian atmosphere. Usually, the Artists in Residence in the cabin will get into the act for them.”

“There have been some years when my dogs have been dressed up.” Jo said. “I remember one year when they were all dressed up using pumpkins.

Intellectual Dabrowski dressed as the Bearer of Pumpkin Pi (to as many digits as he could remember).

Psycho Motor Dabrowski wore a pumpkin helmet and a gold cape to dress as the Canine Caped Crusader.

Emotional Dabrowski, the Drama Queen, thought that getting right inside a hollowed out, carved pumpkin made her expressiveness shine through.

Imaginational Dabrowski was sitting on top of his pumpkin and imagining that it could be a hover board.

And Sensual Dabrowski just sat, scratching his head, trying to decide what to do with his pumpkin.

I made ink sketches of all them. It was quite cute!”

“Maybe you could do that again this year, then,” Regina said.

“Maybe. I am not really into Halloween and pumpkins and spooks and things that go bump in the night. I usually just turn out the lights and pretend that I am not home.”

As they watched, Heureux, Sir Lancelot du Lac’s massive battle companion and assistance dog, clambered up the banks of the Fog Lake and, ignoring play invitations from Psycho Motor, flopped down heavily on the porch.

Jo’s mind immediately jumped to how easy it would be, with a few daubs of luminescent paint, to dress Heureux as the Beast from the Sherlock Holmes tale about The Hound of the Baskervilles or maybe even the puma like Beast of Bodmin Moor.

Regina, however, was not the least perturbed by the imposing Heureux. She put out her hand to him, saying “What is the matter, you beautiful big marshmallow? You look exhausted.”

Jo was surprised that Heureux did not seem in the least offended by Regina’s familiar tone. He hauled himself up, took the few steps to Regina and sat down, putting his great head in her lap.

“Bad night?”

Heureux nodded. “Sir Yvain is visiting,” he grumbled, as if that explained everything.

“And you don’t like Sir Yvain?”

“That is not the problem. He is a good friend of my master. He took Master under his wing when he first came to Camelot.”

“So, they sat up all night talking?”

“No, Master was feeling a bit rough and went to bed early.”

“So, you were on duty all night?”

“Yes, because Master has nightmares and he thrashes around as if he is fighting an invisible enemy.

Merlin says that, along with the blackouts he sometimes has, what with all the battles, dragon fights, damsel rescues, and trials by combat, he probably has ‘petey something’.”

“PTSD?”

“Yes, that’s it!

“So why was Sir Yvain’s visit a problem?”

“He brought his lion with him and he was taking it for walkies on the battlements. And its growling and roaring sent chills right through me.

“I wanted to wake Master. I can face anything when I’m doing it with Master. But he was sleeping and he needs to get his sleep. So, I just put a paw on him, to reassure myself.

“But the roaring continued.

“I nudged Master and said ‘Did you hear that?’ but he did not wake up. I wanted to run and hide; but I have to guard Master when he is sleeping. Sometimes I need to roll him on his side and sit behind him and not leave him until I know he is awake and healthy.

“I felt so alone.  

I just wanted him to wake up and tell me ‘Oh, it is just Sir Yvain’s lion! He’s really a tame lion and very friendly.’But that roaring did not sound tame and friendly at all!

“And then, when they came along our wing, the moon shining in through the window was casting the lion’s shadow on the wall.”

Heureux shuddered.

Jo could really understand and sympathise. Sometimes seeing the shadow rather than the creature itself could actually be much more scary!

She remembered the tension that gripped her, in a similar scene in the film The Ghost and the Darkness, based on the true story of the Tsavo Maneaters, where two killer lions were prowling around a makeshift hospital and their shadows could be seen on the walls.

Similar film scenes came to her mind. There was the scene in the classic 1942 horror film Cat People where a lady using the basement swimming pool of her apartment building, was stalked by a panther. And then there was the famous bus jumpscare scene where the tension was built up by the sound direction. As the lady walks home through deserted streets at night, she feels she being followed by the panther lady. The only sounds are two sets of footsteps and periods of silence as she stops to look around. Just as the tension reaches its peak, a bus pulls up with a sound that conjures up the snarl of a pouncing large cat.

“I am supposed to be a fearless battle companion.” Heureux said.

Regina did not dismiss the terror Heureux must have felt. “And you are! This was just a very different situation to anything you usually encounter.”

“No. I have met Sir Yvain’s lion before. Master pats it like he would pat a friend’s dog.

But even the musky stink of it terrifies me.

Maybe I am just allergic to lions!”