NOW come we to the beginning of the end of this great and glorious reign of King Arthur of Britain. For so Sir Launcelot stepped between the Queen and the law as hath afore been told of, and having done so there was no recession for him from that act. For so was he bound to protect the Queen and to cherish her if he could do so; and King Arthur was bound to recover his Queen to bring her back to her duty again if he could do so.
Concerning Queen Guinevere and Sir Launcelot.
Yet in all this the Queen had not sinned against King Arthur, saving only that she had escaped from her enemies and from justice at Camelot, and also because King Arthur supposed that her affections had wandered from him and toward Sir Launcelot. For in all other respects the Queen was ever as honorable and as pure as she had been when first she came to King Arthur that long while before at Camilard (which same hath been told in full in the Book of King Arthur). Yet there was this, that the coming of Sir Launcelot from the Lake and the greatness of Sir Launcelot as a knight, and the beauty of the person of Sir Launcelot, so fascinated her that she could not let him go his way without meddling with his fortunes. Wherefore she demanded him for her knight, and she was angry at any interference that prevented him from serving her as her knight both singly and in all things.
But now had come to her the end of all this. For now was she escaped from her lord the King, and from justice, and she was hiding under the protection of Sir Launcelot of the Lake and of those knights of his blood and kindred at Joyous Gard. So had the end come to her of all the joy of her life, for King Arthur could now never condone or forgive her offence.
King Arthur grieveth.
For when the news of that battle came to the ears of King Arthur, he was filled with anger and with grief. “Alas!” cried he, “that this quarrel should have begun, for in it I behold the end of my reign. For already the joy of the Round Table is past and gone, and never shall it return again.”
For wit ye that that joy which is gone can never return, but only its memory shall live in the heart to lend a dim and distant lustre upon the sorrows of the present, and of that King Arthur was very well aware. So also he knew that the glory of the Round Table had departed, and he knew that ere the end of that Round Table should come many knights should die in that quarrel that was now toward.
Then the King said, “Doth Sir Gawaine, the high prince, know that his two brothers have been slain?” They say to him, “No, Lord.” (For they did not then know that Sir Gawaine had already been informed thereof.) The King said, “Then let him not be told of it, for if he is told of it now he will, in his haste, vow vengeance against Sir Launcelot who was his sworn comrade in arms and his very dear friend, and so there will be added war to this war.” They say to the King, “He shall not be told, but it shall be kept secret from him.”
The news cometh to Sir Gawaine.
But meantime there had come a messenger hastening to Sir Gawaine, and said to him, “Lord, the Queen hath escaped and is now upon her way to Joyous Gard with Sir Launcelot of the Lake.”