"Will ye promise me this," said the king, "by your faith?"
"Yea sir," said Sir Bors, "of that will I not fail you, nor her both, but if that there come a better knight than I am, and then shall he have the battle."
Then was the king and the queen passing glad, and so departed, and thanked him heartily. So then Sir Bors departed secretly upon a day, and rode unto Sir Launcelot, there as he was with the hermit Sir Brasias, and told him of all their adventure.
"Ah," said Sir Launcelot, "this is come happily as I would have it, and therefore I pray you make you ready to do battle, but look that ye tarry till ye see me come, as long as ye may. For I am sure Mador is an hot knight, when he is enchafed, for the more ye suffer him, the hastier will he be to battle."
"Sir," said Sir Bors, "let me deal with him; doubt ye not ye shall have all your will."
Then departed Sir Bors from him, and came to the court again. Then was it noised in all the court that Sir Bors should do battle for the queen: wherefore many knights were displeased with him, that he would take upon him to do battle in the queen's quarrel, for there were but few knights in the court but they deemed the queen was in the wrong, and that she had done that treason. So Sir Bors answered thus unto his fellows of the Table Round: "Wit ye well, my fair lords, it were shame to us all, and we suffered to see the most noble queen of the world to be shamed openly, considering her lord and our lord is the man of most worship in the world, and most christened, and he hath ever worshipped us all, in all places."
Many answered him again: "As for our most noble King Arthur, we love him and honor him as well as ye do; but as for Queen Guenever, we love her not, for because she is a destroyer of good knights."
"Fair lords," said Sir Bors, "me seemeth ye say not as ye should say, for never yet in all my days knew I nor heard say that ever she was a destroyer of any good knight; but at all times, as far as I ever could know, she was always a maintainer of good knights, and alway she hath been large and free of her goods to all good knights, and the most bounteous lady of her gifts and her good grace that ever I saw or heard speak of; and therefore it were great shame," said Sir Bors, "unto us all to our most noble king's wife, if we suffer her to be shamefully slain. And wit ye well," said Sir Bors, "I will not suffer it, for I dare say so much, the queen is not guilty of Sir Patrice's death, for she ought [owed] him never none evil will, nor none of the twenty-four knights that were at that dinner; for I dare well say that it was for good love she had us to dinner, and not for no mal engine [bad design], and that I doubt not shall be proved hereafter, for, howsoever the game goeth, there was treason among some of us."
Then some said to Sir Bors, "We may well believe your words."
And so some of them were well pleased, and some were not pleased.