File:Defenders Vol 1 11 001.JPG

Description
A spell cast centuries earlier by Merlin, serving to always bring opposition to Modred in all his incarnations throughout the ages, plucked the soul of the Black Knight (Dane Whitman), whose body had gotten turned to stone, from Limbo. When Dr. Strange, who had acquired the Evil Eye and hoped to use it to cure Whitman, sought out Whitman's soul in Limbo, he could not find it. Returning to Earth, he told his fellow Defenders of his discovery, but then Merlin's spell served to propel him and his fellow Defenders (including Hawkeye) to the destination where it had sent Whitman's soul: the Crusades. Merlin's spell reincarnated Whitman in this era, and he encountered the Defenders. One of Chandu's gnomes, Temax, attacked them, but Strange teleported himself and his aides away. Informed by Whitman of Richard's condition, they all set out to infiltrate the castle in the Middle East where Richard had been imprisoned. Namor, the Hulk, and Strange set out to destroy the source of the gnomes, and deduced from the lack of sand in one passageway of the castle that this led to the source of the gnomes (since gnomes, as earth-spirits, would absorb any sand that clung to them, not scatter it). Eventually, they reached the room where Chandu, observed by Mordred and Prince John, created the gnomes. They prepared to attack Chandu, but the latter blasted Dr. Strange. However, Namor battered Chandu. A gnome then hurled itself at Namor, sending them both into an oasis nearby. The water of the oasis destroyed the gnome, due to the opposition of elements (water vs. earth). Namor then struck a blow that caused the oasis water to erupt as a tidal wave. Engulfing the castle, the water destroyed every gnome. Later, Modred and Prince John briefly had the Evil Eye, but Prester John reclaimed it.