On the first night of the feast, the hall was filled with noblemen and worthies from nearby settlements and villas, for Pendaran of the Red Sword was a feared and respected king; many owed him much and did not wish to offend him. Thus it was that the crowd that gathered in the hall was dutifully cheerful, if not actually exuberant-most expected the celebration to hinge on a much more solemn matter to be discovered in due course.

As a result, the company was amazed to see the change wrought in their lord. Pendaran appeared happy, jovial even, as he made his way here and there among them, pressing gifts into their hands and clapping them on the back, laughing, jesting, pouring out mead from his own horn into their cups.

“What is this?” they asked one another. “Has our king entered into his second youth?”

“It is a trap,” whispered some. “He is going to raise taxes.”

“No, he is enchanted,” others said. “Have you not heard of the druid bard that he has taken in? Old Pendaran is under a charm.”

The feast began and the chiefs sat with their lord at the high table, eating and drinking, but watching warily just the same. Pendaran endured their strained mirth and sidelong glances as long as he could and then, shoving back his chair, pounded on the table with the butt of his knife. When the hall had become quiet he rose to his feet and said in a loud voice, “How can it be that you have come to a celebration? Look at your long faces-is my hospitality so distasteful?” They quickly assured him that it was not. “Well, what is the matter then?”

One of the chiefs, a stout man of years named Drusus who wore his hair close-cut in the Roman manner, rose to his feet. “If a man were to speak freely, Red Sword, he would tell you what has been voiced about this hall.”

“Tell me then if you know, for I would hear it.”

“The long and short of it is that we do wonder at the change in you and are hard pressed to account for it. Are you under an enchantment? Or is it that you intend slipping us the dagger while our cups are raised to your health?”

Pendaran Gleddyvrudd stared at the man furiously, and all sitting close to him drew back. The king threw his knife into the board before him where it stuck and stood quivering. Drusus’ hand dropped to the dagger at his Belt; but Pendaran’s scowl dissolved into a wide grin and his shoulders began to shake with laughter. “Yes, that is it! I am enchanted! And it is a most remarkable enchantment, as you will see.”

Drusus expelled his breath through clenched teeth. “Do you laugh at us then?”

“I laugh because I am happy, you old spoiler. I am happy, for after far too many years a child has been born in this house and I wish to celebrate with my friends.” He raised his hands to all gathered around him. “If you are not my friends, then you would do well to leave so that I may fill my hall with folk who know how to enjoy the life they have been given.”

“You admit you are enchanted?” asked someone close to Drusus’ elbow.

“I admit it freely! Why not? What is the harm? All of you should be so enchanted.”

The murmuring in the hall increased. Pendaran turned and pointed to where Taliesin stood with Blaise near the hearth. “There,” he said, holding out his hand, “there is the source of my enchantment. Come here, Taliesin.”

Taliesin approached the high table and Pendaran put his hand on the singer’s shoulder. “This man you see before you is not a man like other men. His voice is enchantment itself, and any who listen fall under his spell. But I tell you this in all truth, my friends: you see before you a happier man than you have known before. My life has become pleasing to me again.”

Drusus leveled hard eyes upon the bard and said, “ ‘Anyone who can bring about such a change as we have seen in our king is chief among enchanters. But I ask you plainly, do you intend harm or good for our lord?” Other voices joined in, demanding loudly.

Taliesin raised his voice to fill the far corners of the hall. “Have you become so numb to goodness, so cold to joy that you no longer recognize it when you see it? Have your eyes become blind and your ears stopped to the gladness around you? Do you taste the wine and say, ‘My cup is filled with dust’; or, tasting it, say, ‘The sweet has become bitter and the bitter sweet’?

“Have you forgotten the births of your own sons and daughters so that you cannot remember the way your hearts beat for happiness? Have you never gathered kinsmen and friends to your hearth to raise your voices in song for the pleasure of singing? Do each of you now live in such misery that you must deny the sound of laughter? Are you grown so hard that the touch of a friend’s hand upon your shoulder is nothing more than the touch of wind upon stone?”

The hall was silent, each man staring at the bard whose face was bright with an Otherworldly fire even as his words burned in their ears. Each one there, high and low alike, shrank back in shame.

Charis, who, with Rhuna, at her side, had come to join the celebration, stood at the foot of the stairs holding the infant Merlin. Taliesin noticed her and held out his hand to her. As she came forward, he said, “Look! Here is my son, and a greater man will he be than any man now alive!” He strode to where she stood and Charis placed the child in his hands.

Taliesin lifted the babe high above his head and held him there. “Look upon him, lords of Dyfed; here is your king! The Dark Time is coming, friends, but I hold the light before you. Look well upon it and remember so that when the darkness draws close and you huddle frightened in your barren dens, you can tell your people, ‘Yes, this is a dark and evil time, but once I saw the light.’ “

The people stared at Taliesin in amazement. Never had they heard anyone speak like this. Charis too stared at her husband, for she saw in his eyes a fierce and terrible light that could not but consume whatever it touched. She reached out for the infant and Taliesin placed little Merlin in his mother’s arms once more. Then he and Charis walked from the hall.

Blaise saw this and knew that Hafgan’s word was proven true. Raising his hands he stepped forward, saying, “Hear and remember, lords of Dyfed! A king has been proclaimed in your presence. One day this king will return seeking his crown. Deny him to your peril!”

The buzz of excitement that followed this pronouncement was like that of a disturbed hive. Blaise turned to his fellow druids and said, “What did you see, brothers?”

One of them replied, “We saw the future king of Dyfed.”

But Blaise nodded his head and said, “Yes, and more. You saw the greatest among us bowing low before the Great Lord of Light. Henceforth, whoever dares take the kingship of men must do the same. Even now the sides are being drawn up, for the battle will soon be joined. Fortunate is the man who lives in this turbulent age.”

The druids contemplated this and one of them asked, “How is a man fortunate to live in darkness, brother?”

“Why do you wonder?” asked Blaise. “For only he who has lived in darkness truly knows and values the light.”