'Stay,' I insisted. 'Please, stay.'

'Myrddin,' he said, gently, gripping my hand tightly in his own, 'I have ever been with you.'

One of the horses on the trail below whinnied. I turned to see that the man labouring up the trail had approached more closely, and his form seemed familiar. Who could it be? I took a step closer.

'Farewell, Myrddin,' Annwas called, and when I turned towards him he was gone.

'Farewell, Annwas Adeniawc, until we meet again,' I called, and then sat down on the rock to wait until my visitor should present himself to me.

FOURTEEN

I did not have long to wait, for the man followed the trail up through the scree directly to the stream where I sat upon my rock. He did not see me – his eyes were raised to the cave still some way above, where he meant to find me.

I should have recognized him, but did not. He laboured up the trail and when he made to stop at the stream, I stood – thereby giving him considerable fright: meeting a naked man on a mountainside at sunrise was not what he expected.

'Greetings, friend,' I said as I stood. 'Forgive me for startling you, that was not my intention.'

'Oh!' He gave a little shout as he jumped back, as one might from a viper. But instantly his face changed. I knew him then, but the truth could not be accepted at once. And he recognized me. 'My lord Merlin!'

He dropped the reins and sank to his knees, tears starting into his eyes. His hands shook as he reached out to me, and he grinned like one demented with delight. 'Oh, my lord Merlin, I dared not hope -'

I stepped towards him hesitantly. 'Pelleas?'

'My lord… ' Happy tears streamed down his face. He clutched at my hand and clasped it to him, his body quivering with excitement.

'Pelleas?' I still could not believe it. 'Pelleas are you really here?'

'I am here, my master. Pelleas is here. I have found you at last!'

I shivered with a chill and he came to himself somewhat, although still ecstatic. He jumped up and ran to the horses, which had wandered a few paces, and, delving into the bag behind the saddle of the second horse, brought out a brightly coloured bundle. 'You are cold,' he said, 'but these will warm you.' He unwrapped the bundle and began spreading clothing out on a boulder.

I drew on the finely-woven yellow tunic and blue-and-black checked trousers, then sat down and pulled on the soft brown leather boots and tied them at the knee. When I stood up again, Pelleas held out for me a deep blue cloak edged all around with wolf fur. It was a cloak made for a king; indeed, it was my own cloak remade – my old Hill Folk wolfskin new-sewn.

I gathered it over my shoulders and he stepped before me with a brooch in his hands – I recognized the ornament: two stags facing, their antlers entwined, ruby eyes gleaming fiercely at one another. The brooch had belonged to Taliesin; it was one of the treasures Charis kept in her wooden chest at Ynys Avallach.

Pelleas saw my wondering look as he fastened the fold of my cloak. 'Your mother sends this with her greetings.'

Suddenly, there were so many things I wanted to know, so many questions I needed to ask. I asked the first that occurred to me. 'But, Pelleas, how did you know where to find me?'

'I did not know, my lord,' he said simply; he fastened and stepped away. 'There, you are a king once more.'

'You mean -' I stared at him. 'You mean you have been searching for me all this time… these many years? It has been years, has it not? Of course it has, look at you, Pelleas – you are a grown man now. I – Pelleas, tell me, how long has it been? How long have I been away?'

'You have been away a fair time, lord. Many years.' 'A good many?' 'Yes, lord, a good many.' 'How many?'

He shrugged. 'Not so many that the name of Myrddin Emrys is not still remembered and revered in the land. In fact, your fame has increased most wonderfully. There is not a corner of the Island of the Mighty that does not know and fear you.' He fell to his knees once more. 'Oh, Merlin, my master, I am so happy to have found you at last… '

'How you must have searched – have you never stopped searching?'

'Until this moment, never. And if I had not found you just now, I would have gone on searching.'

I was awed by his devotion to me, and shamed by it. I turned away from him. 'I am not worthy of your sacrifice, Pelleas. God alone is worthy of such devotion.'

'As one cares for another, does he not also care for God?'

I heard a certain priest in his words. 'You have been listening to Brother Dafyd.'

'Bishop Dafyd,' he said, smiling.

'Bishop, is he now? Tell me, how is he?'

'Well,' Pelleas replied. 'Well and happy. He is run off his legs by his monastery, but men half his age cannot keep up with him. His heart is young still, and he is well. Indeed, he is the marvel of the realm.'

'And Maelwys? Does he fare as well?'

'My lord, Maelwys has joined his fathers.'

I do not know what answer I expected. But I felt Maelwys' loss sharply then and it came to me what my absence from the world of men had meant. 'And Elphin? What of Elphin?'

'Likewise, lord. Many years ago. And the Lady Rhonwyn as well.'

Fool! What did you think, lurking up here in your hovel, haunting the rock wastes like a wraith? What did you think? Did you not know that men mark their years differently, that their spans are less? While you squatted up here in your squalid misery, nursing your unholy grief, your friends and kinsmen grew old and died.

'I see,' I replied at length, much saddened. Maelwys, Elphin, Rhonwyn – gone, all of them. And how many others with them? Great Light, I did not know!

Pelleas had gone to the horses and now returned with food. 'Are you hungry? I have bread and cheese and a little mead. It will cheer you.'

'Let us eat together,' I said. 'I would welcome nothing more than to break my long fast with a friend.'

While we ate, he told me something of his search, which carried him to every corner of Celyddon. 'I thought you dead,' I told him when he finished. 'I saw them all dead – Custen-nin, Gwendolau, my warband… Ganieda – all dead, and you with them. I could not face it. Merciful Father, forgive me, I fled.'

'So many dead that day,' he replied gravely, 'but not all. I lived – and Custennin, too. I saw you ride away, did you know? I even called after you, but you did not hear me. Even then,' his face brightened, 'even then I knew that I would find you one day.'

'You must have been very certain. Certain enough to bring two horses.'

'Celyddon is great, my lord, but I never gave up hoping.'

'Your faith has been rewarded. I would reward you, too, but I have nothing. Even had I a hundred kingdoms, the gift would still be as nothing compared to the gift of your devotion, Pelleas. Has a man ever had such a friend?'

He shook his head slowly. 'I have my reward,' he said in a hushed voice. 'I seek no other than to serve you once more.'

We finished eating in silence and then I rose, brushing crumbs from my clothing. I breathed the mountain air deep into my lungs and it was the air of a world much-changed. While I had hidden in my cave, the darkness had grown strong. What I had now to do was to discover where the light still burned, and how brightly.

Pelleas bundled up the remaining food and joined me. 'Where do you propose to go, Lord Myrddin?'

'I hardly know.' I turned to the spring and cave above us on the mountainside. It now appeared a cold and forlorn and alien place. 'Does Custennin still abide in Celyddon?'

'Yes, lord. I was with him earlier in the spring.'

'And my mother – does she stay in Dyfed?'

'She has returned to Ynys Avallach.'

'I see. And what of Avallach?'

'He is well enough. But, as ever, he is troubled from time to time by his injury.'