'Do you wish me to fetch him back?' called Llenlleawg.

'No,' said the High King, 'let him go. It is soon dark. He will not go far.'

Oh, Arthur, would that you had said anything but that!

I stared after the quickly retreating horse and rider, astonished at what I had just witnessed. When I turned back, the Emrys had already drawn the veil and hood over Morgian's face once more.

He stood slowly and put his hand on Gwalcmai's shoulder. 'This is not to your dishonour,' he said. 'Know you that Morgian earned the death she was given. You merely granted what she had purchased a thousand times over.'

'The things she said,' Gwalcmai murmured. 'They were all true… '

'Never believe it,' replied the Wise Emrys sternly, and turned to the rest of us standing together around the corpse. 'Hear me now, all of you! What Morgian has spoken before you were lies. Lies mingled with just enough truth to poison. She was lost and knew herself doomed; she hoped to inflame us with her corruption. My friends, do not let her succeed.'

I knew he spoke the truth, but it was difficult – still more difficult for the others who had been wounded by Morgian's words.

We buried Morgian in an unmarked grave in the sand on the shore above the high tide mark. The moon had risen when we finished and we were hungry. The talk around the fire as we ate was halting and listless. One by one the others crept off to their tents: Arthur and Gwenhwyvar first, and the others after, until only the Emrys and I remained.

'Do not fret about what happened today, boy,' he told me after a while. I glanced up to see him watching me over the fitful flames. 'It cannot be undone. We leave it to God.'

'I would be happy to do that,' I assured him, 'if I could. But I can still hear her voice screaming out those – those lies.'

'You believed her,' he observed, and I was ashamed to admit that I did. 'Well, that is all her craft. There is no fault in falling into a trap when it is set by a most cunning adversary. But you must not languish in it when you discover that it is a trap.

'Morgian was a champion of lies,' he said. 'Do not upbraid yourself for believing her. Only you must stop believing her. Do you understand what I am saying?'

I nodded, though I did not fully understand. The Wise Emrys knew this, so he said, 'You know Avallach, the Fisher King, and know that he suffers yet from a wound which he received many years ago. Do you know how he came by this wound?'

'No,' I answered. 'But what does Avallach's wound have to do with any of this?'

'I will tell you. Avallach was king of Sarras, a country far from the Island of the Mighty. There was a war and he fought bravely against his enemies. But one night, as he rushed to the aid of his son, he was ambushed and cut down.

'It was dark and he was not wearing his kingly armour, so he went unnoticed on the field. His enemies devised a torture for those they captured – they tied each living man to a dead one. Avallach, as it chanced, was bound wrist-to-wrist, ankle-to-ankle, and mouth-to-mouth to thecorpa of his son.

'The enemy abandoned them to this insane tenure, and Avallach was left to die in the poisonous embrace of his once-beloved son.'

I had never heard such a hideous thing, and told Myrddin so.

'Yes,' he agreed, 'it is ghastly and terrible – Avallach bears the infirmity of it to this day.' He gazed steadily at me, so that I would understand him. 'And this is what Morgian hoped to do: bind us with half-truths to her corrupting lies. And like Avallach and his ambushed soldiers we are meant to flounder in their deadly embrace until we perish.'

'Is there no escape?'

Trust God, Aneirin. Trust the Good God. We have sinned; yes, that is true. But we have the Christ's sure forgiveness. Only ask and it is granted. By this we will be loosed from Morgian's curse.'

I heard him and at last began to understand what he meant. 'What of Medraut?'

The Emrys shook his head slowly and dropped his eyes to the embers as if to glimpse the future there. 'Medraut is dark to me; his path lies in shadow and uncertainty. One thing is certain, however; we have not seen the last of Medraut.'

SEVEN

Seven bright summers passed, and seven mild winters. The Summer Realm enjoyed its fairest season. All things flourished which the High King blessed, and peace reigned in the Island of the Mighty and its Seven Favoured Isles. No more barbarians invaded, and the Saecsens kept faith with Arthur. Men began speaking of the battle of Mount Baedun as the greatest victory ever won in Britain, and holding Arthur Pendragon as the greatest king ever to rule in the world.

From across all seas – from Ierne, Daneland, Saecsland, Jutland, Norweigi, Gotland, Holland, Gaul, Ffeincland, A/morica and Ruten – kings and rulers came to pay homage to Arthur and learn his justice. In all it was a time unknown since Bran the Blessed banished war in Ynys Prydein. Jesu's holy church sank its roots deep into Britain's soil and spread its sheltering branches over the land.

Ships plied the wide, wave-tossed waters, bringing costly goods from every foreign port: fine wine in sealed amphora; the beautiful rainbow-hued cloth called samite; magnificent horses; worked leather; cups, bowls, and platters of gold, silver and precious glass. From out of Britain flowed other goods: strong steel, lead, silver, wool, beef and hunting hounds.

For a time the Fairest Island that is in the world flowered, filling this worlds-realm with a heavenly scent.

Through all trials did Britain triumph, and in all good things did it abound. The Island of the Mighty reached a height exceeding even that which it attained in elder times under the Roman Emperors. Britain was exalted then.

For this reason it was decided that Arthur should attain his highest honour. At Whitsuntide in the twenty-first year of the High King's reign he would receive another coronation: the Laurel Crown of the Roman Empire. Yr Amherawdyr Arthyr, he would become, Imperator Artorius; Exalted Arthur, Emperor of the West and Chief Dragon of the Island of the Mighty. The last remnants of the empire would be placed beneath his hand.

So widely renowned and revered was our Pendragon that as soon as word of this impending honour was spoken out, the four winds carried it far and wide throughout this worlds-realm to all foreign nations. And the best men in the world at that time began journeying to Britain to hail the new emperor. Kings, lords, noblemen, bishops and archbishops of the church – men whose worth was beyond measure in their own homelands. They came to honour Arthur, and to see him crowned in glory.

There were so many that Arthur was forced to leave his beloved Caer Lial and go to Caer Legionis in the south. For though it was not a fine city like Caer Lial, it was larger and could house all those streaming into Britain. Also, the deep River Uisc nearby gave safe harbourage to the innumerable ships arriving by twos and fives and tens as soon as the weather broke fair.

In this way, the old City of the Legions came once more under the authority of an emperor and knew again something of its former grandeur. Caerleon, as it was sometimes called now, also boasted another benefit – the twin churches of Julius and Aaron, presided over by Arthur's friend Illtyd, lately archbishop.

Preparations for the coronation began directly after the Christ Mass. Braving winter seas, I sailed with die Emrys, Bedwyr and a hundred of the Cymbrogi to the south to help make ready. Most of my work consisted of reroofing and timbering the long-unused storehouses to receive the tribute of grain, lard, wine, ale and fodder which began flooding into the city as soon as the roads and mountain passes thawed in the spring.

Each of the others directed equally ambitious works of repair aod reconstruction lo the halls, the houses, the streets and walls. Indeed, the whole city resounded with so much uproar of carpenters and masons that it was called Caer Terfsyg – Fortress of Riot. I laboured from sunrise to long past twilight, tireless in my many tasks. My hands grew hard, and my muscles lean. I led men and commanded good works to be done. When the Emrys saw that I could accomplish much, more was given me to do. Thus I became one of Arthur's captains, though I had never led a battle.