But its king was not there.

Morcant was with his warband, harrying the settlements on Madoc's borders a small distance away. By the time the rapacious lord heard about Arthur's intervention and returned to his palace, the young Duke and his few men were already manning the ramparts of Morcant's stronghold against him.

In this Arthur showed the first glimmer of that martial genius he was to exhibit time and time again in the years to come. The manoeuvre took Morcant completely by surprise. Well, did he really expect Arthur to meet him on the field?

Morcant's forces outnumbered Arthur's fifteen men to one. The young Duke's forces could not have withstood Morcant's in pitched combat. Though keen and determined, and lacking nothing in courage, they were green and unseasoned. And Arthur had no experience leading untried men. Indeed, young Arthur had little enough experience leading a warband of any size or description.

Morcant hoped, I think, to belittle Arthur and defame him. He knew Arthur could not ignore the challenge, so the old lion should have expected Arthur to use what few weapons he possessed. But Morcant was the fool, truth to tell; and his foolishness had already cost the lives of more than a few good men. That folly had to be put down once for all.

This is the way of it:

Arthur made for Caer Uintan and found it, as he expected, virtually unprotected – such was Morcant's arrogance, he did not deem it a danger to leave his stronghold unguarded when he raided.

'Oh, we had no trouble getting in,' Cai told me, delighting in every detail of the events he described. 'We simply rode up as if we were expected, and "What is that you say? Morcant not here? Is this any way to greet the Duke of Britain? Why, yes, go and fetch your lord. We will wait for him inside."

'Once inside we gather everyone – it's mostly women and children anyway – and bring them to the hall. And Bedwyr tells them it is an offence to Morcant's good name if they do not receive the Duke with a feast. This throws them all in a fluster, so they scurry around preparing a feast for us. It is such confusion that no one even notices Arthur has sealed the gates.'

Cai chuckled, savouring his tale. 'When Morcant learns that Arthur has come, back he storms to his fortress. But it is too late. The gates are secured, and the walls manned against him. He rages for the better part of a day, but the Duke will not speak to him.

'He would scream. Oh, how he could scream! And that son of his, Cerdic, has a mouth on him as well. But Arthur would not answer them. Instead, my lord bade me deal with them. So, I called down to him from his own walls:

'"Hail, Morcant! Hail, Cerdic! How is it that we come to you and find no one to receive us?" I ask him. "As it is, we have had to prepare our own feast of welcome."

'And the roaring old lion answers me, he says, "By whose authority do you overrun my palace and stronghold?"

'"By authority of the Duke of Britain," I answer, "the very same who now sits in your chair at meat." Oh, he does not like this; he does not. He calls me no end of names to prove it, and he has even more for Arthur. But I pretend to ignore him.

"Tell me, great king," I say to him, "explain to me if you can, how it is that you have come to be locked outside your own gates at your own feast? This is a wonder I would hear told throughout all Lloegres." Well, this makes him even angrier. Up he puffs, just like an adder about to strike – but there is nothing to bite. So he begins shouting some more.

'Cerdic is beside himself. "Come out and fight!" he cries. "Cowards! Thieves! Let us settle this with swords!" It is all he knows, you see. But again I make no reply.

'Well, this goes on until sunset. I go to Arthur and ask if he means this to continue all night. "Yes," he tells me, "we have ridden hard and need our rest. Tell Morcant we are going to sleep now, and not to make so much noise,'" Cai chortled at the audacity of it.

'So back to the rampart I go and tell Morcant what the Duke has said. Does this make him happy, Pelleas? No, it does not. He screams like a pig when the knife goes in. He is all a-lather, and his men are beginning to laugh – which only makes it worse for him, you see.

'But what does Morcant expect? So, we leave him there for the night and next morning I go to see what he is about. There he is, red-eyed and temper-twisted; I believe he spent the night in the saddle cursing! "You have given me no choice," he cries, "I have laid siege to my own stronghold." And, indeed, his men are ranged without the walls as if to keep us from escaping.

'He thinks he is being clever with this, but when I tell Arthur what Morcant has done, Arthur only laughs and calls for someone to bring him a torch. Out into the yard we march and there the Duke sets fire to one of the storehouses. Do you believe it? Pelleas, it is God's truth I am telling!

'And when the flames are set, says Arthur, "Now let us go and see if Morcant will speak more civilly to his servant, or whether his sharp tongue will cost him his fine palace." So that is what we do.

'On the wall, up speaks Arthur, "Greetings, my king, I hear that you have been calling for me. Forgive me, but I have had many things on my mind, what with one thing and another." This he says as sweet as you please – the right innocent is Arthur.

'"Do not think you can escape punishment, boy!" So bellows Morcant. "Aurelius’ bastard or no, I mean to have your head on a spike where you stand."

'The old fool is foaming mad, and I am beginning to think we have made a grave mistake. Some of the men are clasping their swords and muttering to one another – they can be forgiven, because they do not know Arthur. Still, it is a tight place and no mistake.

'"Is this the hospitality you are so widely renowned for?" asks Arthur. Ha! It is and well he knows it!' Cai crowed. Then, rubbing bis hands in glee, he continued, 'Well, by now smoke is starting to rise in plumes from the yard behind. Morcant sees it, and sees the torch in Arthur's hand – Arthur is still holding it, you see – and "What have you done?" the king demands. "What is burning?"

'"Someone appears to have been rather careless with this torch," says Arthur. "A shame, too, for now I do not know where I shall sleep tonight," he tells him – for all it is barely daylight! You should have seen Morcant's face – a rare sight, I tell you.

'"My palace!" screams Morcant. His face is blue-black with venom now; he is bloated with it. "You are burning my palace!" His eyes bulge as he stares at the smoke.

'"Yes," says Arthur, in a voice hard as cold steel, "I am burning your palace. There is but one way to save it: end your war with Madoc and Bedegran, and pay me tribute."

'"The Devil take you!" cries Morcant. "No one dictates terms to me!"

'Arthur turns and hands the torch to Bedwyr and says, "Take this to the stables and stores. See if they leap as quick to the flame as Morcant's hall." So, Bedwyr obliges,' laughed Cai. 'He is only too eager to please.

'Morcant hears this, of course. And he cannot believe his ears. "No! No!" he screams, just like that, losing all command.

'But Arthur heeds him not.' Cai shook his head in admiration. 'He is fearless, Arthur is.'

'What happened next?' I asked, relishing his story immensely.

'Well,' Cai took a long draught of his beer, 'Morcant orders his men to attack. Cerdic leads them. But what can they do? They beat on the gates with the pommels of their swords. Some of them have cut down a small tree and they try with that to break in. But their hearts are not in it.

'Arthur knows this, so he tells us not to stone them. "Let be," he says. "Our sword brothers are confused. Do not hurt them."

'The smoke is rolling thick and black now. Bedwyr has not actually set fire to the stores, but has dumped a quantity of grains into the yard and is burning that, you see, so it makes a deal of smoke. They have put a wagon or two full of hay into it as well, I think, and,' Cai broke off to laugh, 'he has brought some horses to stand nearby. The horses are afraid of the fire, of course, and they start raising a fearful din.