'"You elude my question, but I will answer for you, shall I? You hate me because you fear me, Morgian. In this you are one with the rest of unenlightened humanity: fools hate what they fear."

'"You are the fool, cousin!" she hissed. The words were knife pricks. "I do not fear you! I fear no man!" The flames jumped still higher. Then, as if the fit had never occurred, she smiled and lightly stepped closer. "I told you, I feel nothing for you."

'"No? Then why have you come to kill me?"

'"Kill you?" She affected a laugh. The sound was wretched and pathetic. "Dear Myrddin, do you imagine your life means anything to me? Your existence is beneath my regard."

'"You tried to destroy me once and failed," I reminded her. "It was a child's trick, and still you could not succeed in it. You need not bother to deny it, Nimue."

'She laughed again; the flames crackled ominously. I sensed that she was very close to striking, but I did not know how the blow would come. "Oh, well done, Myrddin! I compliment you on your great sagacity. You guessed that it was me at last, did you? Well, Wise Myrddin, this time you will not fare so well. This time your precious Pelleas will not interfere."

'I was expecting her to strike, and still she caught me off my guard. The force of her hatred hit me like a physical blow. My lungs were squeezed by a tremendous pressure, and I felt as if I were falling beneath the weight of the world – as if Yr Widdfa itself had been dropped upon my chest. I staggered backwards, fighting to stand upright, struggling to breathe. My vision dimmed. The crushing weight forced me to my knees.

'Morgian was delighted with her handiwork. "You see? I could crush you without a word… But I will not."

'Instantly, the weight left me. I pitched forward on knees and elbows, lungs aching, my breath coming in raking gasps.

'Morgian stood over me. "Death is but the beginning, my love," she whispered. "I have often contemplated your destruction, and I mean to savour it to the full. I have waited so long."

'She began circling round me slowly, drawing off her gloves. Then, holding her hands shoulder high, palms outward, she began to chant in the Dark Tongue- I saw eyes – scars burned into her flesh and painted in black and silver on her palms in the form of eyes. As she spoke, these seemed to glimmer and gleam as if alive.

'And swelling up behind her I saw the form of darkness – a spreading darkness surrounding her – everywhere she moved it moved with her; it was alive, I teU you! This thing, this living shadow began to seethe and writhe. Like a mass of snakes it drew together and separated.

'I looked, and there now stood around her six huge forms – demons they were, called from some nameless hell to witness her great victory. They stood with her, watching, the frigid vapours of their awful malevolence seeping into the air.

'Dread they were, but beautiful to behold. Achingly beautiful. Like Morgian, they were exquisite in their perfection. But it was the perfection of empty precision; soulless and insensate, lethal, immaculate in its vanity.

To see them – oh, just to see them stopped the warm heart beating in my breast. I grew cold; my flesh tingled with the terrible malice of their presence. The stench of rotting corpses filled the air. Tears streamed down my cheeks.

'Morgian stepped nearer. She was in the full flowering of her fell glory. Gloating, her eyes dancing with malice, she exuded venom. The eyes excised on her palms radiated the force of her wickedness like waves rippling out from a stone plunged into deep water. This was calculated to unnerve me.

'But I was not unnerved, neither did I fear. In truth, once I had weathered the first storm of her hatred, I knew that she could not touch my soul. She might kill me – Ha! Any brute barbarian can do that with a sharpened stick! – but Morgian could not destroy me. She could not make me renounce the Light, or die cursing my Lord.

'I found my voice. "Do your worst, Morgian. I will not be moved. In the name of Jesu, Son of the Living God, I possess the strength to defy you."

'These words had scarcely left my mouth when I became aware of wings around me. Strange, I know – but there is no other explanation. Wings! Enfolding me, sheltering me, protecting me. Whether the wings of angels, or of the blessed Christ himself, I cannot say. But I was surrounded. Peace flowed out to me. Peace in that place of horror. Think of it! I knew beyond all doubt my Lord and King stood over me. His Swift Sure Hand upheld me.

'Morgian sensed the shift in the battle. It made her angry, though she could not see the source of my courage. "Words! Words! Fool of a Prophet! Your insipid god cannot save you. No power on earth can save you now!" She raised her hands and crossed them above her head, and began calling down the powers of the Air and Darkness.

'She chanted her ghastly incantations, and I heard the frozen scream of the howling void.

'So strange, but even then – at the very moment her power had reached its full height, she had lost. I had not given in to her. In the face of her hate, I did not hate. Neither did I cower or flee.

'Great Light, the Enemy's power is so fragile! The devils can use only what we ourselves will give them. Do you see? Give them nothing, and their power fails; it falls like a spent arrow, like a blade broken and blunted.

'Morgian railed at me, she cursed. She summoned the demons of hell to her bidding. Oh, you should have seen her. It was terrible to behold. But the wings enfolded me, I did not fear.

'She summoned a gale of fire. The rage! The rage and hate surged out of her in a vile and poisonous stream. Dark lightning flashed and the blighted grove began to burn. Branches flamed and fell around me; trees became torches and toppled one over another. But I felt no heat; no flame touched me!

'Emboldened, I called to her. "You see the truth at last, Morgian: by the power of the Holy One, the True God, I am saved. You cannot harm me. Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in you. All honour and glory and power belong to Him. So be it!"

'This she could not abide. Neither could she stand against it. For so quickly had she consumed her strength that she now had nothing left; she was exhausted. She could not even hold up her hands any longer.

'I taunted her. "Come, Morgian!" I cried. "Your lords are watching. Show them how their creature wields the weapons she has been given."

'Her eyes were wild with madness and fury. The fire mounted still higher. Trees burst with the savage heat. But the grass beneath my feet did not so much as wither. Cool, sweet air bathed me.

'Exultation swept through me; I opened my mouth and sang. I sang hymns of praise to my Lord. I sang a song of victory to my King. And I danced before him. The demons crowding behind Morgian shimmered in the lashing heat, then faded and vanished.

'Morgian's face went black as the evil swelled within her; murderous rage held her in its jaws and shook her. She screamed and her scream could have felled an army!

'She leapt at me, her fingers like claws, raking. I threw my arms up to protect my face, but attack did not come.

'I heard a voice call her name. "Morgian!" The sudden shout stopped her. I lowered my hands and looked; a man appeared on a horse, galloping towards her through the flames… '

Myrddin paused; at the mention of the man his voice had become heavy with grief. 'You recognized the man,' I said.

'I knew him,' Myrddin replied. 'May God save him, it was Lot.'

'Lot!' Gwalcmai and I shouted together.

Myrddin bent his head slowly. 'It was. Even through the smoke and flames, I knew him.

'He called to her. Morgian stood frozen in her malice. But Lot raced to her, leaned low and gathered her up; he hauled her up before him in the saddle. The horse reared, hooves flashing at me, and they fled.