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thing alone. It cannot be what it seems.'
'I pray you are right,' said Bors. 'God knows, I have trusted that man in the thick of the fight more times
than I remember, and I cannot find it in my heart to doubt him now.'
'Until we find Llenlleawg,' said Myrddin, 'we will not discover what happened. Therefore, our best
efforts are given to the search.'
'Rhys and Bedwyr have already begun,' snapped Arthur angrily.
'It will be daylight soon,' Bors observed, striving to sound brisk and confident. 'They will raise the trail,
never fear. We will learn the truth before the day is out.'
Away in the east, the sky was greying with the dawn. 'Come, Arthur,' said Myrddin, taking the king by
the arm, 'I want to see the shrine.' Together they started towards the shrine to examine the empty building
and, I believe, to speak to each other alone.
'What would you have us do now?' Cador called after them.
'Bury the dead,' came Arthur's terse reply.
Silent with our own thoughts, we stood and watched the thin grey line turn to silver, and then blush bright
red as the sun rose on the worst day I have known since Baedun Hill.
TWENTY-THREE
Now the battle begins. I have made the first strike. It is greatly to Morgaws' credit that no one saw it
coming. She chose her servant well, and bound him to her with strong enchantments. He is ours, and a
more potent weapon would be difficult to find.
Oh, it would have been pure joy to have seen their faces when they discovered the traitor in their midst.
I wish I had been there to savour it to the full. But it is not time to reveal myself just yet. I must content
myself with the knowledge that my glory will be all the greater for remaining so long undiscovered.
Still, the shock of betrayal is an exquisite pleasure. And that it followed so quickly upon the birth of the
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Summer Kingdom is especially poignant. Simple treachery, when applied with such swift and thorough
proficiency, can be simply devastating. Trust is, I think, the most fragile of the virtues; ever brittle, it
shatters easily and, once broken, can never be completely repaired. In a single stroke, I have broken
Arthur's most deeply held trusts. There is no force on Earth that can compel a heart to continue trusting
when cruel, hard facts fly in the face of faith.
Doubt and fear are ever-faithful allies, I find, and, when joined with suspicion, can become wonderfully
debilitating in an enemy. They are like twin hounds baying for blood. Relentless and merciless, they will
chase and bite and howl, wearing down the prey until mind and heart and will are spent, and the helpless
victim drops from exhaustion.
I do not expect Arthur to surrender easily; nor less yet Myrddin. They will prove stalwart adversaries, I
expect. Thus will my eventual triumph taste the sweeter.
And what is this? Morgaws tells me she has come into possession of a certain talisman - a treasure of
some kind, by which Arthur and Merlin set great store. An object of power - healing power, apparently,
among other things - she used it to bait her trap. She does not tell me what it was, but I suspect the Grail.
That would be a treasure indeed. There were rumours in the wind about this Grail years ago - the
miraculous cup of such power, it is able to work wonders of its own accord. Well, these tales are always
stirring up the poor folk. Superstition has its uses, I find. Still, I never would have thought Merlin would
have anything to do with it; he fancies himself above the common herd and its bovine beliefs.
Dear nephew has surprised me before, however. Therefore, I will make it my affair to find out more
about this treasure Morgaws has discovered. In the meantime, I have a little talisman of my own to
reveal. Come, enemy mine, the chase awaits you.
'Is this the last one?' wondered Cai, shovelling dry earth onto the body in the grave.
A bright, red-gold dawn had given way to a pale grey monk's-mantle of a sky - a gloomy day to match
the mood of death and doom. The dirt was hard-baked and the graves shallow. We worked away in
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