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  Fox saw to it that the rats lived well, receiving the best portion from his hand. Oh, he treated them like kings every one. In this way he won their confidence, so that when one day he came to them with tears in his eyes, they all looked about them for the cause of their provider's sorrow. 'What ails you, friend Fox?' they asked.

  'Why, do you not know? The king has ordered me to send you all away – you who have been nothing but faithful to him from the first day to this.' And Fox sobbed so that his fur became soggy. 'Alas, I fear I must do as my king bids, for I have no goods or lands of my own and cannot keep you of myself.'

  Hearing this the rats grew wrathful. They murmured against Eagle. 'Let us kill this mad king and raise Fox in his place. Then we will not lose our living; in fact, we might increase it.'

  So saying, up they rose and by stealth killed young Eagle while he slept. When Fox saw that the rats had done what he knew they would, he raised the alarm. 'Woe! Woe! Our king is murdered! Help!'

  The forest creatures rushed to his aid and all saw how Fox savagely killed the rats, and many were impressed. With his proud coat all bespattered with blood, Fox turned to the others and addressed them: 'I knew no good could come of having rats, and now worse has come to worst. I have killed the traitors, but once again we are without a king. Still,' he said sincerely, 'I am prepared to serve you well and wisely, if you will have me.'

  'Who else has done so much for us?' shouted the badgers.

  'Who else has done so much for himself?' muttered Ox and Otter.

  Nevertheless, Fox was made King of the Forest and began his ignoble reign. That very night the two remaining eaglets took counsel with one another. 'Surely, with Fox reigning over us we are not long for this world. Let us fly to the mountains, for we will neither of us wear the crown now.'

  'No, but at least we will stay alive,' answered the youngest. And they flew from the forest at once. The eaglets lived in the mountains, biding their time.

  Fox made himself free with the ruling of the forest and increased his wealth as much as he liked, for no one could gainsay him. One day, however, the pigs he had lied about to young Eagle suddenly appeared. Fox was greatly distressed to see them, but sent word that they should come to him, which they did.

  The pigs' leader was a great, meaty boar with the scars of many battles on his hide. Fox took one look at him and knew he had met his match. But he plucked up what little courage he possessed and said, 'My, you are a handsome pig, and so strong. Tell me of your errand here, and perhaps I can help you.'

  The pigs looked long at one another and greatly marvelled, for no one had given them such a grand welcome. 'Well, lord,' replied Boar, 'as you see we are a fruitful breed, more quickly abounding than any other of forest or field. And, try as we might, the land cannot long sustain us and we must go out and find new feeding grounds.'

  'Your story moves me,' replied Fox cannily. 'As it happens I have need of a strong companion, for although I am king, I am not well liked by those I must rule. In fact, though it grieves me full well to say it, they daily seek to destroy me.'

  'Say no more,' answered Boar, 'I am the friend you seek. Only give us land to call our own and as long as I uve I will protect you and serve you as loyal battlechief.'

  'Land you shall have,' said Fox happily, 'and I would give you more besides, but the forest cannot maintain so great a host of pigs. I understand that even now pigs other than yourselves are on their way here to thieve and despoil.'

  'Never let that worry you, lord,' answered Boar, 'we are fully able to hold our own and keep all others out.'

  'Only do that and you shall not find me a miserly master,' Fox told him. 'For the less I must give to other pigs, the more I can give to you. Ask who you may and they will tell you, I always reward those who serve me.'

  So the bargain was struck then and there, in just that way. Boar and his pigs settled themselves on the edge of the forest where they could guard the trails and keep any other creatures out. This they managed to do exceedingly well, for there are not many creatures willing to risk the wrath of a bold, battle-wise tusker.

  Fox lavished gifts upon his army of swine, listening to their squeals of pleasure as if to a chorus of bards singing his praises. Both master and servants flourished far beyond their worth, much to the dismay of their fellow creatures of the forest.

  But, by and by, the day came when the pigs became greedy, as pigs will do. They looked around and grunted to one another their misgivings. 'We do all the work and it is Fox who grows fat.'

  Boar agreed with his chieftains and declared, 'I have heard you, brothers, and I agree. Now I will do something about this, as you shall see.'

  It so happened that the young eagles had grown up and had become restless in the mountains. Said one to the other, 'I am not lying when I say I am sick of living like this while pigs overrun our forest with impunity.'

  'You speak my thoughts exactly, brother. Let us go down to the forest and seek redress. It may be that we will win our own back. If not, we will at least be dead and no longer take notice of what vile creatures are ruling in our place.'

  At once they flew off, streaking like comets through the clouds towards the forest.

  Fox awoke from a happy nap to see a very disturbing sight: an army of pigs arrayed against him, lead by Boar, his thick pelt bristling. 'What news, friends?' Fox asked.

  'It seems to us that you have dealt falsely with us,' declared Boar. 'Frankly, this state of affairs cannot continue.'

  'Am I to believe what I hear?' wondered Fox. 'How can you say this to me? I have given you all I have, keeping but little for myself to live on – the rest is yours.'

  'Indeed, you give us the rest – which is little enough for earning the hate of all the other creatures,' grunted Boar. 'Now we want the best!'

  Though they were only swine, they were not ignorant. They knew that Fox had been blaming all the problems of his reign on them. Thinking quickly, Fox said, 'There may be something in what you say. I must think me how best to right this wrong I have done you.'

  Boar turned a suspicious bead of an eye on Fox, but said, 'What will you do?'

  'I will give you a further half of all I possess, which will make you equal with me. We will rule the forest together, you and I – which, it seems to me, is a far better bargain than your like will find in many long years of looking.'

  Boar liked what he heard, for Fox was ever clever at saving his fine red pelt and knew right well the soothing words to say. Still, Boar would not be made the fool; so he said, 'Saying is one thing, doing is another. Give me a token of your troth and I will believe you.'

  Fox made tears come to his eyes. 'This, and after all I have done for you. Well, if there is no other way -'

  'There is none,' declared Boar confidently.

  'Then I will do as you require.' With that he turned and started off through the forest.

  'Wait!' cried Boar, and all the pigs with him shouted, too. 'Where do you think to go?'

  'Why, you are not so stupid as to think I keep my treasures hereabouts, where anyone can stumble over them?' Fox replied. 'I must go to my den to fetch the token you require.'

  'Go then,' sniffed Boar. 'We will await you here.'

  And Fox turned tail and ran away.

  The pigs waited through the day and then through the evening and then through the night, but Fox did not return. And, when dawn came rose-fingered in the east, Boar roused himself and said, 'I am thinking that Fox is not returning. Nevertheless, we will wait until midday, and if our lord has not shown hide or hair, we shall surely go after him, and he will rue the day he deceived us.'

  Needless to say, Fox did not return. For, by midday, he was far, far away, going to ground in his own lands in the west. And in their rage the pigs began uprooting trees and bushes and flinging them into the air with their tusks. Meanwhile, the two eagles, flying over the forest, looked down and saw the commotion the pigs were making over Fox's disappearance.

  'Well, brother,' said th
e older eagle, 'if we are to have our revenge and save our lands, it appears that we must be the first to find Fox, or there will be nothing left of him worth finding.'

  So, on they flew to harry Fox in his den. And that is where they are flying even now.

  I stood in silence with my cloak wrapped round me. 'My tale is finished. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!'

  The warriors filling Vortigern's hall stared at me nervously; the chief druid gripped his staff with both hands in a paroxysm of impotent rage. He had heard my children's tale and understood its hidden truth, and it angered him that I saw so much so clearly. He knew, at last he knew in his very soul, he was no match for me.

  There, Joram,' I said softly. 'Now you know the power of a true bard.'

  Yes, and soon the rest of the world would remember as well.

  You kings asleep in your mead halls, wake! Gather your warbands, arm your warriors, fill their hands with strong steel!

  You warriors sunk in your cups at your lord's table, arise! Burnish your weapons, sharpen your blades, scour your warcaps, and paint bright your shields.

  You people of the Island of the Mighty, stand! Stop your trembling; take heart, and make ready rich welcome. For the Soul of Britain is stirring again. Merlin is coming home.

  BOOK THREE

  PROPHET

  ONE

  Vortigern had gone to ground in the west, in his native lands, choosing high Yr Widdfa's bleak hills for his last battleground. There he hoped to erect a fortress strong enough to keep the young eagles from stripping the flesh from his brittle bones, strong enough to keep the battling boar from uprooting him.

  For it was as I had said in my story, fox Vortigern had played his last trick and now cowered in the hills, awaiting the judgement of those he had wronged, and those whose greed he had inflamed. The young eagles, Aurelius and Uther – younger brothers of Cons tans, murdered son of the slain Constantine, first High King of Britain – gathered warriors in the south. Hengist, the boar, awaited the arrival of reinforcements for his Saecsen warhost from his homeland. It would be a race to see which enemy would reach miserable, driven, fox Vortigern first.

  Vortigern knew all this, of course, and early the next morning, as Iwas preparing to leave, the High King called me to him.

  'I would not detain you unduly, Myrddin, for I esteem you highly. But if you would tarry with me but a little, I would speak with you, and I would deem it a service worth high reward.'

  I was eager to be away, anxious now to seek out my mother in Ynys Avallach and let her know I was still alive. It rankled me to delay even a moment more; although I held no ill will towards the High King, there was nothing more to say to Vortigern. I had done what I had come to do, and even now word was winging across the land that I had returned.

  I could hear the voices:

  Myrddin Wylt is come!… Merlin the Enchanter has appeared!… The Great Emrys is alive again, awakened from his long sleep… Did you see? He defeated the druid bards of the High King and had them all beheaded… Heis here, I have seen him, Merlinus Ambrosius, King ofDyfed, has returned for his kingdom!… Did you hear? He has foretold Vortigern's doom!… Merlin lives again!

  Yes, the Emrys had returned with the doom of the usurper in his hand. Vortigern, for all his sins and vices, was no mouse. What he had done he had always done boldly, with impunity. If his doom was to catch him up, he was game to hold it off as long as he could, by whatever means possible. But he wanted to know what shape it would take, so to prepare himself to fight or to flee – which is why he sent for me now.

  'I have nothing more to tell you, Lord Vortigern,' I said. 'There is nothing else to say.'

  'Perhaps not, but I would speak nonetheless,' the High King replied. He lowered himself heavily into his chair, a handsome thing carved with Imperial eagles on the armrests. His bloated face was haggard in the early morning light. 'I did not sleep last night,' he paused and I waited, 'for fear, Myrddin, for fear of a dream… '

  He looked at me cannily. 'They tell me you are one who knows portents and dreams. I would have you tell me the meaning of mine, for I fear it greatly and believe it betokens much.'

  'Very well, Vortigern, tell me your dream and, if I find a meaning in it, I will tell you.'

  The grizzled red head nodded absently and he was silent for a moment, then began abruptly. 'I saw the pit the workmen dug at your bidding and at the bottom they struck a great stone and it broke and the water gushed forth – as it did, you know – and then you ordered the water to be drawn off by means of a ditch. This was done and, when the pool was carried away, a great cavern was discovered, and in it two great stones like eggs.'

  He paused to swill some wine from a cup, and then continued, never looking at me with his eyes, but staring at the dead embers on his hearth. 'Inside the stone eggs were two dragons that came forth to battle one another. The first was white as milk, and the other – the other was red as blood. And they fought one another, shaking the very ground with then- furious fight.

  'Oh, it was terrible to behold! Their jaws foamed, their tails thrashed, and with their claws they slashed one another. Flames flew out from their mouths! First the white would be above, and then beneath, and the same with the red dragon. Sorely they wounded one another, I tell you, and when neither could fight any more, they dragged themselves back to their eggs and slept, only to fight once again when they had rested.

  'That is all, though it filled me with such terror that I awoke at once.' Vortigern dashed down the last of the wine and sat back, fixing his narrow eyes on me at last. 'Well, what say you, Myrddin? What of these dragons in the pit and their fierce fight?'

  I answered him forthrightly, for I had seen the meaning in my mind as he spoke. 'Yours was a true dream, Vortigern. And here is its meaning: the dragons are kings yet to come, who will contend with one another for the Island of the Mighty – white for the Saecsen horde, blood red for the true Sons of Britain.'

  'Which is fated to win, Myrddin?'

  'Neither will triumph over the other until the land is united. In truth, the man has not been born who can bind the tribes of Britain together.'

  He nodded again, slowly. 'What of me, Myrddin? What will happen to Vortigern?'

  'Do you really want to know?'

  'I must know.'

  'Even now, Aurelius and Uther are sailing from Armor-ica-'

  'So you have said,' he snorted, 'in that tale of yours.'

  'They will arrive with fourteen galleys and put ashore tomorrow in the south. Meanwhile, Hengist has gathered his war brood and they march to meet you now. Your enemies are arrayed on every side. As you have done much evil, much evil will be done to you. Yet, if you would save your life, you must flee, Vortigern.'

  'Is there nothing else I can do?'

  I shook my head. 'Flee, Vortigern, or stay and face the wrath of those you have wronged. Make no mistake, Aurelius and Uther seek the blood price for their brother; they mean to pluck back their realm, and the kings of Britain march with them.'

  'Is there no hope for me?' This was spoken softly, but without self-pity. Vortigern knew what he had done and, likely, had long ago weighed out the losses against the gains.

  'Here is your hope, Lord Vortigern, and the hope of our people: from the events which you have set in motion will arise a king who will hold all Britain in his hand, a High King who will be the wonder of the world – a Chief Dragon to utterly devour the white dragon of the pit.'

  He smiled grimly and stood. 'Well, if I am to flee, I must be about it. Will you accompany me, Myrddin? I would have you with me for your presence is a balm to me.'

  'No,' I told him. 'My road lies another way. Farewell, Lord Vortigern. We will not meet again.'

  Pelleas and I departed the camp as Vortigern called his chieftains to order the march east, where he hoped to elude the vengeance of the brothers swooping down on him. It would go ill with fox Vortigern, yet there was nothing for it but to face the justice he had so long denied.

  We
were well away from the stronghold, riding down between the crease of the hills and out of sight. Pelleas, glancing a last time over his shoulder at the heads of the druids adorning a row of pikes along the ridgeway, sighed with relief. 'That is over.'

  'For Vortigern, yes,' I replied, 'but not for us.'

  'We ride to Ynys Avallach, do we not?'

  'We do, but our stay there will not be long.'

  'How long?' he asked, dreading my answer.

  'A few days,' I told him, 'that is all. I wish it were more, believe me.'

  'But -' He was remembering his master's temperament and how quickly moods and plans could change. 'But it is not to be.'

  I shook my head gently. 'No, it is not to be.'

  We rode on a pace or so, and then I reined up. 'Pelleas, listen carefully to me now. You have found me and brought me back to the world of men, and I thank you for that. But it is in my mind that you will soon curse the day you begged my service. You will wish, perhaps, that you had never wasted a day in searching for me.'

  'Forgive me, my lord, but your own heart will prove traitor before I do,' he swore. And I knew he meant it with all that was in him.

  'What I have to do will earn no man's thanks,' I warned him. 'It could be that before I am through I will be despised from one end of this island to the other, with every hand raised against me and those who stand with me.'

  'Let others make their choice; I have made mine, my Lord Merlin.'

  He was in earnest, and now that I knew he understood how hard it would be, I knew I could trust him with both our lives. 'So be it,' I said. 'May God reward your faith, my friend."

  We rode on then, considerably lighter of heart than before, for we had spoken the bond between us and our old places had been reclaimed. Pelleas was content, and so was I.

  Aurelius and Uther, sons of Constantine by separate mothers and as different as dawn and dusk, would end Vorti-gern's reign with swift justice. Aurelius, the elder of the two, would be the next High King and would prove an inspired leader. His mother was Aurelia, the last flower of a noble Roman family – a claim which Constantine himself could make somewhat less certainly – whose forebears included a governor, a vicarius, a long line of distinguished magistrates, and scores of well-married and highly-revered women.