Pendragon

'Let us meet them,' Llenlleawg said, drawing a spear from behind his saddle. We moved ahead slowly, and but a single spear-throw separated us when Llenlleawg gave a whoop and lashed his mount to speed. 'It is Niul!' he called back to me. 'Lot's man!'

He rushed ahead, hailing the riders loudly. I galloped after him as Llenlleawg and Niul, leaning from the saddle, embraced one another. 'What do you here, cousin?' cried the one called Niul. 'I thought it was a very cruachag rising out of the river to carry us off.' He laughed, throwing back his head. One glance at the scars on his shield arm and the notched blade ready on his thigh gave me to know this battle-wise veteran feared little in this world.

Not waiting for Llenlleawg to present me, he turned and called: 'Hail, Myrddin Emrys!' At my surprise, he laughed again. 'You do not remember me, nor do I blame you.'

As he spoke, a memory shaped itself in my mind. I remembered a room in a house – Gradlon the wine merchant's room in Londinium the first time I had met Lot. This man, one of Lot's chieftains, was there. 'It is true that I do not remember your name, if I ever heard it,' I confessed. 'But you, I think, attended the first Council of Kings in Londinium. We shared a cup of beer together, as I recall, since Lot would drink no wine.'

'By the God that made you, Lord Emrys -' Niul laughed, enjoying this meeting very much – 'you are a wonder. True enough. My soul, I was but a boy then. Yes, we shared a cup of beer. Lot would drink nothing else. But where is Pelleas? How come you keep company with this wild beast of an Irishman?'

'Pelleas is dead,' I told him. 'Several years ago.'

Sorrow stole the mirth from his smile. 'Ah, a sad loss indeed.' He shook his head. 'Forgive me, I did not know.'

Llenlleawg spoke up. 'Niul's mother and mine were kin,' he explained. 'Niul was fostered in Fergus' house. We were raised together.'

The urgency of my journey pressed upon me, so, at risk of rudeness, I said, 'Is Lot here?'

'He follows directly,' replied Niul. 'He is with the warband but a small distance behind. Come, I will take you to him.'

Curving around the foot of an enormous hill, the valley bent and widened as it passed. Once beyond the bend I saw, spread out across the valley floor, a warband of perhaps five hundred warriors – three hundred on foot, the rest on horseback: a most heartening sight.

From the forerank of warriors two horsemen rode to meet us. Lot I would have recognized anywhere: his bold checked cloak of black and crimson, his braided locks, his great golden tore, the blue-stained clan marks on his cheeks. He recognized me, too, and called out with evident pleasure. 'Hail, Emrys! I give you good greeting. It is long since we last met-too long, I think.'

I hailed him in return, and we embraced one another in true friendship. 'Well, it is once again in the saddle with sword in hand – not so, Myrddin Emrys?'

'I would it were not so,' I replied. 'Still, I am glad to see you. In the name of the High King, I welcome you, Lot.'

'We came upon Llenlleawg and the Emrys on the other side of the bend yonder,' Niul put in. 'They ride alone.'

'And here were we expecting these fierce Vandali Gwalchavad warned us of,' Lot offered by way of explanation.

'Continue on the way you are going and you will soon find as many as you care to see,' Llenlleawg answered. 'Fifty thousand or more.'

'Truly?' wondered Lot. 'Gwalchavad did not say there were so many.'

'He did not know,' I replied, 'nor did we.' Llenlleawg then told them where to find Arthur and how best to avoid the barbarians.

'Will you ride with us, Emrys?' Niul asked.

'Alas, we cannot,' I replied. 'Llenlleawg and I pursue other affairs, no less urgent.'

'Then we will not delay you longer,' Lot said. 'Until we meet again, Myrddin, I bid you fare well and safe return.'

We continued on our way, and they on theirs, and we soon passed from one another's sight. The valley widened and, as the day dwindled, I could see the waters of Mor Hafren shining in the distance. We camped on the trail and were in the saddle again before dawn.

The sun had not risen above the surrounding hills when, high in the clear, cloudless sky I saw the dark shapes of carrion birds circling a place a little distance to the north. 'That is Caer Uisc,' I observed.

Without a word, Llenlleawg turned aside and made for the settlement. We arrived a short time later to find the place burnt to its post holes. I surveyed the blackened arena formed by the scorched timbers of the palisade. Here and there, under collapsed roof trees I saw a few objects recognizable stilclass="underline" the sphere of an overturned cauldron, a tripod reduced to lengths of twisted iron, heat-shattered jars by the score, and – God have mercy! – half-buried amid heaps of dead ash, the charred corpses of plague victims, young and old alike. The birds worked at the dead, picking clean the bones.

'The Black Boar has done this thing,' Llenlleawg declared bitterly.

'No,' I told him, seeing the flames and hearing the weeping of my vision once more. Here was its confirmation – if any were needed. 'Twrch Trwyth is not to blame. The people of Caer Uisc have burned their own settlement.'

Llenlleawg started at this. 'That cannot be!' he protested, and began to dismount in order to examine the scene more closely.

'Stay!' I commanded. 'Touch not so much as an ash to your boot.' Pulling himself back into the saddle, he opened his mouth to object. I silenced him with a word, and said, 'You will know this killer soon enough. When you return to Caer Melyn, tell Arthur – only Arthur, mind! – what you have seen. Tell him also that Myrddin's vision was true. Do you understand? Say nothing of Caer Uisc to the others. We were never here, Llenlleawg.'

Accustomed to taking orders, the man accepted my instructions. I turned away. 'We had best not linger. The day is speeding from us.'

We rode on in all haste to the harbour at Caer Legionis, where Arthur's fleet, joined now by Lot's ships, lay at anchor. Barinthus hailed our approach; the doughty pilot had remained behind with a handful of men to guard and maintain the ships. 'What word?' he called. 'What word of the battle?'

'We fought but once,' Llenlleawg answered. 'A broken skirmish. There was no victory.'

We dismounted and greeted the pilot; several others came running to hear what we had to say. I told them how the situation stood between Arthur and Amilcar, and asked, 'Have you seen anything?'

'Lot arrived midday yesterday,' Barinthus told us.

'Nothing else?'

'No one passes here without our notice,' the bull-necked shipman answered. 'We keep watch day and night, and neither friend nor foe has come this way – save Lot, as I say, and yourselves.' He paused, anticipating my order. 'I am at your service, Wise Emrys. Where would you go?'

'To Ynys Avallach,' I answered, indicating the broad sweep of Mor Hafren glittering like hammered gold in the fading light of day. 'I see the tide is flowing now. The need is such, I cannot wait.'

'It shall be done,' the pilot said. 'I myself will take you.'

'Also,' I added, 'it would be wise to move the ships away from the shore. We will not need them soon, I think.'

'The thought had occurred to me,' Barinthus replied, in a tone that made it clear I need concern myself no further with the safety of the ships.

He turned and began barking commands; those with him leapt to their tasks. I bade Llenlleawg return to Arthur then, and by the time my mount and I were aboard the boat, Arthur's fleet was already being moved to deeper water – well out of reach of marauding barbarians.

Riding the ebbing tideflow, Barinthus expertly guided the ship around mudbanks and swiftly brought us to the opposite shore at the place where the little river Briw met the larger Padrud, forming a great mudflat at low tide. 'It looks to be a mucky landing,' he warned. 'This is as close as I dare go.'

Thus was I forced to disembark in waist-deep water. Leading my horse, I splashed through the water and floundered across the mudflat to dry land – where I mounted and hastened inland. Night overtook me on the way, but I did not stop; I wanted to reach my grandfather's house as soon as possible. Pushing a relentless course, I came in sight of the tor as the sun rose once more.