“Pretty words, singer. Perhaps you will put them in one of your songs.” The voice came from the trees behind them.
Charis whirled toward the sound. “Morgian!” She scanned the trees and pathways of the grove but saw no one. “Morgian, where are you? Come out, and be quick about it!”
There was a long silence and then the rustle of a blossomed branch and out stepped Morgian, smiling wickedly. “Are you jealous, sister? Oh, do not be angry. It was only a game; an idle curiosity, if you like. I meant nothing by it.”
“What are you doing here?” Charis demanded indignantly, the color rising to her face.
“I met her earlier,” explained Taliesin, trying to dispel the tension of the moment. “We talked for a little while I waited. I did not know she was your sister.”
“Did you not tell Taliesin about me?” wondered Morgian innocently. “Why not? Were you afraid I would steal him from you?”
“Leave us!” Hands on hips, Charis stood unassailable.
“You cannot send me away!” Morgian advanced menacingly. Her eyes glinted hard in the sunlight like chips of green granite; her voice was a coiled serpent. “I will not go.”
Taliesin moved between the two women. To Morgian he said, “You have your satisfaction. Go now, and let us part as friends.”
Morgian’s eyes flicked from Charis to Taliesin; her expression, her mood, her whole being softened instantly. “Friends, yes, and a good deal more,” she murmured.
“Morgian!” Charis hissed. “I am not afraid of you or your Mage’s tricks. Leave us! And never interfere again.”
“I am going,” replied Morgian lightly. “But do not think you have seen the last of me.”
CHAPTER TEN
Dafyd listened, a frown appearing now and again on his face. But when Taliesin finished telling him what had happened in the grove, the priest smiled reassuringly and said, “You are right to be concerned, Taliesin. But you are in no danger that I can see as long as you remain strong in the faith. The maid Morgian may have power-probably does; I have no doubt that what you say is true. But the power of our Savior is stronger still. God will not abandon those he has called, nor will he allow them to be taken from him by the Evil One.”
Taliesin was encouraged by this. “Tell us, good brother, how is it that the Savior knows his own?”
“Why, by our faith in him. And all who Believe proclaim his death and resurrection in baptism-the baptism of water with which our Lord himself was baptized by John. It is a simple rite, but most holy. In fact, I baptized King Avallach not long ago.”
“Can you do it for us too?” asked Taliesin, reaching for Charis’ hand.
“Certainly,” remarked Dafyd, his kindly face breaking into a grin. “Shall we do it now? There will be no better time.”
“I agree,” said Taliesin. “Let us do it now.”
“Collen,” Dafyd called to the shrine, “put down your tools and come with us! We are going down to the lake to make Christians of our friends here.”
So together the four of them walked down to the lake, the priests singing a Latin hymn, Taliesin and Charis behind them, silent, their steps resolute and slow. When they reached the lake, Dafyd strode into the water, stopping only when the water rose to his waist. He turned and spread his hands to them, mantle and robe swirling around him. “Come to me, friends; the Kingdom of God draws near.”
Charis and Taliesin stepped into the water and waded to where Dafyd stood, Collen singing all the while, his steady tenor resounding over the water. Dafyd placed them one on either side of him and turned them to face one another. “It is a beautiful thing for a human being to be born anew. I want you both to remember it always.”
With that he spread his hands and lifted his face and began to pray, saying, “Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of water, a sign of your cleansing and reviving us: we thank you that through the still, deep waters of death you brought your son and raised him to new life as King of Heaven. Bless this water and your servants who are washed and cleansed from all sin and made one with our Lord, both in his death and new life. Remember them, Heavenly Father, and give them peace and hope and life everlasting. Amen.”
Collen added his amen and Dafyd continued, “We who are born of earthly parents need to be bom again. For in the sacred texts the good news of Jesu tells us that unless a man has been born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. And so God, who is ever wise and faithful, gives us a way to be born again by water and his Spirit. This baptism enacts our second birth.”
Turning to Taliesin, he said, “Is it your wish to receive the sacrament of water?”
“It is,” answered Taliesin.
“Then kneel down, Taliesin,” said Dafyd. When the bard had knelt, he asked, “Do you Believe that Jesu is the Christ, the only begotten son of the Living God?”
“I do Believe it,” Taliesin replied.
“Do you repent of your sins?”
“I repent of my sins.”
“Do you renounce evil?”
“I do renounce evil.”
“Do you swear allegiance to Jesu as your Lord and King and vow to love him and follow him and serve him all the days of your life?”
“With all my heart I do swear it,” said Taliesin.
Dafyd bent to scoop water into his hands. “Then in the name of your new King, Jesu the Christ, friend and savior of men, and in the names of the True God and his Spirit, I do baptize you.” So saying, the priest raised his hands and poured water over Taliesin’s bowed head.
And then, placing one hand between Taliesin’s shoulder blades and the other on his head, he tilted Taliesin back into the water. “As Jesu died that men might live, so you die to your old life.” He held the bard under the water for a moment and then raised him up again with the words, “Awake, Tal-iesin ap Elphin! Arise to new life as a child of the One True God.”
Taliesin rose up from the water with a shout, his face shining, his body trembling and shaking water all around. “I am reborn!” he cried, pouncing on Dafyd and wrapping him in a great hug.
“Hold, Taliesin! Stay! I have been baptized already!” the priest sputtered. Collen launched into another hymn and sang with vigor.
Charis was baptized next and when he had finished, Dafyd raised his hands over them and prayed, “Almighty God, in your never-ending love you have called us to know you, led us to trust you, and bound your life to ours. Surround these, your children, with your love and protect them from evil, even as you receive them into your care, so that they may walk in the way of the Lord and grow in grace and faith. Amen.”
Turning first to Taliesin and then to Charis, he made a motion in the air, saying, “I sign you with the cross, the sign of the Christ. Do not be ashamed to confess your faith, my friends. Live in the light, and fight valiantly against sin and the Devil all the days of your lives.”
They waded back to shore and as Taliesin came up out of the water he turned to Charis. “We are reborn together,” he told her. “Now nothing can separate us.”
“It was not a marriage,” remarked a dripping Dafyd. “Ah, but I can perform that rite as well.”
“And you shall,” said Taliesin, “very soon.”
They strode from the lake and back to the shrine, where Collen gave them robes to wrap themselves in while they waited for the sun to dry their clothes. They ate smoked fish and brown bread beside the fire, and Taliesin told about King Avallach’s visit the night before and his gift of land.