Legacy: Arthurian Saga (108 page)

I had never spoken to him so in all
the years he had known me. He stood still, his mouth slackening
with surprise, like someone who has been struck for nothing. While
he still stared dumbly I added, curtly: "This gentleman and I are
acquainted. Why should you think he means me harm?"

"I -- I thought -- " he stammered. "I
thought -- they had Ralf -- and swords drawn on you --"

"You thought wrongly. I'm grateful to
you, but as you see, I need no help. Put up your sword now, and
go."

His eyes searched my face again,
briefly, then he looked down at the sword he held. The sunlight
blazed from it and the jeweled hilt sparkled. His hand looked young
and tense on the hilt. I remembered the feel and fit of that hilt,
and the life that ran back from the blade, clear into the sinews
and the leaping blood. He had braved the very halls of the
Otherworld for this, and had brought the bright thing back from
darkness into the light that owned it, to find his first danger
waiting, and himself -- with the wonderful sword -- its equal. And
I had spoken to him like this. I gave his arm a little shake, and
released it. "Go. No one will stop you."

He rubbed it where I had gripped him,
not stirring. His color was just beginning to come back, and with
it a smolder of anger. He looked so like Uther that I said, brutal
with apprehension: "Go now and leave us, do you hear? I shall have
time for you tomorrow."

"Emrys?" It was Cador, smoothly.
Before I could stop him the boy had turned, and I saw that it was
too late for pretense. Cador was looking from Arthur's face to
mine, and there was excitement in his eyes.

"That is my name," said Arthur. He
sounded sullen, narrowing his eyes up at the Duke against the sun.
Then he seemed to notice the badge on the other's shoulder.
"Cornwall? What are you doing so far north of your command, and
with what authority do you lead your troops across our
land?"

"Across your land? Count
Ector's?"

"I'm his fosterson. But perhaps," said
Arthur, silky with cold courtesy, "you have already passed Galava
and spoken with his lady?"

He knew, of course, that Cador had
not; he had not long ridden out of Galava himself. But Cador had
given him the chance to recover the pride that I had damaged. He
stood very straight, his back firmly turned to me, his eyes level
on the Duke's.

Cador said: "So you are a ward of
Count Ector's? Who is your father, then, Emrys?"

Arthur did not jib at this question
now. He said coolly: "That, sir, I am not at liberty to tell you.
But my breeding is not something of which I need to be
ashamed."

This set Cador at pause. There was a
curious expression on his face. He knew, of course. How could he
not have known, the moment the boy flew out of the mist to my
defense? From before that moment, it had been beyond repair. But
there was still a chance that the others might not guess; Cador's
big grey stood between Arthur and the troop, and even while the
thought crossed my mind he turned and made a sign, and the officers
and men moved back, once again beyond earshot. I was calm now,
knowing what I must do. The first thing was to salvage Arthur's
pride, and whatever love I had not already destroyed by destroying
this hour for him. I touched him gently on the shoulder. "Emrys,
will you give us leave now? The Duke of Cornwall will not harm me,
and he and I must talk together. Will you ride up to the chapel now
with Ralf, and wait for me there?"

I expected Cador to intervene, but he
sat without stirring. He was not watching the boy's face now, but
the sword, still bare and flashing in Arthur's hand. Then he seemed
to come to himself with a start. He signed to his men again, and
Ralf, released, brought Canrith forward for Arthur, and mounted his
own horse. He looked worried and questioning, wondering, probably,
whether to take what I said at face value, or whether he must try
to escape with Arthur into the forest.

I nodded to him. "Up to the shrine,
Ralf. Wait for me there, if you will. Have no fear for me; I shall
come later."

Arthur still hesitated, his hand on
Canrith's bridle. Cador said: "It's true, Emrys, I mean him no
harm. Don't be afraid to leave him. I know better than to tangle
with enchanters. He'll come to you safely, never fear."

The boy threw me a strange look. He
still looked doubtful, almost dazed. I said gently, not caring now
who heard me: "Emrys --"

"Yes?"

"I have to thank you. It is true that
I thought there was danger. I was afraid."

The sullen look lifted. He did not
smile, but the anger died from his face, and life came back into
it, as vividly as the bright sword leaping from its dull sheath. I
knew then that nothing I had done had even smudged the edges of his
love for me. He said, with little to be heard in his tone except
exasperation: "How long will it be before you realize that I would
give my life itself to keep you from hurt?"

He glanced down again at the sword in
his hand, almost as if he wondered how it had got there. Then he
looked up, straight at Cador.

"If you harm him in any way, the
kingdoms will not be wide enough to hold us both. I swear
it."

"Sir," said Cador, speaking, warrior
to warrior, with grave courtesy, "that I well believe. I swear to
you that I shall not harm him or anyone, save only the King's
enemies."

The boy held his eyes for a moment
longer, then nodded. He swallowed, and the tension went out of him.
Then he leaped astride his horse, saluted Cador formally, and,
without another word, rode off along the lakeside track. Cabal ran
with him, and Ralf followed. I saw the boy glance back as he
reached the bend in the track that would carry him out of my sight.
Then they were gone, and I was alone with Cador and the men of
Cornwall.

8

"Well, Duke?" I said. He did not
answer immediately, but sat biting his lip, staring down at the
saddlebow. Then, without turning, he signaled one of his officers
who came forward and took his bridle as he dismounted. "Take the
men down the shore a hundred paces. Water the horses, and wait for
me there."

The man went, and the troop wheeled
and clattered out of sight beyond a jut of woodland. Cador gathered
his cloak over his arm and looked about him. "Shall we talk here?"
We sat down where a flat rock overhung the water. He drew his
dagger, for no worse purpose than to draw patterns in the wild
thyme. When he had done a circle, and fitted a triangle inside it,
he spoke to the ground. "He's a fine boy."

"He is."

"And like his sire."

I said nothing. The dagger drove into
the ground and stayed there. His head came up. "Merlin, why should
you think I am his enemy?"

"Are you not his enemy?"

"No, by all the gods! I shall tell no
one where he is unless you give me leave. There, you see? You look
amazed. You thought of me as his enemy, and yours. Why?"

"If any man has reason for enmity,
Cador, you have. It was through my action and Uther's that your
father was killed."

"That is not quite true. You planned
to betray my father's bed, but not my father himself. It was his
own rashness, or bravery if you like, that caused his death. I
believe that you did not foresee it. Besides, if I am to hate you
because of that night, how much more should I hate Uther
Pendragon?"

"And do you not?"

"God's death, man, have you not heard
that I ride beside him and serve him as his chief
captain?"

"I had heard it. And I wondered why.
You must know how I have doubted you." He laughed, a harsh laugh,
like his father's rough bark. "You made it clear. I don't blame
you. No, I don't hate Uther Pendragon; neither, I confess, do I
love him. But when I was a boy I saw enough of divided kingdoms;
Cornwall is mine, but she cannot stand alone. There is only one
future for Cornwall now, and this is the same future as Britain's.
I am linked to Uther, whether I like it or not. I will not bring
division again, to see the people suffer. So I am Uther's man...or,
which is nearer the truth, the High King's."

I watched the kingfisher, reassured
now that the troop had gone, dive in a jeweled splash below us. He
came up with a fish, shook his feathers, and flashed away. I said:
"Did you send men to spy on me in Maridunum, years back, before I
came north?"

His lips thinned. "Those. Yes, they
were mine...and fine work they made of it! You guessed straight
away, didn't you?"

"It was an obvious conclusion. They
were Cornish, and your troops were at Caerleon. I learned later
that you yourself had been there. Am I to be blamed if I thought
you were trying to find Arthur?"

"Not at all. That is exactly what I
was trying to do. But not to harm him." He frowned down again at
the dagger. "Remember those years, Prince Merlin, and think how it
was with me then. The King ailing, and for all one could see,
pledging more and more power to Lot and his friends. He offered
Morgause in marriage before ever Morgian was born, did you know
that? And even now, I doubt if he really sees where Lot's ambition
is leading him...I tried to tell him myself, but from me it came
like an echo of the same ambition. I feared what would happen to
the kingdoms should Uther die -- or should Uther's son die. And
though I didn't doubt your power to protect that son in your own
way, there's a place for my way as well." The dagger thudded back
into the turf. "So I wanted to find him, and watch him. As, for a
different reason, I have been watching Lot."

"I see. You never thought of
approaching me yourself and telling me this?"

He looked sideways at me, the corners
of his mouth lifting. "If I had, would you have believed
me?"

"It's probable. I am not easy to
deceive."

"And told me where the boy
was?"

I smiled. "That. No."

He hunched a shoulder. "Well, there's
your answer. I sent my foolish spies, and found nothing. I even
lost you. But I never meant you harm, I swear it. And though I may
once have been your enemy, I was never Arthur's. Will you believe
that now?"

I looked around me at the tranquil
day, the sunlit trees, the light mist lifting from the lake. "I
should have known it long ago. All day I have been wondering why I
had had no warning of danger."

"If I were Arthur's enemy," he said,
smiling, "I would know better than to try and snatch him from under
Merlin's arm and eye. So if there had been danger in the air today,
you would have known it?"

I drew a breath. I felt light again as
the summer air around me. "I am sure of it. It worried me, that I
had let you come so close today, and never felt the cold on my
skin. Nor do I feel it now. Duke Cador, I should ask your
forgiveness, if you will give it me."

"Willingly." He began to clean the tip
of his dagger in the grass. "But if I am not his enemy, Merlin,
there are those who are. I don't have to tell you about the dangers
of this Christmas marriage; not only for Arthur's claim to the
throne, but the dangers for the kingdom itself."

I nodded. "Division, strife, the dark
end to a dark year. Yes. Is there anything more you can tell me
about King Lot, that all men do not already know?"

"Nothing definite, not more than
before. I am hardly in Lot's private councils. But I can tell you
this; if Uther delays much longer over proclaiming his son, the
nobles may decide to choose his successor among themselves. And the
choice is there, ready, in Lot who is a tried and known warrior,
who has fought at the King's hand, and is -- will be soon -- the
King's son-in-law."

"Successor?" I said. "Or
supplanter?"

"Not openly, no. Morgian would not see
Lot stepping across her father's body to the kingdom. But once he
is married to her, and is the King's apparent heir until Arthur is
produced, then Arthur himself, when he does appear, will have to
show both a stronger claim and a stronger backing."

"He has both."

"The claim, yes. But the backing? Lot
has more men at his back than I." I said nothing, but after a bit
he nodded. "Yes. I see. If he is backed by you, yourself in
person...You can enforce his claim?"

"I can try. I shall have help. Yours,
too, I hope?"

"You have it."

"You shame me, Cador"

"Hardly that," he said. "You were
right. It was true that I hated you. I was young then, but I have
come to see things differently; perhaps more clearly. For my own
sake, if for nothing else, I cannot stand by and see Uther so bound
to Lot, and Lot succeeding in his ambition. Arthur's is the one
strong claim which can't be denied, and his is the one hand which
can hold the kingdoms together -- if any hand can do it now. Oh,
yes, I would support him."

I was reflecting that even at fifteen
Cador had been a realist; now, his tough-minded common sense was
like a gust of cold air through a musty council-chamber. "Does Lot
know this?" I asked him.

"I have made it clear, I think. Lot
knows I would oppose him, and so would the northern lords of
Rheged, and the kings of Wales. But there are others I am not sure
of, and many who will be swayed either way if their lands are
threatened. The times are dangerous, Merlin. You knew Eosa went to
Germany, and was consorting with Colgrim and Badulf? Yes? Well,
news came a short while ago that longships had been massing across
the German Sea from Segedunum and that the Picts have opened their
harbors to them."