There was a time when we, like all the unenlightened, believed that only living blood would satisfy the gods -' He paused, forcing the next words out with an obvious effort. 'Just a few days ago, in the hills not far from here, the Chief Druid of Llewchr Nor kindled the midsummer fire with a Wicker Man.' 'No!' I had heard of human sacrifice, of course – I had nearly been one myself! But this was different, darker, perverse and wilfully unholy.

'Believe it,' Blaise answered gravely. There were four victims burned to death in that hideous wicker cage. It sickens me, Hawk, but they have persuaded themselves that our present troubles have come upon us because we have abandoned the old gods to follow the Christ, and the only way to fight powerful magic is with even more powerful magic. So they have revived the murderous customs.'

'What is to be done?'

'Wait, that is not all, Myrddin Bach. There is more. They have turned against you.'

'Me? Why? What did I -' Then it came to me. 'Because of the dancing stones?'

'Partly. They believe Hafgan was deluded by Taliesin and induced to follow Jesu. Therefore, they have turned against Taliesin, but he is dead and beyond their schemes, so now they seek to destroy you, his heir. It is suggested that his soul lives on in you.' He spread his hands by way of explanation. 'You possess a power none of them ever imagined existed.'

I could only shake my head. First Morgian, now the Learned Brotherhood – I, who had never lifted a hand against another in my short life, was now the object of hatred by powerful enemies I did not even know.

Blaise felt my distress. 'Worry not,' he said, gripping my arm, 'neither fear. Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in them, eh?'

'Why should they want to harm me?' 'Because they fear you.' He gripped my arm with a hand of iron. 'I tell you the truth, Myrddin, it is because of who you are.'

'Who am I, Blaise?'

He did not answer at once, but neither did he look away. His intense eyes peered into mine as if he would search me out inside. 'Do you not know, then?' he asked at last.

'Hafgan talked about a Champion. He called me Emrys.' There, you see?' 'I do not see at all.'

'Well, perhaps it is time.' He released my arm and leaned down to retrieve his staff. Taking it up, he held the smooth length of rowan wood over me and began declaiming: 'Myrddin ap Taliesin, you are the Long-Awaited One, whose coming was foretold with wonders in the sky. You are the Bright Light of the Britons, shining against the gathering gloom. You are the Emrys, Immortal Bard-Priest, the Keeper of the Spirit of our People.'

Then he knelt down, and laying the staff aside, took up the hem of my tunic and kissed it. 'Look not with disfavour upon your servant, Lord Emrys.'

'Have you lost your reason, Blaise? It is only me, Myrddin.' My heart beat in my throat. 'I am not – not what you said.'

'You are and will be, Hawk,' he replied. 'But why look so downhearted? Our enemies are not beating down the door.' He laughed and the intensity of the moment passed. We were, once more, just two friends talking beside the fire.

A steward came to refill our cups. I lifted mine and said, 'Health to you, Blaise, and to our enemies' enemies!'

We drank together and the old bond between us grew stronger. Two friends… there are stronger forces on earth, perhaps, but few as tenacious and enduring as the bond between true friends.

That autumn, when the weather finally broke towards winter, Blaise and I returned to my long-abandoned lessons. I studied with greater intensity now because I had the hunger, and because I so wanted to make up for lost time – committing the stories and songs of our people to memory; sharpening my powers of observation; increasing my store of knowledge about the earth and her ways, and those of all her creatures; practising the harp; delving deep into mysteries and secrets of earth and air, fire and water.

But it soon became apparent that in the realm of things men call magic, my knowledge outstripped his. Gern-y-fhain had taught me well; what is more, the Hill Folk possessed many secrets even the Learned Brotherhood did not know. These I possessed as well.

The winter proceeded, one cold leaden day following another, until at last the sun began to linger longer in the sky and the land to warm beneath its rays. It was then that I reached the end of Blaise's tutelage. 'There is nothing more I can give you, Hawk,' he told me. 'On my life, I cannot think of another thing to teach. Yet, there are many you might teach me.'

I stared at him for a moment. 'But there is so much – I know so little.'

'True,' he said, his lean face lighting in a grin. 'Is that not the beginning of true wisdom?'

'I am in earnest, Blaise. There must be more.'

'And I am in earnest, too, Myrddin Bach. There is nothing more that I can teach you. Oh, a few of the minor stories of our race, perhaps; but nothing of import.'

'I cannot have learned it all,' I protested.

'True again. There is much more to be learned, but I am not the one to teach you. Whatever else there is, you must learn it on your own.' He shook his head lightly. 'Do not look so downcast, Hawk. It is no disgrace for pupil to leave master behind. It happens.'

'But will you not go with me?'

'Where you go, Myrddin Emrys, I cannot follow.'

'Blaise -'

He raised a cautionary finger. 'Nevertheless, see that you do not confuse knowledge with wisdom, as so many do.'

Well, we did continue on together, but not as before. In fact, more and more, I found myself the master instructing Blaise, who professed to marvel at my acuity, and said so many flattering things that I became embarrassed to open my mouth in front of him. But in all it was a good and profitable winter for me.

When spring opened the roads to travel once more, I rode out with Maelwys and seven of his men – all of us armed – to make the first circuit of his lands that year. We spoke with his chiefs and received their accounting of how the people of each district and settlement had fared the winter. On occasion, Maelwys settled disputes and administrated justice in cases that exceeded the chiefs authority, or acted in place of the chief to spare hard feelings.

He also told each chief that he wanted young men for his warband, and that from now on the year's increase would go to its support. No one objected to the plan and, in fact, most had foreseen it and were only too glad to do their part.

Maelwys showed himself an astute ruler: by turns sympathetic, indulgent, stern, unyielding – but always fair and just in his dealings and judgements.

'Men resent unfairness,' he told me as we rode between Clewdd and Caer Nead, two points along the ring of hillforts that served to protect his lands. 'But they despise injustice. It is slow poison, and always deadly.'

Then you have no fear, lord, for your judgements are the heart of justice."

He cocked his head to one side as he regarded me. The others rode behind us, talking idly among themselves, so he spoke what was on his mind. 'Charis tells me that you have given your heart to Lord Custennin's daughter.' That lightning came out of a clear blue sky. I did not know my mother surmised so much, or so accurately.

The colour rose to my cheeks, but I answered him straight out. 'Her name is Ganieda and, yes, I love her.'

Maelwys considered this, and for a moment all I heard was the soft plod of the horses' hooves over the new green turf. Then the king said, 'Have you given a thought to your future, Myrddin?'

'I have, lord," I said, 'and it is on my heart to make my way as soon as may be so that I may go and take Ganieda from her father's hearth to my own.'