Uther, I had long ago decided, was not what I needed in a High King. Certainly, he was not the ruler to help bring the Kingdom of Summer into existence. For that, I must look elsewhere.

Be that as it may, he was the High King, and despite what power-mad petty potentates like Dunaut and Morcant might think – if it ever occurred to them to do so – Uther was neither stupid nor inept. He possessed a keen military mind and knew how to command men. This Britain desperately needed. At the very least, he should have been accorded the dignity of his rank.

Consequently, I foresaw a messy end to this affair. I must, of course, side with Uther. Of that there was never a moment's doubt. Still, I would go and see what might be done to save whatever might be saved, though I did not think much of my chances.

Pelleas was even more dubious than I. 'Why not let Uther tear them to little pieces and be done with it?' he asked as we made our way hastily to Tintagel. Neither was there any doubt in his mind who would emerge victorious. 'It seems Dunaut and his friends have brought this on themselves. Let them pay for their treachery.'

'You are forgetting Ygerna,' I replied. 'I am certain that Uther is not.'

No, Uther was not forgetting Ygerna. Indeed, he was thinking of very little else.

By the time we joined him, encamped in the narrow cleft of valley below Gorlas' stronghold, Uther wore a scowl that would have cowed snarling dogs. His advisers and chieftains stood off away from him; no one dared come near for fear of a lashing or worse.

At my appearance, a murmur of excitement fluttered among the warriors, who, bored with the stalemate and fearful of their lord's displeasure, viewed my arrival with some relief. 'Something will be done now,' the whispers said. 'Merlin is here! The Enchanter is come.'

Oh yes, it would take strong enchantment to save this situation. It would take a miracle.

'I am here, Uther.' I announced myself, as his steward feared going in to him. He sat listlessly in his camp chair in the tent, unshaven, his red hair wild on his head.

He raised his eyes. 'It took you long enough,' he snarled. 'Come to gnaw at the carcass?'

I ignored the compliment and poured myself some wine from the jar into the lung's cup. 'What is the trouble?'

'What is it not?' he countered sullenly.

'If you want my help, you must tell me now. I have ridden far in great haste to be here, but I will leave just as quickly if you do not sit up and speak to me as a man.'

'My loyal lords he up there,' he gestured impatiently in the direction of the caer, 'plotting my destruction. Is that trouble enough for you?'

'Yes, but I would have thought you most able to deal with that kind of trouble, Uther. Yet, you sit here in the dark, moaning and whimpering like a maid who has lost her best bobble.'

'Oh, aye, rub salt in the wound. Get you gone if this is the help you bring.' He leapt from his chair, as if it had suddenly become too hot to sit in any longer. 'By the Raven, you are no better than that pack of yapping hounds out there. Go and join them. Shall I throw you all a bone?'

'This is not worthy of you, Uther,' I told him flatly. 'You still have not told me what ails you.'

He turned, a dog-bitten bear finally at bay. 'I cannot attack the caer with Ygerna inside!'

At the saying of her name his aspect changed and my purpose was fulfilled. No longer surly and unreasoning, Uther spread his hands and smiled ruefully. 'Now you know, Meddler. So tell me, what am I to do?'

'What can I say to you that your advisers have not already said?'

He rolled his eyes and puffed out his cheeks. 'Please!'

'Your mood has blinded you, Uther, or you would see your way clearly.'

He made no reply, but stood with his head down and his hands hanging at his sides. 'Oh, for the light of Lieu,' I sputtered, 'you are not the first man to love a woman. Stop behaving like a wounded bear and let us discover what might be done.'

'We cannot attack the caer,' he sighed, then added more forcefully, eyeing me peculiarly. 'At least, not while she is there.'

'No,' I replied, shaking my head. 'Do not think it.'

'Rut you, Merlin… You could go up there. Gorlas would let you in. You could see her; you could get her out.'

'Perhaps, I could – but what then?'

'I would clean out that viper's nest once and for all.'

'A bold plan, Uther. And do you think she would so easily marry the man who murdered her father?'

'Murder?'

'That is how she would see it.'

'But – but – they are traitors!'

'Not in her eyes.'

'There! You see? It is hopeless!' He smashed his fist against the board. 'Any way I turn, I am undone.'

'Retreat then.'

Anger sprang up in his eyes. 'Never!'

I turned and strode from the tent. He followed me a few moments later and came to join me where I stood on a rock mound looking up at the black, gleaming stone walls of Gorlas' fortress. It was an impressive structure, and probably impenetrable, for it squatted on a great, high, jutting headland crag thrust out into the sea. The headland was joined to the main by the narrowest causeway, which ran through a single, easily defended gate, the only landward entrance.

'I do not mean run from the field. But remove yourself from this place,' I said softly.

‘To what purpose?'

'You can do nothing as long as you remain here. Just as they can do nothing against you.' I lifted a hand towards the fortress, black and immense above us. 'In the game of chess this is called stalemate, and no one can win in such a position. Therefore, since they cannot move, you must.'

'I will not,' he growled through clenched teeth. 'By all the gods of heaven and earth, I will not.'

'Swear no oaths, Uther, until you have heard all.'

He let aii hiss through his teeth. 'Oh, do go on then.'

'I do not suggest you drag yourself back to Caer Uintan; just behind the line of hills to the east will suffice. Then wait there while I go and speak to them.' He considered this and nodded. 'Very well. Now, what terms will you offer?'

‘Terms?' He rubbed his jaw. 'I have given no thought to terms.'

'Well, which do you desire more: their lives or their loyalty?'

The High King hesitated, then showed what he was made of. 'Their loyalty – if that is possible after this.'

'It is possible, if you will allow it.'

'Allow it? I will welcome it.'

‘Then I will see if they will listen to reason.'

'By the god you pray to, Merlin, if you can secure their loyalty without undue bloodshed, and save Ygerna, I will give you anything you ask, even to the half of my kingdom.'

I shrugged. 'Never have I asked anything for myself, nor will I.'

As I spoke, I saw a vision: Gorlas lying dead on a hillside, his blood blackening the soil. And I heard, as from the Otherworld, the cry of a babe amidst the howl of wolves on a cold winter's night. My heart felt heavy in my chest, and I tasted salt and sour sweat on my tongue.

Words came to my tongue unbidden. 'Yet my service exacts a price. One day soon I will demand my reward and bitter will be the granting. Let this be your comfort: what I shall demand will be for the good of Britain. Remember that, in the day of reckoning, Uther Pendragon. And refuse me at your peril.'

Uther stared, but accepted my pronouncement. 'Let it be as you say, Merlin. I am content. Do what you will.'

Although it was late in the day, orders were given to strike camp and depart. I knew this activity would draw the attention of those in the caer, so Pelleas and I climbed into a coracle and paddled round the headland to see if there was another way into the fortress.

There was, of course, as I knew there must be; but it could be used only at low tide – for only when the water was low could a boat be landed on the hard shingle below the fortress. Any other time the tunnel mouth was flooded and the waves thrashing around the tumbled rocks were too dangerous to navigate.