When I emerged at last, I had put the thing firmly from my mind and was ready to greet my king and swordbrothers in better spirits. I returned to the hall feeling certain I could devour my weight in roast meat and drain a lake of ale. The babble of voices echoing along the passageway gave me to know that the shrine-builders had returned and a celebration had commenced.

Indeed, the hall was bright with torchlight and full of friends. Laughter and high-spirited talk flowed like a wave out into the night; cups were being passed, and the hearth fire had been laid. Pausing at the threshold, I stood for a moment and counted myself most fortunate among men to behold such a noble gathering. When men and women such as these pass from this worlds-realm, I thought, the world will be a colder place.

Rejecting the thought as unworthy of the occasion, I drew myself up and entered the glad gathering. On the instant, I was hailed and a cup thrust into my hands. I felt a hard clap on my back as I raised the cup, and Cai's voice loud in my ear. 'Here!' he cried. 'The wanderer returns! How went the hunt, brother?'

Before I could answer, Cador appeared and said, 'If my two young kinsmen are to be believed, disaster dogged your trail from dawn to dusk.'

'Ah, well,' I allowed, following Myrddin's request, 'it was never more than a nip at the heel.'

Cai laughed, but my careful reply caught Cador's attention. He stepped nearer. 'There was trouble?'

'Aye,' I replied reluctantly, 'there was.' Then, raising the cup, I said, 'But there is ale in the bowl, and fire on the hearth. Let us talk of happier things.' I drank and passed the cup. Wiping foam from my mouth, I said, 'Tell me, now, what is this I am hearing about Arthur's new shrine?'

'Och!' cried Cai. 'Only a few days, but so much has happened while you were gone, you will be kicking yourself you were not here.'

He then plunged into an enthusiastic recounting of the heady events of the past days. The account grew somewhat in the telling, but was well seasoned with remarks from various others who came to greet and welcome me once more into their company. The short of it was that Arthur, having returned to the place of his miraculous healing, had been wakened in the night by a vision of a shrine wherein the Cup of Christ shone forth with a light like the morning sun. The Pendragon took this vision as a sign from the High King of Heaven that he should build a dwelling for the Grail. The abbot and monks were consulted, and for two days, Arthur and Bishop Elfodd sat head-to-head over bits of slate on which the Pendragon scratched drawings to represent the shrine he had seen in his vision.

Elfodd and Arthur… I wondered at this pairing, but kept my thoughts to myself and allowed Cai to finish, which he did eventually, saying, 'We have sent to Londinium for men who know how to work with stone.'

'Stone?' I asked. 'The shrine is to be of stone?'

'Stone, aye,' replied Cai. 'Arthur wants it to last a thousand years!'

'Ten thousand!' offered a nearby listener.

'Forever!' put in another.

'The work has begun already?'

'It has that,' confirmed Cador. 'The site has been chosen and the ground has been cleared. We have been cutting trees all day, and pulling up stumps. I tell you the truth, Gwalchavad, you have had the easier time of it. I was never born to drive oxen.'

When talk turned again to how I had fared on my journey, I made the excuse that I was starving and suggested we join those at the board, where the food was now arriving. I looked for Arthur and Gwenhwyvar, but did not see them anywhere among the throng – made up of Cymbrogi, for the most part, with a few monks and a smattering of Fair Folk as well. Neither did I see Myrddin, and held the absence of these three together as yet one more misfortune to be borne along with all the rest.

I might have wallowed in my melancholy, but then, overcome by the aroma of roast meat and warm bread, and by the sight of bubbling cauldrons being carried from the kitchens on wooden poles, I devoted myself to eating instead. When the rough edges had been smoothed from my hunger, I gazed along the benches, down the length of the board to see who my supper companions might be. I saw, farther along, Tallaght and Peredur, and many others I knew, heads down over their platters as if nothing in all the world could trouble them. I saw this, and I wished I could discard my unpleasant memories so easily.

And then it came again into my mind – the unwanted intrusion of my waking dfeam – as if Morgian herself had burst boldly into the room to taunt me with fresh terrors.

Suddenly too upset to eat any more, I pushed my bowl from me, stood, made some excuse to my companions, and started towards the entrance of the hall. I had walked but halfway across the great room when the doors swung open and Arthur and Gwenhwyvar entered. Myrddin swept in behind them, saw me, and beckoned me to him.

At my approach, the king smiled and held out his arms for me to embrace him. 'Gwalchavad!' he cried. 'Here you are!'

'God be good to you, my king,' I said, gripping his arm.

'Myrddin told us you had returned safely.'

'That I have, lord.'

'Welcome, Gwalchavad,' said Gwenhwyvar, her voice soft and low. 'I was hoping you would be here. Is Llenlleawg with you?' She looked quickly past me into the hall for sign of her kinsman.

'No, my lady, but I have no doubt he will join us as soon as he is rested.'

'Come, now, Gwalchavad,' said Arthur happily, 'sit with me at table. Much has happened while you were away, and I have much to tell you.'

'Nothing would give me greater pleasure, lord,' I replied, nor was I disappointed. Truly, his zeal was irresistible as he described the great work he had undertaken. A few moments in Arthur's company and I had all but forgotten the harrows of my journey, and the queer menace of the dream.

See, now! This is the mark of the Pendragon of Britain: a man whose ardour for life is so compelling that others find their lives in him, a man whose natural nobility extends to everyone he sees, so that all others are ennobled in his sight. Truly, he is one of the Great King's sons and wears his sovereignty with such easy grace that all who will bend the knee to his authority are raised up and exalted by it.

Know you, I have lived alongside Arthur for many years, and have served him and followed him into battle more times than bear remembering, so believe me when I say that I have rarely seen Arthur in such joyous good spirits. It was as if all the hurt and pain of the past troubled years had been wiped away and his spirit restored to its true and natural state – fine and unblemished by the harsh tolls of kingcraft and war. That night he was more himself than even the day of his marriage to Gwenhwyvar, and that is saying something.

We talked and laughed together, and I felt my own heart rise to bask in the warmth of his friendship. When at last we parted for the night, I found the vision of the Kingdom of Summer burning in my heart, although the name never passed his lips. Ah, but that was not necessary. Arthur was aflame with it!

Like a Beltain fire, he scattered sparks in all directions and set the night alight. Anyone who spoke to him would have been likewise dazzled, and I count myself blessed to have sat at his right hand and listened to him describe his plans for the Grail Shrine. It was no rude hut he meant to build, but a perpetual beacon of goodness to all who walked in darkness, a wellspring of blessing to all who thirsted for righteousness, an endless feast to all who hungered for truth and justice. The completion of the Grail Shrine would commence a season of peace and plenty which would last a thousand generations.

How all this would come about was still somewhat vague. Indeed, the means by which Arthur would come into possession of the Holy Cup was not, as I recall, ever mentioned. But one thing was very clear in the Pendragon's mind: the deeds we performed now would become a song which would endure so long as men had tongues to speak and ears to hear.