"How did you find me?"

"As to that, we simply followed the river of rumor to this very door. Wherever you have been, Taliesin, men behave as if they have seen Pwyll, Prince of Annwn, and Rhiannon herself. So when the people hereabouts told us there was a G.o.d living in Lord Pendaran's villa, we said to ourselves, 'This can only be Taliesin.' " He smiled again and spread his hands. "Besides, Hafgan told us where you could be found."

Taliesin embraced him again and then shivered with cold. "You must not stand out here freezing. There is a fire in the hearth and food to eat. Come inside, and you can tell me of your errand."

Linking his arm through Blaise's, Taliesin led them into the hall. Chairs were brought and placed before the fire while the druids shed their sodden cloaks and rubbed the warmth back into their hands. "We must honor the lord of this house," said Blaise as he sipped the mulled wine that had been given him.

"Sing for him tonight," replied Taliesin. "You will find him a most genial host."

Blaise sat beaming at Taliesin over his cup. "It is no great wonder that people consider you a G.o.d. On my life, you do do look like Lieu of the Long Hand, Taliesin. Until now I did not realize how much I have missed you these many years." look like Lieu of the Long Hand, Taliesin. Until now I did not realize how much I have missed you these many years."

"It feels to me like we have never been apart. Still, I want to hear all that has happened since you left Caer Dyvi."

"It is little enough to tell. I served at Cors Baddon for several years and then at Cors Glanum in Gaul. I have traveled to Rome and Greece, returning to the Island of the Mighty only last summer when Theodosius returned with troops to crush the conspiracy."

Taliesin nodded sadly. "Caer Dyvi fell-there was nothing to be done." Then his face brightened. "You have seen our new lands in the south?"

"A fine place-although Elphin says he does not know what his farmers will do with a land that grows more grain than stones."

"How is my father?"

"He is well and sends his greetings-your mother also."

They fell silent remembering a time and place now far away. At length Taliesin stirred and said, "You did not come to give me a kinsman's greetings."

"No, although that would have been reason enough for me," replied Blaise. "But no, there is another purpose. Hafgan has been very excited these last months. He is certain that the Champion of Light, as he calls him, has been bom, or soon will be." Blaise shrugged. "We have seen no signs, but Hafgan has yet to be shown wrong. So he sent us to find you..."

"To walk the paths of the Otherworld and see if I might discover whether this Champion has taken his place among the living?"

"Just to learn if you had seen anything that might confirm him in his Belief." Blaise looked at Taliesin hopefully. "His presence would be known in the Otherworld, would it not?"

"No doubt," admitted Taliesin, then added firmly, "But I follow the Savior G.o.d now, also called the G.o.d of Truth and Love."

"Hafgan told me as much, although he did not say you were prevented from journeying in the Otherworld."

"No one has prevented me from going there. It is only respect for my G.o.d that keeps my feet on mortal paths."

"I see." Blaise turned to gaze at the fire. "Last night we saw a sign that may well bear great significance: there was a ring of light around the moon, and within the ring a single star. This star appeared and flared brightly just after moon-rise, and then darkened so as to fade away. When all that remained was a faintly glimmering spark, the ring of light dimmed and vanished-as if to lend its light to that of the dying star. It was then that the star began to burn with a steady light." He studied Taliesin. "Did you see it?"

"I Believe that it happened just as you say," replied Taliesin, "although I saw nothing, for I was holding vigil for the birth of my son."

"Your son?"

"My son, yes-is that so surprising? My wife gave birth last night."

The other druids leaned close, murmuring excitedly among themselves. One of them reached out a hand and pointed his finger at Taliesin. "This child surely is the Great Emrys, the Immortal, who shall be king in this land and whose reign shall last unto the next age."

"What do you mean?" Taliesin asked softly.

"Indeed, it is just as Hafgan has told us," said one of the druids. "The Champion has been born."

"My son?" Taliesin rose and began pacing before the fire.

Blaise answered him in the voice of a prophet. "Light is life. The silver ring is endless life-the Champion's birthright and his crown. The star within the ring is the life of the one born to wear that crown."

"But you said the ring faded and vanished."

"So it did."

"A life was snuffed out then, giving life to the Champion."

"Yes, so it would appear," answered Blaise. The others muttered agreement.

"Then you must look elsewhere," said Taliesin. "My wife is well and the child thrives. There was no death in this house last night."

Blaise spread his hands. "All I know is what I saw in the heavens."

Taliesin stopped pacing and stood over his friend. "Then there must be some other interpretation."

"I wonder at you, Taliesin. What have I said to disturb you so?"

The bard dismissed the question. "It was a troubling birth, and there was little sleep for anyone in this house last night."

Blaise studied Taliesin closely. "Well, perhaps we must look elsewhere after all."

"You will stay here and rest from your journey. You have much to tell me of the world beyond these sh.o.r.es, and I would hear it all before you depart."

"And you shall, my friend, though I talk all night. But first I would see the child, if that is easily arranged."

"Later," said Taliesin with a careless wave. "Certainly there will be time enough later."

The druids wondered at this but said nothing. When they were alone with Blaise for a moment they said, "What is wrong with Taliesin? Is he hiding the child? Are we not to be allowed to even see the babe?"

"Taliesin must have his reasons. We will not press the matter further now, but we will watch and wait and trust that all will be made known to us in good time."

Lord Pendaran was pleased to have so many bards under his roof and declared a celebration to honor the newborn child; it was to last five days and five nights whereupon each of the five bards would sing. Blaise courteously agreed and begged the honor of singing before Lord Pendaran's household the last night.

On the first night of the feast, the hall was filled with n.o.blemen and worthies from nearby settlements and villas, for Pendaran of the Red Sword was a feared and respected king; many owed him much and did not wish to offend him. Thus it was that the crowd that gathered in the hall was dutifully cheerful, if not actually exuberant-most expected the celebration to hinge on a much more solemn matter to be discovered in due course.

As a result, the company was amazed to see the change wrought in their lord. Pendaran appeared happy, jovial even, as he made his way here and there among them, pressing gifts into their hands and clapping them on the back, laughing, jesting, pouring out mead from his own horn into their cups.

"What is this?" they asked one another. "Has our king entered into his second youth?"

"It is a trap," whispered some. "He is going to raise taxes."

"No, he is enchanted," others said. "Have you not heard of the druid bard that he has taken in? Old Pendaran is under a charm."

The feast began and the chiefs sat with their lord at the high table, eating and drinking, but watching warily just the same. Pendaran endured their strained mirth and sidelong glances as long as he could and then, shoving back his chair, pounded on the table with the b.u.t.t of his knife. When the hall had become quiet he rose to his feet and said in a loud voice, "How can it be that you have come to a celebration? Look at your long faces-is my hospitality so distasteful?" They quickly a.s.sured him that it was not. "Well, what is the matter then?"

One of the chiefs, a stout man of years named Drusus who wore his hair close-cut in the Roman manner, rose to his feet. "If a man were to speak freely, Red Sword, he would tell you what has been voiced about this hall."

"Tell me then if you know, for I would hear it."

"The long and short of it is that we do wonder at the change in you and are hard pressed to account for it. Are you under an enchantment? Or is it that you intend slipping us the dagger while our cups are raised to your health?"

Pendaran Gleddyvrudd stared at the man furiously, and all sitting close to him drew back. The king threw his knife into the board before him where it stuck and stood quivering. Drusus' hand dropped to the dagger at his Belt; but Pendaran's scowl dissolved into a wide grin and his shoulders began to shake with laughter. "Yes, that is it! I am enchanted! And it is a most remarkable enchantment, as you will see."

Drusus expelled his breath through clenched teeth. "Do you laugh at us then?"

"I laugh because I am happy, you old spoiler. I am happy, for after far too many years a child has been born in this house and I wish to celebrate with my friends." He raised his hands to all gathered around him. "If you are not my friends, then you would do well to leave so that I may fill my hall with folk who know how to enjoy the life they have been given."

"You admit you are enchanted?" asked someone close to Drusus' elbow.

"I admit it freely! Why not? What is the harm? All of you should be so enchanted."

The murmuring in the hall increased. Pendaran turned and pointed to where Taliesin stood with Blaise near the hearth. "There," he said, holding out his hand, "there is the source of my enchantment. Come here, Taliesin."

Taliesin approached the high table and Pendaran put his hand on the singer's shoulder. "This man you see before you is not a man like other men. His voice is enchantment itself, and any who listen fall under his spell. But I tell you this in all truth, my friends: you see before you a happier man than you have known before. My life has become pleasing to me again."

Drusus leveled hard eyes upon the bard and said, " 'Anyone who can bring about such a change as we have seen in our king is chief among enchanters. But I ask you plainly, do you intend harm or good for our lord?" Other voices joined in, demanding loudly.

Taliesin raised his voice to fill the far corners of the hall. "Have you become so numb to goodness, so cold to joy that you no longer recognize it when you see it? Have your eyes become blind and your ears stopped to the gladness around you? Do you taste the wine and say, 'My cup is filled with dust'; or, tasting it, say, 'The sweet has become bitter and the bitter sweet'?

"Have you forgotten the births of your own sons and daughters so that you cannot remember the way your hearts beat for happiness? Have you never gathered kinsmen and friends to your hearth to raise your voices in song for the pleasure of singing? Do each of you now live in such misery that you must deny the sound of laughter? Are you grown so hard that the touch of a friend's hand upon your shoulder is nothing more than the touch of wind upon stone?"

The hall was silent, each man staring at the bard whose face was bright with an Otherworldly fire even as his words burned in their ears. Each one there, high and low alike, shrank back in shame.

Charis, who, with Rhuna, at her side, had come to join the celebration, stood at the foot of the stairs holding the infant Merlin. Taliesin noticed her and held out his hand to her. As she came forward, he said, "Look! Here is my son, and a greater man will he be than any man now alive!" He strode to where she stood and Charis placed the child in his hands.

Taliesin lifted the babe high above his head and held him there. "Look upon him, lords of Dyfed; here is your king! The Dark Time is coming, friends, but I hold the light before you. Look well upon it and remember so that when the darkness draws close and you huddle frightened in your barren dens, you can tell your people, 'Yes, this is a dark and evil time, but once I saw the light.' "

The people stared at Taliesin in amazement. Never had they heard anyone speak like this. Charis too stared at her husband, for she saw in his eyes a fierce and terrible light that could not but consume whatever it touched. She reached out for the infant and Taliesin placed little Merlin in his mother's arms once more. Then he and Charis walked from the hall.

Blaise saw this and knew that Hafgan's word was proven true. Raising his hands he stepped forward, saying, "Hear and remember, lords of Dyfed! A king has been proclaimed in your presence. One day this king will return seeking his crown. Deny him to your peril!"

The buzz of excitement that followed this p.r.o.nouncement was like that of a disturbed hive. Blaise turned to his fellow druids and said, "What did you see, brothers?"

One of them replied, "We saw the future king of Dyfed."

But Blaise nodded his head and said, "Yes, and more. You saw the greatest among us bowing low before the Great Lord of Light. Henceforth, whoever dares take the kingship of men must do the same. Even now the sides are being drawn up, for the battle will soon be joined. Fortunate is the man who lives in this turbulent age."

The druids contemplated this and one of them asked, "How is a man fortunate to live in darkness, brother?"

"Why do you wonder?" asked Blaise. "For only he who has lived in darkness truly knows and values the light."

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

When the feast celebrating merlin's birth was over, the lords and chiefs departed, taking the news of the infant king's birth with them back to the remote hills and valleys of Dyfed. Blaise and the other druids lingered a day longer, making ready to return to the southlands where Hafgan waited for the news they would bring.

On the morning they were to leave, Charis came to Blaise and said, "Please, if it is no trouble to you, would you bear a message to my father, King Avallach, at Ynys Witrin?"

"It is the least thing I can do," replied Blaise. "What would you have me tell him?"

"Tell my father that I have born him an heir. Tell him that I-that we we-wish to come home and that we remain here awaiting a sign of his blessing."

"Lady, I will tell him," promised Blaise.

Taliesin joined them and they walked out into the courtyard where the others were waiting. "Farewell, Blaise, my brother," Taliesin said, embracing him warmly. "Greet my father and mother for me. Tell them their grandson thrives and will soon be coming home."

Charis considered her husband's words. What did he know?

"You will see your father again," Taliesin told Charis as the druids departed. "And you will know the pleasure of giving your child into the arms of the one who held you as a child."

The weeks pa.s.sed and spring seeped into the land. The soft rains came and the hills grew green again; plants quickened and put out shoots, branches budded, streams swelled and filled their banks to overflowing. Charis gave herself to the nurture of her child and to restoring her own health. She and Taliesin spent long hours together talking, and though she longed to ask him the meaning of what had taken place in Pendaran's hall the night of the celebration, something prevented her-something about the words he had spoken and the way he had presented their child, like an offering, a sacrifice...

Through gray days of wind and rain, through days of blue skies and sunlight like thick pale b.u.t.ter, Charis waited for word from her father and grew restless waiting. But Taliesin seemed content to wait forever; he continued to sing for Lord Pendaran and in the town as well, so that many of the common folk heard him. And it was whispered about that the Lord of the Red Sword entertained a king and queen of the Fair Folk in his house, and these beings had promised great riches to all in Maridunum and beyond.

Spring hastened toward summer, and Charis ever and again turned her eyes to the road that ran down the hill from the villa, hoping to see a messenger from her father. One day as she was walking Merlin in the courtyard, Henwas came to her. "Lady," he said, "a man has come looking for you."

She turned quickly. "From my father?"

Henwas shrugged. "He did not say."

She hurried from the courtyard to the hall where she met a man wrapped head to foot in a cloak. His back was to her as he stood just inside the door. "I am told you are looking for me," she said. "You have found me."

The man turned and her heart sank, for she thought she would know the man, but the messenger was a stranger. "You are called Charis?" he asked.

"I am."

"I bring this for you." He reached inside his cloak to a leather pouch and withdrew a black feather.

Staring at the feather, Charis said, "This is all? Nothing more?"

"Nothing else was given me," replied the man, extending the feather to her.

"King Avallach gave this to you himself?" Charis took the feather.

"The king himself," confirmed the messenger.

"Who are you?" asked Charis. "I do not know you."

"There is no reason why you should know me," said the man. "I come from the east, from Logres, but have traveled much of late. I was two nights at Ynys Witrin and when the king learned that I was traveling north he gave me the feather, saying 'Give this to my daughter, Charis, who is in Mari-dunum.' " He shrugged casually. "I have had business at Caer Gwent and Caer Legionis or I would have come sooner."