Merlin

FOUR

I cannot say Uther was overjoyed to hear what the lords of the north had decided: that they would support Aurelius, if Uther would lead the war host. Uther, fancying himself High King material, rebelled at the thought, considering it somehow beneath him.

I delivered the ultimatum only moments after our arrival from Goddeu. Custennin, like Tewdrig, had sent advisers with me, and Aurelius had seen them as we entered camp – cold and wet, for it had been misting rain all day. The king summoned me before I could even change into dry clothing. Both Aurelius and Uther had listened to my summary, and Uther spoke first:

'So, the yapping dog is to be thrown a bone to keep him quiet – is that it?' I did not reply, so he continued, thrusting his fist in my face. 'You put them up to this! You, Merlin the Meddler.'

Aurelius looked on placidly. 'Uther, do not take on so -'

'How should I not, brother dear? I am to be made a simple spear-bearer and you sit by and say nothing,' Uther sulked. 'I should be a king at least.'

'It was Custennin's idea,' I told him. 'And it was his lords who added the condition of your leading the war host, not me. Still, I think it is no bad thing.'

'Consider it, Uther,' said Aurelius, seeking to smooth his brother's ruffled feathers, 'of the two of us, you are the better warrior.'

'True,' sniffed Uther.

'And as I am the older, the kingship falls to me.' Aurelius fixed him a stern glance.

'Also true,' Uther admitted.

'Then what is to prevent you from becoming this Supreme Commander?'

'It is an insult,' sneered Uther.

I bit back the words that were stinging my tongue like wasps.

Aurelius put a hand on his brother's shoulder. 'Since when is it an insult to lead the greatest army in the world?'

Uther softened. Aurelius pressed home his point. 'Is it an insult to be the Supreme Commander of all the Britons? Think of it, Uther! Hundreds of thousands of men at your command – a thousand thousand! – all looking to you, trusting you for their lives. You will win great renown, and your name will be remembered for ever.'

Shamelessly, Aurelius preened his brother's vanity. And not without the desired effect.

‘The greatest army in the Empire,' Uther murmured.

'In an older time,' I put in, 'the war leader was called Dux Britanniarum. It means Duke of Britain. Magnus Maximus held the title before he became emperor.'

'You see? Not since Emperor Maximus have we had a Dux Britanniarum. A noble title, Uther, and it is yours – yours alone.' Here Aurelius broke off. He stepped backward a pace and raised his arm in the old Roman salute. 'Hail, Uther, Duke of Britain!'

Uther could not help himself any longer; he burst into a grin, answering, 'Hail, Aurelianus, High King of the Britons!'

They fell laughing into one another's arms like the overgrown boys they were. I let them have their fun, and then announced, 'Now then, Tewdrig and Custennin await an answer from you both. Their advisers are gathered in my tent and wish to speak with you before riding back to report to their lords. I suggest you do not keep them waiting even a moment longer.'

I do not know where Aurelius had come by his tact, but it was a well-honed tool with him and he used it like a craftsman. And that was not all; he also possessed a high and noble dignity which he could wield when it suited him, and this, on more than one occasion, won the day for him when words alone were not enough. To say that he coaxed and flattered the advisers who had come to see him would cheapen his art, for he was far more subtle than that.

He never coaxed, but he persuaded; he never flattered, but he encouraged those around him to think the best of themselves. Uther, of course, he had a different way with. Still, he was never devious or dishonest. The Imperial blood ran true in his veins and it was not in him to disgrace it.

As I came to know Aurelius, I came to honour him and to love him. He was what our people needed. He would be a true High King to unite all kingdoms with his power, just as Uther would be the battlechief to lead them on the field of battle. Together they made a most formidable force. Although, there was never any doubt in my mind which one of the two was the wiser and stronger.

Uther simply did not have his brother's character. He was not to blame, perhaps, for this lack. Men of Aurelius' stamp are rare. It was merely Uther's poor luck to have Aurelius for a brother and to be forced to live his whole life in his brother's shadow. In consequence, I undertook never to compare one of them against the other, nor ever to praise Aurelius in Uther's hearing – nor out of it – without also praising Uther.

A small thing, you may think, but empires have foundered on less.

With the kingdoms of the west and the north behind Aurelius, the stiff-necked lords of Lloegres in the south were suddenly faced with an almost insurmountable obstacle to winning the High Kingship for themselves or one of their own. Most, seeing the prudence of capitulation – if not the wisdom of unity – fell in with the powerful west and north in their support of Aurelius.

For others, in whom the white-hot fires of ambition burned, and blinded, it was a challenge that could not be ignored. They would fight Aurelius for the throne and quench the fire once and for all in blood. Woefully, many a good man lost his life to an ally who, on another day, might have been fighting Jutes and Saecsens instead.

It was a painful purging, but necessary. Aurelius would be king of all, or king of none. There was no other way.

I rode with him, always by his side, upholding him in battle as Taliesin had done for Elphin in another day. I will say that they had need of my help through that long, difficult summer. Aurelius, so sure and forthright ordinarily, would at times misdoubt himself and grow discouraged. 'Nothing can be worth this, Merlin,' he would moan, and I would embolden him with heartening words.

Uther had no stomach for fighting allies, but he was a warrior, and had a warrior's soul; he could dare, and do, many things other men would shrink from. And this earned him a fearsome reputation in the land: Uther, it was soon whispered abroad, was Aurelius' wolfhound – a cold-hearted killer who would tear throat and heart out of any man at his master's slightest command.

He was not so much cold-hearted as he was loyal, and his loyalty – to his brother, to the High Kingship itself – knew no bounds. In this, Uther earned my respect; his steadfastness was sprung from love – a love both genuine and pure. There are not many men who love so selflessly as Uther loved Aurelius.

This flame-haired firebrand lavished no love on me, however. He distrusted me with the same unreasoning suspicion many so-called enlightened men adopt in the presence of someone or something they cannot comprehend. He tolerated me, yes. And in time he came to accept me and even to value my counsel. For he saw that I meant him no harm, and that I shared his love of Aurelius.

Well, we three were a sight to behold: riding here and there with our troops, most of whom were unmounted – there simply were not enough horses to go round; hungry all the time; tired and dirty and sore; wounded and sick. But we were tenacious. We had fastened on the High Kingship, like hounds on the scent of the stag, and we would not be put off.

One by one, the warbands of Lloegres fell to us. One by one, we added the fealty of southern lords to Aurelius' rule: Dunaut, lord of the belligerent Brigantes; Coledac, lord of the ancient Iceni and Catuvellauni; Morcant, lord of the industrious and independent Belgae; Gorlas, lord of the contentious Cornovii. Proud, arrogant-men, each and every one of them. But they all bowed the knee to Aurelius before it was through.

Then, in the last shining days of false summer, just before the autumn rain spread its dripping cloak over the land, we turned to face Hengist at last.

It was not the best of circumstances. We might have waited through the winter, nursing our strength, healing our wounds, biding our time until the next spring. We might even have paused to crown Aurelius properly. But the thought of suffering the Saecsen horde even one more season on British soil rankled with Aurelius. 'Let them crown me later,' Aurelius said, 'if there is anything left to crown.'

Besides, as Uther pointed out, it would only give Hengist time to amass more men for, certainly, more ships would come across the Narrow Sea with the spring floods. Also, there was no telling how long the lords of Lloegres would remain loyal; they might forget their promises in the long winter months ahead. Best to strike now and settle the matter once and for all.

That would have been my counsel in any case. Hengist had already grown stronger through the long summer. He had been joined by his brother Horsa, with six more shipfuls of warriors. They had encamped themselves along the eastern shores – called the Saecsen Shore even by the Romans, who had built fortresses to keep the warships from raiding the coast. Now the Saecsens owned these fortresses and the land around them – lands they had been given by Vortigern, and other lands and strongholds they had not been given.

We marched to the east, to the Saecsen Shore, to the very doors of the fortresses themselves if need be, for we were determined to carry the fight to Hengist come what may. We need not have worried whether the barbarian would meet us. They were eager for blood; indeed, it had been a thirsty summer for them.

Aurelius raised his standard, the Imperial Eagle, and pitched his tent beneath it on a hill overlooking a ford on the River Nene. Somewhere across the river, well hidden, Hengist's war host was waiting.

'This will suit our purpose,' declared Aurelius. 'The Eagle will not fly from this hill until all the Saecsens are driven into the sea!' With that he plunged his sword into the turf in front of his tent and he went in to rest.

For men who had existed on a steady diet of war all summer, there was a surprising air of excitement in the camp. Men talked earnestly to one another, they laughed readily and loudly, they went briskly and happily about their tasks in a mood of high anticipation.

The reason for this, I came to understand, was partly that they trusted Uther to lead them wisely. He had shown himself an inspired leader, a natural battlechief: quick, decisive, yet cool in the heat of the clash, a consummate horseman and skilled with spear and sword – in short, more than a match for any who drew blade against him.

But part of the reason for the high spirits was that at last we were meeting the real enemy. Tomorrow we would fight Saecsens – not subdue an ally. There would be a true foe arrayed on the field against us, not a would-be friend. And this thought lifted the spirits of the warriors.

As I was going to my tent, Uther stopped me on his way to meet with his battlechiefs. 'Lord Emrys,' he said, the light taunt always in his voice, 'a word.'

'Yes?'

'It would be well to have a song tonight. I am thinking the war host would fight the better tomorrow for a song to set the fire in their hearts.'

The men appeared in excellent fettle to me, and in any event there were two or three other harpers in the camp, for some of the other kings travelled with their bards, and these often sang for the men. All the same, I replied, 'It is a good idea. I will ask one of the harpers for you. Which would you like?'

'You, Myrddin.' He used the Cymric form of my name, something he rarely did. 'Please.'

'Why, Uther?' I had caught something in his tone I had never heard from him before.

'The men would feel better,' he said, his eyes sliding from mine.

The men.' I said and was silent.

He could endure only so much silence, so at last he burst out, as if the words had been trapped inside him, 'Oh, very well, it is not for the men only.'

'No?'

‘I would feel better for it.' He smacked his fist angrily against his thigh, as if the words had cost him dearly. But he looked at me with something like pain in his eyes. Or fear. 'Please, Merlin?'

'I will do it, Uther. But you must tell me why.'

He stepped close, and spoke low. 'Well, there is no reason you should not know… ' he began, and halted, searching for words, 'My scouts have returned from across the river… '

'And?'

'If their count is accurate – and I trust with my life that it is – we will face an enemy war host larger than any other since fighting began in this island.'

'That is not saying very much. How large?'

'Were we five times our own number we still would not match them man for man.' He spat the words. 'Now you know.'

So, Hengist had been busy all summer and his efforts had born fruit. 'But the men are not to know – is that it?'

'They will learn it soon enough.'

‘Tell them, Uther. You cannot let them discover it on the field tomorrow.'

'Would it serve a purpose, do you think, to have them worry with it through the night?'

He walked off without another word, and I went on to my tent and bade Pelleas string and tune my harp, so that I could sing as Uther requested. I rested, and then, after supper, when the war host had gathered round the huge fire-ring Uther had ordered to be made, readied myself.

It was in my mind that there were many people – very many, if not most now alive – who had never heard a true bard sing. Certainly, the young warriors of our war host had never heard. It saddened me to think that more than a few would go to their graves tomorrow never having known, nor felt the power of the perfected word in song. Therefore, I was determined to show them.

I stripped and washed myself, and then dressed in my finest clothes. I owned a belt made of spiral discs of silver which had been given to me by one of Aurelius' lords; this Pelleas polished until it shone and I tied it around my waist. I scraped my hair back and bound it with leather. I donned my fine cloak of midnight blue, and Pelleas arranged the folds precisely and fastened them at my shoulder with Taliesin's great stag's-head brooch which Charis had given me. I took up the harp and stepped out into the night to sing for the massed war bands of the Island of the Mighty.

The stars shone like bright spearpoints to the low-rising moon's silver shield, and I sang. Straight and tall before them, I sang: I was a dancing flame against a wall of fire; I was a wild tempest in their midst; I was a voice falling like bright lightning from an uncertain sky; I was a shout of triumph at the Gates of Death.

I sang courage in the heart and strength in the arm; I sang bravery, valour, and gallantry. I sang honour.

I sang the power of Holy Jesu to save their living souls from eternal night, and my song became a high and holy prayer.

Awe descended over the warriors as the song came shining from my lips. I saw their faces bright and lifted up; I saw them changed from mortal men to warrior gods who would gladly die to defend their brothers and their homes. I saw a great and terrible spirit descend over the camp: deadly Clota, spirit of justice in battle, the dark flame of destiny cupped in her hand.

Here it begins, I thought; here is where the winning of Britain begins… Now, this night.