Lawhead, Stephen Pendragon Cycle 02 Merlin

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to have found you at last. . . '
'How you must have searched have you never stopped searching?'
'Until this moment, never. And if I had not found you just now, I would have gone on searching.'
I was awed by his devotion to me, and shamed by it. I turned away from him. 'I am not worthy of your
sacrifice, Pelleas. God alone is worthy of such devotion.'
'As one cares for another, does he not also care for God?'
I heard a certain priest in his words. 'You have been listening to Brother Dafyd.'
'Bishop Dafyd,' he said, smiling.
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'Bishop, is he now? Tell me, how is he?'
'Well,' Pelleas replied. 'Well and happy. He is run off his legs by his monastery, but men half his age
cannot keep up with him. His heart is young still, and he is well. Indeed, he is the marvel of the realm.'
'And Maelwys? Does he fare as well?'
'My lord, Maelwys has joined his fathers.'
I do not know what answer I expected. But I felt Maelwys' loss sharply then and it came to me what my
absence from the world of men had meant. 'And Elphin? What of Elphin?'
'Likewise, lord. Many years ago. And the Lady Rhonwyn as well.'
Fool! What did you think, lurking up here in your hovel, haunting the rock wastes like a wraith? What
did you think? Did you not know that men mark their years differently, that their spans are less? While
you squatted up here in your squalid misery, nursing your unholy grief, your friends and kinsmen grew old
and died.
'I see,' I replied at length, much saddened. Maelwys, Elphin, Rhonwyn gone, all of them. And how
many others with them? Great Light, I did not know!
Pelleas had gone to the horses and now returned with food. 'Are you hungry? I have bread and cheese
and a little mead. It will cheer you.'
'Let us eat together,' I said. 'I would welcome nothing more than to break my long fast with a friend.'
While we ate, he told me something of his search, which carried him to every corner of Celyddon. 'I
thought you dead,' I told him when he finished. 'I saw them all dead Custen-nin, Gwendolau, my
warband. . . Ganieda all dead, and you with them. I could not face it. Merciful Father, forgive me, I
fled.'
'So many dead that day,' he replied gravely, 'but not all. I lived and Custennin, too. I saw you ride
away, did you know? I even called after you, but you did not hear me. Even then,' his face brightened,
'even then I knew that I would find you one day.'
'You must have been very certain. Certain enough to bring two horses.'
'Celyddon is great, my lord, but I never gave up hoping.'
'Your faith has been rewarded. I would reward you, too, but I have nothing. Even had I a hundred
kingdoms, the gift would still be as nothing compared to the gift of your devotion, Pelleas. Has a man
ever had such a friend?'
He shook his head slowly. 'I have my reward,' he said in a hushed voice. 'I seek no other than to serve
you once more.'
We finished eating in silence and then I rose, brushing crumbs from my clothing. I breathed the mountain
air deep into my lungs and it was the air of a world much-changed. While I had hidden in my cave, the
darkness had grown strong. What I had now to do was to discover where the light still burned, and how
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brightly.
Pelleas bundled up the remaining food and joined me. 'Where do you propose to go, Lord Myrddin?'
'I hardly know.' I turned to the spring and cave above us on the mountainside. It now appeared a cold
and forlorn and alien place. 'Does Custennin still abide in Celyddon?'
'Yes, lord. I was with him earlier in the spring.'
'And my mother does she stay in Dyfed?'
'She has returned to Ynys Avallach.'
'I see. And what of Avallach?'
'He is well enough. But, as ever, he is troubled from time to time by his injury.'
I turned and asked sharply. 'If Charis is in Ynys Avallach, who rules in Dyfed?'
'Lord Tewdrig a nephew of Maelwys.'
'And in the Summerlands?'
'A lord named Elyvar,' replied Pelleas, and added hesitantly, as if breaking bad news, 'but there is
another over him called Vortigern. Indeed, this. . . this man he has set himself as king over all the
lords ofBritain.'
'A High King.' Oh, Vortigern, yes. I have seen your face in the fire; I have seen the shadow of your
coming. Yes, and I have heard the thunder of your fall.
'What is it, my lord?'
'It is nothing, Pelleas. Vortigern rules in the Summerlands, you were saying?'
'In Gwynedd, Rheged, and Lloegres as well. He is a most ambitious man, lord, and most ruthless. He
stops at nothing to win his way.'
'I know about him, Pelleas. But do not worry, his days are not long in the land.'
'Lord?'
'It is something I have seen, Pelleas.' I turned my eyes to look down into the valley where the dark folds
of the trees gathered around the feet of the mountain. Four riders were making their way towards us
along the banks of the stream.
I should have been surprised especially after all these years alone but part of me expected them, I [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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