Then the curtain was pulled aside and Uther came out. When he saw me he checked, hung on his heel as if to speak, then seemed to catch the secretary’s interested look, and went by with a swish of the red cloak and a smell of horses. You could always tell where Uther had been; he seemed to soak up scents like a wash-cloth. He must have gone straight to his brother before he had even cleaned up after the ride home.

The secretary, whose name was Sollius, said to me: “You may as well go straight in, sir. He’ll be expecting you.”

I hardly even noticed the ‘sir’. It seemed to be something I was already accustomed to. I went in.

*   *   *

He was standing with his back to the door, over by the table. This was strewn with tablets, and a stilus lay across one of them as if he had been interrupted while writing. On the secretary’s desk near the window a half-unrolled book lay where it had been dropped.

The door shut behind me. I stopped just inside it, and the leather curtain fell close with a ruffle and a flap. He turned.

Our eyes met in silence, it seemed for interminable seconds, then he cleared his throat and said: “Ah, Merlin,” and then, with a slight movement of the hand, “sit down.”

I obeyed him, crossing to my usual stool near the brazier. He was silent for a moment, looking down at the table. He picked up the stilus, looked absently down at the wax, and added a word. I waited. He scowled down at what he had done, scored it out again, then threw the stilus down and said abruptly: “Uther has been to see me.”

“Yes, sir.”

He looked up under frowning brows. “I understand he came on you riding alone beyond the town.”

I said quickly: “I didn’t go out alone. Cadal was with me.”

“Cadal?”

“Yes, sir.”

“That’s not what you told Uther.”

“No, sir.”

His look was keen now, arrested. “Well, go on.”

“Cadal always attends me, my lord. He’s—more than faithful. We went north as far as the logging track in the forest, and a short way along that my pony went lame, so Cadal gave me his mare, and we started to walk home.” I took a breath. “We took a short cut, and came on Belasius and his servant. Belasius rode part of the way home with me, but it—it didn’t suit him to meet Prince Uther, so he left me.”

“I see.” His voice gave nothing away, but I had the feeling that he saw quite a lot. His next question confirmed it. “Did you go to the druids’ island?”