“It was the same cave; Galapas, that I’ll swear! But why? There was nothing there. And nothing else happened, nothing at all. I’ve asked as best I could, and Cerdic has asked about among the slaves, but nobody knows what the kings discussed, or why my grandfather and Camlach have fallen out. But he did tell me one thing; I am being watched. By Camlach’s people. I’d have come to see you sooner, except for that. They’ve gone out today, Camlach and Alun and the rest, so I said I was going to the water-meadow to train the merlin, and I came up here.”

Then as he was still silent, I repeated, worried into urgency “What’s happening, Galapas? What does it all mean?”

“About your dream, and your finding of the cavern, I know nothing. About the trouble in the palace, I can guess. You knew that the high King had sons by his first marriage, Vortimer and Katigern and young Pascentius?”

I nodded.

“Were none of them there at Segontium?”

“No.”

“I am told that they have broken with their father,” said Galapas, “and Vortimer is raising troops of his own. They say he would like to be High King, and that Vortigern looks like having a rebellion on his hands when he can least afford it. The Queen’s much hated, you know that; Vortimer’s mother was good British, and besides, the young men want a young king.”

“Camlach is for Vortimer, then?” I asked quickly, and he smiled.

“It seems so.”

I thought about it for a little. “Well, when wolves fall out, don’t they say the ravens come into their own?” As one born in September, under Mercury, the raven was mine.

“Perhaps,” said Galapas. “You’re more likely to be clapped in your cage sooner than you expected.” But he said it absently, as if his mind were elsewhere, and I went back to what concerned me most.

“Galapas, you’ve said you know nothing about the dream or the cavern. But this—this must have been the hand of the god.” I glanced up at the ledge where the merlin sat, broodingly patient, his eyes half shut, slits of firelight.

“It would seem so.”

I hesitated. “Can’t we find out what he—what it means?”

“Do you want to go into the crystal cave again?”

“N-no, I don’t. But I think perhaps I should. Surely you can tell me that?”