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Within our circle of ullies of water gushed here and there over dark slides of earth We no longer climbed; the peak flattens near the sue of the top of the hill Measures of bog stretched away frohest point, hidden by cloud; vast outcroppings of rock looroups of people or withered trees, then becoain as we passed by The horses stepped cautiously between low clots of turf that rose above the rass Three gray birds flew off into the s, and te heard the loud, strident crying of some disturbed s At last we came to a wide, flat, shallow stream with unexpectedly white sandy banks like the mouth of a river; on the near bank stood a cairn of piled loose rock We dismounted and added a few pebbles to the cairn, drank from the streas We talked while we ate, for ere silent ere too much aware of how alone ere, and how lost we could be

"On a clear day it ht be lovely up here," Goewin said

"Then why should Medraut think it an evil place?" Lleu htly "Only of mystery, and darkness"

"Like the"This is real, but it doesn’t threaten you You don’t have to come here Father holds back the real evil--the pirates and invaders from the sea, the painted people from the north--treats with the to treat with the Sea Wolves," I said

Goewin added thoughtfully, "You have to--you have to be able to i hounds and having them be loyal to you Hounds don’t plan; they don’t think"

"But the Saxons think wrong," Lleu said

"Only according to you!" Goewin laughed "The raiders from the w mis from arships may be evil, but not all Saxons are evil, certainly not those who have settled here in peace You can’t just disood, either What will you do if a treaty is broken? What will you do if you find treachery within?"

Lleu laughed also "When I find treachery within I’ll call on you, suspicious one I can continue Father’s defense"

"But it isn’t just a matter of defense!" Goewin pressed "You have to be able to change, to knohether to attack or to organize new treaties yourself, even if you’re not sure they’ll work--you have to stand your ground but be fair to your enemy at the same time That’s what Father really does You have to learn to take risks"

In fierce rapture, I watched their faces as the torked their way through the last argudom, Goewin?" I asked Oh, she of all of us has always and only been the true child of the high king: Artos the Dragon and Artos the Bear, forbidding and forgiving, who holds a few tottering and assaulted peoples together as a single, peaceful kingdoain, and began the journey hoht country

IV

The Bright One

IN THE MIDST OF that mild summer Lleu learned to use a sword Bedhom Artos calls most trusted of advisers and best of friends, took over Lleu’s training in swordsmanship even before I had taken the splints froh king’s early battles, but despite this remained the most accomplished swordsman I had ever known When Lleu’s broken arm kept him from his usual swordplay Bedwyr suddenly noticed him, and appointed himself Lleu’s tutor At first he and Lleu did not practice eapons; to watch theht, dangerous dance The two of the each other When Lleu’s ar, Bedwyr bound it to Lleu’s side to keep it steady and they began using wooden swords

Lleu’s fledgling talent was so startling that at first they did not dare to speak of it Bedhose blunt and heavy countenance rarely breaks out of its frown, is not one to be lavish with praise; but I heard hirowl at Artos, "I don’t knohat made you think Caius can teach your son to use a sword Lleu can’t hack things down by sheer force, he’s too light But you watch He’s a rare one In a year he’ll be able to disarether he and Bedwyr ht, until Lleu could e a sith either hand He ian to develop a skill that we could all see was nearly as deadly as his ile to hold I do not think it was ame; the swords he used were only of wood, or dull But his excite strength in his arile one: his skill was frightening

I thought I was content At long last I could hunt again; I had not brought down anything larger than a rabbit in over a year, and noe hunted wolf, deer, and boar for their hides and the winter’sParties of us spent days at a time on foot with spears in the vast forest south of Cae kills at once But best I liked to ride out alone, or in small parties of two and three, and to hunt with the bow

The harvest was not bountiful, but sufficient That in itself was reason to celebrate, and we set beacons fla There were bonfires on the Edge over Elder Field to the west and on Shining Ridge to the east, and we danced between these at Cahts Lleu had been absorbed for weeks with a group of traveling jugglers and turain He had never forgotten the few soraceful and supple as he had been then, but stronger The perforht they masked him in copper and amber as his namesake, Lleu Llaw Gyffes, the Lord of the Sun They ht him, and called him "prince of acrobats" and "prince of dancers"

You need not think ofsullenly just beyond the circle of firelight, the slow cancer in the beating heart I danced and drank with the rest of the was over and we sat at our ease around the dying bonfires, I set off the colored flares I had from Cathay, and fire snappers that consueous story of Turunesh, the African woave them to me, how she and her father Kidane had left Aksus Those ere still awake listened onder and pleasure, so that I feltthe high king’s co winter I reht ri All were blows to the tuht toto the moment when Artos officially named his son prince of Britain The earliest was after a day of hunting, when Lleu toldand superior, "You’re certainly bloodthirsty"

Lleu did not hunt That is, he rode with us, and helped to dress the ht he was simply a poor marksman, and I wondered that he had not been better trained But it was difficult to believe that such a matchless swordsman could be so careless of precision with a bow in his hand Lleu chose with purpose to miss his mark; he could kill, but would not I answered, "Are you so noble, to let others kill your winter’s meat for you?"

To which Goewin added, "I like hunting--am I bloodthirsty too?"

"Don’t be silly," Lleu said "You aren’t so intent on the destruction of life as Medraut is"

I at least can heal as well as kill