BOOK IV - The Red Dragon

CHAPTER 2

Summary

This chapter begins a flashback to Merlin riding hard with Cadal and Gorlois to meet his father. Gorlois predicts correctly that Vortigern will head, not for his fortress of Caer-Guent, but for Doward. They know that Merlin's mother and the force of Vortigern's men with her are but a day ahead of them. They plan to not catch up to this force, but to meet them on the way back and wipe them out. They stop in a village called Bremia where Merlin learns that his mother had been taken ill, but has ridden on, and that Ambrosius has landed. Everywhere they stop, they meet up with men who are.........

Notes

It is ironic that Dinias is now in awe of the very boy whom he had bullied so much. It is, however, touching that he follows through with his promise to Merlin, even though it........

CHAPTER 3

Summary

Merlin and Cadal return to St. Peter's to visit his mother. He is taken by the young nun who opens the gates to them, but wastes no time in seeing his mother. She insists she is on the mend and in spite of her paleness and fatigue, Merlin leaves her health to the care of the sisters.

He pulls up a chair beside her bed and begins to tell her everything she wanted to know. He says she watches him with the emotion a cage-bird might feel if you set it to hatch a merlin's egg. In other words, she half fears what he might tell her even though she wants desperately to know. However, she is content when she learns Ambrosius has acknowledged Merlin as his son.

Merlin crosses to the window of her room for a moment and sees the young nun again in the courtyard as if waiting for him. She looks up and their..........

Notes

These scenes between Merlin and his mother create a sense of sadness that he, perhaps, has not consciously admitted to himself: his mother is...........

New names in this chapter: Keridwen, a whore who lived in Merlin's grandfather's house, she is Keri's mother

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