Merlin is called to see Ambrosius in Caerleon in June. He knows before he even sees his father that he will be going abroad to Ireland to help destroy the allies Pascentius has made there. Uther tells him he speaks the truth and that they'll be going to Killare, a fortress atop a hill which must be destroyed by siege engines. Just before he steps into his father's quarters, he sees Keri walk up to Uther's door. She has always been just an opportunistic whore like her mother before her.
Ambrosius reveals to Merlin that Pascentius is still in Germany with about 20,000 men, but the greater problem lies with King Gilloman in Ireland who has contracted his sister to Pascentius. Such an alliance could prove dangerous for Britain. So the plan is to take Irleand first. His plan for Merlin, however, is very different. He needs his help for the siege engines but even more he needs his help in taking the heart out of Ireland: Killare is a holy place to the people of Ireland and holds a Dance of stones such as Merlin has seen both in Less Britain and in Amesbury. Ambrosius wants Merlin to throw down this holy place if he can.
The two men also discuss a monument to honor Ambrosius' victory. The king sees his birthplace, Amesbury, as the best spot and this comment makes Merlin grow pale as he had just been there at the Giant's Dance. Ambrosius says he wants Merlin to raise the stones there as the monument, because he knows that it where he will be buried. While he speaks, Merlin begins to hear another voice in his head which tells him that while the king lies there under the stones of the Giant's Dance, his kingdom will never fall. This shall be the heart of Britain with all kings one King and all gods one God. But the king of whom the voice speaks is not only Ambrosius, but also Arthur. Merlin comes awake and realizes that it has been his voice he heard and he has given Ambrosius a kingdom and immortality. What's more, he knows now that has prophesied his father's death.
Merlin tells Ambrosius goodbye and offers his cave to him while the
king is in Maridunum. He also tells him to take the cross that had been
his mother's while he is there. His final thought to his father is that
they will definitely meet again someday.
Merlin is once again in the chains of his Sight and Power. First, his
father needs him to use whatever power he has to destroy the holy place
of Ireland and take the heart out of its people. Then, he wants him to
raise the Giant's Dance as his monument. But through it all, it is the
god who controls. These requests by Ambrosius make Merlin prophesy the
future of all Britain and his father's death as well.
New names in this chapter: Killare, a fortress in Ireland where
the heart of Ireland lies; Gilloman, the young King of Ireland
Merlin arrives in Ireland with Uther and his troops and they face young King Gilloman who comes to meet them on a flat plain. Gilloman escapes both the first battle and the second, but the British troops capture Killare. Merlin then goes to the Dance described by Ambrosius and walks around it until he trips over a black stone in its center. He knows this is the stone he has come to find and passes out.
The next morning he is awakened not only by the sun, but also by the arrival of Uther, some of his troops, and an Irishman. Uther Notes that Merlin's power is as strong as theirs, because no other man would have had the courage to spend the night there alone. They have brought the Irishman to tell them which one is the King-Stone. The man says it is the carved alter. Merlin, of course, knows that the black stone is the one they want. The Irishman laughs and relates that it was written in the stars that Merlin would one day come and take the stone which had been brought from Britain to Ireland by the great king of Ireland, Fionn Mac Cumhaill. Now it is only justice that Merlin will take it from the Dance of Killare and set it up in the Giant's Dance on the spot where he had fallen into the indentation of a stone. Uther orders Tremorinus to lift the great stone and prepare to take it back to Britain.
Uther puts Merlin to work on the fortification and between the two engineers and the troops everything is knocked down or destroyed. Unfortunately, he is called back by Tremorinus who has been unable to raise the black stone. Merlin uses all the plans he has been working on ever since he saw the standing stones in Less Britain and moves the great black rock to Britain whenever possible on water but also on dry land. He stays with it all the way, never sleeping, until he is sure it is safely there. On the way, they hear that Pascentius attacked with his German and Saxon troops, but was soundly defeated by Ambrosius. Unfortunately, Ambrosius falls ill soon after and lies very sick at Winchester. The King-Star is once again in the sky like an omen, but Merlin already knows since he was on the hill of Killare that he is bringing the King-Stone home to lay it on the grave of his father.
Merlin brings home the stone as he knew he would and raises all the
stones of the Giant's Dance. Then, he places the stone from Killare on
his father's grave. At the next Easter, Uther is crowned King of Britain.
This chapter is a fulfillment of many bits of foreshadowing from early in
the novel. First, Merlin is able to raise the King-Stone, because, during
the years he spent in Less Britain, he had continuously worked out, in
his head and in models, techniques he believed would raise these great
stones. The god had put him to work on the problem long before he even
knew how he would use it. Second, he once again finds himself in the middle
of a Dance of Stones, in Ireland, tripping over a stone in its center.
This stone now fills in his mind the indentation he had fallen into at
the Giant's Dance in Amesbury. One piece fits into the other and will
be the gravestone of his father who has united all of Britain. Third,
his premonition when he told his father goodbye comes true and Ambrosius
sickens and dies. Finally, Uther becomes king and now foreshadows the
Coming of the Bear - Arthur - to be fulfilled in the last section of the
novel.
New names in this chapter: Fionn Mac Cumhaill, the great King of Ireland
who had taken the black stone from the Giant's Dance in Britain to Killare
in Ireland
Clapsaddle, Diane. "TheBestNotes on A Long Way Gone".
TheBestNotes.com.
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