When Merlin first enters Ygraine's room, he looks down on the bed, but doesn't see a woman lying there. Instead, he sees only the flashing and beating of the light as in the crystal globe. Ygraine then opens her eyes after Merlin clears the room of all but one of her ladies in waiting. Ygraine realizes that Merlin already knows she is not ill. Merlin asks her why she made no attempt to speak to the king about his advances. Ygraine replies that, with all the guards around her, she had no way to give him a message. Merlin lectures her that she could have given a message any time, if it were simply that she was a true and faithful wife. Her smile at that comment makes Merlin realize that Ygraine wants Uther as much as he wants her.
Merlin soon comes to the next realization: if Uther wants Ygraine, he will have to make her his queen. Such a woman would never settle for being his mistress. The great problem for Ygraine now is to prevent war between her husband and Uther. If she tells Uther she loves him and desires him, but will only come to him as his queen, her husband is a dead man. But she is not satisfied with her life in Cornwall and therein is the dilemma. Merlin then promises Ygraine that he can solve the dilemma, but she must obey him. She agrees.
Merlin's plan is this: Ygraine must tell Gorlois she is pregnant and that she wishes to leave as soon as the crowning is over, because she does not wish to be at the feast where the king may distinguish her from among the other women. Then, she and Gorlois are to leave immediately before the king can be aware that they are gone. He will not be able to do anything while the feasts are in progress and by the time he can, they will be back in Cornwall. Ygraine fears for this plan, because she thinks it will split the kingdom. But Merlin tells her he will warn the King about the lie and bring him to her. She, in turn, must convince Gorlois to wait to fight the king at Dimiliac, rather than at Tintagel where she will be kept. Merlin promises her that Gorlois will not have to battle the king, but that he doesn't know how this will come about, only that it is in the hands of the god. He tells her that all he knows is what he has seen which is a bright fire burning, and in it a crown, and a sword standing in an altar like a cross.
Ygraine agrees to the plan, but she warns Merlin that if he has brought
bloodshed to Cornwall because of her or death to her husband, then she
will pray the rest of her life that he shall die betrayed by a woman.
The flashing lights Merlin sees as he first gazes upon Ygraine are an
indication that the god is with him again. She is destined to be the mother
of Arthur, so a way must be found to bring her together with Uther. Merlin
is unsure how the god will prevent any bloodshed. He only knows his vision
which foreshadows the rise of Arthur by the sword in the stone. Ygraine's
threat to Merlin that he die betrayed by a woman if he allows anything
to go wrong is also foreshadowing of Merlin's eventual imprisonment in
the crystal cave long after events that he now seeks to bring about.
New names in this chapter: Tintagel and Dimiliac, fortresses
in Cornwall
Four of them ride to Cornwall: Merlin, Uther, Cadal, and Ulfin. The morning of the coronation, Merlin told Uther the plan and promised him his kingdom would survive the night in Cornwall. The result will be a child which Uther seems to be uninterested in discussing.
So everything comes about as Merlin had planned. He sees Ygraine at the crowning and is struck by the wonder of women. No matter whether queen or slut, he thinks they need not even think about how, but can easily deceive anyone. Uther plays his part by feigning great anger that the Duke left without his leave and Gorlois ends up in Dimiliac just as Merlin hoped. From there, Merlin counts on the nightly habit of Gorlois to ride back whenever he could to be with his wife, a fact he learns from Ralf, one of Ygraine's page boys. He always enters Tintagel by way of a private gate. Merlin decides to dress Uther. Ulfin, and himself as the Duke, his companion, and his servant. Cadal will stay with the horses. With Ralf on duty at the gate, they will be able to enter secretly.
When they arrive at the shore below the castle, they are met by Brithael, one of the Duke's guards, who is very surprised to see them. It is only after moving forward that Merlin realizes that Brithael is actually Ralf and that they have not been found out. Ralf then leads the way into the castle, explaining how Ygraine had paved the way with lies to Felix, the porter, how many guards they will still need to get by, and the password they will need to know. After Ralf tells what he knows, Merlin hears the King give out an exultant laugh. Merlin is not surprised, because danger is drink and dreams alike to Uther.
Merlin sends the King in with the Duke's ring on his finger and a warning
to be ready to leave an hour before dawn. Cadal tells Merlin that he hopes
the King abides by this warning as they'll be sitting ducks if he doesn't.
Merlin insists that Cadal believe in him, that he knows what he's about.
Cadal hopes it's true or else Merlin has risked the life of the King of
Britain for one night's lust. Merlin says that it doesn't matter if the
King is killed in Ygraine's bed tonight, because out of this night's lust
will come a King whose name will be a shield and a buckler to men until
this fair land, from sea to sea, is smashed down into the sea that holds
it. To Merlin, Uther is but a regent for him who came before and him
who will be the future King. What's more, Uther is but a tool and Ygraine
a vessel and he and Cadal can no more stop what is about to happen than
a reed can stop the wind.
Although the plan that Merlin has put into place is not magical, but man-made,
there is the same sense of destiny creating the path down which they all
walk. The great king who was - Ambrosius - and the great king who will
be - Arthur - are part of the god's plan and Uther is only an interim
moment in the long stretch of time.
New names in this chapter: Brithael, one of Gorlois' guards
Clapsaddle, Diane. "TheBestNotes on A Long Way Gone".
TheBestNotes.com.
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