The crystal cave - Mary Stewart [159]
"And you'll take Ireland first?"
"Gilloman," he said, nodding. "He's young and inexperienced -- and he is also nearer. Uther will sail for Ireland before the month's end." There was a map in front of him. He half turned it so that I could see. "Here. This is Gilloman's stronghold; you'll have heard of it, I don't doubt. It is a mountain fortress called Killare. I have not found a man who has seen it, but I am told it is strongly fortified, and can be defended against any assault. I am told, indeed, that it has never fallen. Now, we can't afford to have Uther sit down in front of it for months, while Pascentius comes in at the back door. Killare must be taken quickly, and it cannot -- they tell me -- be taken by fire."
"Yes?" I had already noticed that there were drawings of mine on the table among the maps and plans.
He said, as if at a tangent: "Tremorinus speaks very highly of you."
"That's good of him." Then, at my own tangent: "I met Uther outside. He told me what you wanted."
"Then will you go with him?"
"I'm at your service, of course. But sir" -- I indicated the drawings -- "I have made no new designs. Everything I have designed has already been built here. And if there is so much hurry -- "
"Not that, no. I'm asking for nothing new. The machines we have are good -- and must serve. What we have built is ready now for shipping. I want you for more than this." He paused. "Killare, Merlin, is more than a stronghold, it is a holy place, the holy place of the Kings of Ireland. They tell me the crest of the hill holds a Dance of stone, a circle such as you knew in Brittany. And on Killare, men say, is the heart of Ireland and the holy place of Gilloman's kingdom. I want you, Merlin, to throw down the holy place, and take the heart out of Ireland."
I was silent.
"I spoke of this to Tremorinus," he said, "and he told me I must send for you. Will you go?"
"I have said I will. Of course."
He smiled, and thanked me, not as if he were High King and I a subject obeying his wish, but as if I were an equal giving him a favour. He talked then for a little longer about Killare, what he had heard of it, and what preparations he thought we should make, and finally leaned back, saying with a smile: "One thing I regret. I'm going to Maridunum, and I should have liked your company, but now there is no time for that. You may charge me with any messages you care to."
"Thank you, but I have none. Even if I had been there, I would hardly have dared to offer you the hospitality of a cave."
"I should like to see it."
"Anyone will tell you the way. But it's hardly fit to receive a King."
I stopped. His face was lit with a laughter that all at once made him look twenty again. I set down my cup. "I am a fool. I had forgotten."
"That you were begotten there? I thought you had. I can find my way to it, never fear."
He spoke then about his own plans. He himself would stay in Caerleon, "for if Pascentius attacks," he told me, "my guess is that he will come down this way" -- his finger traced a line on the map -- "and I can catch him south of Carlisle. Which brings me to the next thing. There was something else I wanted to discuss with you. When you last came through Caerleon on your way to Maridunum in April, I believe you had a talk with Tremorinus?"
I waited.
"About this." He lifted a sheaf of drawings -- not mine -- and handed them across. They were not of the camp, or indeed of any buildings I had seen. There was a church, a great hall, a tower. I studied them for a few minutes in silence. For some reason I felt tired, as if my heart were too heavy for me. The lamp smoked and dimmed and sent shadows dancing over the papers. I pulled myself together, and looked up at my father. "I see. You must be talking about the memorial building?"
He smiled. "I'm Roman enough to want a visible monument."
I tapped