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.)I believe the little band of entertainers was pleased to have my company once more.Or most of them were-I thought Jandree was upset by my reappearance.But if my presence created any problems, all of Bran's people knew I was a stout and capable protector against certain kinds of difficulties.When after several hours we stopped to rest the oxen, I took the opportunity to study the Siege Perilous, which was riding packed in the back of Bran's second wagon, covered loosely with a faded blanket.When I put the blanket aside, I thought the piece of furniture beneath it looked quite ordinary-at least no different from the other carven chairs I had seen encircling the Round Table in Merlin's manor, sporting a few dragons and other fanciful images.I touched one of the wooden arms, and nothing happened.I stroked the polished wood.As usual, the presence of magic was imperceptible to me.Bran had come to stand beside me and was also pondering the chair."We must carry it back to Merlin," he said, frowning."I hate being drawn into these games the great ones play among themselves.But what choice have we, when they insist upon our playing?" He paused, then added: "I think our best plan is to stop every day or so and give a performance somewhere, as usual.That way folk will be less likely to suspect that we are carrying anything out of the ordinary." Then he looked at me and smiled."You will not perform, of course, Sir Hakon.We will be your servants- only your entourage."I covered up the chair again, arranging the blanket with seeming carelessness, just as before, and we moved on.I walked for a while, leading my horse, beside the wagons.The new oxen were indeed young and strong.I wondered if Merlin's magic had created such creatures from nothing, or only brought them here into his service? They looked real and smelled real, and their heated backs drew flies, like any other beasts of burden, as they pulled the smoothly Page 155ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlturning wheels forward at a good pace, almost equal to that of a brisk walk, despite the fact that today the whole troupe, or anyway most of its surviving members, were riding instead of walking.Even the roads, or at least the ones we found ourselves taking, were uncommonly smooth and level, passing neatly between hills to avoid steep climbs, and fording rivers and streams only at gentle crossings.I thought I would no longer have been greatly surprised to encounter trolls or giants, but nothing stranger than cows and cowherds crossed our path.* * *The war at Morgan's castle was hours behind us, and as far as we knew not getting any closer, when we made our first real stop, at a small village.The visit to Morgan's castle had given me much to think about.Despite the lady's jeering, the idea that Imight someday be crowned king by Merlin continued to exert a hold on my imagination.And now Ithought the possibility had arisen that Morgan herself might someday want me as her consort.Had she not said as much?As I tried to prepare myself mentally for some such high position, I thought that when I rose to power Icould do worse than to try to enlist Bran as both counselor and spokesman.The showman might be of no higher birth than I, but he spoke much more smoothly than ever I could speak, and was infinitely better able to converse upon the subjects of books and poetry.I had seen him use a sword and spear, and while Ithought he would not stand against me for a minute with such weapons-indeed, there were very few who could-yet there were many proclaiming themselves warriors who would not have been able to match him.He had the necessary cool nerve in the heat of battle, which counts for much more than any technique that can be trained or taught.But I also realized that my attraction to Bran's wife had become more a burden than a joy.Well, I had always found plenty of fish in the sea.If I was going to be king, I would need a more queenly woman than her beside me.And if fate someday made me Morgan's consort.well.Jandree went through the motions of trying to be a good mother-up to the limits of her interest, which in truth did not extend very far.And she did not dislike her husband, or want to treat him cruelly.But what really seemed important to her was the necessity of trying to rise above her station-I was sure she still dreamed of being a great lady or a queen.Perhaps she felt wounded by my new attitude of indifference.We had only been on the road two days when she told me to bother her no longer.I was not bothering her, and had not done so for some time, but still my vanity was wounded.We reached the seacoast, and began to travel along it.None of the landscape looked familiar to me, butBran plodded steadily ahead, and I assumed that he knew, in the special way that people know in Logres, where he was going.When our small cavalcade, consisting of one mounted knight and two ox-drawn wagons, at last came in sight of Merlin's Rock again, we were granted our first look at what the original Camelot must have been like-the humble construction that had occupied the site before Merlin arrived to put Arthur on his throne and to exalt the place with his great magic.What we beheld was little more than a hill fort with thatched roofs, wooden palisades, rooting pigs and cackling geese nearby, and a minimum of masonry, the latter comprised in a couple of concentric drystone walls.But the closer we approached, the more the scene changed.We were of course expecting Merlin's tricks, but still we marveled.By the time we had come within a hundred yards, we confronted a magic picture of what Old Camelot must Page 156ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm
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