Pendragon Cycle 4 - Pendragon by Stephen R. Lawhead

Author:Stephen R. Lawhead
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-02-24T06:00:00+00:00

BOOK THREE

THE FORGOTTEN WAR

ONE

All you who look upon the land now and raise your unholy complaint, tell me: where were you when the Black Boar gouged our sacred earth with his tusks and shook the very hills of Ynys Prydein with his ungodly bellowing?

Tell me! You, who from the lofty battlements of your superior intellect scan all that passes in the world and pronounce upon it, tell me now that you divined the disaster that came to pass. I defy you! Instruct me, Wise Ones, in how it could have been prevented.

O Great of Knowledge, secure in your wide intelligence as you regard the calamity of Twrch Trwyth, tell me: did you also foresee the Yellow Ravager?

When the dread Comet passed over the Island of the Mighty and scourged Lloegres with its tail, where were you? I will tell you, shall I? You sailed for Armorica!

Who left the land of your birth to barbarians? Who left your shores undefended? Who turned away from Britain in its day of peril and dread? Not Arthur. Never Arthur.

Why do you complain? Why do you demean him now? I demand an answer! Tell me: why do you grieve heaven with your tedious contention?

The caviling of the false-hearted is the mewling of sick cats. It signifies nothing – save a pinched, ungenerous spirit, perverse in spite and rotten with envy. The weak-willed always decry those who, when the day of strife breaks, fill their hearts with courage and cast safety to the wind. Fear is man's first enemy, and his last.

Hear me now; I tell you the truth: conquer fear and your reward is assured.

On the night that Arthur sought light along conflict's shadowed paths, he found only fear. Even so, being Arthur, he put fear behind him and strove instead in faith. Thus, all that came after will yet be accounted him as righteousness. This is something small-souled men will never understand.

We triumphed that night, but our victory sowed the seeds of a bitter harvest. We purchased liberty for the Eireann Isle, but at great cost to Ynys Prydein. For Ierne's freedom meant hateful travail for Britain.

At Arthur's word, Rhys sounded a short, piercing blast on the horn, and it was answered no fewer than seven times across the valley. At the horn's second sounding, we lashed our horses to speed. Down we struck, falling like lightning from a cloudless sky.

We drove into the sleeping camp. The Vandali, living by constant warfare and accustomed to it, overcame the shock and reacted swiftly. Leaping from their round tents, they ran screaming to their weapons, and within moments the battle was joined. It was then that Arthur's genius revealed itself anew.

For, by employing so many points of attack, he spread the enemy and forced them to remain on the defensive. Though each of our attacking forces was small, the more numerous barbarian host could not afford to ignore any of them, for every lapse was punished severely. The Black Boar and his warlords could neither unify nor concentrate their defence, and thus were robbed of the advantage their vast numbers gave them.

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