The Winter King

Back in Derfel’s present day, Igraine complains to him about the lack of romanticism in his stories, that there is no sword in the stone or lady in the lake as in the legends of Arthur. Derfel insists that he is telling the story as it happened and that he will not depart from the facts for the sake of the narrative, although he then admits that he does change certain details for dramatic effect, such as making Arthur’s appearance on the battlefield more sudden and unexpected than it really was.

The narrative then returns to Derfel’s chronicle. Arthur’s forces rout Gundleus’s, and he is taken prisoner. Arthur cuts a striking presence on the battlefield, wearing plated armor he won in single combat across the Channel. He pulls off his helmet to greet his sister Morgan, revealing a “strong, bony face that was full of enthusiasm […] it was a big face and strong one, yet what impressed me most about him was that look of kindness and the impish humor in his eyes” (117). Arthur greets Derfel and appoints him a warrior under the charge of Owain. Then, with Gundleus defenseless before him, Arthur withdraws his sword and presents the hilt, promising not to kill him until the council has decided his fate. Derfel threatens Tanaburs, the Druid who had cast him into the pit, and when Derfel tells him that he survived, Tanaburs is terrified at the realization that “[Derfel], alone of all in Britain, possessed the power to kill him” (122). Tanaburs recovers, tells Derfel that his mother is still alive, and flees.

At Caer Cadarn, Derfel meets Arthur’s warriors and Aileann, technically Arthur’s slave but in practice his lover and mother of his two sons. They take residence at the village nearest Caer Cadarn and Arthur gets to work building a settlement, while those closest to Merlin, including Morgan and Nimue, go to rebuild Ynys Wydryn, which Gundleus had burned. From Owain, Derfel learns about Caledfwlch (also known as Excalibur), Arthur’s sword, which was purportedly cast in the pagan Otherworld and given to him by Merlin. Derfel is growing into an early manhood, winning a place among Arthur’s warriors and taking Lunete, a young girl whom he knows from Ynys Wydryn, as his companion. They perform routine tasks such as tax collection and reinforcing boundaries. They meet a minor king, Cadwy, who keeps the old ways of facial tattoos and tribal autonomy, although he also lives in a Roman-style villa. Cadwy tells Owain that a neighboring kingdom has been plundering his goods and that he suspects they have large stores in tin that they refuse to share with the High King. At Cadwy’s suggestion, Owain agrees to launch a punitive nighttime raid against the tin miners.

The next night, Derfel is part of the war party, which has dressed itself in the style of Irish raiders. Owain tells the soldiers that the people are in rebellion and that they will be paid but must keep their actions secret. The settlement is poorly defended, and they begin to slaughter the population, Derfel is reluctant but ultimately compliant. They kill everyone, butcher the animals, and burn the settlement, and as they find a treasure chest, Derfel pretends not to see a hiding child. Owain pays Derfel his share of the loot, and he keeps it.

That autumn, Derfel has his first taste of battle against the Saxons, going to help a client king on the southern frontier. Eager for plunder and glory, Derfel is disappointed when his commander refuses to charge a shield-wall (two lines of soldiers with interlocking shields). When one of their priests discovers a bad omen, the entire army retires, and then Derfel’s band withdraws on account of hunger. They stumble into a Saxon war party and a chaotic engagement ensues, where Derfel fights bravely and wins jewelry from a dead foe. From a captive, Derfel learns of Cerdic, a Saxon king fighting both the Britons and rival Saxons. Meanwhile, Arthur wins great victories in the North, defeating the Saxon-allied king of Powys. Mordred’s first birthday provides the occasion of his coronation, and Derfel reunites with Nimue, now sporting a golden eye to replace the one she lost. She tells him that Merlin is seeking the Knowledge of Britain because battles alone will not stop the Saxons, only the Gods. With Morgan and Bishop Bedwin each offering their own rituals, the baby is laid on a shield and presented with ceremonial gifts of bread and a scourge. The Saxon prisoner who spoke of Cerdic is offered as a human sacrifice, with Morgan divining omens from his spilled intestines. Morgan proclaims, “King Mordred will have a long life. He will be a leader of battle, and he will know victory” (158).

During the feast, Tristan the king of Kernow arrives, demanding justice for a wrong. The people who were attacked were under his protection, and he demands a blood price at the threat of war. Owain maintains the pretense of Irish raiders being responsible, but Tristan has a witness, the young girl whom Derfel spared. She positively identifies Owain as the leader of the war party, prompting his angry denials. Tristan storms out, and Arthur, who noticed something on Derfel’s face during the exchange, takes him aside. He insists that he won’t ask him to break an oath to silence, but insists that a soldier’s true duty is to fight “on behalf of people who can’t fight for themselves” (165), and that they owe something to he who “grows the grain that feeds us, tans the leather that protects us and polls the ash trees that make our spear-shafts” (165). He insists that war must be limited to political purposes and that the defeated kingdom of Powys is now ready to make peace, but “we cannot have peace if we break our treaties” (168), such as those assuring protection to Kernow. Derfel is about to confess, but Arthur stops him, suggesting that rather than risk war, he will stand for the truth against Owain’s lie. He says that only one man can truly hold the kingdom together during Mordred’s childhood, but that man must be unselfish enough to give up power when Mordred comes of age.

Tristan returns the following morning with the child as rain pelts down. Bedwin offers a blood price, but when Tristan calls for punishment of the guilty, Arthur steps forward and declares a “court of swords” to prove that Owain acted without the kingdom’s orders and that the gods will favor the truthful party in a duel to the death (173). Shocked, Owain still accepts the challenge, and Arthur requests Hywel’s old sword from Derfel. Owain charges headlong at Arthur but slips in the mud, and Arthur launches a furious counterassault. Arthur then slips himself and suffers a mild wound before delivering a slash to the back of Owain’s head. Fighting desperately in the rain and mud, both men fall to the ground in exhaustion, but Arthur stands back up. Once Owain rises, Arthur feints another slip, and when Owain draws back for the killing blow, Arthur delivers his own. Tristan accepts the judgment, and Arthur orders the blood price to come from Owain’s estate rather than the kingdom’s treasury. Arthur immediately begins issuing commands to Derfel, because with Owain dead, Arthur is now Derfel’s rightful lord.

Derfel must accompany Arthur to the North, much to the chagrin of Derfel’s companion, Lunete, who claims to be pregnant. Owain’s former soldiers harass Derfel and accuse him of breaking the silence oath, but Nimue arrives, cursing their names and forcing them to swear allegiance to Derfel’s sword. Nimue then tells him that Arthur might free Gundleus to save the peace, but that she believes that “Britain is a cauldron […] and Arthur will stir it to horror” (183). Arthur dispenses with local justice, finding a new man to entrust with Mordred’s care. Arthur reaffirms his loyalty to Mordred, but in a way that clarifies that for now, he is the man in charge.

Going north with Arthur, Derfel welcomes a son who lives only three days. Arthur conducts a tour of the various regions, allowing Gundleus to travel with them but under supervision. In the kingdom of Powys, which Arthur has subdued, a messenger from the king is desperate to marry his daughters to a noble lord and mentions one already betrothed, named Guinevere. Visiting King Gorfyddyd’s hall, Arthur kneels to the man he defeated, meeting his son, crown prince Cuneglas, who is much more open to peace with Dumnomia. The king reluctantly agrees and to seal the alliance, arranges for his daughter Ceinwyn to marry Arthur. Ceinwyn is extraordinarily beautiful and charming, and she seems very pleased to be marrying the young and vibrant Arthur. Yet the betrothal ceremony proves to be “that happy night, when peace had come at last, that Arthur broke Britain” (198), because he only has eyes for Guinevere. The two begin long talks in the night, and he begins wearing a lock of her red hair around his neck.

Suddenly, Arthur announces that he will be leaving Powys, on the pretext of taking more time to prepare for the wedding to Ceinwyn. Sansum is asked to join the party for unclear reasons. Only a few hours after their departure, Guinevere appears, and Arthur asks Sansum to marry them. Sansum agrees, on the condition of receiving a church of his own and a place on the high council. After a simple ceremony, Guinevere declares that the wedding present will be Arthur reclaiming her father’s kingdom from Irish raiders. News of the wedding sends a shockwave throughout the land, infuriating both Guinevere’s fiancé and the Druids, who reject her Christian ceremony. Despite Powys’s fury, Arthur insists that they have no wish to fight again, but Powys makes an alliance with neighboring Gwent, which suggests possible danger. Guinevere establishes a court where she will only be surrounded by pretty things, taking Derfel’s companion Lunete but rejecting Arthur’s sons, who go to live with their mother. Arthur’s cohort enjoys a pleasant summer, and he travels through Dumnomia to reassert his power, but to no avail. By autumn, Powys is on the march, and Arthur is now at war.