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Emrys, Immortal… Emrys, Divine… Emrys Wledig, king and prophet to his people. Ambrosius it is to the Latin speakers, and Embries to the people of southern Britain and Lloegres.
Myrddin Emrys am I to the Cymry of the hill-bound fastness of the west.
Humility, if it comes at all, almost always comes too late.
A sword – not the short, broad gladius of the legionary, but the long, tapering length of singing lightning of the Celt. The hilt was handsome bronze wrapped in braided silver with a great amethyst of imperial purple in the pommel. The jewel was engraved with the Eagle of the Legion, fierce and proud, catching sunlight in its dark heart and smouldering with a deep and steady fire.
this is Excalibur, I think
Some say he will be Imperator himself one day, although from what I have seen of emperors a dux with a cohort at his back wields more power where it counts.’
First there is a sword, the Sword of Britain. And the sword is Britain.
A city is an unnatural place.
Wisdom will be given when wisdom is required, courage when courage is required. All things are given in their season.’
‘The Final Truth, Hen Dallpen,’ replied Hafgan gently. ‘And it is this: the Great Light of the world has ascended his high throne and calls all men to worship in spirit and deed.’
I began to speak, rather the Ancient One spoke through me if that is how it was, for the words were not my own.
It is always a humbling thing to discover your own insignificance in the grand design.
The Romans built to last; they built to outlast time itself.
‘The days of Rome are over.
he showed me that I had placed too much hope in an ambitious man’s idealism.
Had I been so long in the world of mortal men that I had forgotten the grace and refinement of the Fair Folk?
‘You have said it, and you are right. It is foolish to want something that you cannot have and know you cannot have, and yet go on wanting.’
‘It is possible to search for love and find it. More often, I think, love finds us when we are not even searching,’
that the way to men’s souls was through their hearts, not simply through their minds.
‘Nevertheless, see that you do not confuse knowledge with wisdom, as so many do.’
Only the eternal stars will remain when all else is unthinking dust.
We move about on our crust of earth and we imagine we see the world as it is. What we see is the world we imagine. No man sees the world as it is.
The delight of our lovemaking could have cheered whole nations, I believe.
‘Death wears many faces,’ I said, ‘but its stench is always the same.’
I did feel the fleeting emptiness of a grief that would remain with me for ever.
I tell you that killing for revenge is murder, and has no place among civilized men.’
‘Am I to live with a sword in my hand all my days?’ ‘Yes,’
I hardly know which way to choose. To decide for one is to decide against another.
Should have… Empty, useless words.
‘The Pendragon says –’ began the first. ‘Pendragon?’ I mused. ‘Chief Dragon – is that what Uther calls himself now?’
‘Yet my service exacts a price. One day soon I will demand my reward and bitter will be the granting. Let this be your comfort: what I shall demand will be for the good of Britain. Remember that, in the day of reckoning, Uther Pendragon. And refuse me at your peril.’
It was my decision; I chose freely. And I bear responsibility for the consequences. That is the price of freedom.
Unreasonable men are ever unreasonable, and only become more so when threatened. Truth always threatens the false-hearted.
