The Crystal Cave Book Two, Chapter 4 Summary

  • Merlin wakes up to men kicking him in the ribs. He's surrounded by strangers, except for one dude: the young soldier whose cloak he "borrowed."
  • The soldier is pretty annoyed that a stinky little beggar has stolen the cloak from his horse, and he reaches for a whip to teach Merlin a lesson.
  • Just in the nick of time, another man appears and tells the soldier to knock it off. This new guy clearly has authority.
  • Merlin perks up: this is the guy who killed the bull. He tells the man that he was only trying to help him out. Merlin tells him the story about the white bull.
  • Merlin tells the newcomer that he's only looking for Ambrosius to serve him, and the newcomer asks him to tell his story.
  • After he's shown the field and the stone where he'd seen the bull killed, Merlin realizes that it was actually a vision. It didn't really happen.
  • Merlin also realizes that the newcomer is actually Ambrosius. How convenient.
  • Merlin tells Ambrosius who he is and that he is a prince of South Wales. When asked about his father, Merlin repeats the old gossip: his daddy was the Prince of Darkness.
  • Ambrosius laughs at that and orders the soldier—who is his brother, Uther—to give Merlin back the cloak.
  • And then Merlin is swept up on horseback to follow Ambrosius.