- Merlin wakes up in a pretty awesome bedroom, as if nothing supernatural or weird had ever happened to him.
- And surprise: Cadal is there by his side. He'd heard Vortigern's men taking Niniane from the convent and followed Merlin there.
- Now Vortigern doesn't want to kill Merlin. Instead, he wants to make him the court prophet. And Niniane is safely back in her convent.
- Sadly, Merlin doesn't remember his moment of glory back in the mines. He still thinks that Vortigern wants to kill him to shore up his fortress walls.
- Merlin tells Cadal about his vision, and how it was actually painful. That was a new one for him. Cadal tells Merlin that witnesses said his eyes rolled up in his head and he began to prophesy.
- Specifically, Merlin told of the red dragon (that's Ambrosius) and the white dragon (Vortigern and the Saxons) duking it out in a war.
- And then Merlin told of something really cool: according to him, a bear will come out of Cornwall.
- Hint: Merlin's really talking about the coming of King Arthur.
- Here's the kink in Merlin's moment of glory: he told Vortigern that if he drained the subterranean pool, he'd find dragons. Real dragons.
- And now the king has his workers pumping water from that pool. Zoiks.
- But Merlin's fairly confident they'll find something down there. Meanwhile, he gets to dress in impressive wizard's robes and be honored. He kind of hates it. Because Vortigern.
- Cadal suggests that Merlin shouldn't let all the praise go to his head. They should really skedaddle while the skedaddling's good.
- Cadal also tells Merlin that his father's ships are already on their way to Britain. Merlin decides on a plan—he's going to help his dad defeat Vortigern.
- Cadal thinks Merlin's a bit bonkers to go back among Vortigern and his men, but Merlin feels his power. Also, he knows that this is not his day to die.