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Cathbad, you will call on your Druids to help in this search. Many of these surely know these four Bards by sight. And, as you have explained to me, this is the month when the Bards traditionally begin their travels around each kingdom for what the Kymri call the Plentyn Prawf, the Child Test, where they use these devices to identify young Y Dawnus. The Bards will be on the roads soon.”
    “But might they not discontinue this practice at such a time?” Eadwig asked. “It is far too dangerous for them to travel. Suppose they do not go on the road? What then?”
    “Aergol?” Havgan asked coolly, already sure of the answer to that question.
    “They will not put away a tradition that is so important to them. For hundreds of years the children of Kymru have undergone the Plentyn Prawf. The Bards will go.”
    “As I thought. And these are whom we seek.” One by one, Havgan ticked the names off on his fingers. “Talhearn, who was Bard to Queen Olwen in Ederynion; Esyllt, who was Bard to King Urien in Rheged; Cian, Bard to King Rhoram in Prydyn; Susanna, who was the Bard to King Uthyr in Gwynedd. These four will be found, make no mistake. And, Sledda, I want that Dreamer. Gwydion and Rhiannon also take to the road now. They, too, must and will be found.”
    “But how do you know this, Lord? The Dreamer has been hiding for two years. How do you know he will come out now?”
    “Because,” Havgan said, “it is time.”
    C ATHBAD HURRIED DOWN the steps of Eiodel to the horses. As he and Aergol mounted their horses, the Archdruid gazed north to Cadair Idris. His gaze was no less predatory than Havgan’s as he, too, studied the closed doors to the mountain.
    “The hunt for the Treasures begins, Aergol,” Cathbad said. “Is that not what Havgan has dreamed? Gwydion ap Awst will find them, you can be sure of that. And, when he does, Lord Havgan will take them. Soon Havgan will return to the mountain with the Treasures in his hands. And Drwys Idris will open to him. And you and I will be beside him when he enters Cadair Idris and walks the halls as no one has done for hundreds of years.”
    Aergol did not answer.
    “And the collars! Oh, these collars will give us the power that I have dreamed of. With these collars around their necks, the Dewin and the Bards—and the Dreamer—will be nothing! The Druids will be supreme, as we once were.”
    Again, Aergol did not answer.
    “You are, my heir, angry that I did not confide the nature of my experiments to you? Is that why you are silent?”
    The cold wind whipped the grasses of the plain, nipping at the Druids’ robes, moaning in their ears, making Cathbad shiver involuntarily as they rode by the mountain.
    At last Aergol spoke. “Archdruid, you are a fool.”
    “A fool! How dare you speak to me that way! A fool because I have found the way to make the Druids masters once again, as we were long ago in Lyonesse? For this you call me a fool?”
    “No, not for that.”
    “For what, then?”
    Aergol reached out and grasped the reins of Cathbad’s horse, forcing the animal to a stop. He turned in his saddle, facing Cathbad, his dark eyes filled with contempt. “How long do you think it will be, Archdruid, before they clasp a collar around your own neck?”
    “They wouldn’t—”
    “They would.”
    “I am the Archdruid of Kymru!”
    “No. You are a fool. And so am I.”
    Coed Addien and Llwynarth

Chapter 2
    Kingdom of Rheged,
Kymru Bedwen Mis, 499
    Llundydd, Lleihau Wythnos—afternoon
    O wein ap Urien, eldest living son of the murdered King and Queen of Rheged, gazed upon the dead Coranian warriors lying in the tall grasses by the side of the road. Plumes of smoke rose from the burning wagons to stain the clean, blue sky. The heat of the fire shimmered before his sunken, shadowed eyes, and sweat bathed his lean, tanned face. Still, he did not move. He wanted to savor the sight of the dead.
    They must leave soon. The smoke could be seen from many leagues away. Already