“My lord, he was a planet lurid with murder, and so damned to darkness. Need the sun fear light?”
Uther smiled sadly in the old man’s face.
“You are too faithful a courtier, Dubricius.”
“My lord, you are the pillar of a distraught land; God be merciful and spare you to us.”
“I have done my duty.”
“Amen, sire, to that.”
Uther went and stood by the great window of the room with his arms folded upon his breast. His hollow eyes looked out over the city, and there was a gaunt grandeur of thought upon his face. He was not a man who galloped down destiny like a huntsman on the trail of a stag; deliberation entered into his motives, and he never foundered reason with over-use of the spur. Dubricius stood and watched him with the smile of a father, for he loved the man.
Presently Uther turned back towards the fire. Dubricius saw by his face that he had come by decision, and that his mind was steadfast.
“Merlin is at Sarum, my lord.”
“I shall not play Saul at Endor.”