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494 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
"O Merlin in your crystal cave
Deep in the diamond of the day,
Will there ever be a singer
Whose music will smooth away
The furrow drawn by Adam's finger
Across the meadow and the wave?
Or a runner who'll outrun
Man's long shadow driving on,
Burst through the gates of history,
And hang on the apple on the tree?
Will your sorcery ever show
The sleeping bride shut in her bower'
The day wreathed in its mound of snow,
And Time locked in his tower?
-- EDWIN MUIR
Who was Merlin? Was the famed magician of Camelot & King Arthur's court really a sinister, all-powerful being from another world? Was he truly a Prince of Darkness? Or was he a man with the passions of other mortals? A man with unique intelligence & unusual gifts? Why was he so feared? How did he come by his occult powers? Why was the crystal cave so important to him?The author based this novel on a semi-mythological, romantic account, written in Oxford by a twelfth-century Welshman (or possibly Breton). As there was quite a measure of chaos after the withdrawal of the Romans from Britain, many place names suffered for it, since Celt, Saxon, Roman and Gaul shuttled to and fro across the turbulent and divided Britain.
5th century Britain is a country of chaos & division after the Roman withdrawal. Born the bastard son of a Welsh princess who will not reveal to her son his father's true identity, Myridden Emrys--or as he would later be known, Merlin--leads a perilous childhood, haunted by portents & visions. But destiny has great plans for this no-man's-son, taking him from prophesying before the High King Vortigern to the crowning of Uther Pendragon & the conception of Arthur--king for once & always.