Richard couldn’t believe what Merle had just said.
“What are you playing at?” the knight hissed.
Merle never took his blue eyes from Bran. “To protect yourself, you will have to do what is necessary. It will not be easy.”
“You think they will come again?”
“Eventually, yes. It is unavoidable,” Merle responded. “Tonight. Tomorrow. A year from now. Every once in a while, one of them gets past the knights. When that happens, you won’t have Richard to protect you again, I’d wager. Might not happen tomorrow or the next day, but it will happen.”
Arrow Jack screeched loudly. Merle hushed the bird.
Richard watched the boy. Bran was scared. He had been attacked without provocation. He had seen two different fey creatures that ought not to exist. If he believed the owner of Old World Tales to be the Merlin of story and fable, sorcerer, advisor to King Arthur, and immortal, Richard knew Bran was more than likely considering checking himself into an asylum.
Richard had been in the same place many years past.
And when Bran discovered who his father was, he would balk completely.
“Time is short,” Merle advised. “Others will want to find you—that much I’ve also seen. You must come with us. Now.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Richard asserted.
“You are,” the old man said. “To Annwn. To protect young Ardall.”
“You tamped the wrong leaf into that pipe, I think,” Richard said. “I am not the Heliwr.”
“To return to my chess metaphor, Annwn is moving its pieces into position for an event that is sending ripples through time,” Merle said. “Even now, I feel it. It must be countered or both worlds will die. Of that there is no doubt.”
“More doom and gloom, eh?” Richard grunted.
“I have never been wrong,” Merle said. “To prevent what comes, I have seen that both of you must travel into Annwn and end what will assuredly come.”
“And if I don’t go?” Bran asked.
“You will be dead within the month, I think,” Merle said. “I see many possibilities, but that one remains constant in the multiple alternate paths. The Lord of Annwn is tenacious.”
“You now think Plantagenet attacked the boy?” Richard questioned. “You are sure?”
“It fits,” Merle said. “I am not wholly certain—that should make you happy, Richard—but there is some aspect of it that is… unclear and yet swirls about him. I sense Plantagenet in this, but also not.”
“Real helpful, as usual,” Richard said.
“And easy for you to say when I have no idea of knowing if it is true or not,” Bran said, his features darkening in uncertainty.
“I’ve seen greater men die for less, Bran Ardall,” Merle said.
“Your father was one,” Richard said, seeing another opening.
Bran frowned. Merle gave Richard a dark look.
“You knew my father?” the boy pressed.
“I did,” Richard said. “For several years. A good man.”
“You as well, Merle?”
The bookseller took a deep breath. “I did. He was as Richard described—a good man. A better knight.”
“He was a knight?” Bran asked. “Like Richard?”
“Yes and no,” Merle answered. “Charles Ardall was unique. Needed. The role he fulfilled for the world was as important as the one Richard carries, but was different.”
“You recruited him?”
“I did,” Merle said. “Like Richard. Like Sal. Like the others.”
Bran stood like a statue, looking at the chess game on the table but not seeing it. No sound filled the room. On one side, Richard waited, hoping the boy had figured out he was just one more pawn in a very old game; on the other side sat Merle, continuing to smoke his pipe, patience written in the very wrinkles of his face. The knight and the old man locked eyes for a moment, both aware of the conflict between them, before Merle returned his gaze to Bran and puffed another plume into the air.
“If you knew him, what would he have done in this situation?”
“You can’t be thinking about doing this, boy,” Richard said.
“Charles was in this same situation,” Merle said without hesitation. “He chose to do what is right. Two worlds are on the brink of war. If this world discovers Annwn, war destroys both.”
Turmoil seeped from Bran. Richard knew the boy had likely read enough Celtic mythology to know there were beings and creatures that could easily destroy him if they got through one of the portals. It was not a difficult risk calculation. The knight also knew Bran to be a tough kid, unable to back down from a fight.