- So Merlin and Cerdic journey with the king and his men to Segontium to meet up with Vortigern.
- Merlin's stoked: it's his first time on a road trip and his first time seeing the High King.
- Backstory: Vortigern has a Saxon queen called Rowena, and apparently she's wicked. No, we mean like bad. Like awful. We believe the words are "bloodthirsty witch."
- But Merlin doesn't really get to meet Vortigern or Rowena. Just like at home, he's a loner. He wanders around Snowdon, the highest mountain in Britain.
- Merlin and Cerdic stay in an old Roman fort with the other men. They hunt during the day and eat at night. Merlin hates the hunting bit.
- But Merlin knows he has to go along with everything, because he has to figure out why Galapas insisted on him going with the king.
- Just as they're about to leave for home, something interesting happens. Merlin finds himself near his grandfather and Vortigern, even though he'd tried to find a secluded place to hang out.
- But before Merlin can hear anything significant, Cerdic finds him. He tells him they have to make tracks because the king ordered everyone away from this area.
- Cerdic also tells Merlin that the kings are walking toward a tower called Dinas Brenin. The tower is, at the moment, in ruins.
- Cerdic reminds Merlin that he still needs to behave like the ring-dove and keep hidden. And guess what? At that moment, a ring-dove swoops through the air right by them.
- Even better? The ring-dove is followed by a merlin that's trying to catch it. Both birds crash into a thicket.
- Merlin goes after the birds and finds that the ring-dove is dead but the merlin is also pretty messed up. Of course, Merlin rescues the surviving bird and takes it with him.
- But first, Merlin wants to go exploring. He's found a mineshaft close by and feels like he's seen it somewhere before.
- Cerdic doesn't want to go in, but Merlin says that there's no danger—and the doorway was shown to them by the birds. Clearly, it's a sign.
- Merlin sees water sliding down the walls of the shaft, and a pool of water on the ground. Sound familiar? (Hint: it's the place he saw in the crystal cave.)
- On the way out, Merlin picks up the stunned merlin, and they all head back to Maridunum with the king and company.