- Merlin says that he spent five years with Ambrosius in Less Britain.
- Merlin also tells us (in the present of the narration, as an old man) that he's not sure if he's remembering all the deets of the past correctly.
- Thanks, old dude.
- But Merlin's absolutely sure about his memories of Ambrosius. It's clear that Dad has made a lasting impression on Merlin.
- Uther is harder to write about, says Merlin, because he's never really a finished story. He's starting to hint at the coming of Arthur, who is the whole purpose of all of these stories.
- Back to the storyline: news starts coming out of Merlin's old stomping grounds. Camlach didn't immediately run to Vortimer's side against Vortigern.
- So that means there's no open rebellion against Vortigern yet—but it seems that many Brits are ready to go to war.
- Merlin doesn't learn anything new about his mom. She's definitely holed up in St. Peter's, though, and she's safe.
- Ambrosius decides to let Vortimer start the war with Vortigern, and then to swoop in when everything's in chaos. Until then, he gets his men ready.
- But Ambrosius has a secret weapon: Merlin. He's completely sure that Merlin's appearance-- with all his freaky prophecies—is a sign that the time to take back his kingdom is coming.
- Merlin does his best to learn everything so that he can be useful. But guess what? He never has any visions during this time.
- Merlin learns absolutely nothing, however, about the ladies. Though he's "grown up" at 17, he's as awkward and inexperienced as a 10-year-old. Which is OK by him, as he's too busy and important to think about women.
- Merlin spends a lot of time in the workshop of a dude called Tremorinus. Big T is the master engineer to Ambrosius—building siege engines and bridges and so on.
- Merlin's pretty good on the engineering side, but he tends to spend time on stupid experiments—like trying to figure out how those creepy stones were lifted and placed in the fields.
- We learn that Merlin was inspired to work out this problem by a blind poet he'd met one day on a walk. The poet was singing a song about Merlin himself.
- The two become friends, and Merlin buys him a proper harp so he can sing his poems. It's in these songs that Merlin gets a clue about how the stones were moved.
- But Merlin doesn't get much time to work on his pet project: they soon get news that Vortimer had rebelled against his dad.
- Things haven't gone well: Vortimer has been poisoned by some BFF of Queen Rowena (Vortigern's wife), and the fierce Hengist and Horsa are on their way back.
- Oh, and also—Camlach is dead. He was killed in battle against Vortigern and the Saxons. Merlin is not shaken by this news.
- Ambrosius tells Merlin he'll be going back to his old stomping grounds at Maridunum to scope things out.
- Merlin's major concern? He knows he'll be seasick on the boat ride over the English Channel.