The Crystal Cave Book Five, Chapter 1 Summary

  • Things don't go well right after Ambrosius' death. The Brits blame it on that king-star that burned so weirdly at the death of the king.
  • Octa and Eosa attack the kingdom again. But hey, that's what you get when you give Saxons some uninhabitable land to live on.
  • Uther catches Octa at York, and they give each other trouble. It does not go well for the Brits. A major problem? Uther's a great and brave commander, but he's not level-headed.
  • It's Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, who tells Uther he has to put on his big-boy pants and attack the Saxons again right away, even with the serious whoopin' they just got from them.
  • So Uther and Gorlois plan a sneak attack on Octa's camp—and it works. Uther gets to be a hero king, and Octa and Eosa become prisoners.
  • Merlin is busy fixing up Stonehenge just after Uther's coronation. It's a tough job. Merlin has to use all his mad engineering skills, but it's his memory of old songs that helps him finish the job.
  • Merlin's massive crew of workers used the songs to keep time and move as one so they could shift the huge stones together. Onlookers thought that Merlin moved the stones with music. D'oh.
  • When the work is done, Merlin promises his father—who is buried at Stonehenge—that he will come back at the winter solstice.