- It's now the night before Arthur's big battle with King Lot's men. Uh oh. Arthur's army is outnumbered by about 3 to 1. This doesn't look good.
- Merlyn assures Arthur he will win the battle… but there's still that thing that's bothering him. Something he's sure he's forgotten to tell Arthur—and it's super important.
- Merlyn starts to count things off on his fingers. He's warned Arthur about Guenever, right? And about Guenever and Lancelot, right?
- Arthur disregards the warning about Guenever and Lancelot, since it's "base" (or too impolite to discuss in polite company).
- Did Merlyn remind Arthur to make sure he always protects Excalibur's sheath? What about telling him about his father?
- Arthur tries to shut all this down, because he doesn't want to know too much about the future.
- Merlyn then proceeds to tell Arthur a parable about Death and a man from Damascus. To avoid Death, he decides to ride to a different town. The joke's on him, though, because when he arrives in the other town, Death is there waiting for him: he was actually supposed to meet him in that town, which is why he was surprised to see him in Damascus the day before.
- The upshot of this is that people can't escape their destiny.
- In fact, Merlyn tells Arthur, both of them are destined to return. Plus, a fancy-schmancy Latin phrase will be inscribed on Arthur's tomb, which means: Here lies Arthur, the once and future King.
- Arthur hopes that in the future the people will remember his Round Table.
- Merlyn just looks sad, and Arthur frantically wonders what the future people will be like.