Rhonabwy and the others dismounted and stood aside to see what would happen next, and what happened was that the emperor emerged from his tent and took his place in the chair beside the gwyddbwyll board. He raised his head, looked around him, and cried, 'Who will try their skill against me in a game of Chase and Capture?'
Immediately, a crowd gathered around the mantle. And such a crowd! For each man among them was nobly born, and not one was lower in rank than king, and some were kings with other kings in their retinue.
Up spoke a king with brown hair and a drooping brown moustache, who said, 'I will try my skill, Lord and Pendragon.'
'I recognize you, Vortiporix,' replied the Pendragon. 'Very well, I allow you the first move. Make it good.' And they began to play.
They were deep into the game when there arose a great din of such cawing and shouting and clashing of arms that it could only be a battle of unusual size and violence. This continued, growing ever louder, until from a nearby tent came a warrior. The tent was all of white, with a standard flying before it bearing the image of a jet-black serpent with poisonous eyes and a fiery tongue. The warrior was dressed all in yellow-green from neck to knee, and half of his face was painted yellow as well.
'Emperor and Pendragon,' said the warrior, 'is it with your permission that the Ravens of Annwfn tear at your brave warriors?'
'It is not,' replied the emperor. 'This I will not allow."
Then tell me what is to be done and I will do it,' said the warrior.
'Take my standard and raise it where the battle is fiercest,' said the emperor. Then stand back and let God's will be accomplished.'
The warrior rode directly to the place where the battle was going badly for the Dragon Flight, and there he raised the emperor's standard – a great red-gold dragon with teeth and claws bared. And when the Flight of Dragons saw the standard being raised in their midst they took courage and rose up with renewed vigour and began beating back the Ravens, smiting them and stabbing them so that they were wounded and killed.
Vortiporix went down in defeat to the emperor and his game ended. 'Who will play next?' asked the Pendragon in a loud, challenging voice.
'I will try my skill," said a man, stepping out from the crowd which had gathered around the game board.
Then sit you down,' said the emperor. 'I recognize you, Urien Reget, and grant you the first move. Do your best.'
They began to play the game, bending low over the board to study their moves. When they had played a short while they heard a great uproar of men and animals fighting and tearing one another to pieces. They raised their heads at this commotion, to see a rider on a pale horse galloping towards them. The rider wore a white cloak on his shoulder and a white tunic, but his legs and feet were covered in grey linen the colour of smoke or morning mist. In his hand he held a long, three-grooved sword; and on his head he wore a helm with a powerful sapphire gemstone on its brow, and on its crest the image of a white lion with poisonous blood-red eyes.
This warrior rode straight to where the game was being played on the mantle and, without dismounting, said, 'Lord and Pendragon, Emperor of the Island of the Mighty and all other lands of consequence, I beseech you.'
'Why do you beseech me?'
'I would have you know that the best warriors in the world, the nobles and kings of Britain and their vaunted retinues are being killed by wild beasts – so many, in fact, that it will not be easy to defend this worlds-realm henceforth.'
'This will never do,' replied the emperor when he had heard the sorry report.
'Tell me what is to be done and I will see that it is accomplished,' said the warrior.
'Take my sword in your hand and carry it before you by the blade, in the sign of the cross of Christ.'
The warrior rode directly to the place where the battle was going badly for the Dragon Flight, and there he raised the emperor's sword, holding it before him by the naked blade. When the wild beasts saw the flashing sword making the sign of the cross of Christ they fell to quaking with fear and lay down and became meek as newborn lambs.
Urien of Reget went down in sharp defeat at the emperor's hands. But the emperor still wanted a fair match at the game, so he called out, 'Who else is there to pit skill against me?'
'I will try my skill and cunning against you, O Mighty Pendragon,' said a king, stepping from the throng.
'I recognize you, Maglocunus,' replied the Pendragon. 'Very well, take your move and see that you make it your best.'
They bent low over the game-board, moving the golden pieces here and there as the game demanded. They had not played'Very long when there arose the greatest uproar yet heard anywhere in the world. Though the din was terrible, far worse was the silence that followed. Everyone trembled and looked around fearfully.
Out of the east came a warrior on a horse of dappled-grey with four red legs, as if the animal had swum through blood, yet its hooves were green. Both rider and horse were clothed in strange, heavy armour that gleamed like silver, with rivets and fastenings of russet. The warrior carried a long, heavy spear of grooved ashwood coloured half with white lime and half with blue woad, the leaf-shaped blade covered with fresh blood. On his head he wore a helm set about with shining crystals and crested with the image of a griffin holding a powerful gem in his mouth.
This warrior approached the emperor and cried out, 'Lord and Pendragon! Your warriors are slaughtered, your people killed, all who followed you are scattered and oppressed!'
Hearing this the Exalted Pendragon seized up a handful of pieces from the gwyddbwyll board and squeezed them in his hand until they were ground to fine gold dust. Then, looking around angrily, he demanded of the royal throng, 'What is to become of us? Why do you stand there empty-handed? Why do you stand idly by, watching a stupid game, while the enemy has laid waste to our lands and slaughtered our people? Are you even men at all?'
The emperor rose up and threw the game-board from him. He called for his sword and his horse. He took up his spear and his shield, and put on his dragon-crested helm. 'Whoever would follow me, take up your sword!' he cried.
At these words the crowd vanished – they simply faded from sight and blew away like mist. The tents faded from sight, and the horses and warriors and all that had gathered in the vale below Caer Baddon. Lastly the emperor and his son vanished, taken from sight by a shining cloud that covered them and bore them away.
Of the great host, not so much as a footprint remained. Everything disappeared, leaving only Rhonabwy and his two friends standing just where they were. 'Most wretched of men are we,' cried Rhonabwy miserably, 'for we have seen a wonder, but no one is here to tell us what it means! On top of that, we are lost and now must find our way home as best we can.'
No sooner had these words passed his lips than did a wind begin to blow and howl, and rain and hail begin to fall. Thunder thundered and lightning flashed, and in the chaos of the storm Rhonabwy awoke to find himself once more on the yellow ox-hide in the noisome black hall. His friends stood over him, their brows wrinkled with worry, for Rhonabwy had slept three days and three nights.
So ends the Dream of Rhonabwy.
The Emrys sang out of his bard's awen, and would not speak of his song or its meaning. The next day, however, I sensed this same unease in his conversation with Avallach. Clearly, something had begun preying on the Emrys' mind. I determined to discover what it was. Over the next days and nights I stayed alert to any word that might illumine me.