Armorica with
high hearts, and even now are upon the sea. Be certified of this, that
their fleet of fourteen galleys comes to land on the morrow. Much evil
hast thou done to them; much evil will they do to thee, and avenge
them of their wrongs. In an ill day you betrayed their brother to his
death: in an ill day you set the crown on your head; in an ill day, to
your own most bitter loss, you entreated this Saxon heathenry to your
help. You are as a man against whom arrows are loosed, both this side
and that; and I know not whether your shield should be arrayed to left
or to right. On the one road the Saxon host draws near, eager to do
you a mischief. Along this other comes the rightful heirs, to pluck
the realm from your hand, the crown from your head, and to exact the
price of their brother's blood. If you yet may flee, escape quickly;
for the brethren approach, and that speedily. Of these brethren
Aurelius shall first be king, but shall also die the first, by poison.
Uther Pendragon, his brother, will sit within his chair. He will hold
the realm in peace; but he, too, will fall sick before his time, and
die, by reason of the brewage of his friends. Then Arthur of Cornwall,
his son, like to a boar grim in battle, will utterly devour these
false traitors, and destroy thy kinsfolk from the land. A right
valiant knight, and a courteous, shall he be, and all his enemies
shall he set beneath his feet." When Merlin had come to an end, he
departed from Vortigern, and went his way. On the morrow, with no
longer tarrying, the navy of the brethren arrived at Totnes, and
therein a great host of knights in their harness. The Britons
assembled themselves together, and joined them to the host. They came
forth from the lurking places whence they had fled, at that time
Hengist harried them by mount and by dale, after he had slain the
lords by felony, and destroyed their castles. At a great council the
Britons did homage to Aurelius as their king. These tidings came to
Vortigern in Wales, and he prepared to set his house in order. He
fled to a strong castle, called Generth,[1] and there made him ready,
taking with him the most valiant of his men. This tower was on the
banks of a fair running water, called by the folk of that country the
Wye. It stood high upon Mount Droac, in the land of Hergin, as testify
the people of these parts. Vortigern furnished his fortress with a
plenteous store of arms and engines, of food and sergeants. To k