about what would happen to him if he could never dis-
cover what he must know. For here even Lugaid failed
him, saying that those who might once have taught him
were long dead, and only small fragments, probably much
distorted, remained in the trained memories of such as the
Druid himself. But the priest promised that when the time
was ripe, he would give what he could to this one who was
truly like a fosterling of his own.
The grayish light which accompanied the boy grew
stronger. Now he believed that it was given off by the
walls, rather than gathered around his own person. And,
when he rubbed an investigating finger along the stone, he
discovered something else: a vibration within the rock.
Quickly he put his ear flat against that wall to listen, but it
MERLIN'S MIRROR 21
was a feeling rather than a sound, a beat like from a crea-
ture's own heart.
All the tales of monsters lairing within caves swirled
into his mind then and he hesitated. But the excited feeling
drew him and he went on. So he came through an opening
into a larger area where a light winked into flaring bril-
liance. Myrddin shrank back, his hands over his eyes,
blinded by that glare. The vibration was a steady hum
which he could hear now as well as feel.
"There is no need of fear."
Myrddin was suddenly aware that a voice spoke, had
been speaking while he crouched, eyes covered, struck
dumb for the first time in his life by real terror.
He strove to fight his fear, though he did not yet drop
his hands to see who spoke. But the very fact that he
heard lessened his first terror, for surely no firedrake nor
ghoul would use'the tongue of man!
"There is no need of fear," the same words repeated.
The boy drew a deep breath and, summoning the full
force of his courage, he dropped his hands.
There was so much to be seen, and the objects were so
alien to all his experience, that wonder overcame the last
of his fear. For here was no scaled monster, no evil crea-
ture. Instead, under the light stood burnished squares and
cylinders for which his native language had no names.
There was also a kind of life which he could sense, though
