The Winter King dispels that thought immediately and authoritatively. In the first book of his projected Warlord Chronicles, Bernard Cornwell, author of the redoubtable Richard Sharpe adventures, re-creates a chilling landscape of dark-age Britain where the figures of Arthur, Merlin, Lancelot, Galahad, Guinevere, and Nimue play out their parts in the familiar legend with a new and enthralling intensity.
For Cornwell, the real focus of the legend is Britain-past-ridden, war-torn, magic-haunted-caught between two opposing visions of the future.
One is the vision of the Druid priest Merlin, who, through his quest for the Thirteen Treasures of Britain, seeks to bring the Gods back to Britain, "to restore it to the blessed condition it enjoyed before the Romans came." The other is the vision of Arthur, a vision of a united Britain, its quarrelsome tribes leaderless after the death of Uther the Pendragon, against the invading Saxons.
For much of The Winter King, Merlin is offstage. The principal story of this first chronicle is the story of Arthur's rise from bastard upstart of Uther to Warlord of Britain and protector of Uther's grandson and heir, Mordred.
In his turbulent struggle to power, Arthur's strength is his sense of duty. At the Battle of Lugg Vale, by defeating the hosts of Powys and Siluria, Arthur achieves, for a space of time, his vision of a united Britain: "I had only seen him happier once, and that was when he had wed his Guinevere," recalls Derfel, a trusted companion, "but now, amidst the smoke and reek of a battle won . . . he had gained what he wanted more than anything in all the world. He had made peace."
In Book II of the Chronicles (The Enemy of God, scheduled for Spring 1997), Derfel will record how Arthur, and Britain, keep and use that peace.
Robert C. Jones is a writer in Warrensburg, Missouri.
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