The Great Oath

“I will free you,” Roland said. “However long it takes me, whatever it costs me. I will set you free.”

“You need not bind yourself to that,” said Merlin. “I earned this captivity; I had sins enough, when all was told.”

Roland tossed his head in refusal. “You did not! I will break the spell. That I swear to you. And if I fail, may the earth gape and swallow me, may the sky fall and crush me, may the sea rise up and devour my bones.“

Merlin flung up a hand. But it was too late—as it had been for Nimue. The great oath rolled out of that slender body, made all the more mighty by the strength of the boy’s magic. Magic that he had inherited in full measure from Merlin, and from Nimue, who was of the blood of the Grail: light and darkness melded in him, so strong and so fierce and so headlong that even Merlin could not stop or slow him.

— Kingdom of the Grail, Prelude