Youth Knew No Restraint, and Despised Prudence
…Roland had bound himself in ways that he could not begin to understand. Not only to Merlin, but to all that Merlin had done, both good and ill. And—
“Child,” Merlin said in the vast silence after the oath, “be wary. Oh, be wary! The sorcerer who made me, who through your foremother bound me, is still alive. He is still powerful, though never what he was before Parsifal cast him down. That is why I was guarded—as the Grail was, to protect me from him. That is why Nimue and our daughter and our granddaughter stayed hidden here. We are all safe in this place, as the Grail is safe in its stronghold. But if we are betrayed—if the sorcerer finds us—”
“Let him find us,” said Roland in the arrogance of his youth. “He’s grown weak. We’re strong. And maybe, if he’s destroyed forever, all magics that he made will be destroyed, too. And that will free you from your prison.”
“Child,” Merlin began, but he could not go on. He should have known. He should have waited till the boy was older to tell him this of all stories—till the boy was a man, and preferably a man of ample years. Youth knew no restraint, and despised prudence.
But it was done, and could not be undone. Nor was Roland strong enough yet to break the spell. Maybe he would never be—and maybe the enemy would never find him. Even when, as he must, he went out into the world; when he took up the lordship that was his by right, and stood up before his peers and his king, and made himself known to them by name and face.
— Kingdom of the Grail, Prelude
