Chapter 29:

Glendower had worried that Mihangel, having discovered who he was, realized he planned to betray him to Heddwynn.  He had left hastily left the supper the night before, worried that the others might turn on him before he was able to carry out his plan.  He had waited out the night hidden across from the palace gates.  He had come to speak to Heddwynn.

Stepping out of the shadows, he walked up to the gate of the same castle in which he'd been born.  It had been years since he'd been inside, not since he'd followed Emrys and Megan out the postern gate, the day he'd first seen Emrys become Dylan and Megan become Braith.

He walked up to the human commanding the golems at the gate.  Although golems resembled humans, they stood like statues until directed to move.  Their eyes, too, were different.  A golem's gaze was fixed and unblinking; and they didn't breathe.  They made none of the small movements -- shifting weight from foot to foot or touching one's face with a hand -- that a human might.

The human, the corporal of the guard, had his sword out before Glendower reached him.  "What is your business here?" he said.

"I know where to find the man you seek," Glendower said.

"And what man is that?" asked the guard.

"The man claiming to be the God."

"Where?" asked the guard.

"Take me to Heddwynn.  My information is only for him," said Glendower.

"You'll tell me," said the guard, thinking to get the reward for himself, "or I'll run you through."

"You do, and you won't find him," said Glendower, "and what do you think Heddwynn and Cadell will do to you, if they find you let him slip away.  You've scoured the city for him and haven't found him.  You won't without me."

The guard hesitated.  Glendower knew he had him.  He wouldn't risk Cadell's wrath.  If he angered Cadell, and he still had his cock and balls, he would make a golem.  If not, he would sit on a pole.  "Take me to Heddwynn," he said.  "I'll give him a good report of you."

"If you waste the commander's time, you will regret that I take you to him," said the guard.

"And you'll regret it," said Glendower, "if he learns that you didn't take me to him."

* * *

The money being offered for Mihangel was only added inducement for Glendower to betray him.  He would have done it for nothing, having been waiting for the opportunity since he'd joined him.  Glendower didn't actually think he was the God.  He thought he was Emrys; and it was Emrys he wanted revenge on.

He didn't know how Emrys and Dylan could exist at the same time, but Dylan was subservient to Mihangel; and the prince he'd known wouldn't be subservient to anyone.  It's not that he didn't believe in gods.  He'd seen too much evidence -- the making of boys into golems, the magic Dylan had used to escape from the stockade, and the magic Mihangel he performed since he'd joined him -- to think otherwise.

But never had a god taken on human form.  It was said that the nobles were his children and imbued with his spirit, but they weren't the God.  He had decided that it was Emerys that had magic all along, not Megan, who was back in Anglesey.  Mihangel was performing the magic now, and he looked like Emrys, exactly as he'd remembered the prince, only grown now into manhood, but without cock or balls.

Mihangel wasn't scarred as Dylan was, but he had magic.  He could have easily healed himself, removing any scar that he had.  Too, Dylan had always seemed to be different from the prince.  It had been difficult -- even at the first, when they'd lived together with the market boy -- to think of him as Emrys. 

The two, Emrys and Dylan, were different.  Dylan seemed to actually love his men.  If Emrys ever loved anyone other than himself, it was Megan; and Glendower wasn't even certain of that.  He hadn't even seen Emrys and Megans change into Dylan and Braith.  He had assumed they had, but he'd never actually seen them change.  Maybe Emrys never had actually been Dylan. 

Glendower had once been convinced he was, but was no longer.  Perhaps they'd always been two different people; and perhaps Emrys had always been the wizard, not Megan.  And if Mihangel wasn't Emrys, who was he?

The other men said that Megan had borne him, but he was grown.  How could he have become a man in five short years?   And how could Dylan -- without cock and balls -- have fathered him?  It only made sense that Mihangel was actually Emrys.

And he owed Emrys for all he'd suffered.

* * *

"You know where to find this man calling himself the God?" asked Heddwynn.

"Yes," answered Glendower.

"And how do you know him?" said Heddwynn.

"I've been one of his followers for the last year," said Glendower, quickly adding as he saw the guard again reach for his sword, "I joined him so I could betray him; so I could give him over to you."

"Do you think he's the God?" asked Heddwynn.

"No," said Glendower, "I think he's the prince.  I think he's Prince Emrys."

"How would you know the prince?"

"I used to be his jilly boy," said Glendower. 

"You're Glendower," said Heddwynn.  "I didn't recognize you.  You've changed.  You were once a beautiful boy, now --" he looked at the corpulent figure in front of him.  "I thought you died when the golem shells and guards were killed."

"I barely escaped with my life.  I was about to set the prince on a pole, but he used magic to escape.  He had cut himself and others so they couldn't be made into golems."  Glendower omitted telling Heddwynn that he'd given Dylan the knife he'd used to cut himself.

"And the prince let you join him?"

"As you said, I've changed," said Glendower.  "The prince didn't recognize me."

"Then, tell me where I can find the prince.  What does he now call himself -- besides the God?"

"Mihangel," said Glendower, "he calls himself Mihangel."

"Not Emrys?" said Heddwynn. 

"No," said Glendower, "He's calling himself the God, not the prince.  There's another that called himself the prince, a man now calling himself Dylan, but I believe Mihangel is actually the prince.  Once you see him, you, too, will recognize him as the prince.  Only a twin brother could look so much like him, and as you well know, the prince had no brother.  Mihangel must be the prince."

"And this Dylan?" asked Heddwynn.

"I don't know," answered Glendower.  "The prince used magic to change himself and Lady Megan.  Perhaps he's changed another into the shape of Dylan.  The man, Dylan, is subservient to Mihangel.  Would the prince be subservient to any man?"

"No," agreed Heddwynn, "but he would be subservient to the God."

"Do you really believe that the God walks on the Earth?" asked Glendower.

"No," said Heddwynn, because if he did, they had lost.  They might defeat the prince, but how could they defeat a god that was powerful enough to walk among them, in physical form, not just as a spirit?   "Where do we find this Mihangel?"

"He'll be in the market with his disciples early this morning," said Glendower. 

"How will we know him, or do we arrest everyone?"

"You should probably arrest everyone," said Glendower, "most will be his followers, as are most men in the city, but I will kiss him on the cheek.  The man I kiss on the cheek will be the one calling himself the God."

"If you betray me," said Heddwynn, "it will by you that sits on a pole."

"I won't betray you," said Glendower.  "I seek revenge.  It's more important to me than your gold."

* * *

Glendower walked to the market, followed at some distance by Heddwynn's soldiers.  There, he found Mihangel, along with the others.  Glancing back to see that the soldiers were watching, he walked up to Mihangel and kissed him on the cheek.

"Is this how you betray me, Glendower?" asked Mihangel.

He called him by his real name, not Grwn, the one he'd used since Dylan had escaped all those years before.  Mihangel not only knew what he'd done, but knew who he was.

"Glendower!" Pedr said, pulling his sword, "you traitor." 

He swung his sword at Glendower with a quick downward chop.  Glendower stepped to one side.  The sword slid along the side of his head, cutting off his ear, then glanced off his leather cuirass.  His ear fell onto the paving stones.  Blood streamed from his head.  Pedr drew back his sword to swing at Glendower again, this time intending to take off his head.  Soldiers, armed with swords and spears, rushed toward them.

"Hold, Pedr," said Mihangel. 

At his words, the blow Pedr had aimed at Glendower's neck  was stopped, frozen in mid swing.  It was as if time was frozen. not only Pedr's swing was stopped in mid swing, but the onrushing soldiers were frozen in mid step. 

Mihangel reached down, picking up Glendower's ear off the pavement, and placed it back on his head.  The blood stopped flowing.  The ear reattached itself to Glendower's head, leaving no sign that it had ever been cut off.  Then, Mihangel took the sword from Pedr's hand. 

Once he had, time resumed it's normal course.  Pedr continued his swing, but without a sword in his hand.  The soldiers continued their rush toward them.  Two of them grabbed Mihangel by the arms.  The rest surrounded the others, swords and spear points pressed against their clothing.

"Let them go," Mihangel said, and, inexplicably, they did.  The soldiers, human and golem, lowered their weapons.  "Go," Mihangel told his disciples.

"No," said Pedr, "I won't forsake you."

"Pedr," Mihangel said, smiling, "on the morrow, you will deny me thrice before the cock crows."

"Nay, Lord," Pedr said, "let me stay."

"No, Pedr.  I want all of you to go.  Go now, while you can.  You must live to carry on my message that all males must be castrated.  Only then can my kingdom come to exist on Earth."

The soldiers and golems stood immobile, two still holding onto Mihangel's arms.  The disciples, except for Glendower, walked away, glancing back first at Mihangel, then at Glendower.  The look they gave Mihangel was one of love; the look they gave Glendower, while tinged with disgust and hate, also contained pity.  He had held heaven within his grasp and had thrown it away.