Part 1, A Child in Winter, pgs. 3-51 Summary

As winter nears, the old Monk Derfel scribes stories about Arthur for Queen Igraine of Powys. He pretends to be writing a Gospel in Saxon to keep it from his illiterate and bigoted bishop. Derfel begins: In the last year of the High King Uther's reign, Princess Norwenna shrieks in hard labor in Caer Cadarn. A Christian, she bans pagan charms, but Uther, desperate for an heir, summons Morgan to take over the birthing. She delivers and is ordered to care thereafter for clubfooted future King Mordred.

Norwenna, Mordred, and a retinue arrive in Ynys Wydryn, Merlin's realm, already crowded with children like Nimue and Derfel, "snatched from the Gods," who are learning under Morgan to become Druids to restore Britain's proper Gods. Pagans and Christians taunt one another's sanctuaries, Thorn...