CHAPTER 5
The Cauldron and the WheelAs the night of Samhain approached, in every rath in the land, every hut, every cottage, every house, they locked and barred the windows and doors, for this was the night when the graves gave up their dead and beings from other realms walked the earth. Most people chose to pass the night awake, noisily carousing with friends to keep fear and ghosts at bay. Bladud was visiting his uncle Urien. Four oxen were roasting to feed the multitude who crowded in for safety behind the wooden walls of his stockade. The whole place was so well lit with fires and torches it could almost have been day. It would be a bold and persistent ghost indeed that would venture into such a place.
On the night of the great feast Bladud was in a detached mood, as though he was me
