XXXIIIAs Summer turned to Autumn, the Kings of the West grew restive in Caerwent. Cunneglassus wished to return to his own country for the harvest, and Votiporix openly said that things had not turned out quite as he had hoped, and that he would be as well with his men in another place. Only Aurelius showed no sign of discontent yet, and lived a pleasant enough life in Caerwent, feasting and hunting in the woods above the city.
Then Artos called a council in his palace at Caer Leon, and announced to them all that he considered the first stage of the great war to be completed. The Jutes and the South Saxons were crushed, he told them. The sea-rovers who had settled along the eastern coasts could wait. They did little damage, and mostly occupied such marshy areas as no one else would want a
