Plot
The book starts with an unnamed black cat investigating the run-down former living quarters of the wizard Merlin of Arthurian Legend with the implied intent of trying to find something worth stealing. While there she meets a Northern Spotted Owl who takes her through the house and explains Merlin's life, magical abilities, and what the book describes as 'The Pendragon Alchemy', a philosophy of life that says that giving nets greater rewards, both monetary and emotional, than taking. The book deviates from previous Arthur legends and tells of Merlin protecting an unnamed princess from a cadre of evil sorcerers (and in the process creating a ring of stones in Avebury), and falling in love with Nimue, The Lady of the Lake, here described as being a water sprite princess.
During this it is revealed simultaneously that the black cat is Nimue and the owl is Merlin, who resume their love. Nimue retrieves the Merlin's Wand in order to give it to the aforementioned evil sorcerers to free them in the misguided belief that they will begrudgingly help save the magical world. However, in trying to defend Merlin she accidentally uses the wand on him, shattering his soul and destroying both his body and his wand in a large fiery flash. Merlin's last magical act is to rescind Nimue's human form, and she becomes the water of the lake near the cave where Merlin was destroyed. However, Merlin has become the mountain and cave next to the lake, and the two remain, insubstantial but together, until, as Merlin explains, 'The seeker' (here to mean the reader) casts 'the spell' (the solution to the puzzle) and causes the wand (the reward for solving the puzzle) to appear.
Read more about this topic: The Merlin Mystery
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