Far from being an anticlimax, Volume Four of Poul and Karen Anderson's King of Ys tetralogy, The Dog And The Wolf (London, 1989), is crucial to the story of the tetralogy's title character. Never has Gratillonius been such a hero than after the loss of his city and kingship.
When his political opponents have paid arsonists to destroy his colony of wooden buildings, he quickly organises the rebuilding of the colony, this time as a stone-built city to be funded by retrieving stolen wealth that Scotian pirates had secreted on the Channel Islands. The (ex-)King of Ys remains a formidable opponent to the Scotian King Niall long after Niall had destroyed Ys. Gratillonius not only fights and wins battles but also rebuilds civilisation and we see him do it - leading, working, organising.
As expected, the fire in the colony destroys the notes for a history of Ys:
"...The Veil of Brennilis, the revenge of the Gods, whatever it is, casts its shadow yet, and always shall, until Ys is wholly forgotten. We'll never find time to write that chronicle, nor will anyone else. The story of Ys will die with those of us who lived the last days of it; and our city will glimmer away into legend." (p. 308)
- legend on which fictions will be based.
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