A WIZARD.
So we two rode on together over the wild hills, and talked of what
chance there might be of finding Owen on the morrow. He could not
tell me if his wounds were deep, for he was far off and helpless,
but he told me how he had fought, and that was even as I had known
he would.
Now the soft June darkness had fallen, and we were not a mile from
the first houses of the village. Soon, if they were alert, we
should meet the first outpost of our men who guarded us, and mayhap
it were better that Evan came no farther tonight. Yet I would know
somewhat of himself and the way in which he had helped me thus. So
I stayed my horse and dismounted for a few minutes.
"Tell me, Evan," I said, "how came you into trouble at the first?"
"It is easy, Thane," he answered. "I was Evan the chapman, and well
known near and far in Cornwall and Dyvnaint as an honest man, even
as I have seemed yet beyond the water. Two years ago I slew the
steward of this Tregoz in the open market place of Isca, and there
was indeed little blame to me, for I did but protect my goods which
he would have taken by force, and smote too hard. Little order was
there in that market if the king was not there, and Morgan and his
friends were in the town. Men have taken heart again since the
coming back of Owen, for it was bad enough, as you may suppose by
what happened to me. So I fled, and then Tregoz had me outlawed,
with a price on my head, so that, being well known, I had to take
to Exmoor and herd with others in the same case. I knew that no
weregild, as the Saxon calls it, would be enough to save me from
the Cornishman.
"There I was the one who could sell the stolen goods across the
water, being held in good repute there, and I traded with the Norse
strangers who ferried me across. So it was that when Owen came I
was in Watchet, and there Tregoz saw me and laid hands on me. Then
he needed men to carry out that which he would do, and he had me
forth and spoke to me, saying that if I would manage the Quantock
outlaws for him he would forgive me and have me inlawed again. I
was to have been hanged that day, Thane, and so you will see that I
had no choice. Owen's coming saved me then."
Evan was not the first man whom I had known to be driven into evil
ways by misfortune and powerful enemies. I had little blame for
him. A man will do much to save his neck from the rope. But this
did not tell me how he knew the plans of Tregoz after I set him
free in Dyfed.
"Then you came back to the Cornishman after I freed you?" I asked.
"That I did not, Thane, for the best of reasons. He would have
hanged me at once if he were in power, and I had not meant to let
him set eyes on me again in any case, for he was treacherous. I
came back round the head waters of the Severn, through Wessex,
where I was only a Weala, though, indeed, that is almost the same
as an outlaw there; and there, by reason of Gerent's seeking for
me, I changed my looks and watched for Tregoz, for I found that he
was yet about the place in hiding. Thralls know and tell these
things to men of their own sort, though they seem to know nothing
if you ask them, Thane."
"Then you wrote the letters?"
"I had them written by the old priest of Combwich by the Parrett
River, who will tell you that he did so. I took them myself to the
palaces for you."
"And was it you who slew Tregoz?"
"Ay, with that seax you gave me back at the Caerau wolf's den. I
heard that he had been speaking with a sentry, and thereafter I
followed him and heard his plan. I saw him change arms with the
sentry, and presently I fell on him, but the arrow had sped and I
feared I was too late. I had to cross the trench from the bushes
where I was hidden."
"But the poisoning at Glastonbury?--How did you know of that?
"Easy it was to know of, but less easy to prevent. I lurked round
Glastonbury until I saw the girl, and knew that some fresh trouble
was on hand for you. I knew her, for I had seen to that at Norton,
that I might learn somewhat, if I could, while she attended on the
lady, the daughter of Dunwal. She met her master there once or
twice with messages, and it was by following her that I found his
hiding in the hills. It was not hard for me to get her to tell me
all that she had to do, for I made her think that I was in the
plotting. Then she found it harder than had been expected to serve
you, for she was kept about the lady. So she asked me, and I told
her to wait. I thought she would most likely lose her chance
altogether, and maybe but for your staying at the gate that day she
would have done so."
"It was not the first time that we have had half the household
outside serving a hunting party," I said.
"And each time I have been there, Thane, lest this should happen.
The girl told me that such times were her only chance, and I said
she had better wait for such a one again. I knew that in the open I
could in some way spill the horn, so that she would be helpless and
harmless afterward. Therefore I bade her not to try to harm you in
the house, for my own reasons, but told her that it were safer for
herself to wait for some stirrup cup chance, as it were. That day I
saw that it had come, and I cut a thorn from the nearest bush and
was ready. I could not reach the girl to stumble against her."
I minded that Thorgils had said that this Evan could beguile Loki
himself with fair words, and I could well believe it. But he did
not do things by halves when he set himself a task, and I felt that
but for him I should certainly have been a victim--to Mara, or to
whom?"
"Who wrought this plot? Was it Mara, the Cornish lady?"
"I do not think so," he answered, shaking his head. "There is one
thing that the girl would never tell me. In no wise could I get the
name of the one who gave her the poison. I do not know where she
fled to, but it is likely that it was to that one."
"Some day you shall know how grateful I am for this, Evan," I said.
"Now I must go. Only one thing more.--Where do you sleep?"
"Wheresoever I may, that I may be near you, Thane. Now meet me
tomorrow at this place, and we will go to the lost valley. After
that let me serve you for good and all if I may. I can do many
things for you, and you had my life in your hand and gave it back
to me; though indeed I know that it was hard for you to do so,
seeing that a thane is sorely wronged by being bound by such as I."
"I can give you little, Evan; but I can, as I have said, find you a
place in the court, whence you may rise."
"Let me serve you, Master," he said earnestly. "I have served
myself for long enough, and it has not turned out well. If I please
you not, I will go where you bid me, but in anywise let me try."
"As you will," I said. "I owe you well-nigh aught you can ask, and
this is little enough."
Then I shook hands with him and parted. It was a strange meeting.
I went back to Howel with a mind that was full of what I might find
on the morrow, but with little hope that there would be anything of
sign that Owen yet lived. Howel was growing anxious for me as the
darkness fell, and was glad to greet me, and I suppose my face told
him somewhat.
"Why," he said, as I stepped into the firelight on the hearth of
the little house, "what is this? Have you heard news at last?"
"I have found one who will take us to the lost valley, but nothing
more. I have heard nought fresh, but that there was indeed a priest
with the men who took Owen away."
"Well, we guessed as much as that; but I tell you plainly, Oswald,
that I fear what may be in store for us in that place. Nona is not
the girl to fancy things, and I know that her dreams must have been
terrible to her. And then you also--"
"I fear, too," I said. "But I do not think that anything will be
worse than this long uncertainty. Well, that is to be seen. Now I
must tell you who it is that is to guide us, and maybe you will say
that it is a strange story enough. Have patience until you hear
all, however."
So I told him, beginning with the certainty that I had had some
friend at work for me, and then telling him at last that I had
found the man who had indeed saved me from these two dangers, and
would also have saved Owen if he could.
"Why, how is it that he kept himself hidden all the time?"
"For good reason enough, in which you have some share," I answered,
laughing. "It is none other than Evan the chapman."
"Evan!--How did he escape the Caerau wolves? I tell you that I had
him tied up for them--and hard words from Nona did I get therefore
when she knew. I was ashamed of myself for the thing afterwards,
and on my word I am glad he got away. But when I am wroth I wax
hasty, and things go hard with those who have angered me. But he
was a foe of yours."
"Laugh at me as you will," I said; "I made him my friend when I cut
his bonds in your woods."
He stared at me in wonder, and I told him what the hunting led to.
And then I also told of what had sent Evan among the outlaws, and
how he came to fall in with me.
"You are a better man than I, Oswald," he said thoughtfully, when I
ended. "I could not have let him go. I am glad that you did it, and
that for other reasons than that the deed has turned out to be of
use."
Then he would hear more, and when it came to the way in which Evan
had beguiled the Welsh servant he laughed.
"Surely he laid aside the squint when he made up to her, else from
your account he would not have been welcome. But he could hardly
have kept it up, lest the wind should change and it should bide
with him, as the old women say. Well, I used to like the man, and
so did Nona, and it is good to think that one was not so far
wrong."
Now we thought that on the morrow we would go with but half a dozen
men to the valley, if that would seem good to Evan. If he thought
more were needed it would be easy to call them to us from the place
where we were to meet him; and so we slept as well as the thought
of that search would let us, and it was a long night to me. I think
it was so for Howel also, for once in the night he stirred and
spoke my name softly, and finding that I waked he said:
"I know why that girl of Mara's would not tell who set her on you.
It is not like a maid to be sparing with her mistress' secrets, and
Morfed is at the back of it. It is his work, and he laid a curse on
the girl if she told who sent her. About the only thing that would
keep her quiet."
"Why would Morfed want to hurt me?"
"Plain enough is that. If you were slain, Gerent would hold Ina
responsible for Owen's sake, and Ina would blame Gerent, and there
would be a breach at the least in the peace that your bishop has
made."
Then we were silent, and presently sleep came to me, until the
first light crept into the house and woke me.
In an hour we were riding across the hills with Evan, for whom we
had brought a horse, and there were fifty men with us. We should
leave them at a place which Evan would show us, and so go on with
him without them. It was not so certain that we might not run into
the nest of the men who had taken Owen, though this would surely
not be in the lost valley.
Many a long mile Evan led us into the hills northwestward, and far
beyond where I had yet been. I cannot tell how far it was
altogether, for the way was winding, but I lost sight of all
landmarks that I knew, and ever the bare hills grew barer and yet
more wild, and I could understand that there were places where even
the shepherds never went.
At first we saw one or two of these watching us from a distance,
but soon we passed into utter loneliness, and nought but the cries
of the nesting curlew which we startled, and the wail of the plover
round our heads, broke the solemn stillness of the grey rocks on
every side. Even our men grew silent, and the ring of sword on
stirrup seemed too loud to be natural at last. We were all fully
armed, of course.
Then we came to a place where the hills drew together, and doubled
fold on fold under a cloud of hanging mist that hid their heads,
and as we rode, once Evan pointed silently to a rock, and I looked
and saw strange markings on it that had surely some meaning in
them, though I could not tell what it was. And when I looked at him
in question I saw that his face was growing pale and anxious, so
that I thought we must be near the place which we sought. So it
was, for after we had left that stone some two score fathoms behind
us, as we passed up a narrow valley, there opened out yet another,
wilder and more narrow still, and at its mouth he would have us
leave the men and go on with him.
Now, we had seen no man, but when it came to this, Howel said:
"By all right of caution, we should have an outpost or two on those
ridges. If we are going into this place it will not do to be
trapped there."
So without question Evan pointed out places whence men could watch
well enough against any possible comers, but he told me that we
were close to the place we would see, and a call from our horns
would bring help at once if it were needed. Howel sent men by twos
to the hilltops, and the rest dismounted and waited where we stayed
them, while we three went on together up the valley. I bade one of
the men give Evan his spear, for he had none.
Grey and warm it was there, for the clouds hung overhead, and no
breeze could find its way into the depths of this place, and it was
very silent, but it was not the lost valley itself. And now Howel,
who had not yet so much as seemed to know Evan, rode alongside him
for a moment, and spoke kindly to him, telling him that he was glad
of all that I had told him, and at last asking him to forget that
which he had done to him in the woods of Dyfed. And that was much
for the proud prince to ask, as I think, and I held him the more
highly therefor in my mind.
And Evan replied by asking Howel to forget rather that he had ever
deserved death at his hands.
"It shall be seen that I am not ungrateful to the Thane, my master,
hereafter--if I may live after seeing this place," he said.
"Is it so deadly, then?" asked Howel, speaking low in the hush of
the valley.
"It is said that those who see it must die--at least, of us who ken
the curse on it. I do not think that it will harm you or the thane
to see it, for you are not of this land at all. I have known men
see this valley by mischance, and they have died shortly, crying
out on the terror thereof. Yet none has ever told what he saw
therein."
Now it seemed to me that it was possible that such men died of fear
of what might be, as men who think they are accursed, whether by
witchcraft or in other ways, will die, being killed by the trouble
on their minds, and so I said to Evan:
"I will not take you into this place. Show us the way, and I will
go alone."
"No, Master," he said, in such wise that it was plain that there
was no turning him. "I am a Christian man, and I will not let old
heathen curses hold me back, now that there is good reason why I
should stand in that place. I will not be afraid thereof."
"Is the curse so old?" I asked.
"Old beyond memory," he said. "As old as what is in that place."
"As the menhir, therefore."
"I do not know that there is a menhir, Thane. How know you?"
I reined up, and told him shortly. It was only fair that I should
do so. Then he said:
"The prince is dead, and maybe that he lies there will end the
curse. Come, we will see."
A few paces more, and suddenly the hillside seemed to open in a
ragged cleft that made another branching valley into the heart of
the left-hand hillside, so deep that it seemed rather to sink
downward from the mouth than to rise as a valley ever will. In all
truth, none would ever have found that place unless he sought for
it with a guide. I had not guessed that we were so near its
entrance.
I looked round the hills, but from here I could see not one of our
men on their watch posts, though one would have thought that where
they stood it would have been impossible to lose sight of all. We
were almost at the head of the wider valley along which we had
ridden.
Now I had thought to be the leader into the lost valley when we
came to it, but this Evan would not suffer. There was not room for
us to ride abreast into its depths, for the narrow bottom of the
cleft in the hills was littered with fallen boulders from the
steeps that bordered it, and through these we had to pick our way.
There was no path, nor was it possible to trace any mark of the
foot of man or horse that might have been there before us, and the
valley turned almost in a half circle, so that we could see no
distance before us.
Now, I know that Evan had a hard struggle with his fears, but
nevertheless, without drawing rein he led on, only turning to me
with one word that told me that we had found the place; and as he
turned I saw that his face was ashy pale, and as he rode on he
crossed himself again and again, and his lips moved in prayer.
Down the long curve of the valley we rode, and it ever narrowed
under rocky hills that grew at last to cliffs, and I knew that this
must be but the bed of a raging torrent in the winter, for the
stones that rattled under the horse hoofs were rounded, and here
and there were pools of clear water among them. Any moment now
might set us face to face with what I longed to see.
And when I saw Evan, ten paces ahead of me, straighten himself in
the saddle as if he would guard a blow from his face, and draw
rein, I knew that we were there, and I rode to his side and looked.
Suddenly the valley had ended in the place which I had seen in my
vision--a rugged circle of cliffs, in whose only outlet, to all
seeming, we stood. And in the midst of that circle was the pool of
still, black water, and across that towered the tall menhir from a
green bank on which it stood facing me. All round the pool was
green grass, bright with the treacherous greenness that tells of
deep bog beneath it, and then fair turf, and beyond the turf the
rocky scree from the cliffs again. The menhir was full thrice a
man's height.
It was even as I had seen it. I knew every rock and patch of green,
and the very outline of the edge of the beetling crags that had
been so plain to me in the dream light ere Owen called me.
But I did not heed these things at the first. My eyes went to the
place where Nona the princess had seen the sword in the long grass
on the hither side of the pool's edge, but I could not see it now.
Then I must ride forward and search for it, and at that time Howel
was close to me, and together we rode yet a little farther into the
circle that the cliffs made, and as we drew closer to the edge of
the pool I scanned every inch of the ground, seeking the sword
which it seemed impossible that I should not find.
"It has gone," said Howel in a hushed voice.
And at that moment I saw a sparkle among the new grass at the very
edge of the bog that surrounded the pool, and I threw the reins to
the prince and sprang from my horse and went toward it. The light
was very dull here, though it was nigh midday now, and indeed so
high and overhanging were the cliffs that I do not think the sun
ever reached the surface of the pool, save at this high midsummer,
and then but as it passed athwart the narrow entrance, which faced
south. Then it would send its rays across the pool full on the face
of the menhir, as it seemed.
So I could see nought again until I was close to the spot whence
the spark shone, and then I caught it once more, and hastily I
cleared aside the rank grass with my spear butt, and lo! even as
she had seen it in dreams the sword of Owen was there, and it was
the gleam from the gem in its hilt, which no damp could dim, which
had caught my eye. But a little while longer and we should never
have seen even that, for the weapon was slowly sinking into the bog
in which its scabbard point had been set, and even as I stepped
forward a pace to reach it the black ooze rose round my foot, and
Evan, who was behind me, caught my hand and pulled me back from its
edge.
Then I turned with the sword in my hand, and I saw that his face
had found its colour again, and that his fears had left him, for he
had looked on the valley of the mighty curse and yet lived. His
horse was at his side, and he had sprung to help me, but I hardly
heeded him, for I had what I sought in my hand, and I held it up to
Howel without a word, and a sort of fresh hope began to rise in my
heart. Owen might not be so far from us.
"How came it there?" Howel said, wondering.
"Who can tell," I answered, turning over many possibilities in my
mind.
"One thing is certain," Evan said,--"no man set it in that place
meaningly, for there he must have known that it would be whelmed
soon or late."
"Nor could it have been dropped there," I answered. "None would go
so near the edge of the bog. It was surely thrown there. One
thought to hurl it into the pool. Yet if so he could have done it,
or would have tried again."
"Come, let us search the place," said Howel.
I hung the sword to my saddle bow, while Evan took the horses. The
leather scabbard was black with the bog water of the turf where it
had been set, but the blade within it was yet bright and keen.
Then I and the prince together walked slowly round the edge of the
black pool on the broad stretch of grass between the bog around it
and the loosely piled stones of the cliffs' foot. Here and there
even this turf shook to our tread, as if it too were undermined
with bog, and we went warily, therefore, wishing that we had not
left our spears by the horses.
"One would call such a place as this 'the devil's cauldron' in our
land," said Howel. "I mislike it altogether."
Then he sprang back with a start, and clutched my arm and pointed
to the ground at his feet. The skull of a man grinned up at us,
half sunk in the green turf, and the ends of ribs shewed how he to
whom it had belonged lay. There went a cold chill through me as I
looked; but I saw that the bones were old, very old. They had
nought to do with our trouble, and what had been to others about
the loss of him who had died here was long past and forgotten, or
amended. But for the sake of what had been I was fain to unhelm for
a moment as we stepped past them.
So we went on silently until we were halfway to the menhir, and
then we saw that there was yet another way into this place, for
across the water a jutting wall of rock had hidden a gorge that had
surely been cleft by water, for down it came a little stream that
seemed to sink into the turf so soon as it reached it.
"That is what fills the pool," said I, "and it must find its way
hence underground like the stream at Cheddar. The pool may be
fathomless. I would that I could look into its depths."
"What may not be in yonder gorge?" said Howel. "We must go and
see."
So we came to the menhir's foot, and though the bog came almost to
it there was yet a little mound of turf on which it stood, and I
went to that to see if thence I could peer deeper into the dark
water, but I could not.
"Come," Howel said, "it is midday, and I for one would not be on
these hills on Midsummer Eve. Call me heathenish if you like, but
this is an unlucky night whereon to walk in the haunts of the good
folk."
I had forgotten that so it was, and even now I only smiled at the
prince, for my mind was full of other things as I followed him
toward the glen whence the stream came. And now I was sure that
here was growing more clearly a trace as of a seldom trodden path
toward its mouth. We passed a great flat rock, whereon were strange
markings and a hollowed basin, which stood behind the menhir near
the cliff, and to this the path led, but not beyond, from the glen.
Now we were almost in the opening, when both of us stopped and
looked at one another.
Surely there were footsteps coming among the rocks of the water
course before us. Steep and crooked as this was, we could hear
them, though as yet if it were a man or men who came we could not
see. I pulled the prince back into cover, where the rocks hid us
from any one who came down the stream, and I loosened my sword in
its sheath, for I could not be so sure that it might not be sorely
needed.
The rattle of stones came nearer, and I saw Evan hurrying to us. He
also had heard, and he had made shift to tie the horses to some
point of rock, and he ran with our spears in his hand to join us.
"Get to the other side of the pool, Thane," he said. "It may be the
band of men who wrought the burning."
"No," I answered. "Listen. Maybe there are three or four men, not
more. I want to take one if I can. He shall tell me all he knows of
this place."
For I had made up my mind that one who would come here freely must
needs be of those who had brought Owen.
Then from the narrow portal of the glen passed quickly, looking
neither to the right nor left, a tall man, followed by two others,
and they seemed not to see us, but went straight toward the menhir
along that path I thought I had traced, and Howel and I stared at
them, speechless and motionless, for the like of them we had never
seen.
As for Evan, he reeled against the rock, and stared after them,
clutching it with both hands, so that his spear fell rattling along
the rocks.
"The Druids!" he gasped. "We are dead men."
At the sharp rattle the leader of the three men turned, and I knew
him. He was clad in a wonderful gold and white robe that swept the
ground, priest-like, but not that of any Christian, and his hair
was bound with a golden fillet with which oak leaves were twisted,
and in his ears were large earrings. On his bare right arm was a
coiled golden bracelet, and a heavy golden torque was round his
neck, and a great golden brooch knit up the folds of his flowing
white cloak on his right shoulder. But for all this strange dress I
knew him, and he was Morfed the priest, and I heard Howel mutter
the name also.
Then a word from Morfed caused the other two to turn, and they saw
us, and there flashed from under their robes--which were like those
of their leader, save for golden ornaments--a long knife in the
hand of each, and they made as if to fly on us.
Morfed held up his hand, and they stayed, glaring at us. I listened
for the coming of more of his followers down the water course, but
I heard none.
Then Morfed spoke a word or two to his men, and came toward us,
leaving them standing where they were, some twenty paces or less
behind him, and as he came his pale face shewed no sort of feeling
of any kind. His strange bright eyes seemed to look past us, as if
we were but stones at the path side.
"So it is the Saxon," he said, staying close before us. "Well, I
have waited for you, if I did not look to see you here. And this is
Howel of Dyfed. Surely a Briton knows that to break in on the rites
of the Druid is death? But Howel ever was rash. And this is the
outlaw. It is a true saying that he who sees this place shall die,
Evan."
Then said Howel boldly: "Briton I am, and therefore I know that the
rites of the Druid are banned by Holy Church. Wherefore does one of
her priests come in this heathen robe to such a place as this on
the eve of midsummer?"
"Seeing that none but the initiated may know what truth the ancient
faith holds, it is not for you to say that this is heathenry,
Prince," Morfed answered more quietly than I expected. "Ask yon
Saxon if his Yule feast is less sacred to him now because it is not
so long since that it was Woden's. Is tomorrow less Midsummer Day
because it is the day of St. John? Hold your peace thereon, and go
hence while I suffer you."
At that I glanced at the mouth of the valley whence we came, half
looking to see it blocked by men, but it was not. There was nothing
to stay us three armed men in this place, with but three against
us, and they well-nigh defenceless. Morfed saw that glance and
laughed.
"The Druid has other arms than those of steel," he said, and he
drew slowly from the wide cincture round his waist a little golden
sickle and balanced it in his hand before me, flashing it to and
fro.
Now I was sure that he was crazed in all truth, and I would speak
him fair that I might learn what he would tell me. Howel was
silent, seeming to look curiously at the golden toy in the priest's
hand, as it shifted restlessly backward and forward.
"We have come hither to pry into no ancient rites, Morfed," I said.
"Tell me what you know of Owen the prince, my foster father, and we
will go hence. I have seen that which tells me that he is near, but
there are yet things that I must learn of how he came and where he
lies."
But Morfed seemed to heed me not at all as I spoke. Only, he kept
moving the little sickle which Howel watched, and its glancings
drew my eyes to it in spite of myself, for overhead the sky was
clearing somewhat and the sun was trying to break through, and the
gold shone brightly.
"Midday," muttered the priest, "nigh midday, and what is to be done
against the morrow must be done, else will the tale of many a
thousand years be marred, and by me. Lo! the sun comes, and time
passes swiftly."
The sun did indeed shine out now as some cloud passed, and I saw
that its rays came slanting through the gap in the cliffs across
the pool, passing the menhir without lighting on it, but falling
now on the flat rock that was behind it, though not fully yet. Half
thereof was still in the shadow thrown by the hills.
Morfed glanced at that shadow, and his face changed, for I think
that he knew the time for some midday rite which we might not see
was near, and at that he seemed to make some resolve. He did not
turn from us, but he lifted his voice in a strange chant, and said
somewhat in Welsh that I could not understand, and as they heard it
his two followers placed themselves on either side of the flat rock
three paces behind him, and stood motionless. Then Morfed lifted
his arm and began to sing softly, swinging the sickle in time to
the song, with his eyes on us.
I thought that maybe he would sing to us the end of Owen, as would
Thorgils, but the tongue in which the words were spoken was not the
Welsh that I knew. I think now that it was the tongue of the men
who reared the menhir, and that which was the mother of the tongue
of Howel and Gerent alike. It was an uncanny song, and I waxed
uneasy as it went on, and the flashing sickle waved more quickly
before my eyes.
Soon the murmur of the song seemed to get into my brain, as it
were, and the sparkle of the gold in the sunlight wove itself into
strange circles of light before my eyes, widening and narrowing in
mystic curves that dazzled me, until at last I would look no
longer, and with an effort I turned my head and glanced at Howel to
ask if this foolishness should not be ended.
But he shook his head.
"Let him be," he said in a whisper. "It is ill to anger a crazed
man. Surely he will tell what we need soon."
But beside him Evan seemed to be shrinking as in terror. I suppose
the Briton has old memories of the Druids of past days which yet
bid him fear them.
"Hearken to me, and heed them not," sang Morfed in words that I
could understand. "Hearken, for you have much to learn."
That was true, and I turned to him. I supposed that he was in truth
about to speak to me as I would, and straightway the look of Morfed
was on my face, and the song went back to its old burden, and the
flashing sickle held my eyes with its circling, and I knew that if
I looked long I also must pass as it were from myself, as had those
two, and I wrenched my eyes from him.
Then a movement on the stone caught my gaze, and I saw that the two
men yet stood motionless, but across the sunlit patch which had
crept nearer the centre where the hollowed bowl was, a great adder,
greater than any I had ever seen, thick and spade-headed, had
coiled itself in shining folds peaceably and seeming not to heed
the men. Only its head was raised a little, and it swayed as in
time to the chant of the priest, while the long forked tongue
flickered forth now and then restlessly.
But Morfed went on with his song and his waving, seeming to try to
draw my look back to him, and I noted, as I glanced again at him,
that a shade of doubt crossed his face, and at that a new thought
came to me. Maybe if he saw that I feared him not he would speak.
So I looked in his eyes and bade him be silent and hearken to what
I said to him.
Some wave of anger flushed his face then, and he drew a pace nearer
to me, but he was not silent, and the waving sickle was not still.
Neither of these things troubled me any longer, and I looked past
them, in such wise that he might see that I meant him to obey me,
even as one will look at a sullen thrall who delays to carry out an
order given. A captain of warriors will know what signs to watch
for in a man's face well enough, and slowly and at last I saw the
look for which I waited steal across the face of the man before me,
and then I raised my hand and said:
"Be still, and answer me."
The song stopped, and the lifted sickle sank with the hand that
held it, and the eyes of Morfed left mine and sought the ground.
"What will you?" he said. "Let me go, for it is time."
"When you have answered," I said sternly. "Tell me, where is Owen?"
"In yonder pool," he said, as a child will answer its teacher.
But if he answered as a child, his face was sullen as of a child
that is minded to rebel, and I knew that he would try not to tell
me aught.
"You lie," I said coldly. "Neither Christian priest nor Druid would
dare set a prince of Cornwall in an unhallowed grave. Tell me the
truth."
"Ay, I lied," he said, speaking in a strange voice that seemed to
come from him against his will. And then he spoke quickly, without
faltering or excuse. "I led the men who should slay the despiser of
the faith of his youth and friend of the Saxon, and we came to the
house and destroyed it, but they slew him not. Sorely wounded he
was, and yet they would not do my bidding and make an end, but
murmured at me. Then they bore him away into the hills, saying that
they would heal him of his hurts and thereafter win his pardon, for
he was ever forgiving, and it is true that I told them not who it
was they were to slay. I said that it was Oswald the Saxon, who
slew Morgan, and they were glad. I do not know how it has come to
pass that you are here. I hate you!"
"Speak on, Morfed," I said, for he had stayed his words on that,
and I bent all my mind into that command as it were, so that he
knew that I meant to be his master in this.
"Why should I not speak," he said dully. "Let me end quickly. Ay, I
went with them, thinking that he would die on the way, for he was
sorely wounded, and I mocked them and threatened them in vain. I
led them to this place, and when they knew it they fled, and left
him to me. Wherefore I brought him here, that I might see him
die--I and these two carried him on the litter the men made. Then
will I bury him in no hallowed grave, for I myself spoke the
uttermost ban of Holy Church against him, for that he had herded
with the men of the Saxons who follow Canterbury, and has wrought
for peace with them."
Then I knew at last that Owen was not dead, and I think that in my
gladness I lost my hold on Morfed, as it were, for I half forgot
him. And at that moment there came a little cry from one of the men
who waited by the flat altar stone, and both of them looked to
Morfed for some command, as if a time had come. The stone was in
full light now, and I noted that the shadow of the menhir was
creeping toward its base, but not yet quite pointing to it.
But Morfed did not answer the cry, and the great adder, roused by
it, moved restlessly in its coils, darting its long forked tongue
into the hollow of the stone as if it sought somewhat. Then one of
the men who seemed the younger took from under his robe a golden
flask and poured what looked like milk into the hollow, and the
creature lowered its head and lapped it thence.
At that cry Morfed started and half turned. But I had more to ask
him, and I spoke sternly. Behind me was a rattle of arms, as if
Howel would have stayed him.
"Morfed," I said, "you have yet to tell me where Owen, the prince,
is hidden. If you would finish what you are about here, tell me
straightway, or bid one of these men shew me, or we will stay all
this wizardry."
Maybe I spoke more boldly than I felt, for indeed the whole
business and the place made all seem uncanny. I know that my
comrades feared it all.
But now Morfed heeded my word no longer. Slowly at last he turned
away, and now he must needs look back toward the altar stone and
the menhir in turning, and the sight of them seemed to bring to his
mind what work he had here, so that in a moment I was forgotten,
and he sprang past me toward his attendants, one of whom was
pointing silently, but with a white face, to the shadow of the
menhir. And I saw that now it touched the stone and crept up on its
surface for an inch or less.
I suppose that tomorrow that shadow would be so much shorter, and
would not lie on the flat top of the stone at all. Then for a
little space the sun would seem to one at the back of the altar to
stand on the menhir's top, while all the stone and the bowl where
the adder lay was in full light, even as men say the sun seems to
stand on the great stone of Stonehenge on Midsummer Day at its
rising. I had seen that wonder once, and this minded me of it.
But what Morfed saw told him that midday had come and was passing;
and all that meant to him, beyond that the time for some rite had
been forgotten, I cannot tell. There came from his lips a cry that
was of terror and of sorrow as I thought, and the adder lifted its
head from its lapping and coiled itself menacingly.
He did not heed the creature, but threw abroad his hands sunwards,
and began to speak hurriedly in that tongue which I could not
follow; and as his words went on the faces of his men grew haggard,
and one of them wept openly. The younger threw the golden vessel he
had in his hand into the pool, and turned on me a look of the most
terrible hate, and his hand stole under his robes as if he sought
the knife I had seen him draw when they first came.
Now Howel and Evan were beside me, wondering, but spear in hand,
and I was glad. There was more than enmity in the look of these
men, and one to three has little chance. Whatever strange fears my
friends had felt passed with the sight of danger.
But while Morfed spoke his followers were still, listening to him
intently, until at last he seemed to dismiss them; and then they
turned from him with a strange deep reverence, and folded their
hands on their breasts, and came past where we stood, not looking
at us, but with their eyes on the ground as if they were going
back, up the water course whence they came. And at that I thought
they might be going to where Owen was, and that they would harm
him.
"Quick, Evan," I said; "follow them. See where they go."
"Ay, follow them," said Morfed. "Now I care not what befalls."
And with that he raised his voice and called somewhat to the men,
and they quickened their pace into the glen. I did not understand
what they said in return, but somewhat in the words of the ancient
tongue they spoke was more plain to Howel, and he cried to me
hastily, hurrying after Evan.
"Guard you the priest here, and beware of him!"
Then he dashed up the water course into which Evan had already
disappeared, and I heard the feet of the four on the loose stone as
they climbed upward. I had almost a mind to follow them, for I
thought that their way led to Owen, but I dared not leave Morfed to
go elsewhere. This might only be a plan to lead us astray.