So we got clear of the cattle, and dismounted, and both ourselves took
food and drink, and our horses; afterwards we tightened our
saddle-girths, shook our great pots of helmets on, except Amald, whose
rustyred hair had been his only head-piece in battle for years and
years, and stood with our spears close by our horses, leaving room for
the archers to retreat between our ranks; and they got their arrows
ready, and planted their stakes before a little peat moss: and there
we waited, and saw their pennons at last floating high above the corn
of the fertile land, then heard their many horse-hoofs ring upon the
hard-parched moor, and the archers began to shoot.
It had been a strange battle; we had never fought better, and yet
withal it had ended in a retreat; indeed all along every man but
Arnald and myself, even Hugh, had been trying at least to get the
enemy between him and the way toward the pass; and now we were all
drifting that way, the enemy trying to cut us off, but never able to
stop us, because he could only throw small bodies of men in our way,
whom we scattered and put to flight in their turn.
I never cared less for my life than then; indeed, in spite of all my
boasting and hardness of belief, I should have been happy to have
died, such a strange weight of apprehension was on me; and yet I got
no scratch even. I had soon put off my great helm, and was fighting in
my mail-coif only: and here I swear that three knights together
charged me, aiming at my bare face, yet never touched me. For, as for
one, I put his lance aside with my sword, and the other two in some
most wonderful manner got their spears locked in each other's armour,
and so had to submit to be knocked off their horses.
And we still neared the pass, and began to see distinctly the ferns
that grew on the rocks, and the fair country between the rift in them,
spreading out there, blue-shadowed. Whereupon came a great rush of men
of both sides, striking side blows at each other, spitting, cursing,
and shrieking, as they tore away like a herd of wild hogs. So, being
careless of lfe, as I said, I drew rein, and turning my horse, waited
quietly for them. And I knotted the reins, and laid them on the
horse's neck, and stroked him, that he whinnied, then got both my
hands to my sword.
Then, as they came on, I noted hurriedly that the first man was one of
Arnald's men, and one of our men behind him leaned forward to prod him
with his spear, but could not reach so far, till he himself was run
through the eye with a spear, and throwing his arms up fell dead with
a shriek. Also I noted concerning this first man that the laces of his
helmet were loose, and when he saw me he lifted his left hand to his
head, took off his helm and cast it at me, and still tore on; the
helmet flew over my head, and I sitting still there, swung out,
hitting him on the neck; his head flew right off, for the mail no more
held than a piece of silk. "Mary rings," and my horse whinnied again,
and we both of us went at it, and fairly stopped that rout, so that
there was a knot of quite close and desperate fighting, wherein we had
the best of that fight and slew most of them, albeit my horse was
slain and my mail-coif cut through. Then I bade a squire fetch me
another horse, and began meanwhile to upbraid those knights for
running in such a strange disorderly race, instead of standing and
fighting cleverly. Moreover we had drifted even in this successful
fight still nearer to the pass, so that the conies who dwelt there
were beginning to consider whether they should not run into their
holes.
But one of those knights said: "Be not angry with me. Sir Florian, but
do you think you will go to Heaven?"
"The saints! I hope so," I said, but one who stood near him whispered
to him to hold his peace, so I cried out: "0 friend! I hold this world
and all therein so cheap now, that I see not anything in it but shame
which can any longer anger me; wherefore speak: out."
"Then, Sir Florian, men say that at your christening some fiend took
on him the likeness of a priest and strove to baptize you in the
Devil's name, but God had mercy on you so that the fiend could not
choose but baptize you in the name of the most holy Trinity: and yet
men say that you hardly believe any doctrine such as other men do, and
will at the end only go to Heaven round about as it were, not at all
by the intercession of our Lady; they say too that you can see no
ghosts or other wonders, whatever happens to other Christian men."
I smiled. "Well, friend, I scarcely call this a disadvantage,
moreover what has it to do with the matter in hand?"
How was this in Heaven's name? We had been quite still, resting while
this talk was going on, but we could hear the hawks chattering from
the rocks, we were so close now.
And my heart sunk within me, there was no reason why this should not
be true; there was no reason why anything should not be true.
"This, Sir Florian," said the knight again, "how would you feel
inclined to fight if you thought that everything about you was mere
glamour; this earth here, the rocks, the sun, the sky? I do not know
where I am for certain, I do not know that it is not midnight instead
of undem: I do not know if I have been fighting men or only simulacra
but I think, we all think, that we have been led into some devil's
trap or other, and- and may God forgive me my sins! I wish I had never
been born."
There now! he was weeping - they all wept - how strange it was to see
those rough, bearded men blubbering there, and snivelling till the
tears ran over their armour and mingled with the blood, so that it
dropped down to the earth in a dim, dull, red rain.
My eyes indeed were dry, but then so was my heart; I felt far worse
than weeping came to, but nevertheless I spoke cheerily.
"Dear friends, where are your old men's hearts gone to now? See now!
This is a punishment for our sins, is it? Well, for our forefathers'
sins or our own? If the first, 0 brothers, be very sure that if we
bear it manfully God will have something very good in store for us
hereafter; but if for our sins, is it not certain that He cares for us
yet, for note that He suffers the wicked to go their own ways pretty
much; moreover brave men, brothers, ought to be the masters of
simulacra come, is it so hard to die once for all?"
Still no answer came from them, they sighed heavily only. I heard the
sound of more than one or two swords as they rattled back to the
scabbards: nay, one knight, stripping himself of surcoat and hauberk,
and drawing his dagger, looked at me with a grim smile, and said, "Sir
Florian, do so!" Then he drew the dagger across his throat and he fell
back dead.
They shuddered, those brave men, and crossed themselves. And I had no
heart to say a word more, but mounted the horse which had been brought
to me and rode away slowly for a few yards; then I became aware that
there was a great silence over the whole field.
So I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold no man struck at another.
Then from out of a band of horsemen came Harald, and he was covered
all over with a great scarlet cloth as before, put on over the head,
and flowing all about his horse, but rent with the fight. He put off
his helm and drew back his mail-coif, then took a trumpet from the
hand of a herald and blew strongly.
And in the midst of his blast I heard a voice call out: "0 Florian!
come and speak to me for the last time!"
So when I turned I beheld Arnald standing by himself, but near him
stood Hugh and ten others with drawn swords.
Then I wept, and so went to him weeping; and he said, "Thou seest,
brother, that we must die, and I think by some horrible and unheard-of
death, and the House of the Lilies is just dying too; and now I repent
me of Swanhilda's death; now I know that it was a poor cowardly piece
of revenge, instead of a brave act of justice; thus has God shown us
the right.
"0 Florian! curse me! So will it be straighter; truly thy mother when
she bore thee did not think of this; rather saw thee in the tourney at
this time, in her fond hopes, glittering with gold and doing knightly;
or else mingling thy brown locks with the golden hair of some maiden
weeping for the love of thee. God forgive me! God forgive me!"
"What harm, brother?" I said, "this is only failing in the world; what
if we had not failed, in a little while it would have made no
difference; truly just now I felt very miserable, but now it has
passed away, and I am happy."
"0 brave heart!" he said, "yet we shall part just now, Florian,
farewell."
"The road is long," I said, "farewell."
Then we kissed each other, and Hugh and the others wept.
Now all this time the trumpets had been ringing, ringing, great
doleful peals, then they ceased, and above all sounded Red Harald's
voice.
(So I looked round towards that pass, and when I looked I no longer
doubted any of those wild tales of glamour concerning Goliath's Land;
and for though the rocks were the same, and though the conies still
stood gazing at the doors of their dwellings, though the hawks still
cried out shrilly, though the fern still shook in the wind, yet
beyond, oh such a land! not to be described by any because of its
great beauty, lying, a great hollow land, the rocks going down on this
side in precipices, then reaches and reaches of loveliest country,
trees and flowers, and corn, then the hills, green and blue, and
purple, till their ledges reached the white snowy mountains at last.
Then with all manner of strange feelings, "my heart in the midst of my
body was even like melting wax.")
"0 you House of the Lily! you are conquered yet I will take vengeance
only on a few, therefore let all those who wish to live come and pile
their swords, and shields, and helms behind me in three great heaps,
and swear fealty afterwards to me; yes, all but the false knights
Arnald and Florian."
We were holding each other's hands and gazing, and we saw all our
knights, yea, all but Squire Hugh and his ten heroes, pass over the
field singly, or in groups of three or four, with their heads hanging
down in shame, and they cast down their notched swords and dinted,
lilied shields, and brave-crested helms into three great heaps, behind
Red Herald, then stood behind, no man speaking to his fellow, or
touching him.
Then dolefully the great trumpets sang over the dying House of the
Lily, and Red Harald led his men forward, but slowly: on they came,
spear and mail glittering in the sunlight; and I turned and looked at
that good land, and a shuddering delight seized my soul.
But I felt my brother's hand leave mine, and saw him turn his horse's
head and ride swiftly toward the pass; that was a strange pass now.
And at the edge he stopped, turned round and called out aloud, "I pray
thee, Harald, forgive mel now farewell all!"
Then the horse gave one bound forward, and we heard the poor
creature's scream when he felt that he must die, and we heard
afterwards (for we were near enough for that even) a clang and a
crash.
So I turned me about to Hugh, and he understood me though I could not
speak.
We shouted all together, "Mary rings," then laid our bridles on the
necks of our horses, spurred forward, and in five minutes they were
all slain, and I was down among the horse-hoofs.
Not slain though, not wounded. Red Harald smiled grimly when he saw me
rise and lash out again; he and some ten others dismounted, and
holding their long spears out, I went back -- back, back, I saw what
it meant, and sheathed my sword, and their laughter rolled all about
me, and I too smiled.
Presently they all stopped, and I felt the last foot of turf giving
under my feet; I looked down and saw the crack there widening; then in
a moment I fell, and a cloud of dust and earth rolled after me; then
again their mirth rose into thunder-peals of laughter. But through it
all I heard Red Harald shout, "Silence! Evil dogs!"
For as I fell I stretched out my arms, and caughl a tuft of yellow
broom some three feet from the brow, and hung there by the hands, my
feet being loose in the air.
Then Red Harald came and stood on the precipice above me, his great
axe over his shoulder; and he looked down on me not ferociously,
almost kindly, while the wind from the Hollow Land blew about his red
raiment, tattered and dusty now.
And I felt happy, though it pained me to hold straining by the broom,
yet I said, "I will hold out to the last"
It was not long, the plant itself gave way and I fell, and as I fell I
fainted.
I had thought when I fell that I should never wake again; but I woke
at last: for a long time I was quite dizzied and could see nothing at
all: horrible doubts came creeping over me; I half expected to see
presently great half-formed shapes come rolling up to me to crush me;
some thing fiery, not strange, too utterly horrible to be strange, but
utterly vile and ugly, the sight of which would have killed me when I
was upon the earth, come rolling up to torment me. In fact I doubted
if I were in hell.
I knew I deserved to be, but I prayed, and then it came into my mind
that I could not pray if I were in hell.
Also there seemed to be a cool green light all about me, which was
sweet. Then presently I heard a glorious voice ring outclear, close to
me
"Christ keep the Hollow Land
Through the sweet spring-tide,
When the apple-blossoms bless
The lowly bent hill side."
Thereat my eyes were slowly unsealed, and I saw the blessedest sight I
have ever seen before or since: for I saw my Love.
She sat about five yards from me on a great grey stone that had much
moss on it, one of the many scattered along the side of the stream by
which I lay; she was clad in loose white raiment close to her hands
and throat; her feet were bare, her hair hung loose a long way down,
but some of it lay on her knees: I said "white" raiment, but long
spikes of light scarlet went down from the throat, lost here and there
in the shadows of the folds, and growing smaller and smaller, died
before they reached her feet.
I was lying with my head resting on soft moss that some one had
gathered and placed under me. She, when she saw me moving and awake,
came and stood over me with a gracious smile. She was so lovely and
tender to look at, and so kind, yet withal no one, man or woman, had
ever frightened me half so much.
She was not fair in white and red, like many beautiful women are,
being rather pale, but like ivory for smoothness, and her hair was
quite golden, not light yellow, but dusky golden.
I tried to get up on my feet, but was too weak, and sank back again.
She said: "No, not just yet, do not trouble yourself or try to
remember anything just at present."
There withal she kneeled down, and hung over me closer.
"To-morrow you may, perhaps, have something hard to do or bear, I
know, but now you must be as happy as you can be, quietly happy. Why
did you start and turn pale when I came to you? Do you not know who I
am? Nay, but you do, I see; and I have been waiting here so long for
you; so you must have expected to see me. You cannot be frightened of
me, are you?"
But I could not answer a word, but all the time strange knowledge,
strange feelings were filling my brain and my heart, she said: "You
are tired; rest, and dream happily."
So she sat by me, and sang to lull me to sleep, while I turned on my
elbow, and watched the waving of her throat: and the singing of all
the poets I had ever heard, and of many others too, not born till
years long after I was dead, floated all about me as she sang, and I
did indeed dream happily.
When I awoke it was the time of the cold dawn, and the colours were
gathering themselves together, whereat in fatherly approving fashion
the sun sent all across the east long bars of scarlet and orange that
after faded through yellow to green and blue. And she sat by me still;
I think she had been sitting there and singing all the time; all
through hot yesterday, for I had been sleeping day-long and
night-long, all through the falling evening under moonlight and
starlight the night through.
And now it was dawn, and I think too that neither of us had moved at
all; for the last thing I remembered before I went to sleep was the
tips of her fingers brushing my cheek, as she knelt over me with
downdrooping arm, and still now I felt them there. Moreover she was
just finishing some fainting measure that died before it had time to
get painful in its passion.
Dear Lord! how I loved her! Yet did I not dare to touch her, or even
speak to her. She smiled with delight when she saw I was awake again,
and slid down her hand on to mine, but some shuddering dread made me
draw it away again hurriedly; then I saw the smile leave her face:
what would I not have given for courage to hold her body quite tight
to mine? But I was so weak.
She said:
"Have you been very happy?"
"Yea," I said.
It was the first word I had spoken there, and my voice sounded
strange.
"Ah!" she said, "you will talk more when you get used to the air of
the Hollow Land. Have you been thinking of your past life at all? If
not, try to think of it. What thing in Heaven or Earth do you Wish for
most?"
Still I said no word; but she said in a wearied way: "Well now, I
think you will be strong enough to get to your feet and walk; take my
hand and try." Therewith she held it out: I strove hard to be brave
enough to take it, but could not; I only turned away shuddering, sick,
and grieved to the heart's core of me; then struggling hard with hand
and knee and elbow, I scarce rose, and stood up totteringly; while she
watched me sadly, still holding out her hand.
But as I rose, in my swinging to and fro the steel sheath of my sword
struck her on the hand so that the blood flowed from it, which she
stood looking at for a while, then dropped it downwards, and turned to
look at me, for I was going.
Then as I walked she followed me, so I stopped and turned and said
almost fiercely: "I am going alone to look for my brother."
The vehemence with which I spoke, or something else, burst some
blood-vessel within my throat, and we both stood there with the blood
running from us on to the grass and summer flowers.