The Story of the Glittering Plain<br />Which Has Been Also Called the Land of Living Men or the Acre by William Morris (ebook reader for pc and android .TXT) 📗

isle, and they were deep blue under the sun, which now shone aloft in the mid heaven.  He said nought at all, but sat looking and wondering what land it might be; but the big man said: “O tomb of warriors, is it not as if the blueness of the deep sea had heaved itself up aloft, and turned from coloured air into rock and stone, so wondrous blue it is?  But that is because those crags and mountains are so far away, and as we draw nigher to them, thou shalt see them as they verily are, that they are coal-black; and yonder land is an isle, and is called the Isle of Ransom.  Therein shall be the market for thee where thou mayst cheapen thy betrothed.  There mayst thou take her by the hand and lead her away thence, when thou hast dealt with the chapman of maidens and hast pledged thee by the fowl of battle, and the edge of the fallow blade to pay that which he will have of thee.”

As the big man spoke there was a mocking in his voice and his face and in his whole huge body, which made the sword of Hallblithe uneasy in his scabbard; but he refrained his wrath, and said: “Big man, the longer I look, the less I can think how we are to come up on to yonder island; for I can see nought but a huge cliff, and great mountains rising beyond it.”

“Thou shalt the more wonder,” said the alien, “the nigher thou drawest thereto; for it is not because we are far away that thou canst see no beach or strand, or sloping of the land seaward, but because there is nought of all these things.  Yet fear not! am I not with thee? thou shalt come ashore on the Isle of Ransom.”

Then Hallblithe held his peace, and the other spake not for a while, but gave a short laugh once or twice; and said at last in a big voice, “Little Carrion-biter, why dost thou not ask me of my name?”

Now Hallblithe was a tall man and a fell fighter; but he said: “Because I was thinking of other things and not of thee.”

“Well,” said the big man, in a voice still louder, “when I am at home men call me the Puny Fox.”

Then Hallblithe said: “Art thou a Fox?  It may well be that thou shalt beguile me as such beasts will but look to it, that if thou dost I shall know how to avenge me.”

Then rose up the big man from the helm, and straddled wide in the boat, and cried out in a great roaring voice: “Crag-nester, I am one of seven brethren, and the smallest and weakest of them.  Art thou not afraid?”

“No,” said Hallblithe, “for the six others are not here.  Wilt thou fight here in boat, O Fox?”

“Nay,” said Fox, “rather we will drink a cup of wine together.”

So he opened the locker again and drew out thence a great horn of some huge neat of the outlands, which was girthed and stopped with silver, and also a golden cup, and he filled the cup from the horn and gave it into Hallblithe’s hand and said: “Drink, O black-fledged nestling!  But call a health over the cup if thou wilt.”  So Hallblithe raised the cup aloft and cried: “Health to the House of the Raven and to them that love it! an ill day to its foemen!”  Then he set his lips to the cup and drank; and that wine seemed to him better and stronger than any he had ever tasted.  But when he had given the cup back again to Fox, that red one filled it again, and cried over it, “The Treasure of the Sea! and the King that dieth not!”  Then he drank, and filled again for Hallblithe, and steered with his knees meanwhile; and thus they drank three cups each, and Fox smiled and was peaceful and said but little, but Hallblithe sat wondering how the world was changed for him since yesterday.

But now was the sky blown all clear of clouds and the wind piped shrill behind them, and the great waves rose and fell about them, and the sun glittered on them in many colours.  Fast flew the boat before the wind as though it would never stop, and the day was waning, and the wind still rising; and now the Isle of Ransom uphove huge before them, and coal-black, and no beach and no haven was to be seen therein; and still they ran before the wind towards that black cliff-wall, against which the sea washed for ever, and no keel ever built by man might live for one moment ’twixt the surf and the cliff of that grim land.  The sun grew low, and sank red under the sea, and that world of stone swallowed up half the heavens before them, for they were now come very nigh thereto; nor could Hallblithe see aught for it, but that they must be dashed against the cliff and perish in a moment of time.

Still the boat flew on; but now when the twilight was come, and they had just opened up along reach of the cliff that lay beyond a high ness, Hallblithe thought he saw down by the edge of the sea something darker than the face of the rock-wall, and he deemed it was a cave: they came a little nearer and he saw it was a great cave high enough to let a round-ship go in with all her sails set.

“Son of the Raven,” quoth Fox, “hearken, for thy heart is not little.  Yonder is the gate into the Isle of Ransom, and if thou wilt, thou mayst go through it.  Yet it may be that if thou goest ashore on to the Isle something grievous shall befall thee, a trouble more than thou canst bear: a shame it may be.  Now there are two choices for thee: either to go up on to the Isle and face all; or to die here by my hand having done nothing unmanly or shameful: What sayest thou?”

“Thou art of many words when time so presses, Fox,” said Hallblithe.  “Why should I not choose to go up on to the Island to deliver my trothplight maiden?  For the rest, slay me if thou canst, if we come alive out of this cauldron of waters.”

Said the big red man: “Look on then, and note Fox how he steereth, as it were through a needle’s eye.”

Now were they underneath the black shadow of the black cliff and amidst the twilight the surf was tossed about like white fire.  In the lower heavens the stars were beginning to twinkle and the moon was bright and yellow, and aloft all was peaceful, for no cloud sullied the sky.  One moment Hallblithe saw all this hanging above the turmoil of thundering water and dripping rock and the next he was in the darkness of the cave, the roaring wind and the waves still making thunder about him, though of a different voice from the harsh hubbub without.  Then he heard Fox say: “Sit down now and take the oars, for presently shall we be at home at the landing place.”

So Hallblithe took the oars and rowed, and as they went up the cave the sea fell, and the wind died out into the aimless gustiness of hollow places; and for a little while was all as dark as dark might be.  Then Hallblithe saw that the darkness grew a little greyer, and he looked over his shoulder and saw a star of light before the bows of the boat, and Fox cried out: “Yea, it is like day; bright will the moon be for such as needs must be wayfaring to-night!  Cease rowing, O Son of the coal-blue fowl, for there is way enough on her.”

Then Hallblithe lay on his oars, and in a minute the bows smote the land; then he turned about and saw a steep stair of stone, and up the sloping shaft thereof the moonlit sky and the bright stars.  Then Fox arose and came forward and leapt out of the boat and moored her to a big stone: then he leapt back again and said: “Bear a hand with the victuals; we must bring them out of the boat unless thou wilt sleep supperless, as I will not.  For to-night must we be guests to ourselves, since it is far to the dwelling of my people, and the old man is said to be a skin-changer, a flit-by-night.  And as to this cave, it is deemed to be nowise safe to sleep therein, unless the sleeper have a double share of luck.  And thy luck, meseemeth, O Son of the Raven, is as now somewhat less than a single share.  So to-night we shall sleep under the naked heaven.”

Hallblithe yea-said this, and they took the meat and drink, such as they needed, from out the boat, and climbed the steep stair no little way, and so came out on to a plain place, which seemed to Hallblithe bare and waste so far as he saw it by the moonlight; for the twilight was gone now, and nought was left of the light of day save a glimmer in the west.

This Hallblithe deemed wonderful, that no less out on the open heath and brow of the land than in the shut-in cave, all that tumult of the wind had fallen, and the cloudless night was calm, and with a little air blowing from the south and the landward.

Therewithal was Fox done with his loud-voiced braggart mood, and spoke gently and peaceably like to a wayfarer, who hath business of his to look to as other men.  Now he pointed to certain rocks or low crags that a little way off rose like a reef out of the treeless plain; then said he: “Shipmate, underneath yonder rocks is our resting-place for to-night; and I pray thee not to deem me churlish that I give thee no better harbour.  But I have a charge over thee to bring thee safe thus far on thy quest; and thou wouldst find it hard to live among such housemates as thou wouldst find up yonder amongst our folks to-night.  But to-morrow shalt thou come to speech with him who will deal with thee concerning the ransom.”

“It is enough,” said Hallblithe, “and I thank thee for thy leading: and as for thy rough and uncomely words which thou hast given me, I pardon thee for them: for I am none the worse of them: forsooth, if I had been, my sword would have had a voice in the matter.”

“I am well content as it is, Son of the Raven,” quoth Fox; “I have done my bidding and all is well.”

“Tell me then who it is hath bidden thee bring me hither?”

“I may not tell thee,” said Fox; “thou art here, be content, as I am.”

And he spake no more till they had come to the reef aforesaid, which was some two furlongs from the place where they had come from out of the cave.  There then they set forth their supper on the stones, and ate what they would, and drank of that good strong wine while the horn bare out.  And now was Fox of few words, and when Hallblithe asked him concerning that land, he had little to say.  And at last when Hallblithe asked him of that so perilous house and those who manned it, he said to him:

“Son of the Raven, it avails not asking of these matters; for if I tell thee aught concerning them I shall tell thee lies.  Once again let it be enough for thee that thou hast passed over the sea safely on thy quest; and a more perilous sea it is forsooth than thou deemest.  But now let us have an end of vain words, and make our bed amidst these stones as best we may; for we should be stirring betimes in the morning.”  Hallblithe said little in answer, and they arrayed their sleeping places cunningly, as the hare doth her form, and like men well used to lying abroad.

Hallblithe was very weary and he soon fell asleep; and as he lay there, he dreamed a dream, or maybe saw a vision; whether he were asleep when he saw it, or between sleeping and waking, I know not.  But this was his dream or his vision; that the Hostage was standing over him, and she as he had seen her but yesterday, bright-haired and ruddy-cheeked and white-skinned, kind of hand and soft of voice, and she said to him: “Hallblithe, look on me and hearken, for I have a message for thee.”  And he looked and longed for her, and his soul was ravished by the sweetness of his longing, and he would have leapt up and cast his arms about her, but sleep and the dream bound him, and he might not.  Then the