The Water of the Wondrous Isles by William Morris (love letters to the dead txt) 📗

from the rock, and the knight stood before her, hanging his head, as though he were one accused who would plead his cause; and he began:

Lady, I must tell thee first of all, that to-day I have done as an unfaithful servant and a traitor to my lord.  Said Birdalone simply: Shall I tell thee the truth, and say that from the first I seemed to see in thee that thou wert scarce trusty?  He said: Well, that mind I saw in thee, and it went to my heart that thou shouldest think it, and that it should be no less than true.  But now I must tell thee, that it is for thy sake that I have been untrusty to my lord.  How so? said she.  Quoth he: Heardest thou ever of the Red Knight?  Yea, said Birdalone, I have heard of him ever as a tyrant and oppressor.  Then she grew pale, and said: Art thou he?  Nay, said the knight, I am but a kinsman of his, and his best-trusted man; nor have I failed him ever till yesterday.

He kept silence a while, and then said: This is the true tale: that we have had tidings of thee and of thy ridings abroad with that old fool, Sir Aymeris, and how thou hadst been twice to look into the Black Valley.  This I say hath the Red One heard, and the heart of him was touched by the mere hearsay of thee; and moreover ’tis blessed bread to him the doing of any grief to the knights of Quest Castle; wherefore he hath sent me to hang about the dale, to lay hands on thee if I might for; he knew being wise, that thou wouldst hanker after it; and moreover he let one of his wise women sit out in spells on thee.  So I espied, and happened on thee all alone; and mine errand it was, since I came upon thee thus, to draw thee till I had thee safe at home in the Red Hold.  Forsooth I began mine errand duly, and fell to beguiling thee, so that thou mayst well have seen the traitor in me.  But then, and then my heart failed me, because I fell, not to desiring thee as coveting my master’s chattel, but to loving thee and longing for thee as my fellow and speech-friend.  And I said to myself: Into the Red Hold she shall not go if I may hinder it.

Birdalone was very pale, but she refrained her from grief and fear, and said: But those horsed and weaponed men up the dale, who were they?  He said: I will not lie now, not even a little; they came into the dale by that upper pass whereof I told thee; they were of our men; I brought them.  I was never all alone in the dale; I was to have fetched thee to them, so that thou mightest not see a rout of folk and flee away; and then would we all have gone home together by the upper pass.  But we two must have gone on unto them in the dale’s head, whereas for all that I could say I might not bring them down into that doom-ring where we ate and talked yesterday.  We two have been valianter than thou mayst have deemed, to have done the deed of dining there; for all men fear it.  But as for me, I have been there more than twice or thrice, and thence have I wandered, and found this pass wherein now we be; concerning which I have held my tongue, deeming that it might one day serve my turn; as it hath done now abundantly, since it hath been a refuge unto thee.

Yea, but whither are we going now? said Birdalone; is it perchance to the Red Hold?  Nay, never, said the knight, so help me God and All-hallows!

Whither then? said Birdalone; tell me, that I may at least trust thee, even though I owe thee for all the pain and grief which thou hast wrought me.  He reddened and said: Wait a while; I bring thee to no ill place; there shall no harm befall thee.  And he fretted and fumed, and was confused of speech and look, and then he said: When we come there I shall belike crave a boon of thee.

O, but I crave a boon of thee here and now, said Birdalone.  Wipe away thine offence to me and take me back to my friends and the Castle of the Quest!  So mayst thou yet be dear unto me, though maybe not wholly as thou wouldst have it.  And she reached out her two hands toward him.

His breast heaved, and he seemed nigh to weeping; but he said: Nay, lady, ask me not here and now, but there and to-morrow.  But again I swear to thee by thine hands that to the Red Hold I will not bring thee, nor suffer thee to be brought, if I may hinder it; nay, not though I give my life therefor.

Birdalone was silent awhile; then she said: And what shall befall me if I come to the Red Hold?  What is the Red Knight, and what would he do with me?  Said he: The Red Knight is terrible and fierce and wise; and I fear him, I.  He held his peace, and said: I must needs say it, that to thee he would have been as Death and the Devil.  He would have bedded thee first.  She broke in: Nay, never! and flushed very red.  But the knight went on: And after, I wot not; that were according to his mood.  And as to thy never, lady, thou wottest not the like of him or of the folk he hath about him.  Such as thou? she said angrily.  Nay, he said, far worse than me; men who fare little afield, and are not sweetened by adventures and war-perils; and women worser yet; and far worser were they dealing with a woman.  She was silent again awhile, and paled once more; then her colour came back to her, and she held out her hand to him and said kindly: Thou being what thou art, I thank thee for thy dealings with me; and now until to-morrow, when I shall ask thee of that again, I am friends with thee; so come now, and let us eat and drink together.

He took her hand and kissed it, and then came and sat down meekly beside her, and they ate and drank in that wild place as though they had been friends of long acquaintance.

p. 250CHAPTER XV.  THE BLACK KNIGHT BRINGS BIRDALONE TO THE BOWER IN THE DALE.

When they had made an end of their meal, they gat to horse again and rode on their ways; and every mile now was their road the easier, the pass wider, and its walls lower and now also more broken; till at last they began to go down hill swiftly, and after a little their road seemed to be swallowed in a great thicket of hornbeam and holly; but the knight rode on and entered the said thicket, and ever found some way amidst the branches, though they were presently in the very thick of the trees, and saw no daylight between the trunks for well-nigh an hour, whereas the wood was thick and tangled, and they had to thread their way betwixt its mazes.

At last the wood began to grow thinner before them, and the white light to show between the trunks; and Birdalone deemed that she heard the sound of falling water, and presently was sure thereof; and the knight spake to her: Patience, my lady; now are we near home for to-day.  She nodded kindly to him, and therewith they rode on to open ground, and were on the side of a steep bent, broken on their right hands into a sheer cliff as Birdalone saw when the knight led her to the edge and bade her look over.  Then she saw down into a fair dale lying far below them, through the which ran a little river, clear and swift, but not riotous, after it had fallen over a force at the upper end of the dale, and made the sound of water which she had heard.  The said dale was so, that whatsoever was on the other side thereof was hidden by tall and great trees, that stood close together some twenty yards aloof from the stream, and betwixt them and it was fair greensward with a few bushes and thorn-trees thereon.

Quoth the knight: Down there shall we rest till to-morrow, if it please thee, lady; and since the sun will set in an hour, we were best on our way at once.  It pleases me well, said Birdalone, and I long to tread the turf by the river-side, for I am weary as weary may be of the saddle and the pass.

So down the bent they rode, and it was but a little ere they had ridden it to an end, and had met the river as it swept round the cliff-wall of the valley; and they rode through it, and came on to the pleasant greensward aforesaid under the trees; and in a bight of the wood was a bower builded of turf and thatched with reed; and there, by the bidding of the knight, they alighted; and the knight said: This is thine house for to-night, my lady; and thou mayest lie there in all safety after thou hast supped, and mayst have my weapons by thy side if thou wilt, while I lie under the trees yonder.  And if thou wilt bathe thee in the cool water, to comfort thee after the long ride and the weariness, I swear by thy hand that I will take myself out of eye-shot and abide aloof till thou call me.

Said Birdalone, smiling somewhat: Fair sir, I will not have my watch and ward unarmed; keep thou thy weapons; and thou wilt not forget, perchance, that I am not wholly unarmed, whereas I have my bow and arrows and my knife here.  And as to my bathing, I will take thee at thy word, and bid thee go aloof a while now at once; for I will go down to the water; and if thou spy upon me, then will it be thy shame and not mine.

The knight went his ways therewith, and Birdalone went down to the water and unclad her; but ere she stepped into the river, she laid her bow and three shafts on the lip thereof.  Then she took the water, and disported her merrily therein; and now, forsooth, she was nowise downcast, for she said to herself, this man is not all evil and he lovest me well, and I look for it that to-morrow he will bring me on my way toward the Castle of the Quest, for mere love of me; and then shall he be a dear friend to me, and I will comfort him what I can for as long as we both live.

So she came out of the water and clad her, and then called aloud for the knight, and he came speedily unto her, as if he had been not exceeding far away, though he swore with a great oath that he had nowise espied her.  She answered him nought, and they went side by side to the bower; and there the knight dight the victual, and they sat together and ate their meat like old friends; and Birdalone asked the knight concerning this valley and the bower, if he had known it for long, and he answered: Yea, lady, I was but a stripling when I first happened on the dale; and I deem that few know thereof save me; at least none of our flock knoweth thereof, and I am fain thereof, and keep them unknowing, for if my lord were to hear of my having a haunt privy unto me he would like it but ill.

Birdalone turned pale when she heard him speak of his lord; for fear of the Red Knight had entered into her soul, so that now the flesh crept upon her bones.  But she enforced her to smile, and said: Yea, and what would he do to thee were he ill-content with thy ways?  Forsooth, lady, said he, if he could spare me he would make an end of me in some miserable way; nay, if he were exceeding ill-content, he would do as much for me whether he could spare me or not; otherwise he would watch his occasion, and so grieve me that what he did would go to my very heart.  Woe’s me! said Birdalone, thou servest an evil master.  The knight answered not, and Birdalone went on speaking earnestly: It is a shame to thee to follow this fiend; why dost thou not sunder thee from him, and become wholly an honest