The Lady of the Shroud - Bram Stoker (phonics reader txt) 📗

rescued—and quickly! The marauders must be caught

soon, and suddenly, so that they may have neither time nor

opportunity to harm her, as they would be certain to do if they have

warning of immediate danger.

 

“On! on!”

 

And “on” it was all through that terrible night as well as we could

through the forest.

 

It was a race between the mountaineers and myself as to who should be

first. I understood now the feeling that animated them, and which

singled them out even from amongst their fiery comrades, when the

danger of the Voivodin became known. These men were no mean

contestants even in such a race, and, strong as I am, it took my

utmost effort to keep ahead of them. They were keen as leopards, and

as swift. Their lives had been spent among the mountains, and their

hearts and souls on were in the chase. I doubt not that if the death

of any one of us could have through any means effected my wife’s

release, we should, if necessary, have fought amongst ourselves for

the honour.

 

From the nature of the work before us our party had to keep to the

top of the hills. We had not only to keep observation on the flying

party whom we followed, and to prevent them making discovery of us,

but we had to be always in a position to receive and answer signals

made to us from the Castle, or sent to us from other eminences.

 

Letter from Petrof Vlastimir, Archimandrite of Spazac, to the Lady

Janet MacKelpie, of Vissarion.

Written July 8, 1907.

 

GREAT LADY,

 

I am asked to write by the Vladika, and have permission of the

Archbishop. I have the honour of transmitting to you the record of

the pursuit of the Turkish spies who carried off the Voivodin Teuta,

of the noble House of Vissarion. The pursuit was undertaken by the

Gospodar Rupert, who asked that I would come with his party, since

what he was so good as to call my “great knowledge of the country and

its people” might serve much. It is true that I have had much

knowledge of the Land of the Blue Mountains and its people, amongst

which and whom my whole life has been passed. But in such a cause no

reason was required. There was not a man in the Blue Mountains who

would not have given his life for the Voivodin Teuta, and when they

heard that she had not been dead, as they thought, but only in a

trance, and that it was she whom the marauders had carried off, they

were in a frenzy. So why should I—to whom has been given the great

trust of the Monastery of Spazac—hesitate at such a time? For

myself, I wanted to hurry on, and to come at once to the fight with

my country’s foes; and well I knew that the Gospodar Rupert, with a

lion’s heart meet for his giant body, would press on with a matchless

speed. We of the Blue Mountains do not lag when our foes are in

front of us; most of all do we of the Eastern Church press on when

the Crescent wars against the Cross!

 

We took with us no gear or hamper of any kind; no coverings except

what we stood in; no food—nothing but our handjars and our rifles,

with a sufficiency of ammunition. Before starting, the Gospodar gave

hurried orders by signal from the Castle to have food and ammunition

sent to us (as we might signal) by the nearest hamlet.

 

It was high noon when we started, only ten strong—for our leader

would take none but approved runners who could shoot straight and use

the handjar as it should be used. So as we went light, we expected

to go fast. By this time we knew from the reports signalled to

Vissarion that the enemies were chosen men of no despicable prowess.

 

The Keeper of the Green Flag of Islam is well served, and as though

the Turk is an infidel and a dog, he is sometimes brave and strong.

Indeed, except when he passes the confines of the Blue Mountains, he

has been known to do stirring deeds. But as none who have dared to

wander in amongst our hills ever return to their own land, we may not

know of how they speak at home of their battles here. Still, these

men were evidently not to be despised; and our Gospodar, who is a

wise man as well as a valiant, warned us to be prudent, and not to

despise our foes over much. We did as he counselled, and in proof we

only took ten men, as we had only twenty against us. But then there

was at stake much beyond life, and we took no risks. So, as the

great clock at Vissarion clanged of noon, the eight fastest runners

of the Blue Mountains, together with the Gospodar Rupert and myself,

swept out on our journey. It had been signalled to us that the

course which the marauders had as yet taken in their flight was a

zigzag one, running eccentrically at all sorts of angles in all sorts

of directions. But our leader had marked out a course where we might

intercept our foes across the main line of their flight; and till we

had reached that region we paused not a second, but went as fast as

we could all night long. Indeed, it was amongst us a race as was the

Olympic race of old Greece, each one vying with his fellows, though

not in jealous emulation, but in high spirit, to best serve his

country and the Voivodin Teuta. Foremost amongst us went the

Gospodar, bearing himself as a Paladin of old, his mighty form

pausing for no obstacle. Perpetually did he urge us on. He would

not stop or pause for a moment, but often as he and I ran together—

for, lady, in my youth I was the fleetest of all in the race, and

even that now can head a battalion when duty calls—he would ask me

certain questions as to the Lady Teuta and of the strange manner of

her reputed death, as it was gradually unfolded in my answers to his

questioning. And as each new phase of knowledge came to him, he

would rush on as one possessed of fiends: whereat our mountaineers,

who seem to respect even fiends for their thoroughness, would strive

to keep pace with him till they too seemed worked into diabolic

possession. And I myself, left alone in the calmness of sacerdotal

office, forgot even that. With surging ears and eyes that saw blood,

I rushed along with best of them.

 

Then truly the spirit of a great captain showed itself in the

Gospodar, for when others were charged with fury he began to force

himself into calm, so that out of his present self-command and the

memory of his exalted position came a worthy strategy and thought for

every contingency that might arise. So that when some new direction

was required for our guidance, there was no hesitation in its coming.

We, nine men of varying kinds, all felt that we had a master; and so,

being willing to limit ourselves to strict obedience, we were free to

use such thoughts as well as such powers as we had to the best

advantage of the doing.

 

We came across the trail of the flying marauders on the second

morning after the abduction, a little before noon. It was easy

enough to see, for by this time the miscreants were all together, and

our people, who were woodlanders, were able to tell much of the party

that passed. These were evidently in a terrified hurry, for they had

taken no precautions such as are necessary baffle pursuit, and all of

which take time. Our foresters said that two went ahead and two

behind. In the centre went the mass, moving close together, as

though surrounding their prisoner. We caught not even a single

glimpse her—could not have, they encompassed her so closely. But

our foresters saw other than the mass; the ground that had been

passed was before them. They knew that the prisoner had gone

unwillingly—nay, more: one of them said as he rose from his knees,

where he had been examining of the ground:

 

“The misbegotten dogs have been urging her on with their yataghans!

There are drops of blood, though there are no blood-marks on her

feet.”

 

Whereupon the Gospodar flamed with passion. His teeth ground

together, and with a deep-breathed “On, on!” he sprang off again,

handjar in hand, on the track.

 

Before long we saw the party in the distance. They this were far

below us in a deep valley, although the track of their going passed

away to the right hand. They were making for the base of the great

cliff, which rose before us all. Their reason was twofold, as we

soon knew. Far off down the valley which they were crossing we saw

signs of persons coming in haste, who must be of the search party

coming from the north. Though the trees hid them, we could not

mistake the signs. I was myself forester enough to have no doubt.

Again, it was evident that the young Voivodin could travel no longer

at the dreadful pace at which they had been going. Those blood-marks

told their own tale! They meant to make a last stand here in case

they should be discovered.

 

Then it was that he, who amongst us all had been most fierce and most

bent on rapid pursuit, became the most the calm. Raising his hand

for silence—though, God knows, we were and had been silent enough

during that long rush through the forest—he said, in a low, keen

whisper which cut the silence like a knife:

 

“My friends, the time is come for action. God be thanked, who has

now brought us face to face with our foes! But we must be careful

here—not on our own account, for we wish nothing more than to rush

on and conquer or die—but for the sake of her whom you love, and

whom I, too, love. She is in danger from anything which may give

warning to those fiends. If they know or even suspect for an instant

that we are near, they will murder her … “

 

Here his voice broke for an instant with the extremity of his passion

or the depth of his feeling—I hardly know which; I think both acted

on him.

 

“We know from those blood-marks what they can do—even to her.” His

teeth ground together again, but he went on without stopping further:

 

“Let us arrange the battle. Though we are but little distance from

them as the crow flies, the way is far to travel. There is, I can

see, but one path down to the valley from this side. That they have

gone by, and that they will sure to guard—to watch, at any rate.

Let us divide, as to surround them. The cliff towards which they

make runs far to the left without a break. That to the right we

cannot see from this spot; but from the nature of the ground it is

not unlikely that it turns round in this direction, making the hither

end of the valley like a vast pocket or amphitheatre. As they have

studied the ground in other places, they may have done so in this,

and have come hither as to a known refuge. Let one man, a marksman,

stay here.”

 

As he spoke a man stepped to the front. He was, I knew, an excellent

shot.

 

“Let two others go to the left and try to find a way down the cliff

before us.