King Arthur's Knights
As had been agreed on, the knights on Arthur's side made their retreat
in a confusion that seemed full of fear; and the enemy, joyfully
shouting their cries of triumph, pursued them headlong.
King Lot's host, led onward thus unthinking, were sure of victory. But
their cries of triumph were short and quickly turned to woe; for when
they had passed the place of ambush, they heard cries of terror in
their rear, and turning, they found a great host pouring forth from the
hollow combe, thick as angry bees from a hive.
Then, indeed, taken in the rear and in the front, there was little hope
of victory, and King Lot's men fought for dear life.
Seeing King Bors, where he hewed terribly in the press of battle, King
Lot, who knew him well, cried out:
'Ah, Mary, now defend us from death and from horrible maims, for I see
well we be in fear of quick death! Yonder is King Bors, one of the most
worshipful and best knights in the world; and there is his twin
brother, King Ban, as terrible as he. How came they and their host into
Britain, and we not know it, alas?'
'By the arts of that wizard Merlin, I doubt not,' said King Uriens.
'And I doubt not we shall all be sped. Look you, Lot,' he went on,
'whoever that Arthur may be, I'll swear by my head he is not of
low-born breeding, but a very man and a marvellous fighter.'
'If you lose heart now, why, go and swear fealty to him!' sneered King
Lot.
'Keep your sneers,' said Uriens sternly. 'I'll pay the price of
rebellion to my last breath, as I have vowed.'
By now the great mass of King Lot's host was either slain or run away,
and the evening drew on; but the eleven kings, wounded, spent, and full
of anguish at defeat, drew together with a few hundred of their
knights, and vowed to die fighting. When they looked to see where they
stood, they found that Arthur had penned them upon a little bluff of
land that ended steeply over a deep river, and that no way was open for
them to escape from the death of swords, unless they chose to leap on
the rocks below the cliff.
'See!' said Uriens, with a laugh, 'while we fought like wild boars, and
thought of nothing but the killing, this base-born king kept his wits
and moved us like pawns on a chessboard, we all unwitting. First, he
drew us into ambush, and now he thrusts us into a chasm. We war-wise
fighters, grown grey in battle, checkmated by a boy!'
Nevertheless, though wearied, full of dread and shame, and looking
death in the eyes, the little band of men withdrew backwards, waiting
until Arthur should command his lines of glittering knights to dash
upon the remnant of the rebel kings.
'The proud evil men!' said Arthur in anger, looking upon them. 'Though
they know death is upon them, they will not crave mercy of me, a
base-born king, as they name me!'
'Ah, sir king,' said King Ban, 'blame them not, for they do as brave
men ought to do, and they are the best fighting men and the knights of
most prowess that ever I saw. And if they were belonging unto you,
there would be no king under heaven to compare with you for power and
fame and majesty.'
'I cannot love them,' said Arthur sadly, 'for they would destroy me.'
'Now, this is my counsel,' said King Lot to his ten fellows, as he
looked over the field strewn with the dead: 'that we stand together in
a circle and swear to die together--we and our few knights. We have
aimed at a kingdom and a crown, and we have failed. But we will die
like kings and warriors. When they press upon us at the last, let no
one of us break away. If any see another dress him to flee or to yield,
let him slay him. How say ye?'
'It is good!' said they all.
Then, for all their aching wounds, they mended their broken harness
hurriedly, and righted their shields, took new spears from the hands of
their squires, and set them upright on their thighs, and thus, with the
low red light of the westering sun behind them, they stood still and
grim, like a clump of tall leafless trees.
Arthur gave the order to advance, and his knights leaped forward over
the heap of the slain. But just then Sir Kay came to the king, bringing
a knight from the north who had just been captured, bearing messages to
the eleven kings, and Arthur asked him who he was and why he came.
'Sir king,' said the man, 'I am Sir Eliot of the March Tower, and I
have ill tidings for my master, King Uriens, and his friends, but it
seems my news is no worse than their fate. If my great lord is to die,
I would lief die with him. Therefore, lord, despatch me now, or let me
go stand beside my lord in the last rally.'
'What is thy news?' asked King Arthur.
'It is that the pagans, the savage Saxons, have landed in three places
beyond Humber, and all the lands of my lord and his ten fellows shall
suffer fire and sword again.'
'But if I slay your master and his fellow-rebels, whose lands are those
the pagans overrun?'
'Yours, lord, of a truth, if you can dash the pagans from them.'
'If I and my host have swept these rebel kings from before me, think
you I cannot sweep the Saxons from the land?'
'I trow you could, sir king, for on my way hither I have heard of the
marvellous deeds this day of yourself and your knights. But, lord, I
see the press of knights about my dear lord. Ah, that I might strike a
blow for him before I die!'
'Thou shalt strike a-many yet,' said Arthur, and Sir Eliot marvelled.
Arthur commanded his trumpets to blow the retreat, and the knights,
wondering and half unbelieving, withdrew them from about the eleven
kings.
Then, surrounded by his chief lords, Arthur rode to the group of
wearied kings, who, with dented and broken harness, from which the
blood oozed in many places, still kept their seats with undaunted mien.
At King Arthur's command Sir Eliot told his news to King Uriens.
'Now this I have to say to ye,' said Arthur, lifting his vizor and
showing a stern countenance. 'Ye are in my hands, to slay or spare as I
choose. But ye have fought like brave men, and I would that, for your
prowess, ye were my friends rather than mine enemies. Now this I have
to offer ye. Swear here and now to be my lieges, as ye were to King
Uther before me, and I will aid thee to thrust the pagans from your
land, and thenceforth we will aid and cherish each other as true
subjects and true lords should do. But if ye refuse, then your folly be
on your own heads, for then I take your lives and your lands both.'
With that King Uriens threw down his sword and put up his vizor, and
turning to the others, said:
'Fellow-rebels, we should be mad to refuse gifts so kingly and kindly
offered. We have tried a throw with this young king, and we have been
worsted. Better now to own ourselves lesser men than this wise lad
here, and try to live in peace with him henceforth.'
The other kings agreed, but King Lot, mean and revengeful, and the
Kings Nentres and Brandegoris, suspicious that, as had been too often
with themselves, fair words had covered foul intent, held back a
little, until the others swore to leave them to the penalty of their
folly. Whereupon they all knelt down upon the stricken field, and each
put his hands between the hands of King Arthur, and swore upon the
honour of their knighthood to be his true and faithful men while they
lived.
As they rose from rendering their homage, Merlin came riding on a great
black horse.
'Ye have done wisely well, my king,' he said. 'For by this kingly deed
you shall rivet the hearts of the good men among these former rebels
closer to your own than with rivets of steel. Thus well and wisely have
ye won your kingdom and the fealty of these brave men.'
'Now,' he went on to the eleven kings, 'ye doubted whether Arthur was
of noble birth, and rightful king. Know ye that he is the son of the
noble King Uther, who by my counsel hid him away on his birth. Ye will
remember how Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, hated Uther for taking Igraine
for wife, whom Gorlois had captured and sworn to wed for her beauty and
her wealth. And how all the turbulent lords did cling to Gorlois, and
how for years King Uther had much ado to keep those rebels from
dismembering the kingdom. Gorlois had vowed to slay by poison or
treachery any son of Uther's, and so I took young Arthur into safe
keeping. None knew of him until King Uther named him as his rightful
heir upon his deathbed in the presence of you all. So, therefore, ye do
well to give your homage to this your king, for Arthur is the son right
worshipful of the great Pendragon, and the lovely lady, Igraine of
Lyonesse.'
All that stood by marvelled, and most of the eleven kings were glad
that they had a king so noble in birth and doing as Arthur, the son of
Uther Pendragon.
II
SIR BALIN AND THE STROKE DOLOROUS
It happened that on a day King Arthur, wandering from his court, had
fought and vanquished a valiant knight, but he himself had been sore
wounded. Merlin, coming to his aid, had taken him to a hermit's cave,
and there with many marvellous salves had searched his wounds, so that
in three days the king was whole again.
Riding forth together, Merlin led the king deeper and deeper into a
wild and desolate country where he had never been before, and where
there were no pathways. Arthur looked to and fro over the waste, but
saw no sign of man or beast, and no bird flitted or piped. Great gaunt
stones stood upright on the hillsides, solitary or in long lines as if
they marched, or else they leaned together as if conspiring; while
great heaps or cairns of stone rose here and there from the
lichen-covered and rocky soil, in which the grass grew weakly in small
crevices.
The mists now rose and drifted before them as they rode, the light was
low and sallow, and the wind began to whisper shrilly among the great
stones, and in the crannies of the cairns.
The king crossed himself, and looked at the white, old, and wrinkled
face of Merlin; but the wizard seemed sunk in thought. Then Arthur
bethought him that, in case some fiend-shape or wizard-knight should
assail him in that desolate waste, he could not defend himself,
inasmuch as his sword--the sword he had drawn from the stone--had
snapped when he fought the knight, and he had no other weapon with him.
'Merlin,' he said, 'this is a place of ancient death and terror, and if
aught should assail us of evil, I have no sword.'
'For that reason I bring thee here,' replied Merlin, and would not
utter another word.
Then, through the mists, which writhed and twisted as if they were fell
shapes that would tear down the passing riders, Arthur became aware
that their way was leading downwards, and soon the smell of water rose
up to him.
He heard the beat and suck of waves upon a shore, and in a little while
the mists cleared as if at a word, and there before him Arthur saw a
lonely lake or sea, hedged round with salt-rimed reeds and sedges, and
stretching out its waters, dull and leaden-hued, to so great a distance
that his eye could see no end.
'What is this place?' he asked of Merlin.
'It is the Lake of the Endless Waters,' said the wizard.
'Why bring ye me to this desolate lake in the wilderness?'
'You shall visit it once more--ere you die!' replied Merlin. 'But look
you there in the midmost of the lake.'
Looking to where the wizard pointed, Arthur saw a great hand, clothed
in white samite, stretched above the lapsing waves, and in its grasp
was a long two-handed sword in a rich scabbard.
With that they saw a barge riding over the water, and it came without
oars or any sail, and in the prow sat a woman, tall and comely, with a
face lovely but sad. A frontlet of gold and pearls was bound about her
rich red hair, and her robes, of green samite, fell about her as if
they were reeds of the shore.
'What lady is that?' said the king.