He ran up to the wreck of his private quarters. The stairs to the roof sagged under his weight, groaning and swaying. With a tread as light as possible, he climbed up. He heard Glyneth's exclamation, and tried to hurry, and felt the stairs give way beneath his feet. He lunged, and, catching a splintered roof-beam, pulled himself up. Glyneth, white-faced, stood above him. She swung a length of broken timber and struck at his head with all her strength. Dazed, he fell back and hung with one arm over the roor-beam; then, making a wild grasp with the other arm, he caught Glyneth's ankle and pulled her toward him.
Dhrun ran forward. He held his hand into the air. "Dassenach! My sword Dassenach! Come to me!"
From far across the Forest of Tantrevalles, from the thicket into which Carfilhiot had flung it, came Dassenach the sword, to Dhrun's hand. He raised it high and thrust it down at Carfilhiot's wrist and pinned it to the roof-beam. Glyneth kicked herself free and scrambled to safety. Carfilhiot gave a poignant cry, slipped to hang by his pinned wrist.
Down the rope, riding a loop, came a squat broad-shouldered man, with a dark dour countenance. He dropped upon the roof, went to look at Carfilhiot. Another man slid down from Tac Tor. They lifted Carfilhiot to the roof and bound his arms and legs with rope, and then turned to Glyneth and Dhrun. The smaller of the two men said, "I am Yane; that is Cargus. We are your father's friends." This was said to Dhrun.
"My father?"
"There he stands, next to Shimrod."
Down the line slid man after man. Carfilhiot's soldiers tried to fire arrows from below but the embrasures were set unsuitably in the walls and the arrows went astray.
Tintzin Fyral was empty. The defenders were dead: by sword, fire, asphyxiation in sealed tunnels and the executioner's axe. Robnet, captain of the guard, had climbed atop the wall which enclosed the parade grounds. He stood spraddle-legged, wind blowing his gray locks. He roared challenge in his vast hoarse voice. "Come! Who will meet me, sword in hand? Where are your brave champions, your heroes, your noble knights? Come! Clash steel with me!"
For a few moments the Troice warriors stood watching him. Sir Cargus called up. "Come down, old man! The axe awaits you."
"Come up and take me! Come test your steel against mine!"
Cargus made a motion to the archers; Robnet died with six arrows protruding from neck, chest and eye.
The aviary presented special problems. Certain of the captives fluttered, dodged and climbed to high perches to avoid those who came to release them. Mad King Deuel attempted a gallant flight across the cage, but his wings failed him; he fell to the floor and broke his neck.
The dungeons yielded stuff forever to haunt the thoughts of those who explored them. The torturers were dragged screaming out on the parade ground. The Ulfs cried out for the impaling poles, but King Aillas of Troicinet and South Ulfland had proscribed torment, and their heads were taken by the axe.
Carfilhiot occupied a cage on the parade ground at the base of the castle. A great gibbet was erected, with the arm sixty feet from the ground. At noon on a raw overcast day, with wind blowing strangely from the east, Carfilhiot was carried to the gibbet; and again passionate voices were heard. "He escapes too easily!"
Aillas paid no heed. "Hang him high." The executioner bound Carfilhiot's hands behind him, fitted the noose over his head, and Carfilhiot was taken aloft to dangle kicking and jerking: a grotesque black shadow on the gray sky. The impaling poles were broken and the fragments set afire. Carfilhiot's body was cast on the flames, where it twitched and crawled as if dying a second time. From the flames rose a sickly green vapor which blew away on the wind, down Vale Evander and over the sea. The vapor failed to dissipate. It clotted and coalesced, to become an object like a large green pearl, which fell into the ocean where it was swallowed by a turbot.
Shimrod packed into cases his stolen apparatus, and other items as well. He loaded the cases into a wagon and with Glyneth beside him drove the wagon down the vale to old Ys. Aillas and Dhrun rode on horses to the side. The cases were loaded aboard the ship which would convey them back to Troicinet.
An hour before sailing, Shimrod, motivated by caprice, mounted a horse and rode north along the beach: a way he had come long ago in dreams. He approached the low palace beside the sea, and found Melancthe standing on the terrace, almost as if she had been awaiting him.
Twenty feet from Melancthe Shimrod halted his horse. He sat in the saddle, looking at her. She said nothing, nor did he. Presently he turned his horse about and rode slowly back down the beach to Ys.
Chapter 32
EARLY IN THE SPRING OF the year, envoys from King Casmir arrived at Miraldra and requested audience with King Aillas.
A herald announced their names: "May it please your Highness to receive Sir Nonus Roman, nephew to King Casmir, and Duke Aldrudin of Twarsbane; and Duke Rubarth of Jong; and Earl Fanishe of Stranlip Castle!"
Aillas stepped down from the throne and came forward. "Sirs, I bid you welcome to Miraldra."
"Your Highness is most gracious," said Sir Nonus Roman. "I carry with me a scroll indited with the words of His Majesty, King Casmir of Lyonesse. If you permit, I will read them to you."
"Please do so."
The squire tendered Sir Nonus Roman a tube carved from the ivory of an elephant's tusk. Sir Nonus Roman withdrew a scroll. The squire stepped smartly forward and Sir Nonus Roman handed him the scroll. Sir Nonus Roman addressed Aillas: "Your Highness: the words of Casmir, King of Lyonesse."
The squire, in a sonorous voice, read:
For His Majesty, King Aillas, In His Palace Miraldra, Domreis, These Words:
I trust that the occasion finds you in good health.
I have come to deplore those conditions which have adversely affected the traditional friendship existing between our realms. The present suspicion and discord brings advantage to neither side. I therefore propose an immediate cessation to hostility, said truce to persist for at least one year, during which time neither side shall engage in armed effort or military initiatives of any sort without prior consultation with the other side, except in the event of exterior attack.
After one year the truce shall continue in effect unless one side notifies the other to the contrary. During this time I hope that our differences may be resolved and that our future relations shall be in terms of fraternal love and concord.
Again, with compliments and best regards, I am
Casmir at Haidion, in
Lyonesse Town
Returning to Lyonesse Town, Sir Nonus Roman delivered the response of King Aillas.
To Casmir, King Of Lyonesse, These Words From Aillas, King Of Troicinet, Dascinet And South Ulfland: