Lyonesse

Chapter 11

IN THE CHAPEL AT THE TOP of the garden Suldrun's bed had been arranged, and here a tall dour kitchen maid named Bagnold daily brought food, precisely at noon. Bagnold was half-deaf and might have been mute as well, for all her conversation. She was required to verify Suldrun's presence, and if Suldrun were not at the chapel Bagnold trudged angrily down into the garden to find her, which was almost every day, since Suldrun gave no heed to time. After a period Bagnold tired of the exertion and put the full basket on the chapel steps, picked up the empty basket of the day before and departed: an arrangement which suited both Suldrun and herself.

When Bagnold departed she dropped a heavy oaken beam into iron brackets thus to bar the door. Suldrun might easily have scaled the cliffs to either side of the garden, and someday, so she told herself, she would do so, to depart the garden forever.

So passed the seasons: spring and summer, and the garden was at its most beautiful, though haunted always by stillness and melancholy. Suldrun knew the garden at all hours: at gray dawn, when dew lay heavy and bird calls came clear and poignant, like sounds at the beginning of time. Late at night, when the full moon rode high above the clouds, she sat under the lime tree looking to sea while the surf rattled along the shingle.

One evening Brother Umphred appeared, his round face abeam with innocent good will. He carried a basket, which he placed upon the chapel steps. He looked Suldrun carefully up and down. "Marvelous! You are as beautiful as ever! Your hair shines, your skin glows; how do you keep so clean?"

"Don't you know?" asked Suldrun. "I bathe, in yonder basin."

Brother Umphred raised his hands in mock horror. "That is the font for holy water! You have done sacrilege!"

Suldrun merely shrugged and turned away.

With happy gestures Brother Umphred unpacked his basket. "Let us bring cheer to your life. Here is tawny wine; we will drink!"

"No. Please leave."

"Are you not bored and dissatisfied?"

"Not at all. Take your wine and go."

Silently Brother Umphred departed.

With the coming of autumn the leaves turned color and dusk came early. There was a succession of sad and glorious sunsets, then came the rains and the cold of winter, whereupon the chapel became bleak and chill. Suldrun piled stones to build a hearth and a chimney against one of the windows. The other she wadded right with twigs and grass. Currents swinging around the cape cast driftwood up on the shingle, which Suldrun carried to the chapel to dry, and then burnt on the hearth.

The rains dwindled; sunlight burned bright through cold crisp air, and spring was at hand. Daffodils appeared among the flower beds and the trees put on new leaves. In the sky appeared the stars of spring: Capella, Arcturus, Denebola. On sunny mornings cumulus clouds towered high over the sea, and Suldrun's blood seemed to quicken. She felt a strange restlessness, which never before had troubled her.

The days became longer, and Suldrun's perceptions became more acute, and each day began to have its own quality, as if it were one of a limited number. A tension began to form, an imminence, and often Suldrun stayed awake all night long, so that she might know all to occur in her garden.

Brother Umphred paid another visit. He found Suldrun sitting on the stone steps of the chapel, sunning herself. Brother Umphred looked at her with curiosity. The sun had tanned her arms, legs and face, and lightened strands of her hair. She looked the picture of serene good health; in fact, thought Brother Umphred, she seemed almost happy.

The fact aroused his carnal suspicions; he wondered if she had taken a lover. "Dearest Suldrun, my heart bleeds when I think of you solitary and forlorn. Tell me; how do you fare?"

"Well enough," said Suldrun. "I like solitude. Please do not remain here on my account."

Brother Umphred gave a cheerful chuckle. He settled himself beside her. "Ah, dearest Suldrun—" He put his hand on hers. Suldrun stared at the fat white fingers; they felt moist and over-amiable. She moved her hand; the fingers fell away reluctantly. "—I bring you not only Christian solace, but also a more human consolation. You must recognize that while I am a priest I am also a man, and susceptible to your beauty. Will you accept this friendship?" Umphred's voice became soft and unctuous. "Even though the emotion is warmer and dearer than simple friendship?"

Suldrun laughed drearily. She rose to her feet and pointed at the gate. "Sir, you have my leave to go. I hope that you will not return." She turned and descended into the garden. Brother Umphred muttered a curse and departed.

Suldrun sat beside the lime tree and looked out over the sea. "I wonder," she asked herself, "what will become of me? I am beautiful, so everyone says, but it has brought me only bane. Why am I punished, as if I had done wrong? Somehow I must bestir myself; I must make a change."

After her evening meal she wandered down to the ruined villa, where she liked best, on clear nights, to watch the stars. Tonight they showed an extraordinary brilliance and seemed to address themselves to her, like wonderful children brimming with secrets... She rose to her feet and stood listening. Imminence hung in the air; its meaning she could not decide.

The night breeze became cool; Suldrun retreated up through the garden. In the chapel, coals yet smouldered in the fireplace. Suldrun blew them ablaze, lay on dry driftwood and the room became warm.

In the morning, wakening very early, she went out into the dawn. Dew lay heavy on foliage and grass; the silence had a primitive quality. Suldrun went down through the garden, slow as a sleepwalker, down to the beach. Surf boomed up the shingle. The sun, rising, colored far clouds at the opposite horizon. At the southern curve of the beach, where currents brought driftwood, she noticed a human body which had floated in on the tide. Suldrun halted, then approached, step by step, and stared down in horror, which quickly became pity. What tragedy, that so cold a death had taken one so young, so wan, so comely...A wave stirred the young man's legs. His fingers spasmodically extended, clawed into the shingle. Suldrun dropped to her knees, pulled the body up from the water. She brushed back the sodden curls. The hands were bloody; the head was bruised. "Don't die," whispered Suldrun. "Please don't die!"

The eyelids flickered; eyes, glazed and filmed with sea-water, looked up at her, then closed.

Suldrun dragged the body up into dry sand. When she tugged the right shoulder he emitted a sad sound. Suldrun ran to the chapel, brought back coals and dry wood, and built up a fire. She wiped the cold face with a cloth. "Don't die," she said again and again.

His skin began to warm. Sunlight shone over the cliffs and down upon the beach. Aillas opened his eyes once more and wondered if indeed he had died, and now roamed the gardens of paradise with the most beautiful of all golden-haired angels to tend him.

Suldrun asked: "How do you feel?"

"My shoulder hurts." Aillas moved his arm. The twinge of pain assured him that he still lived. "Where is this place?"

"This is an old garden near Lyonesse Town. I am Suldrun." She touched his shoulder. "Do you think it's broken?"

"I don't know."

"Can you walk? I can't carry you up the hill."

Aillas tried to rise, but fell. He tried again, with Suldrun's arm around his waist, and stood swaying.

"Come now, I'll try to hold you."

Step by step they climbed up through the garden. At the ruins they stopped to rest. Aillas said weakly, "I must tell you that I am Troice. I fell from a ship. If I am captured I will be put in prison—at the very least."

Suldrun laughed. "You are already in a prison. Mine. I am not allowed to leave. Don't worry; I will keep you safe."

She helped him to his feet; at last they reached the chapel.

As best she could Suldrun immobilized Aillas' shoulder with bandages and withes and made him lie upon her couch. Aillas accepted her ministrations and lay watching her: what crimes had this beautiful girl committed that she should be so imprisoned? Suldrun fed him first honey and wine, then porridge. Aillas became warm and comfortable and fell asleep.

By evening Aillas' body burned with fever. Suldrun knew no remedy save damp cloths on the forehead. By midnight the fever cooled, and Aillas slept. Suldrun made herself as comfortable as possible on the floor before the fire.

In the morning Aillas awoke, half-convinced that his circumstances were unreal, that he was living a dream. Gradually he allowed himself to remember the Smaadra. Who had thrown him into the sea? Trewan? By reason of sudden madness? Why else? His manner since visiting the Troice cog at Ys had been most peculiar. What could have happened aboard the cog? What possibly could have driven Trewan past the brink of sanity?

On the third day Aillas decided that he had broken no bones and Suldrun eased his bandages. When the sun rose high the two descended into the garden and sat among the fallen columns of the old Roman villa. Through the golden afternoon they told each other of their lives. "This is not our first meeting," said Aillas. "Do you remember visitors from Troicinet about ten years ago? I remember you."

Suldrun reflected. "There have always been dozens of delegations. I seem to remember someone like you. It was so long ago; I can't be sure."

Aillas took her hand, the first time he had touched her in affection. "As soon as I am strong we will escape. It will be a simple affair to climb the stones yonder; then it's over the hill and away."

Suldrun spoke in a half-whisper, husky and fearful. "If we were captured"—she hunched her shoulders together—"the King would show us no pity."

In a subdued voice Aillas said: "We won't be captured! Especially if we plan well, and are all-cautious." He sat up straight, and spoke with great energy. "We will be free and away through the countryside! We'll travel by night and hide by day; we'll be one with the vagabonds, and who will know us?"

Aillas' optimism began to infect Suldrun; the prospect of freedom became exhilarating. "Do you really think we'll escape?"

"Of course! How could it be otherwise?"

Suldrun gazed pensively down the garden and over the sea. "I don't know. I have never expected to be happy. I am happy now—even though I am frightened." She laughed nervously. "It makes for a strange mood."

"Don't be frightened," said Aillas. Her nearness overwhelmed him; he put his arm around her waist. Suldrun jumped to her feet. "I feel as-if a thousand eyes are watching us!"

"Insects, birds, a lizard or two." Aillas scanned the cliffs. "I see no one else."

Suldrun looked up and down the garden. "Nor do I. Still..." She seated herself at a demure distance of three feet, and turned him an arch side-glance. "Your health seems to be on the mend."

"Yes. I feel very well, and I cannot bear to look at you without wanting to touch you." He moved close to her; laughing, she slid away.

"Aillas, no! Wait till your arm is better!"

"I'll be careful of my arm."

"Someone might come."

"Who would be so bold?"

"Bagnold. The priest Umphred. My father the King."

Aillas groaned. "Destiny could not be so unkind."

Suldrun said in a soft voice: "Destiny doesn't really care."

Night came to the garden. Sitting before the fire the two supped on bread, onions and mussels which Suldrun had gathered from the tidal rocks. Once again they talked of escape. Suldrun said wistfully, "Perhaps I will feel strange away from this garden. Every tree, every stone, is known to me... But, since you came, everything is different. The garden is going from me." Looking into the fire, she gave a little shiver.

"What is wrong?" asked Aillas.

"I am afraid."

"Of what?"

"I don't know."

"We could leave tonight, but for my arm. Another few days and I'll be strong again. In the meantime we must plan. The woman who brings your food; what of her?"

"At noon she brings a basket and takes back the empty basket from the day before. I never speak to her."

"Could she be bribed?"

"To do what?"

"To bring the food as usual, discard it, and take back the empty basket next day. With a week's start, we could be far away and never fear capture."

"Bagnold would never dare, even if she were so disposed, which she isn't. And we have nothing to bribe her with."

"Have you no jewels, no gold?"

"In my cabinet at the palace I have gold and gems."

"Which is to say, they are inaccessible."

Suldrun considered. "Not necessarily. The East Tower is quiet after sunset. I could go directly up to my chamber, and no one would notice. I could be in, out and away in a trice."

"Is it truly so simple?"

"Yes! I have gone this way hundreds of times, and seldom have I met anyone along the way."

"We cannot bribe Bagnold, so we will have free only a day, from noon till noon, plus whatever time your father needs to organize a search."

"An hour, no more. He moves quickly and with decision."

"So then, we must have a peasant's disguise, and this is easier said than done. Is there no one whom you trust?"

"One only, the nurse who tended me when I was small."

"And where is she?"

"Her name is Ehirme. She lives on a steading south along the road. She would give us clothes, or anything we asked for without stint, if she knew my need."

"With disguise, a day's start and gold for passage to Troicinet, freedom is ours. And once across the Lir you will be simply Suldrun of Watershade. No one will know you for Princess Suldrun of Lyonesse save only me and perhaps my father, who will love you as I do."

Suldrun looked up at him. "Do you truly love me?"

Aillas took her hands and pulled her to her feet; their faces were only inches apart. They kissed each other.

"I love you most dearly," said Aillas. "I never want to be parted from you."

"I love you, Aillas, nor do I wish us to be parted ever."

In a transport of joy the two looked into each other's eyes. Aillas said: "Treachery and tribulation brought me here, but I give thanks for all of it."

"I have been sad too," said Suldrun. "Still, if I had not been sent away from the palace, I could not have salvaged your poor drowned corpse!"

"So then! For murderous Trewan and cruel Casmir: our thanks!" He bent his face to Suldrun's; they kissed again and again; then, sinking to the couch, lay locked in each other's arms, and presently lost themselves in ardor.

Weeks passed, swift and strange: a period of bliss, made the more vivid by its background of high adventure. The pain in Aillas' shoulder subsided, and one day in the early afternoon, he scaled the cliff to the east of the garden and traversed the rocky slope on the seaward side of the Urquial, slowly and gingerly, since his boots were at the bottom of the sea and he went unshod. Beyond the Urquial he pushed through an undergrowth of scrub oak, elderberry and rowan, and so gained the road.

At this time of day, few folk were abroad. Aillas encountered a drover with a flock of sheep and a small boy leading a goat, and neither gave him more than a cursory glance.

A mile along the road he turned into a lane which wound away between hedgerows, and presently arrived at the steading where Ehirme lived with her husband and children.

Aillas halted in the shadow of the hedge. To his left, at the far side of a meadow, Chastain, the husband and his two oldest sons, cut hay. The cottage lay at the back of a kitchen garden, where leeks, carrots, turnips and cabbages grew in neat rows. Smoke rose from the chimney.

Aillas pondered the situation. If he went to the door and someone other than Ehirme showed herself, awkward questions might be asked, for which he had no answers.

The difficulty resolved itself. From the door came a stocky round-faced woman carrying a bucket. She set out toward the pig-sty. Aillas called out: "Ehirme! Dame Ehirme!"

The woman, pausing, examined Aillas with doubt and curiosity, then slowly approached. "What do you want?"

"You are Ehirme?"

"Yes."

"Would you do a service, in secret, for Princess Suldrun?"

Ehirme put down the bucket. "Please explain, and I'll tell you whether such service lies within my power."

"And in any event you'll keep the secret?"

"That I will do. Who are you?"

"I am Aillas, a gentleman of Troicinet. I fell from a ship and Suldrun saved me from drowning. We are resolved to escape the garden and make our way to Troicinet. We need a disguise of old clothes, hats and shoes, and Suldrun has no friend but you. We cannot pay at this time, but if you help us, you will be well rewarded when I return to Troicinet."

Ehirme reflected, the creases in her weather-beaten face twitching to the flux of her thoughts. She said: "I will help you as best I can. I have long suffered for the cruelty done to poor little Suldrun, who never harmed so much as an insect. Do you need only clothes?"

"Nothing more, and our most grateful thanks for these."

"The woman who brings Suldrun food—I know her well; she is Bagnold, an ill-natured creature rancid with gloom. So soon as she notices untouched food she will scuttle to King Casmir and the search will be on."

Aillas gave a fatalistic shrug. "We have no choice, and we will hide well by daylight."

"Do you carry sharp weapons? Wicked things move by night. Often I see them hopping about the meadow, and flying across the clouds."

"I will find a good cudgel; that must suffice."

Ehirme gave a noncommittal grunt. "I will go to market every day. On my way back I will open the postern, empty the basket, and Bagnold will be deceived. I can do this safely for a week, and by then the trail will be cold."

"That will mean great risk for you. If Casmir discovered your doing he would show no mercy!"

"The postern is hidden behind the bush. Who will notice me? I will take care not to be seen."

Aillas made a few more half-hearted protests, to which Ehirme paid no heed. She looked out over the meadow and across the woodland beyond. "In the forest past the village Glymwode live my old father and mother. He is a woodcutter, and their hut is solitary. When we have butter and cheese to spare, I send it to them by my son Collen and the donkey. Tomorrow morning I will bring you smocks, hats, and shoes, on my way to market. Tomorrow night, an hour after sunset, I will meet you here, at this spot, and you will sleep in the hay. At sunrise Collen will be ready, and you will travel to Glymwode. No one will know of your escape, and you may travel by day; who will connect the Princess Suldrun with three peasants and a donkey? My father and mother will keep you safe until danger is past, and then you shall travel to Troicinet, perhaps by way of Dahaut, a longer road but safer."

Aillas said humbly: "I do not know how to thank you. At least, not until I reach Troicinet, and there I will be able to make my gratitude real."

"No need for gratitude! If I can steal poor Suldrun away from the tyrant Casmir, I will have reward enough. Tomorrow night then, an hour after sunset, I will meet you here!"

Aillas returned to the garden and told Suldrun of Ehirme's arrangements. "So we do not need to skulk like thieves through the night after all."

Tears started from Suldrun's eyes. "My dear faithful Ehirme!

I never fully appreciated her kindness!"

"From Troicinet we will reward her loyalty."

"And we still need gold. I must visit my chambers in Haidion."

"The thought frightens me."

"It is no great matter. In a twinkling I can slip into the palace and out again."

Dusk came to darken the garden. "Now," said Suldrun, "I will go to Haidion."

Aillas rose to his feet. "I must go with you, if only to the palace."

"As you like."

Aillas climbed over the wall, unbarred the postern, and Suldrun passed through. For a moment they stood close to the wall. A half-dozen dim lights showed at various levels of the Pein-hador. The Urquial was vacant in the dusk.

Suldrun looked down along the arcade. "Come."

Through the arches lights twinkled up from Lyonesse Town. The night was warm; the arcades smelled of stone and occasionally a whiff of ammonia, where someone had eased his bladder. At the orangery the fragrance of flower and fruit overcame all else. Above loomed Haidion, with the glow of candles and lamps outlining its windows.

The door into the East Tower showed as a half-oval of deep shadow. Suldrun whispered: "Best that you wait here."

"But what if someone comes?"

"Go back to the orangery and wait there." Suldrun pressed the latch and pushed at the great iron and timber door. With a groan it swung open. Suldrun peered through the crack into the Octagon. She looked back to Aillas. "I'm going in—" From the top of the arcade came the sound of voices and the clatter of footsteps. Suldrun pulled Aillas into the palace. "Come with me then."

The two crossed the Octagon, which was illuminated by a single rack of heavy candles. To the left an arch opened on the the Long Gallery; stairs ahead rose to the upper levels.

The Long Gallery was vacant for its whole length. From the Respondency came the sound of voices lilting and laughing in gay conversation. Suldrun took Aillas' arm. "Come."

They ran up the stairs and in short order stood outside Suldrun's chambers. A massive lock joined a pair of hasps riveted into stone and wood.

Aillas examined the lock and the door, and gave a few halfhearted twists to the lock. "We can't get in. The door is too strong."

Suldrun took him along the hall to another door, this without a lock. "A bed-chamber, for noble maidens who might be visiting me." She opened the door, listened. No sound. The room smelled of sachet and unguents, with an unpleasant overtone of soiled garments.

Suldrun whispered: "Someone sleeps here, but she is away at her revels."

They crossed the room to the window. Suldrun eased open the casement. "You must wait here. I've come this way many times when I wanted to avoid Dame Boudetta."

Aillas looked dubiously toward the door. "I hope no one comes in."

"If so, you must hide in the clothes-press, or under the bed. I won't be long." She slid out the window, edged along the wide stone coping to her old chamber. She pushed at the casement, forced it open, then jumped down to the floor. The room smelled of dust and long days of emptiness, in sunlight and rain. A trace of perfume still hung in the air, a melancholy recollection of years gone by, and tears came to Suldrun's eyes.

She went to the chest where she had stored her possessions. Nothing had been disturbed. She found the secret drawer and pulled it open; within, so her fingers told her, were those oddments and ornaments, precious gems, gold and silver which had come into her possession: mostly gifts from visiting kindred; neither Casmir nor Sollace had showered gifts upon their daughter.

Suldrun tied the valuables into a scarf. She went to the window and bade farewell to the chamber. Never would she set foot in there again: of this she felt certain.

She returned through the window, pulled right the casement and returned to Aillas.

They crossed the dark room, Opened the door a crack, then stepped out into the dim corridor. Tonight, of all nights, the palace was busy; many notables were on hand, and up from the Octagon came the sound of voices and the two could not effect the quick departure upon which they had planned. They looked at each other with wide eyes and pounding hearts.

Aillas uttered a soft curse. "So now: we're trapped."

"No!" whispered Suldrun. "We'll go down the back stairs.

Don't worry; one way or another we'll escape! Come!" They ran light-footed along the corridor, and so began a thrilling game which dealt them a series of frights and startlements and had been no part of their expectations. Here and there they ran, gliding on soft feet along old corridors, dodging from chamber to chamber, shrinking back into shadows, peering around corners: from the Respondency into the Chamber of Mirrors, up a spiral staircase to the old observatory, across the roof into a high parlor, where young noble-folk held their trysts, then down a service stairs to a long back corridor which gave on a musicians' gallery, overlooking the Hall of Honors.

Candles in the wall sconces were alight; the hall had been made ready for a ceremonial event, perhaps later in the evening; now the hall stood empty.

Stairs led down into a closet which gave on the Mauve Parlor, so-called for the mauve silk upholstery of its chairs and couches: a splendid room with ivory and snuff-colored paneling and a vivid emerald green rug. Aillas and Suldrun ran quietly to the door, where they looked out into the Long Gallery, at this moment empty of human occupancy.

"It's not far now," said Suldrun. "First we'll make for the Hall of Honors, then, if no one appears, we'll make for the Octagon and out the door."

With a last look right and left, the two ran to the arched alcove in which hung the doors into the Hall of Honors. Suldrun looked back the way they had come, and clutched Aillas' arm. "Someone came out of the library. Quick, inside."

They slipped through the doors into the Hall of Honors. They stood wide-eyed, face to face, holding their breaths. "Who was it?" Aillas whispered.

"I think it was the priest Umphred." "Perhaps he didn't see us."

"Perhaps not... If he did he will be sure to investigate. Come; to the back room!" "I see no back room!"

"Behind the arras. Quick! He's just outside the door!" They ran the length of the hall and ducked behind the hanging. Peering through the crack, Aillas saw the far door ease open: slowly, slowly. The portly figure of Brother Umphred was a dark stencil against the lights of the Long Gallery.

For a moment Brother Umphred stood motionless, save for quick shakes of the head. He seemed to give a cluck of puzzlement and came forward into the room, looking right and left.

Suldrun went to the back wall. She found the iron rod and pushed it into the lock-holes.

Aillas asked in astonishment: "What are you doing?"

"Umphred may very well know about this back room. He won't know this other."

The door opened, releasing a suffusion of green-purple light. Suldrun whispered: "If he comes any closer we'll hide in here."

Aillas, standing by the crack, said, "No. He's turning back... He's leaving the hall. Suldrun?"

"I'm in here. It's where the king, my father, keeps covert his private magic. Come look!"

Aillas went to the doorway, glanced gingerly right and left.

"Don't be alarmed," said Suldrun. "I've been in here before. The little imp is a skak; he's closed in his bottle. I'm sure he'd prefer freedom, but I fear his spite. The mirror is Persilian; it speaks in season. The cow's horn yields either fresh milk or hydromel, depending upon how one holds it."

Aillas came slowly forward. The skak glared in annoyance. Colored light-motes caught in tubes jerked in excitement. A gargoyle mask hanging high in the shadows turned down a dyspeptic sneer.

Aillas spoke in alarm: "Come! before we fall afoul of these things!"

Suldrun said, "Nothing has ever done me harm. The mirror knows my name and speaks to me!"

"Magic voices are things of bane! Come! We must leave the palace!"

"One moment, Aillas. The mirror has spoken kindly; perhaps it will do so again. Persilian?"

From the mirror came a melancholy voice: "Who calls ‘Persilian'?"

"It is Suldrun! You spoke to me before and called me by name. Here is my lover, Aillas!"

Persilian uttered a groan, then sang in a voice deep and plangent, very slowly so that each word was distinct.

Aillas knew a moonless tide;

Suldrun saved him death.

They joined their souls in wedlock strong

To give their son his breath.

Aillas: choose from many roads; Each veers through toil and blood. But still this night you must be wed To seal your fatherhood.

Long have I served King Casmir; He asked me questions three. Yet never will he speak the rote to break me full and free.

Aillas, you must take me now, and hide me all alone; By Suldrun's tree, there shall I dwell Beneath the sitting-stone.

Aillas, as if moving in a dream, reached his hands to Persilian's frame. He pulled it free of the metal peg which held it to the wall. Aillas held up the mirror and asked in puzzlement: "How, this very night, can we be wed?"

Persilian's voice, richly full, issued from the mirror: "You have stolen me from Casmir; I am yours. This is your first question. You may ask two more. If you ask a fourth, I am free." "Very well; as you wish it. So how will we be wed?" "Return to the garden; the way is safe. There your marriage bonds shall be forged; see to it that they are strong and true. Quick, go now; time presses! You must be gone before Haidion is bolted tight for the night!"

With no more ado Suldrun and Aillas departed the secret room, closing tight the door on the seep of green-purple light. Suldrun looked through the crack in the hangings; the Hall of Honors was empty save for the fifty-four chairs whose personalities had loomed so massively over her childhood. They seemed now shrunken and old and some of their magnificence had gone; still Suldrun felt their brooding contemplation as she and Aillas ran down the hall.

The Long Gallery was empty; the two ran to the Octagon and out into the night. They started up the arcade, then made a hurried detour into the orangery while a quartet of palace guards came stamping, clanking and cursing down from the Urquial. The steps faded into quiet. Moonlight through the arched intervals cast a succession of pale shapes, alternately silver-gray and darkest black, into the arcade. Across Lyonesse Town lamps yet flickered, but no sound reached the palace. Suldrun and Aillas slipped from the orangery, ran up under the arcade and so through the postern into the old garden. Aillas brought Persilian from under his tunic. "Mirror, I have put a question and I will be sure to put no more until need arises. Now I will not ask how I must hide you, as you directed; still, if you wished to enlarge upon your previous instructions, I will listen."

Persilian spoke: "Hide me now, Aillas, hide me now, down by the old lime tree. Under the sitting-stone is a crevice. Hide as well the gold you carry, quick as quick can be."

The two descended to the chapel. Aillas went on down the path to the old lime tree; he lifted the sitting-stone and found a crevice into which he placed Persilian and the bag of gold and gems.

Suldrun went to the door of the chapel, where she paused to wonder at the candleglow from within.

She pushed open the door. Across the room sat Brother Umphred, dozing at the table. His eyes opened; he looked at Suldrun.

"Suldrun! You have returned at last! Ah, Suldrun, sweet and wanton! You have been up to mischief! What do you do away from your little domain?"

Suldrun stood silent in dismay. Brother Umphred lifted his portly torso and came forward, smiling a winsome smile, eyelids half-closed, so that his eyes seemed a trifle askew. He took Suldrun's limp hands. "Dearest child! Tell me, where have you been?"

Suldrun tried to draw back, but Brother Umphred tightened his grip. "I went to the palace for a cloak and a gown... Let go my hands."

But Brother Umphred only pulled her closer. His breathing came faster and his face showed a rosy-pink flush. "Suldrun, prettiest of all the earth's creatures! Do you know that I saw you dancing along the corridors with one of the palace lads? I asked myself, can this be the pure Suldrun, the chaste Suldrun, so pensive and demure? I told myself: impossible! But perhaps she is ardent after all!"

"No, no," breathed Suldrun. She jerked to pull away. "Please let me go."

Brother Umphred would not release her. "Be kind, Suldrun! I am a man of noble spirit, still I am not indifferent to beauty! Long, dearest Suldrun, have I yearned to taste your sweet nectar, and remember, my passion is invested in the sanctity of the church! So now, my dearest child, whatever tonight's mischief, ‘ it will only have warmed your blood. Embrace me, my golden delight, my sweet mischief, my sly mock-purity!" Brother Umphred bore her down to the couch.

Aillas appeared in the doorway. Suldrun saw him and motioned him to stand back, out of sight. She drew up her knees, and squirmed away from Brother Umphred. "Priest, my father shall hear of your acts!"

"He cares nothing what happens to you," said Brother I Umphred thickly. "Now be easy! Or else I must enforce our congress by means of pain."

Aillas could constrain himself no longer. He stepped forward and dealt Brother Umphred a blow to the side of his head, to send him tumbling to the floor. Suldrun said in distress: "Better, Aillas, had you remained away."

"And allowed his beastly lust? First I would kill him! In fact, I will kill him now, for his audacity."

Brother Umphred dragged himself back against the wall, eyes glistening in the candlelight.

Suldrun said hesitantly, "No, Aillas, I don't want his death."

"He will report us to the king."

Brother Umphred cried out: "No, never! I hear a thousand secrets; all are sacred to me!"

Suldrun said thoughtfully. "He will witness our wedlock, he will marry us by the Christian ceremony which is as lawful as any other."

Brother Umphred struggled to his feet, blurting incoherent phrases.

Aillas told him, "Marry us, then, since you are a priest, and do it properly."

Brother Umphred took time to settle his cassock and compose himself. "Marry you? That is not possible."

"Certainly it is possible," said Suldrun. "You have made marriages among the servants."

"In the chape at Haidion."

"This is a chapel. You sanctified it yourself."

"It has now been profaned. In any case, I can bring the sacraments only to baptized Christians."

"Then baptize us and quickly!"

Brother Umphred smilingly shook his head. "First you must believe truly and become catechumens. And further, King Casmir would be rageful; he would take vengeance on us all!"

Aillas picked up a stout length of driftwood. "Priest, this cudgel supersedes King Casmir. Marry us now, or I will break your head."

Suldrun took his arm. "No, Aillas! We will marry in the manner of the folk, and he shall witness; then there shall be no talk of who is a Christian and who is not."

Brother Umphred again demurred. "I cannot be a party to your pagan rite."

"You must," said Aillas.

The two stood by the table and chanted the peasant litany of wedlock:

"Witness, all, how we two take the vows of marriage! By this morsel, which together we eat."

The two divided a crust of bread and ate together.

"By this water, which together we drink."

The two drank water from the same cup.

"By this fire, which warms us both."

The two passed their hands through the flame of the candle.

"By the blood which we mingle."

With a thin bodkin Aillas pricked Suldrun's finger, then his own, and joined the droplets of blood.

"By the love which binds our hearts together."

The two kissed, smiled.

"So we engage in solemn wedlock, and now declare ourselves man and wife, in accordance with the laws of man and the benevolent grace of Nature."

Aillas took up pen, ink and a sheet of parchment. "Write, priest! Tonight on this date I have witnessed the marriage of Suldrun and Aillas,' and sign your name."

With shaking hands Brother Umphred pushed away the pen. "I fear the wrath of King Casmir!"

"Priest, fear me more!"

In anguish Brother Umphred wrote as he was instructed. "Now let me go my way!"

"So that you may hurry to tell all to King Casmir?" Aillas shook his head. "No."

"Fear nothing!" cried Brother Umphred. "I am silent as the grave! I know a thousand secrets!"

"Swear!" said Suldrun. "Down on your knees. Kiss the sacred book you carry in your pouch, and swear that, by your hope of salvation and by your fear of perpetual Hell, that you will reveal nothing of what you have seen and heard and done tonight."

Brother Umphred, now swearing and ashen-faced, looked from one to the other. Slowly he went to his knees, kissed the book of gospels and swore his oath.

He struggled to his feet. "I have witnessed, I have sworn; it is my right to now depart!"

"No," said Aillas somberly. "I do not trust you. I fear that spite may overwhelm your honor, and so destroy us. It is a chance I cannot accept."

Brother Umphred was momentarily speechless with indignation. "But I have sworn by everything holy!"

"And so, as easily, you might forswear them and so be purged of the sin. Should I kill you in cold blood?"

"No!"

"Then I must do something else with you."

The three stood staring at each other, frozen a moment in time. Aillas stirred. "Priest, wait here, and do not try to leave, on pain of good strokes of the cudgel, as we shall be just outside the door."

Aillas and Suldrun went out into the night, to halt a few yards from the chapel door. Aillas spoke in a husky half-whisper, for fear Brother Umphred might have his ear pressed to the door. "The priest cannot be trusted."

"I agree," said Suldrun. "He is quick as an eel."

"Still, I cannot kill him. We can't tie him or immure him, for Ehirme to tend, since then her help would become known. I can think of a single plan. We must part. At this moment I will take him from the garden. We will proceed east. No one will trouble to notice us; we are not fugitives. I will make sure that he neither escapes nor cries out for succor: a vexing and tedious task, but it must be done. In a week or two I will leave him while he sleeps; I will make my way to Glymwode and seek you out, and all will be as we planned."

Suldrun put her arms around Aillas and laid her head on his chest. "Must we be parted?"

"There is no other way to be secure, save killing the man dead, which I cannot do in cold blood. I will take a few pieces of gold; you take the rest, and Persilian as well. Tomorrow, an hour after sunset, go to Ehirme and she will send you to her father's hut, and there shall I seek you out. Go you now to the lime tree, and bring me back a few small trinkets of gold, to trade for food and drink. I'll stay to guard the priest."

Suldrun ran down the path and a moment later returned with the gold. They went to the chapel. Brother Umphred stood by the table, looking morosely into the fire.

"Priest," said Aillas, "you and I are to make a journey. Turn your back, if you will; I must bind your arms so that you perform no unseasonable antics. Obey me and you will come to no harm."

"What of my convenience?" blurted Brother Umphred.

"You should have considered that before you came here tonight. Turn around, doff your cassock and put your arms behind you."

Instead, Brother Umphred sprang at Aillas and struck him with the cudgel he likewise had taken from the wood-pile.

Aillas stumbled back; Brother Umphred sent Suldrun reeling. He ran from the chapel, up the path, with Aillas after him, through the postern and out onto the Urquial, bellowing at the top of his voice: "Guards to me! Help! Treason! Murder! Help! To me! Seize the traitor!"

Up from the arcade trooped a company of four, the same which Aillas and Suldrun had avoided by stepping into the orangery. They ran forward to seize both Umphred and Aillas. "What goes on here? Why this horrid outcry?"

"Call King Casmir!" bawled Brother Umphred. "Waste not an instant! This vagabond has troubled the Princess Suldrun: a terrible deed! Bring King Casmir, I say! On the run!"

King Casmir was brought to the scene, and Brother Umphred excitedly made an explanation. "I saw them in the palace! I recognized the princess, and I have also seen this man; he is a vagabond of the streets! I followed them here and, imagine the audacity, they wanted me to marry them by the Christian rite! I refused with all spirit and warned them of their crime!"

Suldrun, standing by the postern, came forward. "Sire, be not angry with us. This is Aillas; we are husband and wife. We love each other dearly; please give us leave to live our lives in tranquility. If you so choose, we will go from Haidion and never return."

Brother Umphred, still excited by his role in the affair, would not be still. "They threatened me; I am almost bereft of reason through their malice! They forced me to witness their wedlock! If I had not signed to the ceremony they would have broken my head!"

Casmir spoke icily: "Silence, enough! I will deal with you later." He gave an order: "Bring me Zerling!" He turned to Suldrun. In times of rage or excitement Casmir kept his voice always even and neutral, and he did so now. "You seem to have disobeyed my command. Whatever your reason it is far from sufficient."

Suldrun said softly: "You are my father; have you no concern for my happiness?"

"I am King of Lyonesse. Whatever my one-time feelings, they were dispelled by the disregard for my wishes, of which you know. Now I find you consorting with a nameless bumpkin. So be it! My anger is not diminished. You shall return to the garden, and there abide. Go!"

Shoulders sagging, Suldrun went to the postern, through, and down into the garden. King Casmir turned to appraise Aillas. "Your presumption is amazing. You shall have ample time to reflect upon it. Zerling! Where is Zerling?"

"Sire, I am here." A squat slope-shouldered man, bald, with a brown beard and round staring eyes, came forward: Zerling, King Casmir's Chief Executioner, the most dreaded man of Lyonesse Town next to Casmir himself. King Casmir spoke a word into his ear. Zerling put a halter around Aillas' neck and led him across the Urquial, then around and behind the Peinhador. By the light of the half-moon the halter was removed and a rope was tied around Aillas' chest. He was lifted over a stone verge and lowered into a hole: down, down, down. Finally his feet struck the bottom. In a succinct gesture of finality, the rope was dropped in after him.

There was no sound in the darkness. The air smelied of dank stone with a taint of human decay. For five minutes Aillas stood staring up the shaft. Then he groped to one of the walls: a distance of perhaps seven feet. His foot encountered a hard round object. Reaching down he discovered a skull. Moving to the side, Aillas sat down with his back to the wall. After a period, fatigue weighted his eyelids; he became drowsy. He fought off sleep as best he could for fear of awakening... At last he slept. He awoke, and his fears were justified. Upon recollection he cried out in disbelief and anguish. How could such tragedy be possible? Tears flooded his eyes; he bent his head into his arms and wept.

An hour passed, while he sat hunched in pure misery.

Light seeped down the shaft; he was able to discern the dimensions of his cell. The floor was a circular area about fourteen feet in diameter, flagged with heavy slabs of stone. The stone walls rose vertically six feet, then funneled up to the central shaft, which entered the cell about twelve feet over the floor. Against the far wall bones and skulls had been piled; Aillas counted ten skulls, and others perhaps were hidden under the pile of bones. Near to where he sat lay another skeleton: evidently the last occupant of the cell.

Aillas rose to his feet. He went to the center of the chamber and looked up the shaft. High above he saw a disk of blue sky, so airy, windswept and free that again tears came to his eyes.

He considered the shaft. The diameter was about five feet; it was cased in rough stone and rose sixty or even seventy feet— exact judgment was difficult—above the point where it entered the chamber.

Aillas turned away. On the walls previous occupants had scratched names and sad mottos. The most recent occupant, on the wall above his skeleton, had scratched a schedule of names, to the number of twelve, ranked in a column. Aillas, too dispirited to feel interest in anything but his own woes, turned away.

The cell was unfurnished. The rope lay in a loose heap under the shaft. Near the bone pile he noticed the rotted remains of other ropes, garments, ancient leather buckles and straps.

The skeleton seemed to watch him from the empty eye-sockets of its skull. Aillas dragged it to the bone pile, and turned the skull so that it could see only the wall. Then he sat down. An inscription on the wall opposite caught his attention: "Newcomer! Welcome to our brotherhood!"

Aillas grunted and turned his attention elsewhere. So began the period of his incarceration.