Merlin's Ring Read online

  This clever application of a simple fact of physics enabled many an ancient hill fort to withstand siege where | there were no wells or other water sources available. Now it brought relief to this hard-pressed pair.

  It seemed to be the only pleasure they were to share. The girl kept her face resolutely turned away from her rescuer. She held her chin high as though she was angry, although Gwalchmai could not guess why.

  It would appear that she regretted being rescued. He wondered if she- were afraid of him. Perhaps, like some women, she would have welcomed capture. Perhaps she ran away only to be pursued.

  He had known girls hi his own country who expected to be chased. The customs of this people might be the same. Yet she had killed at least one man!

  He approached her somewhat diffidently. She turned her back on him and gazed out across the meadow,

  “Shall we go down and get a horse for you? I must stay here and await friends.”

  She appeared indifferent. “If you choose. I have nowhere to go. It is all one to me.”

  “Have you no friends then? Where were you going?”

  “I thought I had one, a long time ago, but he played me false and now I have none.”

  “Then stay here with me. You can go on with us, when my friends arrive. I will go down and see if there is any food among the dead.”

  “No!” she cried and put her hand out to stop him; Then, as though she recollected herself—“If you like, but be careful. Some may be alive or the others may come back.”

  He chuckled. “No man I struck is alive.” He patted Ex-calibur. “This is a great killer. I wish it were mine.”

  He went through the pouches of the slain and took what they had. There was not very much. A little dried meat; some bread made of wheat, which he had never before tasted; a small pot of honey carried by a soldier with a sweet tooth.

  They shared the food and relaxed. It was almost evening and Flann and Thyra had not come. Gwalchmai began to get worried. Where could they be? The sooner they ar-“^ rived, ^the sooner he would be able to talk to someone i besides this angry, quiet girl.

  He was not loquacious himself, but this silent resentment she had for his presence beside her, bothered him. He had no great vanity either, but he did not like to be ignored.

  “This friend of yours—was he your lover?”

  She glared at him and at first he thought she was not going to answer. Thinking better of it, she looked distantly i away over his head and said—hi such a low voice he could hardly hear it, “First my friend, then my lover—finally my husband.”

  “Is he dead?”

  “I told you he was faithless.”

  “Perhaps he was greatly tried and is sorry you have left him. Why do you not go back to him and be safe? Can you not forgive him?”

  She bowed her head. He could not see her eyes, but he felt that he was being mocked.

  “I never deserted him. It was he who left me and had pleasure with another.”

  “Are you going to him now?”

  She shook her head. “If he wants me again, he must come tome.”

  That created a dead end. There seemed no way out of this dilemma He was saddled with her, it appeared A long silence felL

  He cast about for some other subject of conversation. His eyes fell upon the strangely melted stones of the fortification. He pointed at them.

  “I wonder what caused this? What could have created such a terrible—such an intense heat?”

  Her thoughts seemed far away. She glanced at the slag heaps, absently. “Oh, that? This is one of the vitrified forts. There are many in this group of isles. A long time ago, the Corialci stole some of our dyro-blasts and shot down several of the swan-ships.

  “When the whole nation rose in armed rebellion, Atlantis sent in a fleet of Vimanas and the rays of our ships destroyed their forts and melted their walls. They were very reckless—too brave for their own good!”

  She suddenly realized what she was saying and clapped her hand to her mouth. Then she began to laugh. Her eyes were full of mischief.

  Gwalchmai’s mouth had fallen open. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. “Corenice!”

  “You great fooll” She covered his face with kisses. Then she pushed him away, pretending to be indignant stilL

  “I ought to make you suffer a little longer, you deceitful wanderer!”

  “Wait now,” he protested. “I have never played you false. Where were you last night? Where are Flann and Thyra? What are you doing in this body?”

  “I will answer you in order, if you answer me one question. You say you have been faithful to me. How about

  Gyrene, the nixie? Do you think I do not know what hap-pened in Elveron?“

  “I swear, Corenice, if anything happened that should not have, it was not through my doing. I was drunk with the fumes of the wine, but I did not eat or drink anything, though the elves must have thought me churlish. As for the nixie—she was always teasing me> the same as you were. Just a minute—was that you, Corenice? Were you at that banquet? You puk-wud-jee, Corenice! You were the nixie!”

  Her shoulders quivered hi his clutch. She was laughing so hard that she could not at first speak.

  “So you did not eat or drink anything? How about that drop of Rowan wine you licked off your lip? When you did that you broke the geas Merlin laid upon you. I will tell you where I was during that night you spent hi Elflandl It is not for nothing that I am the only living worshipper of the Spirit of the Wave. We do favors for each other!

  “Through her good offices and influence with the fay, I was invited to the banquet and so could come there without harm.” I spent most of that night hi your—our bed! Are you not my husband?

  “Strange you did not recognize me. I told you long ago, if it must be that I change, you were to know me by gold. You must have seen the gold on my gown!”

  “There was so little of it, I only saw you. Corenice, it was not decent of you to wear such a dress.”

  “You seemed to like it,” she said demurely. “No, wait! Don’t touch me. I am still provoked with you. Because you took that drop of wine and even though I spent much time with you, I had to leave before you could, because a nixie’s body will dry up and blow away if it is out of water too long. So I came back to Man’s World. While I have waited for you, Rann and Thyra have h’ved long lifetimes and have died, and their children and their grandchildren have done the same.

  “The Saxons you thought you would have to fight have been conquered and another people rule Angle-land. To take back your ancient Icing’s sword you must go through Cambria, which is free, into Damnonia, which is not, and thence to the borders of sunken Lyonesse—unless you want to go by sea.

  “Would you like to go alone, since you have managed to* leave me by myself for over a hundred years because you stayed in Elveron after I was forced to leave and live in other bodies?”

  Gwalchmai gritted his teeth.

  “Wife—a man can stand only so much! Would you like to be beaten? I shall surely go and cut myself a willow rod if you say another word!”

  She backed away a few steps. “Very well then, I shall say no more. Yet—I think you should know that if you had let me speak, I would have told you that this is my very own body and no one lives in it with me—and I can do with it whatever I will!”

  He reached for her. “You are angry still? You think I should have known you? You, with your dark skin and your dark hair! You—you shape-changer!”

  “Oh! You do not like this shape? You would prefer a rat perhaps? A spider, maybe? Wait—I will become a toad for you!”

  “If you do, you will know pain! Terrible things will happen, I promise you. Where is the gold this time?”

  She opened wide the front of her gown. Around her slim bare waist, just beneath her perfect breasts, was cinctured Thor’s golden torque. She laughed. Again it was the chime of golden bells that always so enthralled his ears.

  “If you want it, come and get it!”
/>   She began to run, but it was almost dark and she did not run very fast—or very far.

  10 J^ing Once— and King To ‘Be

  They lay in each other’s arms in a soft nest of bracken. B was a beautiful morning and the sun beat down into the Bid fort.

  Small roseleaf clouds swam in an inverted bowl of blue and little breezes stirred the sweet-smelling grass. It was not a day for haste, or immediate decisions. They kissed and looked into each other’s eyes and loved one another.

  After a while, they slept a little, and after waking they lay and talked.

  Gwalchmai thought it would take some time to get accustomed to this new appearance of his dear one. Yet, as he studied her face, he could see something in it of the old Corenice. The expression that her personality had stamped upon Thyra’s features he saw here also.

  She had dark hair; her skin was darker; and she was smaller than Thyra. He had seen only a three-dimensional picture of Corenice in the flesh, taken when she was a living girl, although she had said that the statue she had inhabited, when imprisoned upon the swan-ship of Atlantis, was an exact replica of her.

  This statue, actually a sentient being, made of that wonderful star-metal, orichalcum, had been exquisite. Thyra had been beautiful in her own right and her loveliness enhanced when her body had housed the spirit of Corenice.

  As a seal and as a swan, when Gwalchmai had likewise sojourned in similar forms, he had thought her other avatars were each the most perfect of their kind. At this moment, through his own eyes, again he looked upon a different person, who was now his wife, but she too was as much Corenice as all the others had been.

  As she was now, he saw a different aspect of her character. He had known her as warrior maid, steadfast to her vows, gallant companion, sympathetic to those in sorrow, courageous and honorable. Now he knew her as a playful, mischievous, teasing girl.

  He was by nature dour and taciturn, with a latent strain of savagery and harsh arrogance that he continually had to fight down.

  She provided the counterpart his moods required as balance. This was perfection—this was bliss. He hoped it would never end.

  She yawned and stretched like a sleepy cat and he gazed upon her fondly.

  “I am hungry,” she said. “Is there anything left to eat?”

  “In a little while. We will catch a couple of horses and be on our way. It is a fine day for traveling.”

  “I brought a basket of food for us, with such nice things in it, but I dropped it when the knights came after me.”

  “Those men are far from being knights. No knight would harry a helpless woman as they did.”

  “Oh, I was not so helpless! I had already prayed to Ahuni-i. She would have protected me if you hadn’t.”

  “Then I should have let her. I went to a lot of trouble for nothing, didnt I? All that killing was hard work. Very tiring. Especially when you really did not need me.”

  Her face turned serious. “Never say that again,” she said softly and laid her cheek against his. “You know I shall always need you.”

  “And I you. Tell me, how did you know when to come to meet me?”

  “Well—when I had to leave Elveron in the body of the nixie, whom you did not recognize; it will be’a while before I forgive you for that, you blind one! I left the nixie on the bank of the inlet, where the boat had been, and she went into the water.

  “A big dog was nearby and I inhabited him as the nearest body. I went over to the barrow to look around. The rock had been rolled away, which Flann and Thyra had put back, and the entrance was no longer guarded, for the portal is closed forever.

  “Someone had gone in looking for treasure, but he got none. Getain had taken care of him and he never came out. There were more bones lying about. I had a terrible time keeping the dog away from them. He thought he had found a great treasure!

  “Getain’s bones were all crumbled away with age. They lay in the kist like powder and the torque and your sword was with them.

  “I knew he would not want either again and I was very angry with Thor for the trick he had played on you through that deceitful fay. I had the dog pick up the torque in his mouth and carry it out. I was going to get your sword in the same way and keep it for you, but out of a clear sky lightning struck the barrow and made a hole in the roof.

  “The dog was greatly frightened and I could scarcely control him. He ran and I could only see that he did not drop the torque. We came to a churchyard and I had him dig deep and bury it in holy ground, where Thor had no power.

  “I lived in several bodies after I left the dog. When I found this body, which was alive but empty, I took it. When it was grown, I was told by the Spirit of the Wave that your time in Elveron was almost past. So, on my way here to you, I stopped at the churchyard, dug up the torque, and here it is and here am I. Are you sorry I did not save your sword?”

  “It was a good sword, but it has served its purpose. This one—” he patted Excalibur “—is a better. There are others around here. I will find one and use it, when I give this to its owner. I think we had better be on our way.”

  “Your clothes have served their purpose too. Look at them!”

  It was true. While Gwalchniai’s leather garments had been in contact with his body, the elixir of life he had drunk so long ago had preserved them hi the glacier. In Iceland and in Elveron they had remained whole, though showing increased wear.

  Now they had crumbled away to dust. All he had left that he had brought from Alata was Merlin’s ring, his belt of coins, and his flint hatchet.

  He looked ruefully at the fragments of leather. “The last remembrance of my country. The gift of the People of the Dawn.”

  He stripped the armor off one of the caitiff knights. Linen underwear went on first, leather boots over cross-gartered hose. Next he donned, with Corenice’s help, a loose hauberk of leather covered tightly with sewed metal rings. A sheath hung at his left side, by a baldric slung across his body over the right shoulder. In it he slipped a long Norman sword.

  He drew the hood of the hauberk up over his head, which protected his neck and cheeks with fine meshed links, and upon his head, over this, he fitted a steel helmet with a nasal strip that could be lifted or snapped down.

  Corenice did the same with Gwalchmai’s aid. Soon, having captured mounts, two proud Norman knights cantered out of tüe meadow. Each carried a short lance and wore a round shield upon their backs.

  With nasals down, no one would suspect that one rider was a woman.

  Behind them followed two great destriers, loaded with the remaining armor and equipment of the dead men. Excalibur hung in a second sheath attached to Gwalchmai’s saddle.

  All four horses were magnificent Spanish stallions, of the breed brought over by William the Conqueror. Gwalchmai, with thoughts of obtaining a boat, had been convinced by Corenice that money was necessary. It was a new idea to him. He was completely unfamiliar with the use of money, never having needed to consider that medium of exchange before.

  The suggestion proved wise. The animals and gear purchased a fine boat at the nearest fishing village, with no questions asked. It was provisioned for the two knights without much comment. They swaggered about with hands on sword hilts, glaring at the villagers as though defying them to ask questions.

  A purse of coins was added to make up the score, and when they had put out of harbor the fishermen spat into the water behind them, but it was not till they were well away and not likely to put back that the men cursed and shook their fists at the Norman enemy.

  Gwalchmai and Corenice only laughed. With a good breeze they soon lost sight of land and headed the boat south, well out, to pass by Caernavon Bay and skirt the cape of Braichy Pwll.

  That night they slept on board, at anchor. They rose early. The winds favored them and the weather remained fine. If Thor, the Sailor’s Guide, still bore a grudge, he was biding his time or had scorned to take advantage of such a little boat.

  They passed Cardigan Bay, went do
wn Saint George’s Channel without mishap, but then met storm in the Bristol Channel. There they lost a day by riding it out in harbor, where they stayed on board comfortably, but seasick, rather than risk a landing.

  In ten days of leisurely tripping, they found themselves among the Scilly Isles, the Cassiterides—or Tin Islands—of the Greeks.

  This was Gwalchmai’s destination, for here upon the mainland lay Arthur’s secret tomb and beneath the boat’s keel, as it made its way toward the coast of Damnonia, lay Arthur’s homeland, drowned Avalon. Here also, sunken Lyonesse, from whence came noble Tristram to become Arthur’s knight and to die for love.

  “Here is the place, sweetling, that my father told me about,” said Gwalchmai, pensively. He gazed ahead at the distant headland, jagged and blue with haze. “Often and often I heard from him how he came here with a few survivors from that last battle against the Saxons, bearing ”the still-breathing body of his Dux Bellorum, Arthur, the great War-Chief of Britain.

  “There they stood, appalled to see that while they had marched hither to bring the Imperator to his home, Avalon had been covered by the ocean and nothing showed where we now ride but a sea of mud.

  “Ah, yes, love. Other countries have known the raging flood besides your stately Poseidonis! I remember Flann spoke once of such cities in his own Erin. Skerd and Tir Hudi, both drowned.”

  “I know you are right, but there is more remaining beneath us than there was where you found my ship floating, my husband.”

  Corenice was looking down into the water. Gwalchmai could see nothing.

  “Place your head beneath the water and listen.”

  He leaned over the low side. At first he could hear nothing unusual. He held his breath and went a little deeper. Then, above the slap of the waves against the wood, he heard an unexpected sound.

  There, deep down, stirred by the currents of the sea, ttie sunken bells of Lyonesse were ringing, sweetly faint and far, where sixty submerged villages with their sixty churches lay, peopled now by the mer-f oik and the mackerel

  They sailed on toward the main, borne smoothly by a warm south wind. Around them the fog gathered, shielding them from view as they neared the coast. Through it an accompanying cloud of gulls screamed and dove, for the boat moved in the midst of an immense school of pilchards. The sound of the little fish surfacing was Eke the sound of rain upon the water.