They fought a very good fight, as doubtless the dead were telling eachother while they passed from that red stair to such rest as they hadwon. They had fought a very good fight and it was hard to say which haddone the best, Hugh's white sword or Dick's grey axe. And now, unwoundedstill save for a bruise or two, they stood there in the moonlight uponthe stark edge of the tall tower, the foe in front and black spacebeneath. There they stood leaning on axe and sword and drawing theirbreath in great sobs, those two great harvestmen who that day had toiledso hard in the rich fields of death.
For a while the ever-gathering crowd of their assailants remained stillstaring at them. Then the leaders began to whisper to each other, forthey scarcely seemed to dare to talk aloud.
"What shall we do?" asked one. "These are not men. No men could havefought as they have fought us for seven days and at last have slain uslike sparrows in a net and themselves remained unhurt."
"No," answered another, "and no mortal archer could send his shaftthrough the bodies of three. Still it is finished now unless they findwings and fly away. So let us take them."
"Yes, yes," broke in Grey Dick with his hissing laugh, "come and takeus, you curs of Avignon. Having our breath again, we are ready to betaken," and he lifted his axe and shook it.
"Seize them," shouted the leader of the French. "Seize them!" echoedthose who poured up the stairs behind.
But there the matter ended, since none could find stomach to face thataxe and sword. So at length they took another counsel.
"Bring bows and shoot them through the legs. Thus we shall bring themliving to their trial," commanded the captain of the men of Avignon. Hewas their fourth captain on that one day, for the other three lay uponthe stairs or in the hall.
Now Hugh and Dick spoke together, few words and swift, as to whetherthey should charge or leap from the wall and have done with it. Whilethey spoke a little cloud floated over the face of the moon, so thatuntil it had gone the French could not see to shoot.
"It's too risky," said Hugh. "If they capture us we must die a death towhich I have no mind. Let us hurl our weapons at them, then leap."
"So be it," whispered Dick. "Do you aim at the captain on the left and Iwill take the other. Ready now! I think one creeps near to us."
"I think so, too," Hugh whispered back, "I felt the touch of hisgarments. Only he seemed to pass us from behind, which cannot be."
The cloud passed, and once again they were bathed in silver light. Itshowed the men of Avignon already bending their bows; it showed Hugh andGrey Dick lifting axe and sword to hurl them. But between them and theirmark it showed also a figure that they knew well, a stern and terriblefigure, wearing a strange cap of red and yellow and a cape of rich,black fur.
"O God of Heaven! 'tis Murgh the Helper," gasped Hugh.
"Ay, Murgh the Fire, Murgh the Sword," said Dick, adding quietly, "itis true I was wondering whether he would prove as good as his word. Looknow, look! they see him also!"
See him they did, indeed, and for a moment there was silence on thatcrowded tower top where stood at least a score of men, while theirfellows packed the hall and stair below by hundreds. All stared atMurgh, and Murgh stared back at them with his cold eyes. Then a voicescreamed:
"Satan! Satan come from hell to guard his own! Death himself is withyou! Fly, men of Avignon, fly!"
Small need was there for this command. Already, casting down their bows,those on the tower top were rushing to the mouth of the stair, and,since it was blocked with men, using their swords upon them to hew aroad. Now those below, thinking that it was the English wizards who slewthem, struck back.
Presently all that stair and the crowded hall below, black as the mouthof the pit, for such lights as still burned soon were swept away, rangwith the screams and curses and stifled groans of the trodden down ordying. In the pitchy darkness brother smote brother, friend trampledout the life of friend, till the steep steps were piled high and thedoorways blocked with dead. So hideous were the sounds indeed, thatHugh and Grey Dick crossed themselves, thinking that hell had cometo Avignon, or Avignon sunk down to hell. But Murgh only folded hiswhite-gloved hands upon his breast and smiled.
At length, save for the moaning of those hurt men who still lived, thedreadful tumult sank to silence. Then Murgh turned and spoke in his slowand icy voice:
"You were about to seek me in the fosse of this high tower, were younot, Hugh de Cressi and Richard Archer? A foolish thought, in truth, anda sinful, so sinful that it would have served you well if I had let youcome. But your strait was sore and your faith was weak, and I had nosuch command. Therefore I have come to others whose names were writtenin my book. Ay, and being half human after all--for does not your creedtell you that I was born of Sin? I rejoice that it is given to me toprotect those who would have protected _me_ when _I_ seemed to standhelpless in the hands of cruel men. Nay, thank me not. What need have Iof your thanks, which are due to God alone! And question me not, for whyshould I answer your questions, even if I know those answers? Only do mybidding. This night seek whom you will in Avignon, but to-morrow ere thedawn ride away, for we three must meet again at a place appointed beforethis winter's snows are passed."
"O dread lord of Death, one thing, only one," began Hugh.
But Murgh held up his white-gloved hand and replied:
"Have I not said that I answer no questions? Now go forth and follow thepromptings of your heart till we meet again."
Then gliding to the head of the stair he vanished in the shadow.
"Say, what shall we do?" asked Hugh in amazed voice.
"It matters little what we do or leave undone, master, seeing that weare fore-fated men whom, as I think, none can harm until a day that willnot dawn to-morrow nor yet awhile. Therefore let us wash ourselves andeat and borrow new garments, if we can find any that are not soiled,and then, if the horses are still unharmed, mount and ride from thisaccursed Avignon for England."
"Nay, Dick, since first we must learn whether or no we leave friendsbehind us here."
"Ay, master, if you will. But since yonder Murgh said nothing of them,it was in my mind that they are either dead or fled."
"Not dead, I pray, Dick. Oh, I am sure, not dead, and I left living!When Red Eve and I met, Murgh had been with her and promised that shewould recover and be strong," answered Hugh bravely, although there wasa note of terror in his voice.
"Red Eve has other foes in Avignon besides the pest," muttered GreyDick, adding: "still, let us have faith; it is a good friend to man. Didnot yonder Helper chide us for our lack of it?"
They forced a way down the dead-cumbered tower stair, crawling throughthe darkness over the bodies of the fallen. They crossed the hall thatalso was full of dead, and of wounded whose pitiful groans echoed fromthe vaulted roof, and climbed another stair to their chamber in thegateway tower. Here from a spark of fire that still smouldered on thehearth, they lit the lamps of olive-oil and by the light of them washedoff the stains of battle, and refreshed themselves with food and wine.These things done, Dick returned to the hall and presently broughtthence two suits of armour and some cloaks which he had taken eitherfrom the walls or from off the slain. In these they disguised themselvesas best they could, as de Noyon had disguised himself at Crecy.
Then, having collected a store of arrows whereof many lay about, theydeparted by the back entrance. The great front doorway was so chokedwith corpses that they could not pass it, since here had raged the lastfearful struggle to escape. Going to the little stable-yard, where theyfound their horses unharmed in the stalls, although frightened by thetumult and stiff from lack of exercise, they fed and saddled them andled them out. So presently they looked their last upon the Bride's Towerthat had sheltered them so well.
"It has served our turn," said Hugh, glancing back at it from the otherside of the deserted square, "but oh, I pray heaven that we may neversee that charnel-house again!"
As he spoke a figure appeared from the shadow of a doorway, and rantoward them. Thinking it was th
at of some foe, Dick lifted his axe tocut him down, whereon a voice cried in English:
"Hold! I am David!"
"David!" exclaimed Hugh. "Then thanks be to God, for know, we thoughtyou dead these many days."
"Ay, sir," answered the young man, "as I thought you. The rumour reachedthe Jews, among whom I have been hiding while I recovered of my hurts,that the Mad Monk and his fellows had stormed the tower and killed youboth. Therefore I crept out to learn for myself. Now I have found youby your voices, who never again hoped to look upon you living," and hebegan to sob in his relief and joy.
"Come on, lad," said Grey Dick kindly, "this is no place for greetings."
"Whither go you, sir?" asked David as he walked forward alongside of thehorses.
"To seek that house where we saw Sir Andrew Arnold and the lady Eve,"answered Hugh, "if by any chance it can be found."
"That is easy, sir," said David. "As it happens, I passed it not muchmore than an hour ago and knew it again."
"Did you see any one there?" asked Hugh eagerly.
"Nay, the windows were dark. Also the Jew guiding me said he had heardthat all who dwelt in that house were dead of the plague. Still of thismatter he knew nothing for certain."
Hugh groaned, but only answered:
"Forward!"
As they went David told them his story. It seemed that when he wasstruck down in the square where the crazy friar preached, and like tobe stabbed and trampled to death, some of the Jews dragged him into theshadow and rescued him. Afterward they took him to a horrid and squalidquarter called La Juiverie, into which no Christian dare enter. Here helay sick of his hurts and unable to get out until that very afternoon;the widow Rebecca, whom they had saved, nursing him all the while.
"Did you hear aught of us?" asked Dick.
"Ay, at first that you were holding Dead Bride's Tower bravely. So assoon as I might, I came to join you there if I could win in and youstill lived. But they told me that you had fallen at last."
"Ah!" said Dick, "well, as it chances it was not we who fell, but thattale is long. Still, David, you are a brave lad who would have come todie with us, and my master will thank you when he can give his mind tosuch things. Say, did you hear aught else?"
"Ay, Dick; I heard two days ago that the French lord, Cattrina, whom SirHugh was to have fought at Venice, had left Avignon, none knew why orwhither he went."
"Doubtless because of the plague and he wished to go where there wasnone," answered Dick.
But Hugh groaned again, thinking to himself that Acour would scarcelyhave left Avignon if Eve were still alive within its walls.
After this they went on in silence, meeting very few and speaking withnone, for the part of the great city through which they passed seemed tobe almost deserted. Indeed in this quarter the pest was so fearfulthat all who remained alive and could do so had fled elsewhere, leavingbehind them only the sick and those who plundered houses.
"One thing I forgot to say," said David presently. "The Jews told methat they had certain information that the notary knave Basil was paidby the lord Cattrina to lead us to that square where the fires burned inorder that we might be murdered there. Further, our death was to be thesignal for the massacre of all the Jews, only, as it chanced, their planwent awry."
"As will Basil's neck if ever I meet him again," muttered Grey Dickbeneath his breath. "Lord! what fools we were to trust that man. Well,we've paid the price and, please God, so shall he."
They turned the corner and rode down another street, till presentlyDavid said:
"Halt! yonder is the house. See the cognizance above the gateway!"
Hugh and Dick leapt from their horses, the latter bidding David leadthem into the courtyard and hold them there. Then they entered thehouse, of which the door was ajar, and by the shine of the moon thatstruggled through the window-places, crept up the stairs and passagestill they reached those rooms where Sir Andrew and Eve had lodged.
"Hist!" said Dick, and he pointed to a line of light that showed beneaththe closed door.
Hugh pushed it gently and it opened a little. They looked through thecrack, and within saw a man in a dark robe who was seated at a tablecounting out gold by the light of a lamp. Just then he lifted his head,having felt the draught of air from the open door. It was the notaryBasil!
Without a word they entered the room, closing and bolting the doorbehind them. Then Dick leapt on Basil as a wolf leaps, and held him fat,while Hugh ran past him and threw wide the door of that chamber in whichEve had lain sick. It was empty. Back he came again and in a terriblevoice, said:
"Now, Sir Notary, where are the lady Eve and Sir Andrew her guardian?"
"Alas, Sir Knight," began the knave in a quavering voice, "both of themare dead."
"What!" cried Hugh supporting himself against the wall, for at thisterrible news his knees trembled beneath him, "have you or your patronCattrina murdered them?"
"Murdered them, Sir Knight! I do murder? I, a Christian and a man ofpeace! Never! And the noble lord of Cattrina, Count de Noyon! Why, hewished to marry the lady, not to murder her. Indeed he swore that shewas his wife."
"So you know all these things, do you, villain?" said Grey Dick, shakinghim as a terrier shakes a rat.
"Sir Knight," went on the frightened fellow, "blame me not for the actsof God. He slew these noble persons, not I; I myself saw the lovely ladycarried from this house wrapped in a red cloak."
"So you were in the house, were you?" said Grey Dick, shaking him again."Well, whither did they carry her, thief of the night?"
"To the plague pit, good sir; where else in these times?"
Now Hugh groaned aloud, his eyes closed, and he seemed as though he wereabout to fall. Grey Dick, noting it, for a moment let go of the notaryand turned as though to help his master. Like a flash Basil drew adagger from under his dirty robe and struck at Dick's back. The blow waswell aimed, nor could an unprotected man on whom it fell have escapeddeath. But although Basil did not see it because of Dick's long cloak,beneath this cloak he wore the best of mail, and on that mail theslender dagger broke, its point falling harmless to the ground. Nextinstant Dick had him again in his iron grip. Paying no further heed toHugh, who had sunk to the floor a huddled heap, he began to speak intothe lawyer's ear in his slow, hissing voice.
"Devil," he said, "whether or no you murdered Red Eve and Sir AndrewArnold the saint, I cannot say for certain, though doubtless I shalllearn in time. At least a while ago you who had taken our money, stroveto murder both of us, or cause us to be torn in pieces upon yondersquare where the fires burned. Now, too, you have striven to murder mewith that bodkin of yours, not knowing, fool, that I am safe from allmen. Well, say your prayers, since you too journey to the plague pit,for so the gatherers of the dead will think you died."
"Sir," gasped the terrified wretch, "spare me and I will speak----"
"More lies," hissed Dick into his ear. "Nay, go tell them to the fatherof lies, for I have no time to waste in hearkening to them. Take yourpay, traitor!"
A few seconds later Basil lay dead upon the floor.
Grey Dick looked at him. Kneeling down, he thrust his hands into theman's pockets, and took thence the gold that he had been hiding awaywhen they came upon him, no small sum as it chanced.
"Our own come back with interest," he said with one of his silentlaughs, "and we shall need monies for our faring. Why, here's a writingalso which may tell those who can read it something."
He cast it on the table, then turned to his master, who was awakeningfrom his swoon.
Dick helped him to his feet.
"What has passed?" asked Hugh in a hollow voice.
"Murgh!" answered Dick, pointing to the dead man on the floor.
"Have you killed him, friend?"
"Ay, sure enough, as he strove to kill me," and again he pointed, thistime to the broken dagger.
Hugh made no answer, only seeing the writing on the table, took it up,and began to read like one who knows not what he does. Presently h
iseyes brightened and he said:
"What does this mean, I wonder. Hearken."
"Rogue, you have cheated me as you cheat all men and now I follow herwho has gone. Be sure, however, that you shall reap your reward in dueseason, de Noyon."
"I know not," said Dick, "and the interpreter is silent," and he kickedthe body of Basil. "Perhaps I was a little over hasty who might havesqueezed the truth out of him before the end."
"'Her who is gone,'" reflected Hugh aloud. "'Tis Red Eve who is gone andde Noyon is scarcely the man to seek her among passed souls. Moreover,the Jews swear that he rode from Avignon two days ago. Come, Dick, letthat carrion lie, and to the plague pit."