The Wood Beyond the World

  CHAPTER XVI: OF THE KING'S SON AND THE MAID

  But as for Walter, he went out of the house again, and fared slowly overthe woodlawns till he came to another close thicket or brake; he enteredfrom mere wantonness, or that he might be the more apart and hidden, soas to think over his case. There he lay down under the thick boughs, butcould not so herd his thoughts that they would dwell steady in lookinginto what might come to him within the next days; rather visions of thosetwo women and the monster did but float before him, and fear and desireand the hope of life ran to and fro in his mind.

  As he lay thus he heard footsteps drawing near, and he looked between theboughs, and though the sun had just set, he could see close by him a manand a woman going slowly, and they hand in hand; at first he deemed itwould be the King's Son and the Lady, but presently he saw that it wasthe King's Son indeed, but that it was the Maid whom he was holding bythe hand. And now he saw of him that his eyes were bright with desire,and of her that she was very pale. Yet when he heard her begin to speak,it was in a steady voice that she said: "King's Son, thou hast threatenedme oft and unkindly, and now thou threatenest me again, and no lessunkindly. But whatever were thy need herein before, now is there no moreneed; for my Mistress, of whom thou wert weary, is now grown weary ofthee, and belike will not now reward me for drawing thy love to me, asonce she would have done; to wit, before the coming of this stranger.Therefore I say, since I am but a thrall, poor and helpless, betwixt youtwo mighty ones, I have no choice but to do thy will."

  As she spoke she looked all round about her, as one distraught by theanguish of fear. Walter, amidst of his wrath and grief, had wellnighdrawn his sword and rushed out of his lair upon the King's Son. But hedeemed it sure that, so doing, he should undo the Maid altogether, andhimself also belike, so he refrained him, though it were a hard matter.

  The Maid had stayed her feet now close to where Walter lay, some fiveyards from him only, and he doubted whether she saw him not from whereshe stood. As to the King's Son, he was so intent upon the Maid, and sogreedy of her beauty, that it was not like that he saw anything.

  Now moreover Walter looked, and deemed that he beheld something throughthe grass and bracken on the other side of those two, an ugly brown andyellow body, which, if it were not some beast of the foumart kind, mustneeds be the monstrous dwarf, or one of his kin; and the flesh crept uponWalter's bones with the horror of him. But the King's Son spoke unto theMaid: "Sweetling, I shall take the gift thou givest me, neither shall Ithreaten thee any more, howbeit thou givest it not very gladly orgraciously."

  She smiled on him with her lips alone, for her eyes were wandering andhaggard. "My lord," she said, "is not this the manner of women?"

  "Well," he said, "I say that I will take thy love even so given. Yet letme hear again that thou lovest not that vile newcomer, and that thou hastnot seen him, save this morning along with my Lady. Nay now, thou shaltswear it."

  "What shall I swear by?" she said.

  Quoth he, "Thou shalt swear by my body;" and therewith he thrust himselfclose up against her; but she drew her hand from his, and laid it on hisbreast, and said: "I swear it by thy body."

  He smiled on her licorously, and took her by the shoulders, and kissedher face many times, and then stood aloof from her, and said: "Now have Ihad hansel: but tell me, when shall I come to thee?"

  She spoke out clearly: "Within three days at furthest; I will do thee towit of the day and the hour to-morrow, or the day after."

  He kissed her once more, and said: "Forget it not, or the threat holdsgood."

  And therewith he turned about and went his ways toward the house; andWalter saw the yellow-brown thing creeping after him in the gatheringdusk.

  As for the Maid, she stood for a while without moving, and looking afterthe King's Son and the creature that followed him. Then she turned aboutto where Walter lay and lightly put aside the boughs, and Walter leaptup, and they stood face to face. She said softly but eagerly: "Friend,touch me not yet!"

  He spake not, but looked on her sternly. She said: "Thou art angry withme?"

  Still he spake not; but she said: "Friend, this at least I will praythee; not to play with life and death; with happiness and misery. Dostthou not remember the oath which we swore each to each but a little whileago? And dost thou deem that I have changed in these few days? Is thymind concerning thee and me the same as it was? If it be not so, nowtell me. For now have I the mind to do as if neither thou nor I arechanged to each other, whoever may have kissed mine unwilling lips, orwhomsoever thy lips may have kissed. But if thou hast changed, and wiltno longer give me thy love, nor crave mine, then shall this steel" (andshe drew a sharp knife from her girdle) "be for the fool and the dastardwho hath made thee wroth with me, my friend, and my friend that I deemedI had won. And then let come what will come! But if thou be noughtchanged, and the oath yet holds, then, when a little while hath passed,may we thrust all evil and guile and grief behind us, and long joy shalllie before us, and long life, and all honour in death: if only thou wiltdo as I bid thee, O my dear, and my friend, and my first friend!"

  He looked on her, and his breast heaved up as all the sweetness of herkind love took hold on him, and his face changed, and the tears filledhis eyes and ran over, and rained down before her, and he stretched outhis hand toward her.

  Then she said exceeding sweetly: "Now indeed I see that it is well withme, yea, and with thee also. A sore pain it is to me, that not even nowmay I take thine hand, and cast mine arms about thee, and kiss the lipsthat love me. But so it has to be. My dear, even so I were fain tostand here long before thee, even if we spake no more word to each other;but abiding here is perilous; for there is ever an evil spy upon mydoings, who has now as I deem followed the King's Son to the house, butwho will return when he has tracked him home thither: so we must sunder.But belike there is yet time for a word or two: first, the rede which Ihad thought on for our deliverance is now afoot, though I durst not tellthee thereof, nor have time thereto. But this much shall I tell thee,that whereas great is the craft of my Mistress in wizardry, yet I alsohave some little craft therein, and this, which she hath not, to changethe aspect of folk so utterly that they seem other than they verily are;yea, so that one may have the aspect of another. Now the next thing isthis: whatsoever my Mistress may bid thee, do her will therein with nomore nay-saying than thou deemest may please her. And the next thing:wheresoever thou mayst meet me, speak not to me, make no sign to me, evenwhen I seem to be all alone, till I stoop down and touch the ring on myankle with my right hand; but if I do so, then stay thee, without fail,till I speak. The last thing I will say to thee, dear friend, ere weboth go our ways, this it is. When we are free, and thou knowest allthat I have done, I pray thee deem me not evil and wicked, and be notwroth with me for my deed; whereas thou wottest well that I am not inlike plight with other women. I have heard tell that when the knightgoeth to the war, and hath overcome his foes by the shearing of swordsand guileful tricks, and hath come back home to his own folk, they praisehim and bless him, and crown him with flowers, and boast of him beforeGod in the minster for his deliverance of friend and folk and city. Whyshouldst thou be worse to me than this? Now is all said, my dear and myfriend; farewell, farewell!"

  Therewith she turned and went her ways toward the house in all speed, butmaking somewhat of a compass. And when she was gone, Walter knelt downand kissed the place where her feet had been, and arose thereafter, andmade his way toward the house, he also, but slowly, and staying oft onhis way.