In the Days of Chivalry: A Tale of the Times of the Black Prince

by Evelyn Everett-Green

  CHAPTER XXV. THE FAIRY OF THE FOREST

  Gaston sat motionless in his saddle, gazing at the apparition as thoughfascinated. He had seen this woodland nymph before. He had spoken withher, had sat awhile beside her, and her presence had inspired feelingswithin him to which he had hitherto been a complete stranger. As hegazed now into that lovely face, anxious, glad, fearful, all in one, andyet beaming with joy at the encounter, he felt as if indeed the denizensof another sphere had interposed to save his brother, and from thatmoment he felt a full assurance that Raymond would be rescued.

  Recovering himself as by an effort, he sprang from his saddle and stoodbeside the girl.

  "Lady," he said, in gentle accents, that trembled slightly through theintensity of his emotion -- "fairest lady, who thou art I know not, butthis I know, that thou comest ever as a messenger of mercy. Once it wasto warn me of peril to come; now it is to tell us of one who lies insore peril. Lady, tell me that I am not wrong in this -- that thoucomest to give me news of my brother!"

  Her liquid eyes were full of light. She did not shrink from him, or playwith his feelings as on a former occasion. Her face expressed a seriousgravity and earnestness of purpose which added tenfold to her charms.Gaston, deeply as his feelings were stirred with anxious care for hisbrother's fate, could not help his heart going out to this exquisiteyoung thing standing before him with trustful upturned face.

  Who she was he knew not and cared not. She was the one woman in theworld for him. He had thought so when he had found her in the forest inwayward tricksy mood; he knew it without doubt now that he saw her athis side, her sweet face full of deep and womanly feeling, her archshyness all forgotten in the depth and resolution of her resolve.

  "I do!" she answered, in quick, short sentences that sounded like thetones of a silver bell. "You are Gaston de Brocas, and he, the prisoner,is your twin brother Raymond. I know all. I have heard them talk intheir cups, when they forget that I am growing from a child to a woman.I have long ceased to be a child. I think that I have grown old in thatterrible place. I have heard words -- oh, that make my blood run cold!that make me wish I had never been born into a world where such thingsare possible! In my heart I have registered a vow. I have vowed that ifever the time should come when I might save one wretched victim from mysavage uncle's power -- even at the risk of mine own life -- I would doit. I have warned men away from here. I have done a little, times andagain, to save them from a snare laid for them. But never once have Ihad power to rescue from his relentless clutch the victim he had onceenclosed in his net, for never have I had help from without. But when Iheard them speak of Raymond de Brocas -- when I knew that it was he, thybrother, of whom some such things were spoken -- then I felt that Ishould indeed go mad could I not save him from such fate."

  "What fate?" asked Gaston breathlessly; but she went on as though shehad not heard.

  "I thought of thee as I had seen thee in the wood. I said in my heart,'He is noble, he is brave. He will rest not night nor day whilst hisbrother lies a captive in these cruel hands. I have but to watch and towait. He will surely come. And when he comes, I will show him the blackhole in the wall -- the dark passage to the moat -- and he will dare toenter where never man has entered before. He will save his brother, andmy vow will be fulfilled!'"

  Gaston drew his breath hard, and a light leaped into his eyes.

  "Thou knowest a secret way by which the Tower of Saut may be entered --is that so, Lady?"

  "I know a way by which many a wretched victim has left it," answered thegirl, whose dark violet eyes were dilated by the depth of her emotion."I know not if any man ever entered by that way. But my heart told methat there was one who would not shrink from the task, be the perilnever so great. I will see that the men-at-arms have drink enough toturn their heads. I have a concoction of herbs which if mingled withstrong drink will cause such sleep to fall upon men that a thunderboltfalling at their feet would scarce awaken them. I will see that thouhast the chance thou needest. The rest wilt thou do without a thought offear."

  "Fear to go where Raymond is -- to share his fate if I may not rescuehim!" cried Gaston. "Nay, sweet lady, that would be indeed a cravenfear, unworthy of any true knight. But tell me more. I have many timeswandered round the Tower of Saut in my boyhood, when its lord and masterwas away. Methinks I know every loophole and gate by heart. But thegates are so closely guarded, and the windows are so narrow and high upin the walls, that I know not how they may be entered from without."

  "True: yet there is one way of which doubtless thou knowest naught, for,as I have said, men go forth that way, but enter not by it; and thetrick is known only to a few chosen souls, for the victims who pass outseek not to come again. They drop with sullen plash into the blackwaters of the moat, and the river, which mingles its clearer water withthe sluggish stream encircling the Tower, bears thence towards thehungry sea the burden thus entrusted to its care."

  Gaston shivered slightly.

  "Thou speakest of the victims done to death within yon gloomy walls. Ihave heard dark tales of such ere now."

  "Thou hast heard nothing darker than the truth," said the girl, herslight frame quivering with repressed emotion and a deep and terriblesense of helpless indignation and pity. "I have heard stories that havemade my blood run cold in my veins. Men have been done to death in afashion I dare not speak of. There is a terrible room scarce raisedabove the level of the moat, into which I was once taken, and the memoryof which has haunted me ever since. It is within the great mound uponwhich the Tower is built; and above it is the dungeon in which thevictim is confined. There is some strange and wondrous device by whichhe may be carried down and raised again to his own prison house when hiscaptor has worked his hideous will upon him. And if he dies, as many do,upon the fearful engines men have made to inflict torture upon eachother, then there is this narrow stairway, and this still narrowerpassage down to the sullen waters of the moat.

  "The opening is just at the level of the water. It looks so small fromthe opposite side, that one would think it but the size to admit thepassage of a dog; you would think it was caused by the loosening of somestone in the wall -- no more. But yet it is large enough to admit thepassage of a human body; and where a body has passed out, sure a bodymay pass in. There is no lock upon the door from the underground passageto the moat; for what man would be so bold as find his way into theCastle by the grim dungeons which hold such terrible secrets? If thouhast the courage to enter thus, none will bar thy passage --"

  "If!" echoed Gaston, whose hand was clenched and his whole facequivering with emotion as he realized the fearful peril which menacedhis brother. "There is no such thing as a doubt. Raymond is there. Icome to save him."

  The girl's eyes flashed with answering fire. She clasped her handstogether, and cried, with something like a sob in her voice:

  "I knew it! I knew it! I knew that thou wert a true knight that thouwouldst brave all to save him."

  "I am his brother," said Gaston simply, "his twin brother. Who shouldsave him but I? Tell me, have I come in time? Have they dared to lay afinger upon him yet?"

  "Dared!" repeated the girl, with a curious inflection in her voice. "Ofwhat should they be afraid here in this tower, which has ever withstoodthe attacks of foes, which no man may enter without first storming thewalls and forcing the gates? Thinkest thou that they fear God or man?Nay, they know not what such fear is; and therein lies our best hope."

  "How so?" asked Gaston quickly.

  "Marry, for two reasons: one being that they keep but small guard overthe place, knowing its strength and remoteness; the other, that beingthus secure, they are in no haste to carry out their devil's work. Theywill first let their prisoner recover of his hurts, that he slip not toosoon from their power, as weaklier victims ofttimes do."

  "Then they have done naught to him as yet?" asked Gaston, in feverishhaste. "What hurts speakest thou of? Was he wounded in the fight, orwhen they surrounded him and carried him off captive?"

  "Not
wounded, as I have heard, but sorely battered and bruised; and hewas brought hither unconscious, and lay long as one dead. When herefused to do the bidding of Peter Sanghurst, they took him down to yonfearsome chamber; but, as I heard when I sat at the hoard with mineuncle and that wicked man, they had scarce laid hands upon him, to bendhis spirit to their will through their hellish devices, before he fellinto a deep swoon from which they could not rouse him; and afraid thathe would escape their malice by a merciful death, and that they wouldlose the very vengeance they had taken such pains to win, they took himback to his cell; and there he lies, tended not unskilfully by my oldnurse, who is ever brought to the side of the sick in this place. Once Imade shift to slip in behind her when the warder was off his guard, andto whisper in his ear a word of hope. But we are too close watched to doaught but by stealth, and Annette is never suffered to approach theprison alone. She is conducted thither by a grim warder, who waitsbeside her till she has done her office, and then takes her away. Theydo not know how we loathe and hate their wicked, cruel deeds; but theyknow that women have ere this been known to pity helpless victims, andthey have an eye to us ever."

  Gaston drew his breath more freely. Raymond, then, was for the momentsafe. No grievous bodily hurt had been done him as yet; and here outsidehis prison was his brother, and one as devoted as though the tie ofblood bound them together, ready to dare all to save him from the handsof his cruel foes.

  "They are in no great haste," said the maiden; "they feel themselves sostrong. They say that no man can so much as discover where thy brotherhas been spirited, still less snatch him from their clasp. They know theFrench King will not stir to help a subject of the Roy Outremer, Theyknow that Edward of England is far away, and that he still avoids anopen breach of the truce. They are secure in the undisturbed possessionof their captive. I have heard them say that had he a hundred brothersall working without to obtain his release, the walls of the Tower ofSaut would defy their utmost efforts."

  "That we shall see," answered Gaston, with a fierce gleam in his eye;and then his face softened as he said, "Now that we have for our allythe enchanted princess of the Castle, many things may be done that elsewould be hard of achievement."

  His ardent look sent a flush of colour through the girl's transparentskin, but her eyes did not waver as she looked frankly back at him.

  "Nay; I am no princess, and I have no enchantments -- would that I had,if they could be used in offices of pity and mercy! I am but aportionless maiden, an orphan, an alien. Ofttimes I weep to think that Itoo did not die when my parents did, in that terrible scourge which hasdevastated the world, which I hear that you of England call the BlackDeath."

  "Who art thou then, fair maid?" questioned Gaston, who was all this timecautiously approaching the Tower of Saut by a winding and unfrequentedpath well known to his companion. Roger had been told to wait till theother riders came up, and conduct them with great secrecy and cautionalong the same path.

  Their worst fears for Raymond partially set at rest, and the hope of aspeedy rescue acting upon their minds like a charm, Gaston was able tothink of other things, and was eager to know more of the lovely girl whohad twice shown herself to him in such unexpected fashion.

  It was a simple little story that she told, but it sounded strangelyentrancing from her lips. Her name, she said, was Constanza, and herfather had been one of a noble Spanish house, weakened and finallyruined by the ceaseless internal strife carried on between the proudnobles of the fiery south. Her mother was the sister of the Sieur doNavailles, and he had from time to time given aid to her father in histroubles with his enemies. The pestilence which had of late devastatedalmost the whole of Europe, had visited the southern countries some timebefore it had invaded more northerly latitudes; and about a year beforeGaston's first encounter with the nymph of the wood, it had laid wastethe districts round and about her home, and had carried off both herparents and her two brothers in the space of a few short days.

  Left alone in that terrible time of trouble, surrounded by enemies eagerto pounce upon the little that remained of the wide domain which hadonce owned her father's sway, Constanza, in her desperation, naturallyturned to her uncle as the one protector that she knew. He had alwaysshowed himself friendly towards her father. He had from time to timelent him substantial assistance in his difficulties; and when he hadvisited at her home, he had shown himself kindly disposed in a roughfashion to the little maiden who flitted like a fairy about the widemarble halls. Annette, her nurse, who had come with her mother fromFrance when she had left that country on her nuptials, was a Gasconwoman, and had taught the language of the country to her young mistress.It was natural that the woman should be disposed to return to her nativeland at this crisis; and for Constanza to attempt to hold her own -- atimid maiden against a score of rapacious foes -- was obviously out ofthe question. Together they had fled, taking with them such familyjewels as could easily be carried upon their persons, and disguised aspeasants they had reached and crossed the frontier, and found their wayto Saut, where the Lord of Navailles generally spent such of his time aswas not occupied in forays against his neighbours, or in following thefortunes either of the French or English King, as best suited the fancyof the moment.

  He had received his niece not unkindly, but with complete indifference,and had soon ceased to think about her in any way. She had a homebeneath his roof. She had her own apartments, and she was welcome tooccupy herself as she chose. Sometimes, when he was in a better humourthan usual, he would give her a rough caress. More frequently he sworeat her for being a useless girl, when she might, as a boy, have been ofsome good in the world. He had no intention of providing her with anymarriage portion, so that it was superfluous to attempt to seek out ahusband for her. She and Annette were occasionally of use when there wassickness within the walls of the Castle, or when he or his followerscame in weary and wounded from some hard fighting. On the whole he didnot object to her presence at Saut, and her own little bower was notdevoid of comfort, and even of luxury.

  But for all that, the girl was often sick at heart with all that she sawand heard around her, and was unconsciously pining for some life, shescarce knew what, but a life that should be different from the one shewas doomed to now.

  "Sometimes I think that I will retire to a Convent and shut myself upthere," she said to Gaston, her eyes looking far away over the woodedplain before them; "and yet I love my liberty. I love to roam the forestglades -- to hear the songs of the bird, and to feel the fresh winds ofheaven about me. Methinks I should pine and die shut up within highwalls, without the liberty to rove as I will. And then I am not/devote/. I love not to spend long hours upon my knees. I feel nearestto the Blessed Saints and the Holy Mother of God out here in thesewoods, where no ribald shouts of mirth or blasphemous oaths can reachme. But the Sisters live shut behind high walls, and they love best totell their beads beside the shrine of some Saint within their dimchapels. They were good to us upon our journey. I love and reverence theholy Sisters, and yet I do not know how I could be one of them. I fearme they would soon send me forth, saying that I was not fit for their life."

  "Nay, truly such a life is not for thee!" cried Gaston, with unwontedheat. "Sweet maiden, thou wert never made to pine away behind walls thatshelter such as cannot stand against the trials and troubles of life.For it is not so with thee. Thou hast courage; thou hast a noble heartand a strong will. There is other work for thee to do. Lady, thou hastthis day made me thy humble slave for ever. My brother once free, as bythy aid I trust he will be ere another day has dawned, and I will repaythy service by claiming as my reward the right to call myself thine owntrue knight. Sweet Constanza, I will live and, if need be, die for thee.Thou wilt henceforth be the light of my path, the star of my life. Lady,thy face hath haunted me ever since that day, so long gone by, when Isaw thee first, scarce knowing if thou wert a creature of flesh andblood or a sprite of the woodland and water. Fair women have I lookedupon ere now, but none so fair as thee. Let me but call myself thy tru
eand faithful knight, and the day will come when I will stand boldlyforth and make thee mine before all the world!"

  Gaston had never meant to speak thus when he and his companion firstbegan this walk through the winding woodland path. Then his thoughts hadbeen filled with his brother and him alone, and there had been no spacefor other matters to intrude upon him. But with a mind more at rest asto Raymond's immediate fate, he could not but be aware of the intensefascination exercised upon him by his companion; and before he well knewwhat he was saying, he was pouring into her ears these ardentprotestations of devotion.

  Her fair face flushed, and the liquid eyes, so full of softness andfire, fell before his ardent gaze. The little hand he had taken in hisown quivered in his strong clasp, and Gaston felt with a thrill ofecstatic joy that it faintly returned the pressure of his fingers.

  "Lady, sweetest Lady!" he repeated, his words growing more and morerapid as his emotion deepened, "let me hear thee say that thou wiltgrant me leave to call myself thy true knight! Let me hear from thosesweet lips that there is none before me who has won the love of thisgenerous heart!"

  The maid was quivering from head to foot. Such words were like a newlanguage to her, and yet her heart gave a ready and sweet response. Hadshe not sung of knightly wooers in the soft songs of her childhood, andhad she not dreamed her own innocent dreams of him who would one daycome to seek her? And had not that dream lover always worn the knightlymien, the proud and handsome face, of him she had seen but once, andthat for one brief hour alone? Was it hard to give to him the answer heasked? And yet how could she frame her lips aright to tell him she hadloved him ere he had asked her love?

  "Fair Sir, how should a lonely maid dwelling in these wild woods knowaught of that knightly love of which our troubadours so sweetly sing? Ihave scarce seen the face of any since I have come to these solitudes;only the rough and terrible faces of those wild soldiers and savages whofollow mine uncle when he rideth forth on his forays."

  Gaston's heart gave a throb of joy; but it was scarce the moment topress his suit farther. Who could tell what the next few hours mightbring forth? He might himself fall a victim, ere another day had passed,to the ancient foe of his house. It was enough for the present to knowthat the fair girl's heart was free.

  He raised the hand he held and pressed his lips upon it, saying intenderest tones:

  "From henceforth -- my brother once standing free without these walls --I am thy true knight and champion, Lady. Give me, I pray thee, that knotof ribbon at thy neck. Let me place it in my head piece, and feel that Iam thine indeed for life or death."

  With a hand that trembled, but not from hesitation, Constanza unfastenedthe simple little knot she wore as her sole ornament, and gave it toGaston. They exchanged one speaking glance, but no word passed their lips.

  By this time they had approached very near to the Tower, although thethick growth of the trees hindered them from seeing it, as it alsoconcealed them from the eyes of any persons who might be upon the walls.The evening light was now fast waning. Upon the tops of the heights thesun still shone, but here in the wooded hollow, beside the sullen watersof the moat, twilight had already fallen, and soon it would be dark asnight itself. The moon rose late, and for a space there would be nolight save that of the stars.

  Constanza laid her finger upon her lips, and made a sign demandingcaution. Gaston understood that he was warned not to speak, and to treadcautiously, which he did, stealing along after his fairy-like companion,and striving to emulate her dainty, bird-like motions. He could see bythe glint of water that they were skirting along beside the moat, but hehad never approached so near to it before, and he knew not where theywere going.

  Some men might have feared treachery, but such an idea never enteredGaston's head. Little as he knew of his companion, he knew that she wastrue and loyal, that she was beloved by him, and that her heart wasalready almost won.

  Presently the girl stopped and laid her hand upon his arm.

  "This is the place," she whispered. "Come very softly to the water'sedge, and I will show you the dark hole opposite, just above thewaterline, where entrance can be made. There be no loopholes upon thisside of the Tower, and no watchman is needed where there be no footholdfor man to scale the wall beneath.

  "Look well across the moat. Seest thou yon black mark, that looks nolarger than my hand? That is the entrance to a tunnel which slopesupward until it reaches a narrow doorway in the thickness of the solidwall whereby the underground chamber may be reached. Once there, thouwilt see let into the wall a great wheel with iron spokes projectingfrom it. Set that wheel in motion, and a portion of the flooring of thechamber above will descend. When it has reached the ground, thou canstascend by reversing the wheel, leaving always some one in the chamberbelow to work the wheel, which will enable thee to bring thy brotherdown again. That accomplished, all that remains will be to creep againthrough the narrow passage to the moat and swim across once more. Thoucanst swim?"

  "Ay, truly. Raymond and I have been called fishes from our childhood. Weswam in the great mill pool almost ere we could well run alone. Many ofmy stout fellows behind are veritable water rats. If my brother be notable to save himself, there will be a dozen stout arms ready to supporthim across the moat.

  "And what will be the hour when this attempt must be made? What if thevery moment I reached my brother his jailer should come to him, and thealarm be given through the Castle ere we could get him thence?"

  "That it must be my office to prevent," answered the girl, with quietresolution. "I have thought many times of some such thing as this,hoping as it seemed where no hope was, and Annette and I have takencounsel together. Leave it to me to see that all the Castle is filledwith feasting and revelry. I will see that the mead which circulatestonight be so mingled with Annette's potion that it will work in thebrains of the men till they forget all but rioting and sleep. For mineuncle and his saturnine guest, I have other means of keeping them in thegreat banqueting hall, far away from the lonely Tower where theirprisoner lies languishing. They shall be so well served at the boardthis night, that no thought of aught beside the pleasure of the tableshall enter to trouble their heads. And at ten of the clock, if I comenot again to warn thee, cross fearlessly the great moat, and do as Ihave bid thee. But if thou hearest from the Castle wall the hooting ofan owl thrice repeated like this" -- and the girl put her hands to hermouth, and gave forth so exact an mutation of an owl's note that Gastonstarted to hear it -- "thrice times thrice, so that there can be nomistake, then tarry here on this side; stir not till I come again. Itwill be a danger signal to tell that all is not well. But if at the hourof ten thou hast heard naught, then go forward, and fear not. Thybrother will be alone, and all men far away from the Tower. Take him,and go forth; and the Blessed Saints bless and protect you all."

  She stretched forth her hand and placed it in his. There was a suddensadness in her face. Gaston caught her hand and pressed it to his lips,but he had more to say than a simple word of parting.

  "But I shall see thee again, sweet Constanza? Am I not thy true knight?Shall I not owe to thee a debt I know not how to pay? Thou wilt not sendme forth without a word of promise of another meeting? When can I seethee again to tell thee how we have fared?"

  "Thou must not dream of loitering here once thy object is secured,"answered the girl, speaking very firmly and almost sternly, though therewas a deep sadness in her eyes. "It will not be many hours ere they findtheir captive has escaped them, and they will rouse the whole countryafter you. Nay, to linger is certain death; it must not be thought of.In Bordeaux, and there alone, wilt thou be safe. It is thither that thoumust fly, for thither alone will the Sieur de Navailles fear to followyou. For me, I must remain here, as I have done these many years. Itwill not be worse than it hath ever been."

  "And thinkest thou that I will leave thee thus to languish after thouhast restored to me my brother?" asked Gaston hotly. "Nay, lady, thinknot that of thine own true knight! I will come again. I vow it! Firstwill I to
the English King, and tell in his ears a tale which shallarouse all his royal wrath. And then will I come again. It may not bethis year, but it shall be ere long. I will come to claim mine own; andall that is mine shall be thine. Sweet Lady, wouldst thou look coldlyupon me did I come with banners unfurled and men in arms against himthou callest thine uncle? For the lands he holds were ours once, and theEnglish King has promised that they shall one day be restored, as theyshould have been long ago had not this usurper kept his iron clutch uponthem in defiance of his feudal lord. Lady, sweet Constanza, tell me thatthou wilt not call me thy foe if I come as a foe to the Lord of Navailles!"

  "Methinks thou couldst never be my foe," answered Constanza in a lowvoice, pressing her hands closely together; "and though he be mineuncle, and though he has given me a home beneath his roof, he has madeit to me an abode of terror, and I know that he is feared and hated farand wide, and that his evil deeds are such that none may trust or lovehim. I would not show ingratitude for what he hath done for me; but hehas been paid many times over. He has had all my jewels, and of thesemany were all but priceless; and he gives me but the food I eat and theraiment I wear. I should bless the day that set me free from this lifebeneath his roof. There be moments when I say in mine heart that Icannot live longer in such an evil place -- when I have no heart leftand no hope."

  "But thou wilt have hope now!" cried Gaston ardently. "Thou wilt knowthat I am coming to claim mine own, and with it this little hand, moreprecious to me than all else besides. Sweetest Constanza, tell me that Ishall still find thee as thou art when I come to claim thee! I shall notcome to find thee the bride of another?"

  He could not see her face in the dimness, but he felt her hand flutterin his clasp like a bird in the hand of one who has tamed it, and whomit trusts and loves. The next moment his arm was about her slightfigure, and her head drooped for a moment upon his shoulder.

  "I shall be waiting," she whispered, scarce audibly. "How could I loveanother, when thou hast called thyself my knight?"

  He pressed a passionate kiss upon her brow.

  "If this is indeed farewell for the present hour, it is a sweet one, mybeloved. I little thought, as I journeyed hither today, what I was tofind. Farewell, farewell, my lady love, my princess, my bride. Farewell,but not for ever. I will come again anon, and then we will be no moreparted, for thou shalt reign in these grim walls, and no more dark talesof horror shall be breathed of them. I will come again; I will surelycome. Trust me, and fear not!"

  She stood beside him in the gathering darkness, and he could almost hearthe fluttering of her heart. It was a moment full of sweetness for both,even though the shadow of parting was hanging over them.

  A slight rustle amongst the underwood near to them caused them to springapart; and the girl fled from him, speeding away with the grace andsilent fleetness of a deer. Gaston made a stride towards the placewhence the sound had proceeded, and found himself face to face with Roger.

  "The men are all at hand," he whispered. "I would not have them approachtoo close till I knew your pleasure. They are all within the wood, allupon the alert lest any foe be nigh; but all seems silent as the grave,and not a light gleams from the Tower upon this side. Shall I bid themremain where they are? or shall I bring them hither to you beside thewater?"

  "Let them remain where they are for a while and see that the horses bewell fed and cared for. At ten o'clock, if all be well, the attempt toenter the Tower is to be made; and once the prisoner is safe and in ourkeeping, we must to Bordeaux as fast as horse will take us. The Sieur deNavailles will raise the whole country after us. We must be beyond thereach of his clutches ere we draw rein again."