The Count of the Saxon Shore; or The Villa in Vectis.

by Alfred John Church

  CHAPTER XVI.

  THE GREAT TEMPLE.

  The Great Temple, or Stonehenge as it is now called, though its decay hadalready commenced, still preserved the form which we have now somedifficulty in tracing. There was an outer circle consisting of thirty hugetriliths,(39) the greater part of which were still standing in theposition in which the unsparing labour of a long past generation hadplaced them. Within this there was a circle of forty single stones, thiscircle again containing two ovals. One of these ovals was composed of fivetriliths, even larger than those which stood in the outer circle; theother was made of nineteen upright stones. At the upper end of this stoodthe altar, a low, flat structure of blue marble.

  All the preparations for the sacrifice were complete when Cedric--for wemay as well henceforth call the Saxon by the name which he bore among hiscountrymen--reached the spot. Carna was being led by two of the subordinatepriests to the altar, where Caradoc stood, robed for the rite which he wasabout to perform. The sky had now again cleared, and the moon, riding highin the heavens, poured a flood of silver light through the south entrance,and fell on the priest's impassive face as he stood fronting the light,while it glittered on his crown of gold and gave a dazzling brilliancy tohis white robe. In his hand he held a knife of flint, with which it wasthe custom to give the first blow to the victim, though innovation had sofar prevailed even in the Druid worship that the sacrifice was completedwith a weapon of steel. But this latter lay at his feet, and was concealedby the fall of his robe. It was not, indeed, supposed to be used. Theattendants, who were also dressed in white, were rough and brutalcreatures, selected for their office because they could be trusted tocarry out any orders without remonstrance or hesitation. Yet even theyseemed touched by the girl's dignity and courage, as she walked with headerect and unfaltering gait between them. Had she hesitated, or hung back,or struggled, doubtless they would not have hesitated to drag her to thealtar; but walking as she did with a proud resignation to her fate, theyshowed her a rude respect by letting their hands rest as lightly aspossible, so as to give no sense of constraint, upon her arms. On eitherside of the priest stood Martianus and Ambiorix. The younger man hadbraced himself to what, fanatical patriot as he was, was evidently ahateful task. He looked steadfastly and unflinchingly at the scene; buthis face was deadly pale, and the blood trickled down his chin as he bithis lip in the unconscious effort to maintain a stern composure. Martianuswas overwhelmed with shame and horror. If there was one softer heart amongthe "stern, black-bearded kings" who of old in Aulis watched the daughterof Agamemnon die, he must have looked and felt as Martianus did in theGreat Temple that night. Cursing again and again in his heart the ambitionwhich had led him to mix himself up with this fanatical crew, but too mucha craven at heart to protest, he stood trembling with agitation, mostlykeeping his eyes shut or fixed upon the earth, but sometimes compelled bya fascination which he could not resist to lift them, and take in thehorror of the scene. Each of the chiefs had an armed attendant standingbehind him. Besides these there were no spectators of the scene, thoughguards were disposed at each of the entrances which led to the centralshrine. Even these had been kept in ignorance of what was to be done, andthey were too deeply imbued with the traditional awe felt for the GreatTemple to think of playing the spy.

  The Sacrifice.]

  The priest, after observing the position of the moon, and seeing that theshadows fell now almost straight towards the north, began the invocationwhich was the preliminary of the sacrifice. It was for this that the Saxonwas waiting, as he stood in the shadow of one of the huge triliths. Hecrept silently out of his concealment, entirely unobserved, so intent wereall present on the scene that was being enacted. His first object was thepriest. This had been laid down for him in the instructions given him bythe peddler before he started; and indeed his own instinct would havedictated the act. The priest put out of the way, the sacrifice would, forthe time at least, be stopped; for so high a solemnity could not beperformed but by one of the very highest rank. Time would thus be gained,and with time anything might happen. One firm thrust between the shoulderssent the Saxon's sword right through the priest's body, so that the pointstood out an inch or two from the priest. Without a cry the man fellforward, deluging with his blood the stone of sacrifice. The ministrantswho stood on either side of Carna were paralysed with astonishment anddismay. Before they could recover themselves Cedric had dragged his weaponout of the priest's body, sheathed it, and thrown himself on them. Twoblows, delivered almost simultaneously by fists that had almost the forceof sledge hammers, levelled them both senseless to the ground. He thencaught the girl up in his arms. A full-grown woman--and Carna had a staturebeyond the average of her sex--is no light burden, but Cedric's strengthwas, as has been said before, exceptionally great, and now it seemeddoubled by the fierce excitement of the hour. To escape with her byrunning was, he knew, impossible. For such a task no fleetness of foot, nostrength, would be sufficient. To attempt would be to expose himself tocertain death, and Carna to as certain re-capture. But his quick eye hadcaught sight of a place where he might hold out, at least for a time,against a much superior strength of assailants. One of the triliths hadpartially fallen, the huge cross-stone having been so displaced that itformed an angle with one of its supports, and so afforded a protection tothe back and sides of a fighter who managed to ensconce himself in theniche, and who would so have only his front to protect. Setting Carnabehind him, and making her understand by a movement of the hand that shemust crouch as low as she could upon the ground, he prepared to hold hisposition. The odds against him were not so heavy as might have beensupposed. The two ministrants were unarmed. Of the four left, the twochiefs and their attendants, one was a middle-aged man, who had never beenexpert in arms; and who, whatever his skill and strength, would scarcelyhave cared to use them in such a conflict. Ambiorix, indeed, was ofanother temper. The gloomy, fanatical doggedness with which he had lookedon at the preparations for the sacrifice gave way to a fierce delight whenhe saw an enemy before him with whom he could cross swords. In his inmostsoul he had hated the thought of the sacrifice; but yet the man who hadhindered it, and with it the weal of Britain, was a foe whom it would bepleasure to smite to the ground. But fierce as was his temper, it was fullof chivalry. He would not dishonour himself by bringing odds against anenemy. Signing to the armed attendants to stand back, he advanced tochallenge Cedric. The Saxon, in height and strength, was more than a matchfor his antagonist. But he was hampered by his position, especially by thepresence of the girl. The weapon, too, with which he was armed--a shortRoman sword--was strange to him. He thought with regret of his own goodsteel, an heirloom come down to him from warriors of the past, andinscribed with magic Runic rhymes, that was then lying at the bottom ofthe Channel. The change, however, was not really so much to hisdisadvantage as he thought. The stones behind him would have hindered thelong sweeping blow which made the great Saxon swords especiallyformidable. Altogether it might have seemed as if Cedric must inevitablybe worsted in the struggle. The British chief, though he hated the customsand even the civilization of the Roman conquerors, had not disdained tolearn what they could teach him in the use of arms. They were acknowledgedmasters in that, and he accepted the maxim that it was right to beinstructed even by one's bitterest enemy. Accordingly he knew all that afencing master could teach him; and all the Saxon's agility, quickness ofeye, and strength, could not counterbalance the advantage. Before manyminutes had passed Cedric was bleeding from two wounds, neither of themvery serious, but sufficient to hamper and weaken him. One had beeninflicted on the sword-arm, and threatened to disable him altogetherbefore long. He felt this himself, and took his resolve. "The curse ofThor upon this foolish toy!" he cried, in his native tongue, as he threwthe short sword straight in the face of his enemy; and followed up thestrange missile by leaping on his antagonist, both of whose arms hefastened down to his sides with a supreme exertion of strength. Giganticstrength, in
deed, was the only thing which gave so desperate a resort thechance of success, and this might well have failed, if the adversary hadnot been entirely unprepared for the movement. Once held in thistremendous clasp, Ambiorix was as helpless as a kid in the hug of a bear.Cedric fairly lifted him off his feet, and threw him backwards. His headstruck one of the great stones in his fall, and he lay senseless andhelpless on the ground.

  The struggle was over so quickly that the attendants had no time tointerfere; nor when it was finished did they feel any great eagerness toengage so formidable a champion. Still they advanced, and Martianus, whofelt himself unable to maintain any longer in the face of what hadhappened his attitude of inaction, advanced with them. By this time Carna,who had been almost stunned by the rapid succession of startlingincidents, had recovered her self-possession. She lifted herself from theground, and stepped between Cedric and the three antagonists who stoodconfronting him.

  "Martianus," she cried, "what are you doing here? What mixes you up withthese horrible doings--you, my father's friend, you, a Christian man?"

  The Briton stood silent, cursing in his heart the hideous enterprise whichhad not even the poor merit of success. He was spared the necessity ofspeaking by an exclamation from one of the ministrants.

  "See!" cried the man, "there is a party coming. It is not likely that theyare friends--let us be off."

  And indeed the moonlight clearly showed a number of persons who wererapidly advancing up one of the great avenues.

  Martianus did not hesitate.

  "You are right," he said to the man, "we must go. The priest's body mustbe left. It is useless to cumber ourselves with the dead; we shall have asmuch as we can do to escape ourselves, but take the sacred things. They atleast must not fall into the hands of the enemy. And you," he went on,addressing himself to the two attendants, "take up your master and carryhim off. We have something of a start, and it is possible that they maynot pursue us."

  His directions were at once obeyed. The priest's body was stripped of itsrobes and ornaments. Ambiorix, who still lay unconscious on the ground,was carried by the united efforts of the soldiers and ministrants, and thewhole party had started in the direction of Amesbury before thenew-comers, who proved to be the priest Flavius, with a party of hispeople, reached the Temple.