Joan of the Sword Hand

by S. R. Crockett

  CHAPTER XXXIX

  PRINCE WASP STINGS

  Margaret did not answer her tormentor's taunt. Her arms went aboutMaurice's neck, and her lips, salt with the overflowing of tears, soughthis in a last kiss. The officer of the Prince's guard touched her on theshoulder. She shook him haughtily off, and then, having completed herfarewells, she loosened her hands and went slowly backward towards thefurther end of the hall with her eyes still upon the man she loved.

  "Stay, Berghoff," said Prince Louis suddenly; "let the Princess remainwhere she is. Cross your swords in front of her. I desire that she shallhear what I have to say to this young gentleman."

  "And also," added Prince Ivan, "I desire the noble Princess to rememberthat this has been granted by the Prince upon my intercession. In thefuture, it may gain me more of her favour than I have had the goodfortune to enjoy in the past!"

  Maurice stood alone, his tall slender figure supple and erect. One handrested easily upon his swordless thigh, while the other still held theplumed hat he snatched up as in frantic haste he had followed Margaretfrom the Summer Palace.

  There ensued a long silence in which the Sparhawk eyed his captorshaughtily, while Prince Louis watched him from under the grey penthouseof his eyebrows.

  Then three several times the Prince essayed to speak, and as oftenutterance was choked within him. His feelings could only find vent inmuttered imprecations, half smothered by a consuming rage. Then PrinceIvan crossed over and laid his hand restrainingly on his arm. The touchseemed to calm his friend, and, after swallowing several times as therehad been a knot in his throat, at last he spoke.

  For the second time in his life Maurice von Lynar stood alone among hisenemies; but this time in peril far deadlier than among the roisterouspleasantries of Castle Kernsberg. Yet he was as little daunted now asthen. Once on a time a duchess had saved him. Now a princess loved him.And even if she could not save him, still that was better.

  "So," cried Prince Louis, in the curiously uneven voice of a cowardlashing himself into a fury, "you have played out your treachery upon areigning Prince of Courtland. You cheated me at Castle Kernsberg. Nowyou have made me a laughing-stock throughout the Empire. You have shameda maiden of my house, my sister, the daughter of my father. What haveyou to say ere I order you to be flung out from the battlements of thewestern tower?"

  "Ere it comes to that I shall have something to say, Prince Louis,"interrupted Prince Wasp, smiling. "We must not waste such dainty powersof masquerade on anything so vulgar as the hangman's rope."

  "Gentlemen and princes," Maurice von Lynar answered, "that which I havedone I have done for the sake of my mistress, the Lady Joan, and I amnot afraid. Prince Louis, it was her will and intent never to come toCourtland as your wife. She would not have been taken alive. It wastherefore the duty of her servants to preserve her life, and I offeredmyself in her stead. My life was hers already, for she had preserved it.She had given. It was hers to take. With the chief captains of KernsbergI plotted that she should be seized and carried to a place of refugewherein no foe could even find her. There she abides with chosen men toguard her. I took her place and was delivered up that Kernsberg mightbe cleared of its enemies. Gladly I came that I might pay a little of mydebt to my sovran lady and liege mistress, Joan Duchess of Kernsberg andHohenstein."

  "Nobly perorated!" cried Prince Ivan, clapping his hands. "Rightsonorously ended. Faith, a paladin, a deliverer of oppressed damsels, avery carnival masquerader! He will play you the dragon, this fellow, orhe will act Saint George with a sword of lath! He will amble you thehobby-horse, or be the Holy Virgin in a miracle play. Well, he shallplay in one more good scene ere I have done with him. But, listen, SirMummer, in all this there is no word of the Princess Margaret. How comesit that you so loudly proclaim having given yourself a noble sacrificefor one fair lady, when at the same time you are secretly married toanother? Are you a deliverer of ladies by wholesale? Speak to thispoint. Let us have another noble period--its subject my affianced bride.Already we have heard of your high devotion to Prince Louis's wife.Well--next!"

  But it was the Princess who spoke from where she stood behind thecrossed swords of her guards.

  "That _I_ will answer. I am a woman, and weak in your hands, princesboth. You have set the grasp of rude men-at-arms upon the wrist of aPrincess of Courtland. But you can never compel her soul. Brother Louis,my father committed me to you as a little child--have I not been aloving and a faithful sister to you? And till this Muscovite camebetween, were you not good to me? Wherefore have you changed? Why has hemade you cruel to your little Margaret?"

  Prince Louis turned towards his sister, moving his hands uncertainly andeven deprecatingly.

  Ivan moved quickly to his side and whispered something which instantlyrekindled the light of anger in the weakling's eyes.

  "You are no sister of mine," he said; "you have disgraced your familyand yourself. Whether it be true or no that you are married to this manmatters little!"

  "It is true; I do not lie!" said Margaret recovering herself.

  "So much the worse, then, and he shall suffer for it. At least I canhide, if I cannot prevent, your shame!"

  "I will never give him up; nothing on earth shall part our love!"

  Prince Ivan smiled delicately, turning to where she stood at the end ofthe hall.

  "Sweet Princess," he said, "divorce is, I understand, contrary to yourholy Roman faith. But in my land we have discovered a readier way thanany papal bull. Be good enough to observe this"--he held a dagger in hishand. "It is a little blade of steel, but a span long, and narrow as oneof your dainty fingers, yet it will divorce the best married pair in theworld."

  "But neither dagger nor the hate of enemies can sever love," Margaretanswered proudly. "You may slay my husband, but he is mine still. Youcannot twain our souls."

  The Prince shrugged his shoulder and opened his palms deprecatingly.

  "Madam," he said, "I shall be satisfied with twaining your bodies. Inholy Russia we are plain men. We have a saying, 'No one hath ever seen asoul. Let the body content you!' When this gentleman is--what I shallmake him, he is welcome to any communion of souls with you to which hecan attain. I promise you that, so far as he is concerned, you shallfind me neither exigent lover nor jealous husband!"

  The Princess looked at Maurice. Her eyes had dwelt defiantly on thePrince of Muscovy whilst he was speaking, but now a softer light, gentleyet brave, crept into them.

  "Fear not, my husband," she said. "If the steel divide us, the steel canalso unite. They cannot watch so close, or bind so tight, but that I canfind a way. Or, if iron will not pierce, fire burn, or water drown, Ihave a drug that will open the door which leads to you. Fear not,dearest, I shall yet meet you unashamed, and as your loyal wife, withoutsoil or stain, look into your true eyes."

  "I declare you have taught your mistress the trick of words!" cried thePrince delightedly. "Count von Loeen, the Lady Margaret has quite yourmanner. She speaks to slow music."

  But even the sneers of Prince Ivan could not filch the greatness out oftheir loves, and Prince Louis was obviously wavering. Ivan's quick eyenoted this and he instantly administered a fillip.

  "Are you not moved, Louis?" he said. "How shamelessly hard is yourheart! This handsome youth, whom any part sets like a wedding favour andfits like his own delicate skin, condescends to become your relative.Where is your welcome, your kinsmanlike manners? Go, fall upon his neck!Kiss him on either cheek. Is he not your heir? He hath only sequestratedyour wife, married your sister. Your only brother is a childless priest.There needs only your decease to set him on the throne of the Princedom.Give him time. How easily he has compassed all this! He will manage therest as easily. And then--listen to the shouting in the streets. I canhear it already. 'Long live Maurice the Bastard, Prince of Courtland!'"

  And the Prince of Muscovy laughed loud and long. But Prince Louis didnot laugh. His eyes glared upon the prisoner like those of a wild beastcaught in a corner whence it wishes to flee but canno
t.

  "He shall die--this day shall be his last. I swear it!" he cried. "Hehath mocked me, and I will slay him with my hand."

  He drew the dagger from his belt. But in the centre of the hall theSparhawk stood so still and quiet that Prince Louis hesitated. Ivan laida soft hand upon his wrist and as gently drew the dagger out of hisgrasp.

  "Nay, my Prince, we will give him a worthier passing than that. So noblea knight-errant must die no common death. What say you to the UkraineCross, the Cross of Steeds? I have here four horses, all wild from thesteppes. This squire of dames, this woman-mummer, hath, as now we know,four several limbs. By a strange coincidence I have a wild horse foreach of these. Let limbs and steeds be severally attached, my Cossacksknow how. Upon each flank let the lash be laid--and--well, the PrincessMargaret is welcome to her liege lord's soul. I warrant she will notdesire his fair body any more."

  At this Margaret tottered, her knees giving way beneath her, so that herguards stood nearer to catch her if she should fall.

  "Louis--my brother," she cried, "do not listen to the monster. Kill myhusband if you must--because I love him. But do not torture him. By thelast words of our mother, by the memory of our father, by your faith inthe Most Pitiful Son of God, I charge you--do not this devilry."

  Prince Ivan did not give Louis of Courtland time to reply to hissister's appeal.

  "The most noble Princess mistakes," he murmured suavely. "Death by theCross of Steeds is no torture. It is the easiest and swiftest of deaths.I have witnessed it often. In my country it is reserved for the greatestand the most distinguished. No common felon dies by the Cross of Steeds,but men whose pride it is to die greatly. Ere long we will show you onthe plain across the river that I speak the truth. It is a noble sight,and all Courtland shall be there. What say you, Louis? Shall thisspringald seat himself in your princely chair, or--shall we try theCross of the Ukraine?"

  "Have it your own way, Prince Ivan!" said Louis, and went out withoutanother word. The Muscovite stood a moment looking from Maurice toMargaret and back again. He was smiling his inscrutable Oriental smile.

  "The Prince has given me discretion," he said at last. "I might orderyou both to separate dungeons, but I am an easy man and delight in thedomestic affections. I would see the parting of two such faithfullovers. I may learn somewhat that shall stand me in good stead in thefuture. It is my ill-fortune that till now I have had little experienceof the gentler emotions."

  He raised his hand.

  "Let the Princess pass," he cried.

  The guards dropped their swords to their sides. They had beenrestraining her with as much gentleness as their duty would permit.

  Instantly the Princess Margaret ran forward with eager appeal on herface. She dropped on her knees before the Prince of Muscovy and claspedher hands in supplication.

  "Prince Ivan," she said, "I pray you for the love of God to spare him,to let him go. I promise never to see him more. I will go to a nunnery.I will look no more upon the face of day."

  "That, above all things, I cannot allow," said the Prince. "So fair aface must see many suns--soon, I trust, in Moscow city, and by my side."

  "Margaret," said the Sparhawk, "it is useless to plead. Do not abaseyourself in the presence of our enemy. You cannot touch a man's heartwhen his breast covers a stone. Bid me goodbye and be brave. The timewill not be long."

  From the place where Margaret the loving woman had kneeled Margaret thePrincess rose to her feet at the word of her husband. Without deigningeven to glance at Ivan, who had stooped to assist her, she passed him byand went to Von Lynar. He held out both his hands and took her littletrembling ones in a strong assured clasp.

  The Prince watched the pair with a chill smile.

  "Margaret," said Maurice, "this will not be for long. What matters theford, so that we both pass over the river. Be brave, little wife. Thecrossing will not be wide, nor the water deep. They cannot take from usthat which is ours. And He who joined us, whose priest blessed us, willunite us anew when and where it seemeth good to Him!"

  "Maurice, I cannot let you die--and by such a terrible death!"

  "Dearest, what does it matter? I am yours. Wherever my spirit maywander, I am yours alone. I will think of you when the Black Watershallows to the brink. On the further side I will wait a day and thenyou will meet me there. To you it may seem years. It will be but a dayto me. And I shall be there. So, little Margaret, good-night. Do notforget that I love you. I would have made you very happy, if I had hadtime--ah, if I had had time!"

  Like a child after its bedside prayer she lifted up her face to bekissed.

  "Good-night, Maurice," she said simply. "Wait for me; I shall not belong after!"

  She laid her brow a moment on his breast. Then she lifted her head andwalked slowly and proudly out of the hall. The guard fell in behind her,and Maurice von Lynar was left alone with the Prince of Muscovy.

  As the door closed upon the Princess a sudden devilish grimace of furydistorted the countenance of Prince Ivan. Hitherto he had beenstudiously and even caressingly courteous. But now he strode swiftly upto his captive and smote him across the mouth with the back of hisgauntleted hand.

  "That!" he said furiously, "that for the lips which have kissed hers!Soon, soon I shall pay the rest of my debt. Yes, by the most high God, Iwill pay it--with usury thereto!"

  A thin thread of scarlet showed upon the white of Maurice von Lynar'schin and trickled slowly downwards. But he uttered no word. Only helooked his enemy very straightly in the eyes, and those of the Muscovitedropped before that defiant fierce regard.