The Killing Sword

by Asotir

ashamed that so fair a damsel had destroyed herself for the love of the man he had killed.

  ‘Alas,’ said Balyn, ‘how I repent of the death of this knight, if only for the love this damsel bore him. Surely there was true love between these two.’

  And for sorrow he went back to his horse and turned it, so the horse stood between Balyn and the bodies. Well he knew that no lady had ever loved him so well that she would have riven herself at his loss. And for an hour even his stern face softened, and his hard heart doubted.

  Was it for this that I made my great oath to you, you Devils of the deep earth? Is this how you fulfill our pact? Is this lady’s blood the great deed you bring me?

  From out of a great forest that lapped the skirts of the mountain a rider climbed the mountain. ‘What fresh sadness and pain will this encounter bring me?’ asked Balyn. But when the rider was near, then Balyn saw his arms, and knew it was his own brother Balan.

  On the mountainside the brothers put off their helms and embraced and wept to see each other again, for joy and pity both.

  ‘I didn’t look to meet you here on the road,’ said Balan. ‘I am right glad of your deliverance out of prison. A man told me in the Castle of the Four Stones that you had won your freedom at last, and that he had seen you in the Court of King Arthur. So I rode hither into this country on the way to Camelot. But what strange adventure do I find here?’

  Balyn then told his brother Balan of the Naked Damsel, of the Sword, and of the death of the Lady of the Lake. ‘And King Arthur was displeased with me, so that he sent this knight after me that lies there, dead. His lady love slew herself for his loss, and her death grieves me sorely.’

  ‘So it does me,’ said Balan. ‘But you must take the adventure that God ordains to you. I can think of more than one damsel that is faithless and lewd, and were better to have been spitted upon that blade instead of this true heart.’

  ‘Well,’ said Balyn, ‘also I am unhappy that my lord Arthur is angry with me, for he is the most worshipful knight that reigns now on earth. And his love I will get or else I will die in the attempt. King Ryons threatens war, and I am resolved to go with all speed to prove my worship and prowess upon him. And then if I live I will seek out the Naked Damsel and help her win her vengeance against the foul knight that wronged her, God willing. And maybe this sword will lead me to help her, for it has a goodly strong witchcraft worked into it, as is plain from the sight of it.’

  ‘I pray God you do,’ said Balan. ‘For it is a blessed thing for any knight to help women. I will go with you,’ he said, ‘and we will help each other turn and turn about, as brothers ought to do.’

  VI. The Lovers’ Tomb

  AS THEY TALKED there came a dwarf from Camelot on horseback. And when he found the dead bodies he made great dole and pulled out his hair. ‘Which of you knights has done this deed?’ he asked.

  ‘Why do you ask it?’ said Balan.

  ‘For I would know it,’ said the dwarf.

  ‘It was I,’ said Balyn, ‘who slew this knight in self defense, for he came here to chase and either I must slay him or he me. And this damsel slew herself for his love, which saddens me. And for her sake I shall owe all women the better love.’

  ‘Alas,’ said the dwarf, ‘you have done great damage unto yourself, for this knight here dead was one of the most valiant men that lived. And trust well, Balyn, the kin of this knight will hunt you through the world till they have slain you.’

  ‘As for that,’ said Balyn, ‘it little troubles me. But I am right sad that I have displeased my lord King Arthur for the death of this knight.’

  So as they talked together there came the King of Cornwall riding through that pass. King Mark was a heavy-set man with a black beard, and his eyes were sad and sunk into his head: an unhappy man in life and love. And when he saw these two bodies dead, and understood how they had died, then the king made great sorrow for the true love that was between them.

  ‘I wish to God that a woman might love me half so much,’ he said, ‘and I will not depart till I have on this earth made a tomb for them.’

  And there he pitched his pavilions and sent his men through all the country to find a tomb. In a church they found one fair and rich, that pleased King Mark.

  Then Balyn and Balan bore the two bodies through the forest to the church, and the king let put them both in the earth under the tomb even as they were, the knight bloody in his broken armor as cold as stone, and the damsel naked upon his sword that pierced her through her belly. And the king let write the names of them both on the tomb:

  HERE LIE

  LANCEOUR

  THE KING’S SON OF IRELAND

  THAT AT HIS OWN SEEKING

  WAS SLAIN

  BY THE HAND OF BALYN THE WILD

  §

  AND WITH HIM

  HIS LADY AND PARAMOUR

  COLOMBE

  THAT SLEW HERSELF

  WITH HER LOVE’S SWORD

  FOR DOLE AND SORROW.

  VII. The Knight of Two Swords

  WHILE THIS WAS BEING DONE, Merlyn came upon that place, unlooked-for as his wont. And seeing all that King Mark did Merlyn said,

  ‘Here shall take place the greatest battle between two knights that ever was or ever shall be, and they shall be as like as brothers and the truest of all lovers. And yet neither of them shall die from it, and neither slay the other.’

  And upon the tomb in letters of gold, Merlyn wrote their names:

  SIR LANCELOT OF THE LAKE

  &

  SIR TRISTRAM

  ‘You are a marvelous man,’ said King Mark, ‘to foretell such marvels. And yet you look like a boisterous man and unlikely to know of such things. What is your name?’

  ‘At this time,’ answered Merlyn, ‘I will not tell it. But at that time when Sir Tristram is taken with his sovereign lady, then you shall hear and know my name. And at that time, King Mark, you shall hear tidings that shall not please you.’

  Then Merlyn turned to Balyn and said, ‘You did yourself great hurt because you failed to save this lady from her own self-harm. You could have saved her if you would.’

  ‘By the faith of my body,’ said Balyn, ‘I might not save her, she slew herself too suddenly.’

  ‘That will prove a great sorrow,’ said Merlyn. ‘Because of the death of that lady, Balyn, you shall strike a stroke, the most dolorous that ever man struck except the stroke that slew our Lord. For you shall hurt the truest knight and the man of most worship that now lives. And through that stroke three kingdoms shall lie in poverty, misery, and wretchedness for twelve years, and the knight shall not be healed of that wound for many years.’

  Then Merlyn turned from Balyn and Balan. Balyn was pale with anger and dismay at those words. ‘If I knew that what you tell is true,’ he said, ‘I should so put my life in peril that I would slay myself, to make you a liar.’

  ‘No man will make his fate a liar,’ said Merlyn. Then he turned under the tree and was gone.

  ‘Forget that man’s words,’ said Balan, ‘for men love dearly to speak riddles and pretend to know what will come, but for the most part their foretelling comes to nought. We will win you back the love of the king, and then avenge the Naked Damsel, and all will be well with us. And first of all have we to do with King Ryons.’

  ‘King Ryons,’ said King Mark. ‘What is this talk of yours about King Ryons?’

  ‘Only this, that we mean to go in search of him and put him down for King Arthur’s sake.’

  ‘You will not need to search far,’ the king told them. ‘For I can tell you where he is, and it is nearer this place than you could guess. I have ridden hard from the west to tell my lord Arthur of the landing of this King Ryons. He has fallen upon the Castle Terrabil with all his under-kings, and puts it to the siege.’

  ‘Then, lord, we must take our leave of you, and right soon,’ said Balyn.

  ‘First,’ said the king, ‘tell me your name.’ But Balyn held his tongue.

  ‘Sire,’ said Ba
lan, ‘you can see he wears two swords. So he shall be known as the Knight of Two Swords.’

  ‘Then we will have right need of you, Knight of Two Swords. For when Castle Terrabil falls, then King Ryons will lay waste to all the countryside unto Camelot, unless the king, his barons, and all true knights can stop him.’

  Then King Mark took his way to Camelot, to join his army to Arthur’s command. But Balyn and his brother rode on westward toward King Ryons. And as they rode together, they met a churlish man on the road.

  ‘Where do you ride?’ asked the man.

  ‘We have no reason,’ answered Balan, ‘to tell such as you.’

  ‘But what is your name?’ asked Balyn, peering at the man’s face.

  ‘At this time,’ the man said, ‘I will not tell you that.’

  ‘It seems unlikely that you are a true man, if you will not tell us your name.’

  ‘As for that,’ said the man, ‘be it as it may. But I can tell you the reason why you ride this way. Is it not to meet King Ryons? But you will gain nothing for it without my counsel.’

  ‘Ah,’ said Balyn, ‘you are Merlyn! Advise us then, and we will be ruled by your counsel.’

  ‘Follow me then,’ said Merlyn, ‘and I will show you how you shall have great worship. And look that you strive as true knights, for you shall have great need of strength and courage both.’

  ‘As for that,’ said Balyn, ‘never fear. We will do what we may.’

  VIII. The Silver Lady’s Lover

  THEN MERLYN LED THEM into a deep wood and bade them take off the bridles of their horses and put them to grass for the day. And he had the two knights lie down among the leaves to