[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.txt possessed: this Casmir knew. The combined forces moved northward with
ominous deliberation, and
Aillas army of Ulfs and Dauts moved toward Lumarth.
Casmir had no choice but to shift his position to avoid entrapment between the
two armies. He ordered a retreat eastward toward the Cambermouth, only to
receive news that forty Troice warships and twenty transport cogs had sailed
to the head of the Cambermouth and there had discharged a great force of
Page 260
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Troice and Dasce heavy infantry, supported by four hundred archers from Scola,
so that armies now moved upon Casmir from three directions.
In a tactic of desperation Casmir ordered full and vehement assault upon
Aillas army, which was closest at hand, and included components of the Daut
warriors whom he had already chased the width of Dahaut. The two armies met on
a stony field known as Breedknock Barrens. Casmir s warriors knew themselves
to be fighting a lost cause, and their assault was listless, almost tentative,
and was at once thrown back on itself. The other two armies now appeared and
Casmir found himself pressed from three directions, and he realized that the
day was lost. Many of his untried troops were slaughtered in the first ten
minutes; many surrendered; many fled the field, including King
Casmir. With a small troop of high-ranking knights, squires and men-at-arms he
broke through the battle-lines and fled to the south. His only hope now was to
arrive in Lyonesse Town where he would commandeer a fishing vessel and attempt
the passage to Aquitaine.
Casmir and his comrades outdistanced pursuit, and in due course rode
unchallenged down the Sfer
Arct into Lyonesse Town.
At the King s Parade, Casmir turned aside toward Haidion, where he met a final
bitter surprise:
Troice troops commanded by Sir Yane. They had overcome the weakened garrison
several days before and now occupied the city. Casmir was unceremoniously
clapped into shackles and taken to the
Peinhador, where he was confined in the deepest and dankest of the
thirty-three dungeons, and there left to brood upon the vicissitudes of life
and the unpredictable directions of Destiny.
IV
The Elder Isles were quiet, in the torpor of exhaustion, grief and satiated
emotion. Casmir huddled in a dungeon from which Aillas was in no hurry to
extricate him. One frosty winter morning
Casmir would be brought up and led to the block behind the Peinhador; there
his head would be detached from his torso by the axe of Zerling, his own
executioner, who, for the nonce, also occupied a dungeon. Other prisoners,
depending upon their offenses, had been liberated or returned to the
Peinhador, pending more careful judgment. Queen Sollace had been put aboard a
ship and exiled to Benwick in Armorica. In her baggage she carried an antique
blue chalice, double-handled, with a chipped rim, upon which she lavished a
great devotion. It remained in her custody for several years, then was stolen,
causing her such distress that she refused to eat or drink and presently died.
When the Troice took Lyonesse Town, Father Umphred went into hiding, using the
cellars under the new cathedral for his lair. Upon the departure of Queen
Sollace he became desperate and decided to follow. Early one gray and blustery
morning he took himself aboard a fishing vessel, and paid the fisherman three
gold pieces for passage to Aquitaine. Yane, at Aillas instructions, had been
seeking Umphred high and low, and had been waiting for just such an occasion.
He took note of the priest s furtive embarkation and notified Aillas. The two
boarded a fast galley and set off in pursuit. Ten miles to sea they overtook
the fishing vessel, and sent aboard a pair of stalwart seamen. In sad-eyed
dismay Umphred saw them come, but managed a nervous little wave of the fingers
and a smile. He called: This is a pleasant surprise!
The two seamen brought Father Umphred aboard the galley. Truly, this is all a
nuisance, said
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]