Arthur Rex (35 page)

Now Lynette had never heard such a brave intent announced by any knight, let alone a scullion, and she would have fallen in love with Gareth then had he not been a knave.

“Well,” said she, “come ride by my side, Beaumains. Tis the least I can do in view of thy destination. No longer will I seek to avoid thy company.”

But in riding towards the castle which the Red Knight held criminally, Gareth nevertheless lagged an horse’s length behind Lynette, for if the truth be known, he did cherish her illusion as to his inferiority.

So they crossed the last ford and rode over an hill and down into a forest, and from the trees in this forest hung the dead bodies of many knights, with their shields around their necks and upside down. And at this dreadful sight Lynette did gasp in horror and she brought her palfrey close to Gareth’s horse, saying, “This be the fell work of the Red Knight. These were my loyal men, alas! I beg thee to flee, my dear Beaumains, for here thou seest forty valorous knights, and they were not enough all together to withstand him.”

But Gareth said, “Lady, I will fight the Red Knight.”

And despite her fear Lynette now was offended by him again. “Beaumains,” said she, “there is a difference between true courage and reckless arrogance. Now, as a scullion thou perhaps couldst not know this, but that in itself is why the orders are distinguished one from the next. I confess that I did not believe thou couldst defeat thy betters at arms, and I was wrong, for thou didst vanquish the knights blue, brown, and black. Yet never allow thyself to believe that God will permit thee to flout the scheme of chivalry forever. Thou hast gone further than any other knave. Be content with that, Beaumains, and stay alive as the most valiant scullion who ever lived.”

“Lady,” said Gareth smiling, “with all respect, you do give too much worship to distractions.” And for the first time he galloped on ahead of her, and he reached the place where the wood gave way to a broad plain, and there he saw a stately castle.

Now a great sycamore grew at the edge of the forest, and attached to its trunk by a silver chain was a large silver horn, and Gareth took this to his lips for to blow upon it, but Lynette rode to him and she spake as follows.

“If I can not keep thee from meeting the Red Knight,” said she, “then at least do not yet sound the horn, which summons him to arms. At least wait till the sun begins to fall, when his strength will dwindle, for when it is high in the sky he hath the strength of seven men.”

But Gareth said, “I shall never be more ready to fight than I am now.” And he lifted the silver horn.

Yet Lynette was desperate to preserve him, for in great perversity and defying her faith and her moral principles she could not forbear from admitting to herself (in great shame) that she loved him with all her heart, knave though he be.

And crying, “I am lost!” she leaned across her palfrey and sought to keep the horn from his lips by interposing her own pink mouth, and she was a maiden of the greatest beauty with long hair of the richest auburn color and flawless skin of perfect whiteness except for the rose of her lips and cheeks, and her eyes were as glowing gems.

But not yet had Gareth noticed her in the amorous way, and he did not now, when he thought only of fighting the Red Knight of the Red Lawns. And her palfrey stepped away at this moment, and Lynette was not able to kiss him.

So putting the silver horn to his lips Gareth sounded it towards the castle across the plain, and hardly had the last note died away when the great gates swung open and through them rode the Red Knight of the Red Lawns, and never did he gallop but rather he walked his blood-red charger towards Gareth. And all his armor was bright red and so were his weapons, and a red plume fluttered from his helm.

And he came to Gareth across the field, and he said, “Why, brown Brother, dost sound the horn? Didst think I might not yet be in possession of the castle? Didst not see the corses I have hung from every tree? No knight on earth can long stand against me!” But then he drew close enough to see that it was not his brother’s face inside the brown helmet with the open visor, and he cried in rage, “O insolent impostor!”

“My lord Red Knight of the Red Lawns,” said Gareth, “I overcame your three brothers honestly, and I would fight you now.”

But the fair Lynette rode between them and she said to the Red Knight, “Sir, this person is not a knight but rather a valiant knave, the bravest in the world, and he is dear to me. Permit him to live, for killing him would bring you no worship. Further, if you grant me this favor, I shall put myself into your hands for whatever inordinate use you would make of me.”

And the Red Knight roared in brutal rage. “Impudent bitch!” he cried. “I already possess thy castle and thy young sister is my helpless captive. What canst thou give me further but thy maidenhead, the which I shall anyway shatter at my convenience either before or after I take thy sister’s? (Which I have not yet done only because my virility is so voracious that I must needs ravish two virgins at once.) And having once used a damsel, I find her subsequently loathsome, and therefore ye both shall be installed thereafter in a twopenny brothel!”

And so did this pestilent knight make his beastly boast.

And then Gareth said to Lynette, “Lady, will you void this field? For I would fight this knight.”

So weeping hot tears Lynette withdrew, and she wept both in sorrow because this brave scullion, whom she loved, would soon be dead, and in a certain resentment that neither of these men, good nor bad, did count her as at all significant in their affairs, and she would rather have harloted herself to save the life of Beaumains than to have him preserved by any other means in which she did not figure, for such is a proud lady’s hunger for mastery.

But the Red Knight cried, “Thou shalt kill me, puppy? Ordinarily I have the strength of seven, but now that I have learned of thy vanquishing of my brothers (which was surely done by deceit), in vengeance my powers are increased three times!”

And in fury he rode to an enormous oak which grew at the edge of the wood, and drawing his red sword he severed the trunk with one blow, and it could not have been encircled by four men joining hands, and this great oak, an hundred and fifty feet high, in falling felled a score of lesser trees.

Then the Red Knight went half a mile away across the plain, and he turned and began his charge, and whereas he was at the outset but a little speck of red on the horizon, he soon grew larger, and the speed of his red stallion was as the north wind and its hoofs made a sound like unto twenty drums struck at once.

Now Gareth waited till but an hundred yards remained between them, and then he began his own charge. And when he and the Red Knight met, it was with such force that the lance of each penetrated the other’s shield up to the handle and plucked it away from each man’s grasp and carried it away. And turning their horses each discarded his lance which was now impeded by a spitted shield, and both drew their swords.

Now with his first blow the Red Knight cut off the head of Gareth’s brown horse altogether, and spraying blood from the stump of its neck the animal collapsed onto its forelegs and Gareth was projected onto the earth.

Now the Red Knight rode down upon him swinging his fell sword, but Gareth smote him in his right arm and he cut it cleanly off. But when it fell the Red Knight caught up the sword in his left gauntlet, and he turned his horse so as to bring the advantage to the sinister side. Then he swung at Gareth with full force, for his left arm was quite as strong as his right, and thanks be to God that Gareth was not struck by this blow, for had it hit him he would have been in two parts.

Then a blow of Gareth’s did miss the Red Knight, but it cut the girth of his saddle and he fell from his steed, but though pouring blood from his severed arm he soon raised himself and with one swing of his mighty red sword he cut through Gareth’s breastplate and the point went through the coat of mail beneath, and it scored Gareth’s chest from high on the right shoulder diagonally down to his left hip. And fortunate it was that this wound but sliced open the skin and did not go deeper, yet copious blood ran out and down onto Gareth’s greaves and it covered his boots.

And soon the field on which they fought was covered with blood from the both of them, and Gareth slipped and fell sometimes, but the Red Knight was in his own element, for his color was blood-red and he had so colored many lawns, and that his right arm had been lost did not distress him in any wise, and he smote Gareth more sorely than he himself was smitten, and he hacked away much armor and he wounded him often.

And whilst none of these wounds was mortal, Gareth was bleeding everywhere and he grew weaker, and though he did never lose heart (for he was doing his duty and there was no alternative) it seemed as though he might well be killed before the sun began to descend and the Red Knight lost strength (for as yet it was high in the dome of the sky).

Now you can be sure that Lynette did watch this fight with much dread, and never had she seen so brave a man as Gareth, and in the degree to which she had once despised him, she did love him now. And she was bitter against God for providing the finest man she had ever known and yet making him but a scullion (for Lynette had never met a man of her own station whom she could admire, the valiant having been all felons and the honest, effeminate), and she was punished for this impiety by not learning the truth until it was too late: therefore she can serve as a sorry example to all fair ladies who would judge a man only by his temporary situation!

Now this fight between Gareth and the Red Knight had gone on for many hours, and Gareth was continually forced back by the attack of his puissant foe, and so they went across that field and unto the very castle, and almost all of Gareth’s armor had been hacked away, and he was so weak that he could not have remained on his feet were his back not placed against the stone wall.

And the Red Knight raised his red sword high over his red helmet with its blood-red plume at the crown, with a purpose to bring it down and to despatch Gareth altogether. And too weak to lift his own sword to deflect the blow, Gareth looked aloft at the red blade, but even in this moment of imminent death he was distracted by something he saw from the corner of his eye. And he turned his head and he saw in the window of a tower that did project from the wall of the castle the most beautiful face he had ever seen in his life, and it belonged to a maiden who was chained therein, and the window had iron bars.

Now Gareth fell in love with this maiden on the instant, and from that love, combined with hatred for the Red Knight whose captive she was, his strength returned to him and manyfold, and he raised his sword and chopped off the Red Knight’s left arm, and then both of his legs, and then his head, and soon all that remained of this notorious felon was a pile of disjoined parts in red armor.

Then Gareth mounted to the tower and he freed the maiden from her chains, and then he hacked the iron bars from the window, and he threw open the casement and let the sun stream in. And the maiden made great joy.

“Sir knight,” she said, “you have delivered me!” And her face was more radiant than the golden sun which came through the window, and her hair was more bright, and her eyes were blue as the sea. “Therefore I am yours by right of conquest!”

“Nay, lady,” said Gareth. “I am of King Arthur’s court, and we do not take such spoils. You are truly free, and you have no obligations.”

“Then freely,” said the maiden, “I would give myself to you, unless you find me obnoxious.”

“Lady,” said Gareth, “I would marry you, for I love you with all my heart.”

And weeping with joy, for she loved him as well, the maiden fell into his arms.

Meanwhile Lynette, who had covered her eyes so as not to watch the Red Knight kill the young man she knew as Beaumains, had finally opened them to see the felon lying in many red pieces, whereas Beaumains was nowhere to be found.

Therefore Lynette went to the tower, and there she saw her sister in the arms of the scullion, and who can say which feeling was uppermost in her heart, jealousy or outrage that such a base fellow (though valiant) should touch a lady?

“Fie, Beaumains!” she cried. “Unhand my sister! Do not corrupt the memory of thy valor by acting shamefully now.” And Gareth did as ordered, for the foolish haughtiness of Lynette had ever brought him contemptuous amusement.

But her sister, who was named Lynesse, clasped Gareth to her bosom, saying, “This knight hath delivered me, and we shall be married.”

And Lynette gasped in horror and she said, “Lynesse, thou goose, dost not know he is but a knave who worketh in the kitchens?”

“I care only that I love him dearly!” cried Lynesse.

And therefore Lynette did appeal to Gareth. “Beaumains, this is but a foolish young girl who hath never left this castle in all her life. I beg of thee that thou be decent.” And from her fingers she took her rings, which were of begemmed gold, and she gave them to Gareth. “Now, thou art the richest scullion in the world. Accept these as recompense for being the most valiant.”

And now, for Lynesse was weeping piteously in the belief that her sister would drive her lover away, Gareth could no longer forbear from revealing who he was.

And when he had so done, Lynesse was overjoyed, but Lynette said reproachfully, “Why, my lord, doth a prince of the Orkneys and a nephew to the throne of Britain pose as a knave?”

“Perhaps,” said Gareth, “to prove that he is no less.”

“But so to delude a lady,” asked Lynette, “think you this was chivalrous?”

“Lady,” said Gareth, “(soon to be sister), methinks my duty was but to relieve you of this tyranny, and so have I done. King Arthur would never have given the quest to one who was unworthy of it.”

“Well,” said Lynette, “I am ashamed, and I confess I was at fault, but I do not think that all the wrong was mine.” And she did go away for a while and weep privately, for now she could admit to herself that she had loved Gareth even as a scullion, and had she found him after he had slain the Red Knight (before he had found her sister) she might well have given herself to him knave though she believed him to be.