The marshal, who appears to have been paralysed by the rapid movements of the enemy, at once sent a party of cavalry to meet the men he saw were preparing to mount the rocky steps that led to the fortress. Count Walter von Manebel charged down upon the enemy, but with such fury and indiscretion that the ascending soldiers, being on foot, readily eluded the pursuit of their mounted adversaries, who had no alternative but to seek refuge in the plains below, and there await further orders. Meanwhile Ibelin’s troops continued to mount, and a severe struggle ensued, in which the marshal’s troops became perfectly unmanageable, and had to be withdrawn to Keryneia. Numbers sought safety in flight, or refuge in the neighbouring churches and monasteries. Keryneia now alone remained in the hands of the imperial troops, and the marshal at once proceeded to strengthen it at all points, stored up ample provisions in case of siege, and having given the command of such troops as could not be accommodated in the fortress to Walter von Aquaviva, he himself retired to Cilicia with a large body of men. Ibelin no sooner heard that the marshal had withdrawn the greater part of his army from Keryneia, than he proceeded to invest that fortress. A long and bloody battle at once ensued outside its walls, and every means were tried, but in vain, to storm the citadel. At this crisis a short truce was concluded, in consequence of the death of the young Queen Alice. Her corpse was decked in royal robes, and a messenger was despatched to her consort requesting that she might be interred as became her rank. This truce was strictly kept on both sides, until the royal coffin had been conveyed to Nikosia, where it was placed in the cathedral with much pomp and reverence.