The fingers of her hand were like a spell set upon his lips. He looked into her eyes and was dumb. “Now, are you cautious?” She took her hand away, yet almost with a caress. “Isoult, what is this hedge priest to you?” “Nothing—less than nothing.” “And what are these ditch scrapings and plough-boys?” “A little more than Merlin.” “Your pride is as good as mine. I’ll not go, Isoult, unless——” “Unless?” “Two falcons soar into the blue.” She kept him at arm’s length, but her eyes were shining in her dim face. “Ah, you think well of yourself, Fulk of the Forest. Have you the strength to fly with me? I tell you I am a flame, a storm, a sunset.” “I have wings as strong as yours.” “To fly in the face of the sun?” “Over the moon—if needs be.” They were like two flames, flaring and leaping against each other. An intoxication seized them, though there was a challenge and a defiance in the rushing together of desire. Their hands gripped hard, yet resisted. Their mouths provoked each other, yet held apart. “Isoult, I swear troth.” “Wait—wait, madman!” “Troth until death; I swear it.” She swayed towards him, drew back as suddenly, and started up, dragging him with her. “Ssst, see—there!” She pointed towards the wood, and Fulk saw vague movement in the darkness, and heard the rustling of bracken and the crackling of dead wood. CHAPTER XIII They were away, running hand in hand, and even their chance of death had an exultant cry in its throat. A voice snarled in the darkness behind them: “Shoot—shoot! No mercy!” Fulk let go of Isoult’s hand, and swung behind her so as to cover her from the arrows of Merlin’s men, but she hung back and would not suffer him to serve her as shield. “No, no; I take the same chance as you, my friend. There are oak woods down yonder—they will be our salvation.” “I will show them a woodland trick or two.” Arrows went past them, first one, and then three flying together and whistling like wind through the keyhole. A cross-bow bolt struck the turf close to Isoult’s heels, and they heard the harsher twang of the arblast cord. “That was Merlin’s shot. He has poached many a bird.” “Let them shoot. It means they will lose in the running.” They heard Merlin’s voice, furious and strident. “After them. Bring down both, lording and jade.” The stiffness went out of Fulk’s legs like wax melting before a fire. He felt monstrously strong, ready to run on air, with never a thought of tiring. Isoult, being a woman of sense, had twitched her skirts up over her girdle, and she ran beside him like a deer. “My desire, you have good wings.” She laughed, feeling the mounting pride of his manhood in her. “An I were naked I would dare any man to catch me—save you, perhaps!” He glanced back with an exultant lift of the chin. “They shoot like townsmen, and it is all down hill. Skim, swallow, skim!” “In the oak woods we’ll make a maze for them.”