The Roots of the Mountains: Wherein Is Told Somewhat of the Lives of the Men of Burgdale, Their Friends, Their Neighbours, Their Foemen, and Their Fellows in ArmsMorris, William
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The Roots of the Mountains: Wherein Is Told Somewhat of the Lives of the Men of Burgdale, Their Friends, Their Neighbours, Their Foemen, and Their Fellows in Arms
Morris, William
Fantasy fiction
Then as his mind pictured him amongst the foe, it made therewith another
picture of the slender warrior Sun-beam caught in the tangle of battle,
and longing for him and calling for him amidst the hard hand-play. And
thereat his face flushed, and all his body waxed hot, and he was on the
very point of leading the onset against the foe on the left. But
therewith he bethought him of the bold men of the Steer and the Bridge
and the Bull weary with much fighting; and he remembered also that the
Bride was amongst them and fighting, it might be, amidst the foremost,
and if she were slain how should he ever hold up his head again. He
bethought him also that the Shepherds, who had fallen on by the eastern
road, valiant as they were, were scarce so well armed or so well led as
the others. Therewithal he bethought him (and again it came like a
picture into his mind) of falling on the foemen by whom the southern
battle was beset, and then the twain of them meeting the Shepherds, and
lastly, all those three companies joined together clearing the
Market-place, and meeting the men under Folk-might in the midst thereof.
Therefore, scant had he been pondering these things in his mind for a
minute ere he cried out: ‘Blow up horns, blow up! forward banners, and
follow me, O valiant men! to the helping of the Steer, the Bridge, and
the Bull; deep have they thrust into the Dusky Throng, and belike are
hard pressed. Hark how the clamour ariseth from their besetters! On
now, on!’
Therewith hung a star of sunlight on his sword as he raised it aloft, and
the Wolf-whoop rang out terribly in the Market-place, for now had the
Woodlanders also learned it, and the hearts of the foemen sank as they
heard the might and the mass thereof. Then the battle of the Woodlanders
swept round and fell upon the flank of them who were besetting the
kindreds, as an iron bar smiteth the soft fir-wood; and they of the
kindreds heard their cry, but faintly and confusedly, so great was the
turmoil of battle about them.
Now once more was Bow-may by the side of Face-of-god; and if she had not
the might of the mightiest, yet had she the deftness of the deftest. And
now was she calm and cool, shielding herself with a copper-bossed target,
and driving home the point of her sharp sword; white was her face, and
her eyes glittered amidst it, and she seemed to men like to those on
whose heads the Warrior hath laid the Holy Bread.
As to Wood-wise, he had given the Banner of the red-jawed Wolf to
Stone-wolf, a huge and dreadful warrior some forty winters old, who had
fought in the Great Overthrow, and now hewed down the Dusky Men, wielding
a heavy short-sword left-handed. But Wood-wise himself fought with a
great sword, giving great strokes to the right hand and the left, and was
no more hasty than is the hewer in the winter wood.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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