The Orthodox Rescue of Guenevere
Now the tells how the and again sharply, so that Jurgen came as through a into another of chamber. Yet this also was a place.
Here from the of the was a of red flames. These a very old and looking man in full armor, with a sword, and royally: he sat upon a throne, motionless, with that saw nothing. Back of him Jurgen noted many seated in rows, and all at Jurgen with wide-open that saw nothing. The red of the was in all these eyes, and to this was not pleasant.
Jurgen waited non-committally. Nothing happened. Then Jurgen saw that at this monarch's were three chests. The had been from two of them, and these were with coins. Upon the middle chest, the king, sat a woman, with her against the of the glaring, withered, motionless, old rascal.
"And this is a woman. Obviously! Observe the of that thick of hair! the rich of the neck! Oh, clearly, a fit to for, against any odds!"
So ran the of Jurgen. Bold as a now, he and the girl's head.
Her were closed. She was, so, the most Jurgen had imagined.
"She not breathe. And yet, unless memory fails me, this is a woman in my arms. Evidently this is a sleep by necromancy. Well, it is not for nothing I have read so many tales. There are to be in the of every princess. And Lisa, she may be, dear! is in this neighborhood, I nobody talking. So I may myself at to do the thing by this princess. Indeed, it is the only thing for me to do, and it."
In consequence, Jurgen the girl. Her and softened, and they a not of ardor. Her eyes, when thus closely, had opened, had viewed him without wonder, and then the had fallen, about half-way, just as, Jurgen remembered, the of a woman ought to do when she is being properly. She a little, and now she a little, but not with cold: Jurgen perfectly that a woman's body: everything, in fine, was as it should be. So Jurgen put an end to the kiss, which, as you may surmise, was a affair.
His was as though to from his body, and he the blood at his finger-tips. He what in the world had come over him, who was too old for such emotions.
Yet, truly, this was the girl that Jurgen had imagined. Fair was she to look on, with her and small lips, a person might no man of having seen. And she Jurgen graciously, with her by that red overhead, and she was very to observe. She was in a of flame-colored silk, and about her was a of red gold. When she spoke her voice was music.
"I that you would come," the girl said, happily.
"I am very that I came," Jurgen.
"But time presses."
"Time sets an example, my dear Princess--"
"Oh, messire, but do you not that you have life into this place! You have of this life to me, in the most direct and fashion. But life is very contagious. Already it is by infection."
And Jurgen the old king, as the girl indicated. The motionless: but from his came slow of vapor, as though he were to breathe in a place. This was odd, the was not cold.
"And all the others too are smoke," says Jurgen. "Upon my word I think this is a place to be leaving."
First, though, he the king's sword-belt, and himself therewith, sword, and all. "Now I have arms my shirt," says Jurgen.
Then the girl him a of passage way, by which they forty-nine steps in stone, and so came to daylight. At the top of the was an iron trapdoor, and this door at the girl's Jurgen lowered. There was no way of the door from without.
"But Thragnar is not to be stopped by or padlocks," the girl said. "Instead, we must mark this door with a cross, since that is a symbol which Thragnar cannot pass."
Jurgen's hand had gone to his throat. Now he shrugged. "My dear lady, I no longer the cross. I must Thragnar with other weapons."
"Two will serve, crosswise--"
Jurgen submitted that nothing would be than to the trapdoor, and thus the sticks. "They will without anyone having to touch them, and then what of your crucifix?"
"Why, how you think of everything!" she said, admiringly. "Here is a from my sleeve, then. We will tie the together."
Jurgen did this, and upon the a crucifix. "Still, when anyone the upon it will off. Without the of your charm, I cannot but that in this case it is difficult to handle. Magician or no, I would put in a padlock."
So the girl another strip, from the of her gown, and then another from her right sleeve, and with these they their to the surface of the trapdoor, in such a fashion that the not be from beneath. They the was marked with a coronet, the girl pillion, and they westward, since the girl said this was best.
For, as she now told Jurgen, she was Guenevere, the of Gogyrvan, King of Glathion and the Red Islands. So Jurgen told her he was the Duke of Logreus, he it was not for a to be princesses: and he swore, too, that he would her safely to her father, Thragnar might attempt. And all the of her and by King Thragnar did Dame Guenevere relate to Jurgen, as they together through the May morning.
She the Troll King not well them. "For now you have his sword, Caliburn, the only with which Thragnar can be slain. Besides, the of the he cannot pass. He and trembles."
"My dear Princess, he has but to push up the from beneath, and the cross, being to the trapdoor, is moved out of his way. Failing this expedient, he can always come out of the by the other opening, through which I entered. If this Thragnar has any at all and a amount of tenacity, he will presently be at hand."
"Even so, he can do no unless we accept a present from him. The is that he will come in disguise."
"Why, then, we will accept gifts from nobody."
"There is, moreover, a by which you may Thragnar. For if you what he says, he will you are in the right. This was the put upon him by Miramon Lluagor, for a and a hindrance."
"By that trait," says Jurgen, "Thragnar ought to be very easy to distinguish."
