There! hearken to me for a while; at least till I tell
thee that thou seemest to me to hold thine head higher than when last
I saw thee; though that is no long time either. Hast thou been in
battle again since that day?'
'Nay,' he said, 'I have stricken no stroke since I slew two felons
within the same hour that we parted. And thou, sister, what hast
thou done?'
She said: 'The grey goose hath been on the wing thrice since that,
bearing on it the bane of evil things.'
Then said Wood-wise: 'Kinswoman, tell him of that battle, since thou
art deft with thy tongue.'
She said: 'Weary on battles! it is nought save this: twelve days
agone needs must every fighting-man of the Wolf, carle or of queen,
wend away from Shadowy Vale, while those unmeet for battle we hid
away in the caves at the nether end of the Dale: but Sun-beam would
not endure that night, and fared with us, though she handled no
weapon. All this we had to do because we had learned that a great
company of the Dusky Men were over-nigh to our Dale, and needs must
we fall upon them, lest they should learn too much, and spread the
story.
Pages:
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388