Chapter LV.
HOW THE EAGLES FARED IN FIGHTING, AND HOW SIR RAINALD WOULD HAVE DEALT WITH YWAIN.

THEN when the sound of the horn had ceased Ywain held up his hand and stayed the noise of the shouting, and he spoke and said to the Eagles how they should go with him to take the gate of the city, and so to bring Hubert in. And they all assented thereto and made them ready. But Ywain turned him about and looked upon Aithne, and a sharp pain went through his heart and he said to her: I am distressed, O my beloved, because of you: for to-day by the space of an hour we must be parted one from other. And I know not how to leave you, for I fear the great ones of Paladore. And Aithne answered him lightly, and she said: Go now, and have no fear: for there is a chapel beside this Hall, and it is long time forsaken and forgotten, and there shall I be in sanctuary, until you come again. Then Ywain looked sadly at her, and she said to him: And if so be that you come not again, then in some other place shall you and I be met together. And she took him by the hand and led him in, and he went throughout the Hall and found the chapel as she had said: and they came by a bailey from the Hall into the chapel, and there they kissed and parted in the best manner that might be, as of lovers parting in dread.

Then Ywain came forth again to the Eagles, and he took a sword naked in his hand and went before them: and they came swiftly to the gate and looked to find it open, for they were agreed with the porter and with the guard. But they found it right otherwise, for the porter lay there slain upon the snow, and before the gatehouse was no guard, but a great company of spears. And Ywain perceived the malice of his enemy and he cried out to Dennis: This is that Sir Rainald, and he has outrun us by his craft, for I saw him running counter upon our trail.

And right as he was speaking there came a noise from without the gate, and Ywain and his shouted together and called on Hubert by his name. And they which were without heard them shouting, and they cried the war-cry of the Eagles, and battered with axes upon the gate. And Ywain called his company to rescue, and he went before them and they set on fiercely upon the spears, and the men of the Eagles and the men of the Tower hewed and thrust on this side and on that and were mingled furiously in battle. And for the space of half-an-hour they had no mastery either of other, but they swung back and forward like two wrestlers, seeking their advantage in great grips together.

Then at the last their breath began to fail them, and they drew a little apart and stood looking one upon another. And they of the Tower perceived how the Eagles were minished, for they were fewer from the beginning, and though they had slain each his man, yet were many of them dead upon the spears. And when the spearmen saw that they called each to other to go forward and make an end, and they came thrusting heavily upon Ywain and his, and by their weight they drove them backward. And more especially they thrust upon them by the right hand and by the left, that they might close them in on every side: but they prevailed not, for the street was narrow. Notwithstanding they continued thrusting, and Ywain perceived their intent, and feared it, for he saw how it should be when they were come into the market-place. And he gathered his strength together and shouted loudly to the Eagles; and they strove as men desperate, and lopped their enemies both spear and spearman, and so stayed them from their thrusting. Then when Ywain saw that they were stayed, he commanded the Eagles to be gone suddenly: and they ran back and escaped over the market-place, and came to the Great Hall and were gathered together upon the steps before the door.

And Ywain looked down from the steps and saw his enemies before him, and they were strong men armed and armoured, and they came running to the foot of the steps like the sea-tide upon the beach. And he looked back upon his own men and saw them few and faint, and it came into his mind that the end was not far off from them.

Then the spearmen made them ready again for battle, for they were strictly commanded that they should assault the place and stint not till they had taken it. So they came upon the steps with spears all thick together, as it had been thorns in a quickset hedge, and they began to push the Eagles upward from step to step. And Ywain saw their dealing, and he perceived the vantage which they had thereby, and the danger: for they were clumped so close that they could not move, except it were to go forward all together. Then he ran and stooped quickly, and he loosened a great stone of the flags which were before the Hall, and he came forward again upon the steps and cast it down upon the spearmen: and it fell like death among them, and they cried out piteously and went backward, and in their fear they trampled one upon another. And Ywain and his made haste and took up other like stones, for there was there no lack, and they stood ready to hurtle them down after the same manner: but the spearmen gave ground and would not abide their coming. And some among them clamoured that they should send for archers, to shoot safely upon the Eagles: and when the Eagles heard them clamouring they bade them good speed, for they knew how the archers were a free company, and favoured not the Tower. So the battle stood still on this side and on that, until that some new thing should fortune.

Then with watching the day began to pass over, and the great bell of Paladore rang noon above them. And in the same moment there was a stir among the spearmen and the throng of them was parted in the midst and one came forth and began to go upon the steps. And Ywain was astonished, for he which came was Sir Rainald, and he came courteously and without fear. And he gave Ywain greeting, and looked cheerily therewith; and he demanded to speak with him privily, and truce to be had between them while they continued one with the other.

So they went into the Great Hall, they two alone, and the door was shut to behind them. And Sir Rainald began to speak with Ywain as one that found no fault in him, but he blamed only the Archbishop and his, and he named their curses witless and unlawful. And Ywain answered him: All this I have forgotten, for I only am accursed: but to-day our fighting is against a more evil custom, and there is nothing shall stay us except death only. Then Sir Rainald looked kindly upon him and said: A pity of your fighting, and of your friends: for there are few of them which are not slain or hurt. And the pity is this, that if you would, the weak should be the stronger.

Now when he had said these words he looked fixedly upon Ywain, and he took his hand and set a great ring upon his finger: and Ywain saw the stone of the ring, and in it were the arms of Paladore engraven. And Sir Rainald said: The Prince hath left none to inherit him, save you only: for there is none other that hath power in Paladore.

Then Ywain’s heart fluttered like a bird in his bosom, and for a moment he thought to have escaped the death. Then his eyes were lightened and he remembered him of the Prince, how he had seen him in his chains. And he said to Sir Rainald: Take the ring again: for your princes have no power against your customs, else had they never been so bound. Then Sir Rainald took the ring and went out: and he spoke no word, nor he let no sign be seen upon his face.