With Ring of Shield Part 38

Then the long lances with their fluttering streamers bent all together as they were laid in rest. How looked they like the full grown field of grain as it doth bend before the hot blasts of summer.

"Now, Walter, we must find Catesby!" cried Harleston.

"Yea, _I_ must find him," I replied between my set teeth, as forward we dashed.

Michael gave one great cheer and then leaned forward with his mighty sword, that took the strength of two good men to wield, held beside his huge steed's neck.

On we flew, whilst forward dashed a band of knights and squires to meet us.

"Charge! charge! charge!" rang out on every side.

A cras.h.!.+--curses,--cheers and groans! and then the sharp swords flashed over head, and the s.h.i.+elds rang out right l.u.s.tily.

My lance did resist the shock of the first encounter; the knight against whom I aimed it going down before my furious charge as though he had been a reed.

Sharply I spurred my steed and dashed forward at another knight, which bravely came on to meet me. Both lances s.h.i.+vered up to the very grasp.

Drawing my good sword I again made at him. Then came a terrible blow upon my side, and I was shot from my saddle as a stone from a sling.

Some cowardly knave had borne down upon me from the right whilst I was drawing my sword to attack my more worthy antagonist. His lance's point had struck beneath mine arm, and 'twas to our good King Edward's n.o.ble present that I owed my life.

I must have been stunned for a moment; for the next thing I knew of was a knee upon my chest and a visored face bending o'er me.

"Now I will finish the work left incomplete when last we met." It was Catesby.

In his hand he held a dagger, and now he drew it back to strike.

The only sensation I then felt was a curiosity to know how it would feel to die. The stroke I cared not for; but yet I wondered, with a kind of disinterestedness, how one would feel as the soul was parting from the body. It must have been that my senses were still scattered, or I had not acted thus. No resistance did I make; but with an indifferent feeling awaited the fatal blow where my helm joined my gorget.

All this could not have taken more time than does the lightning to fly across the heavens; for still the dagger stayed poised in the air.

"Hark ye!" hissed Catesby in mine ear.

"Take with thee this message unto h.e.l.l. Say that I, Catesby, did send thee to thy master, and that, unless the fortunes of the day be changed, I'll not be long behind thee." Then up higher flew the threatening blade. Then did it start on its downward course. It never reached my throat. A great hand seized mine enemy by the wrist; back flew the dagger-grasping hand until the arm snapped like a dry stick.

Catesby flew into the air as though drawn by a mighty loadstone. Then was he hurled to the ground again with stunning force, and my great Michael kneeled beside me.

"Art thou hurt, yer honour?" he asked anxiously.

"Nay, Michael; I got but a sudden fall that dazed me. 'Twas for a moment only; now again do I feel a man." And with Michael's a.s.sistance I arose to my feet.

Then Catesby stirred, and Michael was upon him in an instant; dagger in hand, and drawn back for the fatal blow.

"Hold! hold, Michael! slay him not! I must question him!" I cried.

"Uh! bad luck to me fer a blunderin' fool; sure we must foind out whare he has the dear lady kipt, ere we send the varmint to roast in sulphur."

"Come, Master Catesby, our late respective positions are now reversed,"

said I calmly and distinctly, that my speech might be clear to his dazed senses. "Dost hear me?"

In a feeble voice, and with the use of many curses intermixed with groans, he answered that he did.

"Before thou diest thou shalt have an opportunity for the making of some slight rest.i.tution for the many wrongs that thou hast done to me.

Tell me where I may find the Lady Hazel."

He raised himself up and leaned on his well arm, whilst the other did hang limp and twisted at his side.

"And what shall I receive for the telling of this to thee?"

"The weight of one good act to place opposite to the great load of evil on the scales of justice, when thou dost shortly appear before the seat of judgment."

"Ha, ha, ha!" loud did he laugh. "And dost thou then think that I am bereft of reason, to thus fling from me all that I do possess wherewith to buy my life? Nay, unless thou dost spare my life, thou mayest search from now until thy death, ere thou dost find the lady that thou seekest."

I held my dagger to his throat, but still he did hold his secret fast.

"Thy miserable life is then spared, for the present, if thou dost tell me where the lady is."

"And wilt thou forbid yon demon from murdering me?"

"Thou shalt not be harmed by either of us; but for thy treatment at the hands of the Earl of Richmond I cannot speak.

"Agreed! my life shall rest upon the hazard of this battle, as it did ere we met this day."

"Remember, if thou liest it shall be thy last; for thou dost still remain my prisoner."

"Go then unto the Town of Leicester--if thou ever canst--and within the Sanctuary near Grey Friars' Church thou shalt find the lady. There was she sent from the house in which I left thee, and there did I obtain admittance for her. I have not seen her since thou hast; but last evening I went unto the place and gave strict orders that there she must be kept until I sent or came for her. Thou canst not get her out without this ring. Here, draw it from my finger."

This I did, and then I commanded Michael to take him to the rear of Richmond's army.

I felt no fear of Catesby's escape; for he might as well have tried to escape from the unrelenting gates of h.e.l.l, as from the mighty Michael.

The battle raged not nearby where I stood; but down at the marsh the fight was at its thickest. Hastily did I secure a horse, and I spurred him hard as I made for Richmond's standard.

The royal banner of England now dashed forward, and the two flags were well nigh together.

"This now must be the finish," cried I, as I waved my good sword in circles round my head.

Then came there forward, like a thunderbolt, Sir William Stanley's gallant hors.e.m.e.n, and rode abreast with me.

Down sank the gallant standard of the n.o.ble Earl, as Richard himself smote to the ground Sir William Brandon, who had carried it. Another knight sprang forward from the side of Richmond and faced the desperate tyrant. He met the same fate as Brandon. Richmond waved his sword in defiance of the boar, and the two men were like to meet; but I got betwixt them and caught Richard's blow upon my s.h.i.+eld.

"Ha! Bradley! Escaped, runagate traitor! Have at thee!"

Again did I catch his savage blow, and this time I gave him my straight point beneath his helm.

At that very moment another good knight dashed in and, as he saw Richard strike at me, he thought that I was Richmond. His bright blade flashed through the air and struck the tyrant fair upon his helmed head. Two such fierce blows, falling both at once, drove Richard from his saddle as though a bolt from Heaven had struck him.

Down from my steed I sprang, and with my dagger clipped the laces of his headpiece. Already the eyes were rolled far back, and stared up blindly at me. Not a quiver stirred his frame. He had died in the twinkling of an eye.

The sun now rent asunder the clouds of Heaven, as had the two flas.h.i.+ng swords torn the darkest clouds that had surrounded us all for so long a time, and the whole field was filled with brightness. Mayhap it was the resounding shouts of victory of our now half-crazed army that did rend the heavy clouds; for one could scarce hear himself cheer, so loud were the shouts of gladness all around us.