It would be difficult to describe the thundercloud of thought that came down upon Fulviac's face when news was brought him of the capture of the girl Yeoland and the decimation of the vanguard from Geraint. There was something even Satanic upon his face for the moment. He was not a pleasant person when roused, and roused he was that day like any ogre. His tongue ran through the whole of before he recovered a finer dignity and relapsed into a grim reserve. His men to him with great . He had decreed that Nord of the Hammer should be hanged for , but the decree was unnecessary, since Flavian's sword had already settled the matter.  
The Gilderoy forces therefore turned northwards, with their great baggage and siege train, and in due course came upon the Gerainters bivouacking on the where the battle had taken place. The green slopes were specked with dark motionless figures, dead horses, and the of war. Men were burying the dead upon the battlefield. Yeoland's guard had been almost to a man; and the whole affair had damped very the ardour of certain of the less trustworthy .
 
But Fulviac was not the man to sit and snivel over a defeat; he knew well enough that he had good men behind him, tough fighting stuff, fired by and a long sense of wrong. He his whole force, black-guarded with his lion's roar those concerned in the march from Geraint, treating them to such a with words that they and clamoured to be led on at once to prove their . Their leaders had been at fault, nor did Fulviac keep their spirits cooling in the wind. The power of his own personality was great, and he had twenty thousand men at his back, who knew that to fail meant death and torture. They had received a check from the Lord of Gambrevault; it was absolutely essential to the cause that they should wipe out the defeat, recapture their Saint and sacred banner, crush Gambrevault once and for ever. To this they marched on towards the sea, and that night lit their fires on the hills that ringed Gambrevault on the north.
 
As the sun climbed up and spread a curtain of gold over down and upland, those on the walls of Gambrevault saw steel glinting on the hills, the pikes and casques of Fulviac's . Yeoland saw them from her , as she stood and combed her hair. Flavian, watching with certain on the keep, confronted the event with a merry smile. The line of silver on the hills had broadened to a darker band, splashed with steel. The rebel host was coming on in a half moon, with each horn to the sea. Its centre held towards the and the Gambrevault mills, positions strongly held on the southern bank by a redoubt and stockaded .
 
The criticisms delivered by those watching from the keep were various and forcible.
 
"By Jeremy--a rare mob!"
 
"Let them grip at Gambrevault," said Modred, "and they shall clutch at a . Look at that long baggage train in the rear. Damn them, I guess they have the siege train from Gilderoy."
 
"We shall sweat a trifle."
 
Quoth Tristram, "They have little time to spare for a leaguer, rotting in trenches, if they are to make the country rise. They'll not leaguer us."
 
Flavian watched the advance under his hand.
 
"Fortunately or unfortunately, gentlemen," he said, "we have taken their Saint, their , and their sacred banner. I imagine they will do their best to dispossess us. It is time we made for the meadows; I reckon we shall have hot work to-day."
 
When leaving the keep, Flavian crossed the castle garden, and caught under the tunnel of the flutter of a woman's gown. Sunlight through and wove a shimmering network in the air. Green and violet swept the stones; a white face shone in the shadows.
 
He went to her and kissed her hands. His eyes were brave and as she looked into them, and there was no shadow of fear upon his face. were blowing in the meadows, piercing the confused hum of men running to arms.
 
"War, ever war!"
 
"You are sad?"
 
"Fulviac has the whole kingdom at his back."
 
"If he led the world, I should not waver."
 
"With me it is different; I am a woman and you know my heart."
 
"So well that I seek to know nothing else in the world, I desire no greater wisdom than my love. You are with me, and my heart sings. No harm can come to you whatever may fall on Gambrevault."
 
"Think you my thoughts are all of my own safety?"
 
"Ah, golden one, never fear for me. What is life? a little joy, a little pain, and then . I would rather have an hour's glory in the sun than fifty years of grey monotony. It is something to fight, and even to die, for the love of a woman. There is no shadow over my soul."
 
There was a great in his voice, and her eyes caught the light from his. She touched his cuirass with her slim white fingers.
 
"God keep you!"
 
"Ha, I do not smell of earth to-day, nor dream of ."
 
"No, you will come back to me."
 
"Give me your scarf."
 
She took the green silk and knotted it about his arm; a rich colour shone in her cheeks, her eyes were warm and wonderfully .
 
"God keep you!"
 
So he kissed her lips and left her.
 
The ............