King Eric and the Outlaws, Vol. 2 Read online

  CHAP. IV.

  During this eager and hazardous attack, on the eastern side of thecastle, the captive Drost Aage stood before the iron-grated loophole inthe square upper tower, which rose from the middle of the principalwestern wing of the castle. Far below, perpendicularly from the prisongrating, the great wooden staircase projected into the castle court,from which, through a balcony, was the entrance into the vestibule ofthe upper story. The prison tower was separated from the besieged gateby the two principal wings to the north and south of the circularcourt, by the ladies' apartment, and the knights' hall. From his highprison grating Aage was thus enabled to witness the combat andstrenuous efforts, as well of the assailants as of the besieged. He hadsucceeded in climbing up into the recess in the wall within thegrating, whence he looked out with steadfast gaze and throbbing heartover the castle yard towards the tower gate. Here he knew the principalattack was to be made. He had for some time heard the din of the fight,and perceived how all the forces combined to assault and defend thisone point. He now beheld the dense pillar of smoke rising without thegate, and observed at the same time, through the loopholes of thetower, that the garrison were putting their largest machines of defencein motion in order to crush the besiegers with stones and beams, erethey could succeed in firing the gate. "Must I stand passive here,while the king is in battle and danger?" exclaimed Aage, as he shookthe iron gate in wrath. He had nearly fallen down backwards into hisprison, as a fragment of the ancient wall loosened and fell in beforehim, together with a part of the grating. "A hint!" he exclaimed insurprise; "thanks be to thee, my good angel! thou art, then, morepowerful than the Evil One." He instantly conceived the design ofavailing himself of this accident to make a venturous flight from thetower, in the hope of hastening to the assistance of the besiegers, andperhaps of opening the gate to them. He bound his shoulder scarf tothat part of the grating which remained firm, and made preparations forletting himself down to a lower shelf of the tower wall; but at thismoment he heard a voice, which constrained him to draw back, and filledhim with dismay. He had leaned his head against a pillar of the tower,which being raised the whole height of the building conducted the soundto his ear from an unfathomable depth. Directly under him, where thehigh wooden staircase projected, was a deep vault with a well,concealed under the uppermost landing, which led through the balcony tothe great vestibule of the castle. This vault, with its deep well, was,in cases of emergency, the last defence of the castle, and might provea frightful grave for every besieger who was not aware of thecontrivance, as in the landing of the stairs was a concealed trap-door,which could suddenly be let down from within to plunge the entering foeand the supposed victor into the abyss. This contrivance for thedefence of the castle had been recently planned by the junker: neitherthe king nor the Drost knew of it; and as a secret and extreme defence,it had even been kept concealed from most of the inmates of the castle.The existence of such a stratagem had been already suspected by Aage,from the contents of the private letter he had seized and destroyed;but the distant voice which reached his ear from beneath now flashedconviction like lightning across his mind.

  "There shalt thou stand!" sounded the stern voice of the commandant, ina low and hollow tone. "If the gate falls, and they throng in hither,then mark--the moment thou hearest a footstep on the stair, let downthe door!"

  A faint voice replied; but Aage heard not the answer.

  "Whatever blood flows here comes on the junker's head!" said thecommandant's voice again; "he must answer for it here and yonder--Weare but the instruments of death in his hand--Enquire not! think not!be silent and obey or thou art perjured and damned eternally!"

  Aage stood as if petrified with terror: from some single words whichwere added, the whole fearful contrivance became clear to him: even thevoice of the stern chief appeared to him to tremble while issuing theterrible mandate.

  All was again hushed in the hidden abyss, while the clash of arms andthe din of battle at the castle gate increased, and overpowered everyother sound. A high flame presently shot up through the pillar of smokeabove the gate, and a shout of dismay was heard from the burning tower,the defenders of which were now forced to fly to escape perishing inthe flames. Without resounded the victorious shouts of the besiegers,while the rattling of iron chains, and a hollow clanging noiseannounced that the outer portcullis between the wall and the gate waspulled down; to this a still louder crash succeeded; the besiegersburst the burning gate.

  An overwhelming dread seized the listening captive: almost withoutknowing on what he was about to venture, he swung himself out of theloosened prison grating, and let himself down by his shoulder scarf solow towards the tower wall that he was able to take his stand on aprojecting buttress; but hardly had he succeeded in doing this, ereanother fragment of the prison wall loosened, together with the irongrating to which his scarf was bound; it flew past his head and dashedagainst the iron railing of the balcony below, where his scarf remainedhanging. He himself lost his balance, and was forced to let go hishold; but he snatched involuntarily, as if with the instinct ofself-preservation, at the projecting buttress on which his foot hadjust rested, and thus continued to cling, while he succeeded in restingone foot on the corner of the sloping porch above the staircaseentrance. He stood thus directly over the stair, yet still at such aheight above it as to involve the certainty of sustaining a seriousinjury in case of falling. He had ascertained that the trap-door of thewell was immediately under his feet, and that the first footstep uponit would be the signal for its falling, and opening its deep andcertain grave. It was hardly possible for Aage to continue his holdlong in this hanging position. Amid the universal tumult no oneperceived him. He now heard the crash caused by the bursting of thegates, and the victorious shout, "The castle is won! Long live youngking Eric!" The king had already entered the castle as a victor throughthe flaming gate. Aage could not turn his head round and look down intothe yard without losing his balance; but he heard, and instantlyrecognised the king's and Count Henrik's voices far below him.

  "Beware, my liege! here is a pitfall!" he shouted with all his might;but his voice was too faint; he was exhausted by his desperateexertions, and no one appeared to hear him amid the universal clashingof weapons, and the noisy shouts of victory. He was, besides, hidden bythe pillar of the tower from those who were nearest to the upper storyof the building. "Farewell, sweet Margaretha! farewell, love and life!"he gasped; "I must below." His fall and death, at this moment, appearedto be the only means of saving the king's life. "Long live my king!" heshouted, and let go his hold of the buttress. All seemed to grow darkbefore him; he fancied he was falling an unfathomable depth; but beyondthis he was unconscious of what was passing around him.

  "Aage, Aage's voice!" cried the king, who, excited by the fight and thestorm, stood at the head of his victorious troop of knights at the footof the high wooden staircase. He had heard Aage's voice, but where heknew not; some of the furthest men-at-arms had seen him fall down fromthe porch on the landing of the stairs, but the general noise andtumult overpowered their shouts of alarm. The king had already set hisfoot on the first step of the stair.

  "Back, my liege! treachery!" shouted Count Henrik suddenly. "Yonderhangs the Drost's shoulder scarf; there is certainly a pitfall here."

  The long red scarf hung just above their heads from the iron railing ofthe balcony.

  "As I live, my faithful Aage; I heard him bemoan himself above there,"said the king eagerly, without heeding the warning, and hastened up thestair; but Count Henrik rushed after him and seized his arm ere hereached the uppermost landing. They both stopped as in amazement, andat the same moment uttered a cry of horror on seeing the unhappy Drostlie deadly pale and bleeding at the top of the staircase.

  "Dead! dead!" cried the king, and was hastening up to him; but CountHenrik still detained him, while he himself sprang forward, and trampedon every step of the hollow stair. Aage opened his eyes, and recognisedthe king. "Back from the grave, my liege!" he
called with a faintvoice, as he rolled himself forward to the king's feet, and clasped hisknees. "Aage! great Heavens! what is this?" exclaimed the king, andraised him in his arms. At the same instant the door of the hall of theupper story opened, and a tall, steel-clad knight, disarmed, and withan uncovered and hoary head, stepped across the balcony, and took hisstand on the uppermost landing of the stair. "You stand beside a grave,King Eric!" he said in a terrific voice; "I had prepared it for you;but a higher power presides here; now shall it open, and swallow me upbefore your eyes." He stamped with all his might on the rocking andcreaking trap-door under his feet. "Ha! why tarriest thou, slave?" heshouted in a voice of thunder. "Away with the bolt; draw it quick."

  "No, no, in the name of a merciful Heaven!" said a beseeching voicefrom the castle cellar far beneath him; "I cannot; I would sooner beperjured and eternally damned."

  "What is all this?" asked the king in the greatest amazement. "Doththat man rave? Who is he?"

  "The commandant of the castle, my liege," answered Count Henrik, whostood with his drawn sword before the king, and with the one foot onthe trap-door.

  "Bind that madman," commanded the king to the knights nearest him,without withdrawing his gaze from the signs of returning life in Aage'sface. He bore him himself in his arms, with Count Henrik's assistance,over the creaking trap-door, and over the balcony, into the upper hall.As soon as Count Henrik had seen the Drost and the king in safety hehastened back to the shouting men-at-arms, to secure and guard all theentrances, and prevent any disorder from the disarming of the garrison.It was not till the king saw that Aage's consciousness was returning,and that his limbs, however bruised, still were not seriously injured,that he looked towards the knights who surrounded him, and assisted intending the Drost. At the door of the antechamber stood the tallcommandant of the castle, with his arms tied behind his back, betweentwo halberdiers; he gazed before him, mute and pale, as a marblestatue. "Had I _such_ a master to die for!" he muttered in a deep andhardly audible voice, and a tear rolled down between the furrows of theaged warrior's haughty and unmoved countenance.

  Count Henrik soon re-entered the hall with hasty steps. "My liege," hesaid aloud, "the margrave is without the gate; the highborn junker iswith him. They entreat your grace to withhold your stern sentence andwrath, and hear what the prince hath to say in his defence."

  "Let him step hither instantly," commanded the king, and the sternnessof his countenance seemed mingled with profound sorrow. "The hour ofjudgment is come," he added; "but I condemn no one unheard."

  Count Henrik bowed in silence and departed. A deathlike stillnessprevailed in the chamber. Drost Aage reposed, pale and bleeding, on abench, with his head leaning on the king's breast, and appeared as yetnot to have fully recovered his consciousness after his shattering andstunning fall. His temples had been chafed with wine; at a signal fromthe king he was carried into the ladies' apartment, that he mightrepose in quiet, and be more carefully tended. As he was borne off theking pressed his feeble hand, and looked on him with affection andsadness. Aage gazed fixedly and anxiously upon the king. "Remember youare to pass sentence on a brother," he whispered in a faint voice. Hewould have said more, but the king motioned to him to be silent, andturned from him as he hastily passed his hand over his high and glowingforehead.

  A deep stillness once more prevailed around. The king's knights hadranged themselves in solemn silence at his side: they yet stood withtheir drawn swords in their hands, and the halberdiers were stationedwith their long spears by the door guarding the gloomy chief, wholooked like one petrified. Footsteps were soon heard on the hollowstair, where the trap-door had already been secured. Count Henrikopened the door, and remained standing on the balcony. He bowed coldlyas Junker Christopher and the Margrave of Brandenborg entered,followed by their knightly train. The margrave's wonted gaiety andlight-heartedness had vanished. He seemed exhausted from violentexertion, and in an anxious and uneasy mood. When the tall JunkerChristopher uncovered his black locks, which floated wild and tangledaround his shoulders, and advanced towards the king, his feet appearedto totter, while, however, there was a cold and forced smile on hislong, large-featured visage.

  "My royal brother hath visited me in a peculiar fashion," he said in atone of bitterness, as he greeted Eric with a stiff and formal bow. "Ilament that I was not informed of your gracious visit, that I mighthave received my royal liege in a fitting manner, and have preventedthe senseless acts of my vassals as well as the deeds of violence, ofwhich I perceive traces here."

  "I am wont, even when unannounced, to find the castles of my vassalsand servants open as well to my ambassadors as to me," answered theking with stern vehemence. "The contumacy I have here met with is hightreason; the gate of a fortress hath been shut against me in my ownkingdom: where this happens, fief and goods are forfeited, be thecriminal who he may! I perceive, also, that my life has been basely andtreacherously sought after: it is a Judas act and miscreant deed; itstirs up my inmost soul;" he continued in a voice of emotion, and witha doubtful glance at the prince's sullen countenance. "It is bitter anddreadful to me to think that my own brother could have shared thesecrimes--So, however, it seems to mortal eyes; but if ye can justifyyourself, Prince Christopher of Denmark, speak! and with a single wordremove from my heart the heaviest weight that ever oppressed it! Areyou guilty or not?"

  "Who accuses me?" exclaimed the junker haughtily, and with vehemence."Who dares to mark me out for contumacy and treason? Where is myaccuser? Where is my commandant? His is the responsibility for whathath happened. Where is he?"

  "Here!" said a powerful and hollow voice from the door of the apartmentclose behind him. It seemed as though the prince shrunk at the sound,while he turned and gazed on the aged warrior with a wild and haggardlook.

  "Crush me, if you will, Prince Christopher," continued the chief; "I amprepared for death; my life is yours, but not my honour--Here standsyour aged loyal servant, the only one who was true to you here at thecastle. Therefore do I now stand bound as a miscreant and traitor; butI swear by the most high God, in the sight of the king and of Danishchivalry, I have but fulfilled my duty--I obeyed the command of thatmaster to whom I swore fealty and obedience. No one can serve twomasters; every one must account to his own. I have mine; but that hecommanded, he must himself answer for."

  "Dost thou rave?" shouted the prince, foaming with rage. "Did I orderthee to defend the castle against other than my foes?"

  "True, sir junker! against your foes," repeated the warrior, "whetherthey were great or small, whether they wore helmet or crown--that wasyour stern behest; and if you named not the king, assuredly it was himyou meant, so help me St. George and the merciful God, in my lasthour!"

  "Liar! calumniator! mad, presumptuous rebel and traitor!" shouted theprince, as if in a transport of rage, and rushing menacingly towardsthe bound commandant. "Darest thou thus to pervert my commands? Wouldstthou read in my soul, and make my thoughts traitors to my king? Nay,now I see it; I penetrate thy plan, traitor! Thou wouldst set strifeand enmity between me and my royal brother! thou wouldst wakenrebellion and civil war in the country--thou art a kinsman of MarskStig; thou art a secret friend of the outlawed regicides."

  The king started and gazed on the prisoner with a searching look; theproud chief seemed to have lost his self-possession; he stared upon thejunker with fixed and strained eyes, but no word passed his lips.

  "See you, my liege, the traitor is struck dumb;" continued the junker,turning once more with a look of proud triumph to the prisoner. "Canstthou deny the traitor's blood in thy veins, wretch? Canst thou denythou art a friend of the outlaws?"

  "I am proud of my birth," said the commandant, regaining hisself-possession by a desperate effort. "My unfortunate friends I disownnot either, even though they be outlawed and accursed in this world;but the charge you ground thereon, I deny and despise."

  "Take him to the prison tower, my men!" called the junker hastily in aproud authoritative tone; "I am his master and judge, by the
laws ofthe country. The crime he would roll on his master's head, shallassuredly fall on his own, and crush him."

  Some knights of the prince's train had already approached the prisonerto lead him away; but they lingered, and cast a timid and inquiringlook at the king.

  "Haste not!" ordered the king with vehemence; "so long as I am presentmyself, no one commands beside me."

  The junker's knights drew back respectfully at these words. The captivehad raised his eyes towards the ceiling of the apartment, and seemed tobe internally preparing himself for death.

  "You deny, then, all participation in what here hath happened. JunkerChristopher?" continued the king in a thoughtful and gloomy mood, whilehis searching gaze still dwelt on the wild and passionate countenanceof the junker. "I ask you not to swear by your salvation--With abrother's salvation I would not even redeem my crown or life; but Idemand your knightly and princely word, in confirmation of yourtestimony. This chief's birth, and his friendship for my deadly foes, Iask not of: it is now question of the present rebellious and traitoroustransaction. Can you confidently affirm, on your knightly and princelyword, that your commandant hath in this matter acted according to hisown arbitration, and against your order?"

  "Yes, by my knightly and princely honour!" cried the prince with aglowing and fierce countenance, and bit his lips in wrath.

  "Those words you will repent at the last judgment day, junker!" saidthe commandant in his ear with a deep and hollow voice, as if from thegrave, and gazing on him with a deathlike stare.

  "Silence, mad liar!" interrupted the junker. "I will show you, my royalbrother and liege," he continued in a raised voice, and turned from thethunder-stricken captive, "I will show you that I can maintaindiscipline in my castle--none shall go unpunished, who have dared toinsult you in my name, and abuse the power you have entrusted to me bycontumacy and treason--I demand instant justice and sentence on thiscriminal, according to the jurisdiction of the castle and law of theland."

  "I cannot deny you the power of judging and passing sentence upon yourservants." answered the king. "Whatever may have been your commandant'stransgression, he must answer for it! He shall instantly be broughtbefore the castle tribunal, and be sentenced according to law; but ifhe be pronounced guilty in the absence of proof, and from the want ofexplanations, which can be known to none but yourself, it shall be leftto you to award the sentence. Junker Christopher! if your consciencecan answer for it before God and men!"

  "Well, then! he is doomed; he shall assuredly lie on the wheel ere thesun rise again," muttered the junker: "you have heard the king'scommand: obey! take the captive to the justice court!" He addressedthese words with an authoritative air to his knights, and theyinstantly led off the prisoner, who cast a proud and contemptuous lookat his master, and pointed menacingly towards heaven.

  The king had thrown himself into a chair, thoughtful and silent, withhis hand before his brow; a severe conflict seemed passing in hisinmost soul. He now rose up suddenly, and cast a stern and penetratingglance at his brother: "Pass sentence, and execute it on thy servantin my name, as thou wouldst be judged thyself in the sight of theall-knowing and righteous God!" he said in a low tone of admonition. "Iinvest thee, also, with my highest prerogative--that of mercy. If he_be_ mad--if his blood can be spared, without breach of law--byall the holy men! I ask it not in pledge of the truth of thydeclaration. The word of honour of a knight and prince needs no bloodyconfirmation--There is my hand, brother Christopher," he added, and hisvoice trembled; "I will believe thee, whether thy servant be foundinnocent or guilty." The junker gave Eric his hand, in gloomy silence,and with an averted countenance; there was, for a moment, a general andanxious silence.

  "Let the musicians strike up. Sir Junker! now there is surely peace andgood understanding again, my royal friends!" said Margrave Waldemar,hastily breaking silence, in his gay, volatile tone; "it rejoiceth methat I have contributed towards it, even though I have foundered mybest horse in the cause: now we will forget the whole vexatiousaffair, and let the junker's good wine wash away all remains ofmisunderstanding."

  "You are right, Waldemar!" exclaimed Junker Christopher, with a gaymien, and looked boldly round the hall; "I ought not to forget I amhost here, although my honoured guests have taken me somewhat bysurprise." He then opened the door himself into the knights' hall, andbesought the king to enter: he himself followed with the Margrave,Count Henrik, and the whole numerous train of knights.

  The king continued silent and thoughtful. He seemed to put a restrainton himself to conceal his mistrust of his brother. Margrave Waldemarwas evidently desirous to cheer the king, and place the intercoursebetween the brothers on a more easy footing. The quarrel as yet wasonly but slightly accommodated; but Junker Christopher seemed carefullyto shun all closer explanation; he merely ventured on a passing commenton the beleaguering of Holbek castle by the Drost, as if it was but arumour which he had heard, and as if he trusted, at all events, it wasonly a precipitate act of the Drost and a misunderstanding of the willof his royal brother. He evaded the grave answer which hovered on theking's lips, and employed himself zealously and courteously inattending to the wants of his guests. The door of the large dining hallwas presently thrown open, where a table of refreshments always stoodready for the junker and his followers, when they were on a visit atthe castle. From the gallery, in the great hall above, sounded thejoyous tones of hunting horns and trumpets, and Kallundborg castle,which lately rung with the clash of weapons and din of war, soonre-echoed with the ringing of goblets and the mirth of festivity.

  It was nearly evening ere the royal party were assembled at table. Assoon as the junker had seated his guests, and a lively and easyconversation had in some degree commenced, he departed, with a hastyexcuse, and remained absent above half an hour. He returned gloomy andpale, but appeared afterwards in high spirits, excited by the wine andthe company at table. To the king's inquiry as to what had so longdeprived his guests of his company, he answered in a low tone, "I havebeen attending the court of justice, my liege! I would not let thejudges wait for my explanation; matters of life and death it is everbest to get out of hand, ere we come to the drinking table."

  The king became again silent and thoughtful, but the junker frequentlydrained his goblet, and Margrave Waldemar sought, by many a merry jest,to disperse the dark thoughts which frequently seemed to disturb thefestivities in honour of a reconciliation; which, however, appearedrather to be forced than the effect of mutual good understanding.

  The king purposed not to pass the night it the castle, where he had metwith such hostile reception; but as it grew dark and late it wasdifficult for him to reject his brother's repeated invitation, withoutagain betraying a distrust he wished he could wholly drive from hismind. As the junker at last, with a cheerful air, once more earnestlyurged his invitation, while he drained the last goblets of wine withthe king, to a speedy and happy union with the lovely PrincessIngeborg, and to a brotherly understanding, the cloud on Eric's browvanished, and the last remains of mistrust seemed to be banished fromhis kindly heart. He pressed his brother's hand warmly, and drained hiscup to the bottom: "Well, Christopher! I remain," he continued, in aconfidential tone and half aside. "All shall be forgotten as in oldtimes, when the good Drost Peter settled our childish disputes, and ourmother Agnes joined our hands together." The king now appearedperfectly happy and satisfied; Christopher often laughed loudly. Thischeerful tone soon pervaded the whole assemblage.

  After the repast the king seated himself with his brother at abackgammon board; he only shook the dice, however, while he ordered thestate of his faithful Aage to be inquired into, and waited in vain fora word of frankness and confidence from Christopher. The junker wasespecially courteous and attentive, but he still seemed desirous, byindifferent talk, to ward off all approaches to serious conversation.At this moment an officer of justice entered, and put a sheet ofparchment into his hand: he became suddenly silent, and changed colour.The attendant hastily departed.

  "What was th
at? my brother!" asked the king. "The death doom of mypresumptuous servant, according to the verdict of the court of justiceof this castle, and to the law of the land," answered the junker,without looking at him; "will you confirm it? Upon life and death youyourself determine?"

  "As the friend and kinsman of the outlaws, he was doubtless my foe; buthow guilty he is thou must know best," answered the king, with sternsolemnity; "thou hast my authority for it: in my name to confirm thedoom, or to pardon, as justice or moderation prompt thee. None savethou and the all-seeing God can know with certainty whether thy commandcould have been thus misinterpreted--If there be the least doubt,then----"

  "No, there is no doubt here," exclaimed the junker impetuously, with adark and gloomy countenance, and a wild and frightful glance, as herose from the backgammon table, and departed with hasty strides.

  The king looked long after him, with a serious and thoughtful gaze. Hestarted up suddenly once or twice, and put his hand to his brow. "No!"he said, "it is impossible--I have his knightly and princely word ofhonour." The margrave now approached gaily and courteously, and tookthe vacant seat near the king at the table, where he soon succeeded inintroducing a lively and amusing conversation.