CANTO V: A funeral is held for the two fallen paladins, after which a council of war is held. Feiala, the priestess of the Isle, prophesies that not by any born of woman will Orkon be defeated. Fanhal resolves seize the harbor towers, in order to allow Varfeil to land in the harbor should he come. Feiala descends into the weird and ancient paths within the mountain--the roads not made by Ranhor.
Bubbling up from ancient caverns deep
Within the mountain guarded by those gates
Which Ranhor made, there is an ancient spring,
Its waters cold as those that when the Sword is raised
Run down from ice-locked plains into the Cheyth.
That secret spring was hallowed long ago
When first awoke the ancient Kings of Stone.
In the waters of that well the Priestess washed
The bodies of those mighty Paladins
Who, for battle over-eager, their lives lost
While fighting for the honor of their Prince.
The flow of bloody wounds the Priestess stints
And then anoints with oil and costly myrrh,
While acolytes a heady incense burn.
"Through seven winds your souls must wander now,
And over seven streams which freeze the soul
Which cannot its own shadow disavow,
And draw it down like lead into the cold.
Over seven mountains must the soul
Then pass to come at last unto the Gates
Where mortals for the Day of Judgment wait."
This Feiala sang, Priestess wise,
Who long had cleansed the waters of that spring
For three times three and two of men's half-lives,
Since Sencan's hammer first began to ring
Upon his father's anvil, and then a Queen
He took of the Sothbori: Hasanyah fair
And she it was who blessed the waters there.
From then till now the Priestess kept her watch
Upon that Well, as Queen Hasanyah bid.
She was ageless, bright of eye; "an Orukah,"
Men whispered, though she her glory hid.
An Orukah she was, of those who live
An Eon--for there is, coursing in their veins,
A strain of ancient Starland that remains.
"Listen now, you cold and ancient winds,
And fear the souls which pass now through the Waste:
For they are Fanhal's mighty Paladins
Who cleaved, like blazing iron, through the ranks
Of Nalshbori, and monsters bound in iron chains
To Orkon's will. They struck down many foes
Who go before them to the Gates below.
"Hear my voice, o seven flowing streams,
For crossing o'er your seven waters cold
There are two companions of the King,
Who by loyalty unbroken purged their souls;
And by love's silent sorrows yet untold.
Make ready; keep your churning waters still,
And let them pass o'er who are free from guilt.
"O seven mountains with your shadows long
Stand and witness to those who unafraid
Stood before the mad and snarling throng
Of monsters Orkon's cruel magic made.
With gleaming lance and ancient star-forged blade
They proved their valor on the blood-red stones;
Now let them pass unhindered 'neath your domes.
"And you, the souls of righteous men now gone
Beyond the mountains, to that happy place
Where holy heroes, suff'ring trials long,
Sit and rest before the Silver Gates;
Admit unto your blessed, and thrice-blessed ranks
These who fell in combat with the foe
That they among the righteous may repose.
"Now Gates of Silver, hear my prayer and plea:
Do not close and bar to them the Stair
Concerning which the ancient poets sing;
Up adamantine steps unto a mere
It leads, above the heavy earthly airs
To a place where liquid starlight in a pool
Is stirred by Middle-Heaven's breezes cool.
"O rivers flowing down to join the sea,
O winds and mountains, o souls of righteous men,
Do not shut your ears against my plea
On behalf of these two mighty Paladins.
O Gates of Silver, to my prayer attend
And let them pass unhindered to that place
Reserved for them by Nankeinela's grace."
Then they laid their bodies in the stone,
And Fanhal ordered them no more lament
Their comrades: "For the fallen we may moan
After we have managed to prevent
The enemy, or died in the attempt.
Now I summon to my council all
Who would by word or might prevent our fall."
Then Fanhal sat upon his seat of doom,
And with him his five Paladins conferred.
Feiala, Priestess, coming from the tomb
Pondered words the Waters spoke to her.
"Varfeil will come yet," Raoseina urged,
"And then our forces, closing by degrees,
Will drive this rabble host into the sea."
Neralas and Neru chafed at this,
For they were ever eager in the fray
And Geilarjana was close as any kin--
Alike in cast of mind and love of fame.
So the sons of Orufal then spake:
"We were caught at table, unaware
Of the stroke which Orkon long-prepared.
"But who can say, when once we muster out
In force of arms beneath the noonday sun
Whether we by might will set to rout
The Nalshbori, before the day is done?
They by stealth alone the harbor won--
We do not count him worthy as a foe
Who strikes us, like a serpent, from below."
Laran, greatest bowman in the land,
Grave and keen-eyed, listened to their speech.
"No man alive would think I fear to stand
Against the foemen of my Lord and Liege;
But by your speech, my friends, my heart is grieved.
The enemy we face, in ancient times,
Enslaved the Treian race within the Mines.
"Those Mines of Torment well our blood recalls--
And do we think us greater than those lords
Who came with Lanenomen from the fall
Of Feihoth, and conquered giants by the sword?
It was they who fell to Orkon's hordes
When there slept the watch upon the Hills;
But some bent the knee in secret to his will."
"Laran's words have wisdom, noble sire,"
Said Orufal, "Which well my sons would heed.
Long the Lord and Captain of this Isle
I have been, and served your Mother Queen.
In all my dealings with this evil breed
Of Nalshbori, the weapon they love most
Has ever been some traitor in our host.
"Now, if such traitors dwell within our midst
Then good indeed to find them out 'twould be.
We should ask, for instance, how such ships
So tall and many-masted were not seen
By the men who ever watch the sea."
Thus spoke Orufal, that Isle's Lord,
And Fanhal, listening, pondered all these words.
"In all this council, silence you have kept,
O Priestess," Fanhal said and watched her eyes.
Her eyelids fluttered, half-closed, as though she slept
While far abroad in dreaming roved her mind.
"No sword or spear, no thing of mortal kind
Will drive forth Orkon from the Gates of Red;
Not though we summoned Sencan from the dead.
"Another pathway I must walk alone,
And seek the help of one whose fate is tied
To mankind's race by cords to me unknown;
In the stony deeps an Ancient One abides,
And wanders in the dreamings of his mind.
I will seek him by the ancient Stair
Which many leads to Madness and Despair."
But Fanhal said, "the ways that you must walk
According to your order, you best know.
But I am King while still upon this rock
Some man remembers Sencan who of old
Withstood Vishnarr's and Orkon's power both
And scattered them upon a southern plane.
Let no man say I wrongly bear their name.
"Varfeil will come? But to what will he arrive--
A hostile harbor brimming o'er with foes?
Small relief 'twill be if Varfeil strives
To win the Gates, and then is overthrown.
I do not mean to say that, overbold,
We should make trial again of Orkon's might--
But I do not mean to let him rest this night."
"The harbor towers were not strongly manned,
For none foresaw the failing of the watch
Which should have kept a guard upon the strand,
As conies sound a warning for a hawk.
But if they were retaken in assault
Then we could hold the harbor 'till the sails
Of Varfeil billow in the western gales."
So counselled Orufal, and both his sons
Praised the wisdom of the course proposed.
Their hearts were raised to think of glories won
At night in daring raid upon their foes.
The King upon the brothers then bestowed
The right to lead the escapade by night
And seize the forts before the morning light.
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