CHAPTER XVII: HALLBLITHE AMONGST THE MOUNTAINS
So strode on Hallblithe; but when he had gone but a little way his headturned, and the earth and heavens wavered before him, so that he mustneeds sit down on a stone by the wayside, wondering what ailed him. Thenhe looked up at the mountains, which now seemed quite near to him at theplain's ending, and his weakness increased on him; and lo! as he looked,it was to him as if the crags rose up in the sky to meet him and overhanghim, and as if the earth heaved up beneath him, and therewith he fellaback and lost all sense, so that he knew not what was become of theearth and the heavens and the passing of the minutes of his life.
When he came to himself he knew not whether he had lain so a great whileor a little; he felt feeble, and for a while he lay scarce moving, andbeholding nought, not even the sky above him. Presently he turned aboutand saw hard stone on either side, so he rose wearily and stood upon hisfeet, and knew that he was faint with hunger and thirst. Then he lookedaround him, and saw that he was in a narrow valley or cleft of themountains amidst wan rocks, bare and waterless, where grew no blade ofgreen; but he could see no further than the sides of that cleft, and helonged to be out of it that he might see whitherward to turn. Then hebethought him of his wallet, and set his hand to it and opened it,thinking to get victual thence; but lo! it was all spoilt and wasted.None the less, for all his feebleness, he turned and went toiling slowlyalong what seemed to be a path little trodden leading upward out of thecleft; and at last he reached the crest thereof, and sat him down on arock on the other side; yet durst not raise his eyes awhile and look onthe land, lest he should see death manifest therein. At last he looked,and saw that he was high up amongst the mountain-peaks: before him and oneither hand was but a world of fallow stone rising ridge upon ridge likethe waves of the wildest of the winter sea. The sun not far from itsmidmost shone down bright and hot on that wilderness; yet was there nosign that any man had ever been there since the beginning of the world,save that the path aforesaid seemed to lead onward down the stony slope.
This way and that way and all about he gazed, straining his eyes ifperchance he might see any diversity in the stony waste; and at lastbetwixt two peaks of the rock-wall on his left hand he descried a streakof green mingling with the cold blue of the distance; and he thought inhis heart that this was the last he should see of the Glittering Plain.Then he spake aloud in that desert, and said, though there was none tohear: "Now is my last hour come; and here is Hallblithe of the Ravenperishing, with his deeds undone and his longing unfulfilled, and hisbridal-bed acold for ever. Long may the House of the Raven abide andflourish, with many a man and maiden, valiant and fair and fruitful! Okindred, cast thy blessing on this man about to die here, doing noneotherwise than ye would have him!"
He sat there a little while longer, and then he said to himself: "Deathtarries; were it not well that I go to meet him, even as the cot-carlepreventeth the mighty chieftain?"
Then he arose, and went painfully down the slope, steadying himself withthe shaft of his gleaming spear; but all at once he stopped; for itseemed to him that he heard voices borne on the wind that blew up themountain-side. But he shook his head and said: "Now forsooth beginneththe dream which shall last for ever; nowise am I beguiled by it." Nonethe less he strove the more eagerly with the wind and the way and hisfeebleness; yet did the weakness wax on him, so that it was but a littlewhile ere he faltered and reeled and fell down once more in a swoon.
When he came to himself again he was no longer alone: a man was kneelingdown by him and holding up his head, while another before him, as heopened his eyes, put a cup of wine to his lips. So Hallblithe drank andwas refreshed; and presently they gave him bread, and he ate, and hisheart was strengthened, and the happiness of life returned to it, and helay back, and slept sweetly for a season.
When he awoke from that slumber he found that he had gotten back much ofhis strength again, and he sat up and looked around him, and saw threemen sitting anigh, armed and girt with swords, yet in evil array, andsore travel-worn. One of these was very old, with long white hairhanging down; and another, though he was not so much stricken in years,still looked an old man of over sixty winters. The third was a man someforty years old, but sad and sorry and drooping of aspect.
So when they saw him stirring, they all fixed their eyes upon him, andthe oldest man said: "Welcome to him who erst had no tidings for us!" Andthe second said: "Tell us now thy tidings." But the third, the sorryman, cried out aloud, saying: "Where is the Land? Where is the Land?"
Said Hallblithe: "Meseemeth the land which ye seek is the land which Iseek to flee from. And now I will not hide that meseemeth I have seenyou before, and that was at Cleveland by the Sea when the days werehappier."
Then they all three bowed their heads in yea-say, and spake: "'Where isthe Land? Where is the Land?"
Then Hallblithe arose to his feet, and said: "Ye have healed me of thesickness of death, and I will do what I may to heal you of your sicknessof sorrow. Come up the pass with me, and I will show you the land afaroff."
Then they arose like young and brisk men, and he led them over the browof the ridge into the little valley wherein he had first come to himself:there he showed them that glimpse of a green land betwixt the two peaks,which he had beheld e'en now; and they stood a while looking at it andweeping for joy.
Then spake the oldest of the seekers: "Show us the way to the land."
"Nay," said Hallblithe, "I may not; for when I would depart thence, Imight not go by mine own will, but was borne out hither, I wot not how.For when I came to the edge of the land against the will of the King, hesmote me, and then cast me out. Therefore since I may not help you, findye the land for yourselves, and let me go blessing you, and come out ofthis desert by the way whereby ye entered it. For I have an errand inthe world."
Spake the youngest of the seekers: "Now art thou become the yoke-fellowof Sorrow, and thou must wend, not whither thou wouldst, but whither shewill: and she would have thee go forward toward life, not backward towarddeath."
Said the midmost seeker: "If we let thee go further into the wildernessthou shalt surely die: for hence to the peopled parts, and the City ofMerchants, whence we come, is a month's journey: and there is neithermeat nor drink, nor beast nor bird, nor any green thing all that way; andsince we have found thee famishing, we may well deem that thou hast novictual. As to us we have but little; so that if it be much more thanthree days' journey to the Glittering Plain, we may well starve and diewithin sight of the Acre of the Undying. Nevertheless that little willwe share with thee if thou wilt help us to find that good land; so thatthou mayst yet put away Sorrow, and take Joy again to thy board and bed."
Hallblithe hung his head and answered nought; for he was confused by themeshes of ill-hap, and his soul grew sick with the bitterness of death.But the sad man spake again and said: "Thou hast an errand sayest thou?is it such as a dead man may do?"
Hallblithe pondered, and amidst the anguish of his despair was borne inon him a vision of the sea-waves lapping the side of a black ship, and aman therein: who but himself, set free to do his errand, and his heartwas quickened within him, and he said: "I thank you, and I will wend backwith you, since there is no road for me save back again into the trap."
The three seekers seemed glad thereat, and the second one said: "Thoughdeath is pursuing, and life lieth ahead, yet will we not hasten theeunduly. Time was when I was Captain of the Host, and learned how battleswere lost by lack of rest. Therefore have thy sleep now, that thou maystwax in strength for our helping."
Said Hallblithe: "I need not rest; I may not rest; I will not rest."
Said the sad man: "It is lawful for thee to rest. So say I, who was oncea master of law."
Said the long-hoary elder: "And I command thee to rest; I who was oncethe king of a mighty folk."
In sooth Hallblithe was now exceeding weary; so he laid him down andslept sweetly in the stony wilderness amidst those three seekers, theold, the sad, a
nd the very old.
When he awoke he felt well and strong again, and he leapt to his feet andlooked about him, and saw the three seekers stirring, and he deemed bythe sun that it was early morning. The sad man brought forth bread andwater and wine, and they broke their fast; and when they had done hespake and said: "Abideth now in wallet and bottle but one more full mealfor us, and then no more save a few crumbs and a drop or two of wine ifwe husband it well."
Said the second elder: "Get we to the road, then, and make haste. I havebeen seeking, and meseemeth, though the way be long, it is not utterlyblind for us. Or look thou, Raven-son, is there not a path yonder thatleadeth onward up to the brow of the ghyll again? and as I have seen, itleadeth on again down from the said brow."
Forsooth there was a track that led through the stony tangle of thewilderness; so they took to the road with a good heart, and went all day,and saw no living thing, and not a blade of grass or a trickle of water:nought save the wan rocks under the sun; and though they trusted in theirroad that it led them aright, they saw no other glimpse of the GlitteringPlain, because there rose a great ridge like a wall on the north side,and they went as it were down along a trench of the rocks, albeit it waswhiles broken across by ghylls, and knolls, and reefs.
So at sunset they rested and ate their victual, for they were very weary;and thereafter they lay down, and slept as soundly as if they were in thebest of the halls of men. On the morrow betimes they arose soberly andwent their ways with few words, and, as they deemed, the path still ledthem onward. And now the great ridge on the north rose steeper andsteeper, and their crossing it seemed not to be thought of; but theirhalf-blind track failed them not. They rested at even, and ate and drankwhat little they had left, save a mouthful or two of wine, and then wenton again by the light of the moon, which was so bright that they stillsaw their way. And it happened to Hallblithe, as mostly it does with menvery travel-worn, that he went on and on scarce remembering where he was,or who his fellows were, or that he had any fellows.
So at midnight they lay down in the wilderness again, hungry and weary.They rose at dawn and went forward with waning hope: for now the mountainridge on the north was close to their path, rising up along a sheer wallof pale stone over which nothing might go save the fowl flying; so thatat first on that morning they looked for nothing save to lay their bonesin that grievous desert where no man should find them.
But, as beset with famine, they fared on heavily down the narrow track,there came a hoarse cry from Hallblithe's dry throat and it was as if hiscry had been answered by another like to his; and the seekers turned andbeheld him pointing to the cliff-side, and lo! half-way up the pale sun-litten crag stood two ravens in a cranny of the stone, flapping theirwings and croaking, with thrusting forth and twisting of their heads; andpresently they came floating on the thin pure air high up over the headsof the wayfarers, croaking for the pleasure of the meeting, as thoughthey laughed thereat.
Then rose the heart of Hallblithe, and he smote his palms together, andfell to singing an old song of his people, amidst the rocks whereas fewmen had sung aforetime.
Whence are ye and whither, O fowl of our fathers? What field have ye looked on, what acres unshorn? What land have ye left where the battle-folk gathers, And the war-helms are white o'er the paths of the corn?
What tale do ye bear of the people uncraven, Where amidst the long hall-shadow sparkle the spears; Where aloft on the hall-ridge now flappeth the raven, And singeth the song of the nourishing years?
There gather the lads in the first of the morning, While white lies the battle-day's dew on the grass, And the kind steeds trot up to the horn's voice of warning, And the winds wake and whine in the dusk of the pass.
O fowl of our fathers, why now are ye resting? Come over the mountains and look on the foe. Full fair after fight won shall yet be your nesting; And your fledglings the sons of the kindred shall know.
Therewith he strode with his head upraised, and above him flew theravens, croaking as if they answered his song in friendly fashion.
It was but a little after this that the path turned aside sharp towardthe cliffs, and the seekers were abashed thereof, till Hallblithe runningforward beheld a great cavern in the face of the cliff at the path'sending: so he turned and cried on his fellows, and they hastened up, andpresently stood before that cavern's mouth with doubt and joy mingled intheir minds; for now, mayhappen, they had reached the gate of theGlittering Plain, or mayhappen the gate of death.
The sad man hung his head and spake: "Doth not some new trap abide us?What do we here? is this aught save death?"
Spake the Elder of Elders: "Was not death on either hand e'en now, evenas treason besetteth the king upon his throne?"
And the second said: "Yea, we were as the host which hath no road savethrough the multitude of foe-men."
But Hallblithe laughed and said: "Why do ye hang back, then? As for me,if death be here, soon is mine errand sped." Therewith he led the wayinto the dark of the cave, and the ravens hung about the crag overheadcroaking, as the men left the light.
So was their way swallowed up in the cavern, and day and its time becamenought to them; they went on and on, and became exceeding faint andweary, but rested not, for death was behind them. Whiles they deemedthey heard waters running, and whiles the singing of fowl; and toHallblithe it seemed that he heard his name called, so that he shoutedback in answer; but all was still when the sound of his voice had diedout.
At last, when they were pressing on again after a short while of resting,Hallblithe cried out that the cave was lightening: so they hastenedonward, and the light grew till they could dimly see each other, anddimly they beheld the cave that it was both wide and high. Yet a littlefurther, and their faces showed white to one another, and they could seethe crannies of the rocks, and the bats hanging garlanded from the roof.So then they came to where the day streamed down bright on them from abreak overhead, and lo! the sky and green leaves waving against it.
To those way-worn men it seemed hard to clamber out that way, andespecially to the elders: so they went on a little further to see ifthere were aught better abiding them, but when they found the daylightfailing them again, they turned back to the place of the break in theroof, lest they should waste their strength and perish in the bowels ofthe mountain. So with much ado they hove up Hallblithe till he got himfirst on to a ledge of the rocky wall, and so, what by strength, what bycunning, into the daylight through the rent in the roof. So when he waswithout he made a rope of his girdle and strips from his raiment, for hewas ever a deft craftsman, and made a shift to heave up therewith the sadman, who was light and lithe of body; and then the two together dealtwith the elders one after another, till they were all four on the face ofthe earth again.
The place whereto they had gotten was the side of a huge mountain, stonyand steep, but set about with bushes, which seemed full fair to thosewanderers amongst the rocks. This mountain-slope went down towards afair green plain, which Hallblithe made no doubt was the outlying wasteof the Glittering Plain: nay, he deemed that he could see afar offthereon the white walls of the Uttermost House. So much he told theseekers in few words; and then while they grovelled on the earth and weptfor pure joy, whereas the sun was down and it was beginning to grow dusk,he went and looked around soberly to see if he might find water and anykind of victual; and presently a little down the hillside he came upon aplace where a spring came gushing up out of the earth and ran down towardthe plain; and about it was green grass growing plentifully, and a littlethicket of bramble and wilding fruit-trees. So he drank of the water,and plucked him a few wilding apples somewhat better than crabs, and thenwent up the hill again and fetched the seekers to that mountain hostelry;and while they drank of the stream he plucked them apples and bramble-berries. For indeed they were as men out of their wits, and were dazedby the extremity of their jog, and as men long shut up in prison, to whomthe world of men-folk hath become strange. Simple as the victual wa
s,they were somewhat strengthened by it and by the plentiful water, and asnight was now upon them, it was of no avail for them to go further: sothey slept beneath the boughs of the thorn-bushes.