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was forced to rest its weight once more on Blanchard's shoulders, to keep from
it going point-first into the ground.
There was anembarrassed silence all around. Brian sagged in his saddle.
"What a wretch I am!" he said savagely. "I have strength enough for a moment,
but not enough to hold it up for more than that. And to place its point
properly in the Worm I would need to keep it in air far longer than that.
James, I cannot do it!"
"Never mind," said Jim, mounting Gorp, who had followed the other horse,
partially out of curiosity. "Give me the lance " He reached over and took it
from Brian's now-lax grasp. The other knight was not looking at him, but
staring at Blanchard's neck in utter dejection.
"You will never manage it, James," said Brian in a low, sad voice. "Forgive
me! But it is, or would be, a hard task even for someone like myself to dodge
the front of the Worm and still bury my point in the back part of its body."
"Still," said Jim, "I've got to try."
Simply the fact that he had made the decision seemed to give him strength. He
rested the lance on the forepart of the saddle, to take its weight off Gorp's
shoulders, and began to ride toward the approaching Worm.
"Wait!" shouted Brian behind him."One second yet, James! There is a thing I
can do, after all!"
He rode up level with Jim.
"Yes, James," he said almost triumphantly, reining his horse in, so that Jim
was forced to stop Gorp for a second. "I need no hands to control Blanchard.
He will respond to my knees. And I need strength only for a moment. In that
moment I can do great damage. Hark to me a moment!"
"All right," said Jim, reining in Gorp. "But I haven't got all that many
moments to waste."
"It will be no waste," said Brian. "Listen, James! I will ride Blanchard at
full speed toward the Worm; and then, with a touch of my knees, direct
Blanchard aside at the last moment before the creature can quite reach us. So
we will go down along his side; and, as I pass, I can lean over and cut both
eyestalks with a single slash of my sword. It is not even hard! It is child's
play! Come you behind me if you will, James; but I ride ahead of you now to
blind the Worm!"
Once more, it seemed as if he had never been wounded, never been
exhausted.Brian lifted the reins and Blanchard broke into movement.
Jim lifted his own reins to send Gorp galloping after the other man; but
almost immediately dropped them again. He could no more stop Brian now from
what the other intended to do than Gorp could catch Blanchard of Tours. The
great white horse on which Brian had spent all of his inheritance, except his
lands and castle, was much faster than his size and weight indicated.
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That speed had often given Brian an advantage, in battle and intourneys, that
others did not expect. In any case, thought Jim, watching Brian's figure
rapidly approaching the Worm, there was no point stopping something that was
pure will by something purely physical.
What he was looking at in Brian, what they were all looking at for Herrac and
his sons had now ridden up and halted their horses beside him was a triumph of
spirit over body. Brian's body, away from this instant and thisclearing, could
probably not walk a dozen steps without falling. But here and now, in the
saddle, no one watching without knowledge of his weakness would take him for
anything but a knight riding fresh to the encounter.
Brian was directing Blanchard forward at an angle to the Worm, and the Worm
began to turn toward him; but at the same time Brian also turned Blanchard
toward the creature.So that they seemed finally to be approaching head-on. A
sort of low groan went up from all the watchers around the clearing, as the
two came together; for it seemed there must be a head-on collision.
But at the last second, as the Worm's forepart flashed up, Brian seemed
miraculously to slip by it on its opposite side; and at the same time he rose
in his stirrups, and with his body and arm fully extended made one quick swing
out from across his body with his sword. Both eyestalks parted at mid-stem, a
couple of feet above the front of the blunt head, and fell. Then Brian was
putting Blanchard about on a circle and starting him back toward Jim and the
others.
"Oh, magnificent!"Herrac exclaimed."Beautifully done! Did you mark it, my
sons? You will never see such horsemanship and sword-work bettered in your
life probably you will never see anything near to approaching it. He must have
judged the exact moment to pull aside from the front of the beast, the exact
distance at which he must pass it; so that, at fullest, safest extent, he
could make his cut from beyond its reach and sever the eyestalks!And all, to
return to us safely as he does now. But hurry to him Alan, Giles! He will not
make it back without help!"
In fact, Sir Giles and Alan reached opposite sides of Brian on Blanchard,
just in time. Brian had let thegreat war horse slow to a walk, and all but
collapsed in his saddle. As they got to him, he was just beginning to fall
sideways out of it. One on each side of him, they caught him around the waist,
supported him, and brought him back, still at a walk, to Herrac, Jim and the
rest.
"Wonderful, wonderful, Brian!" said Jim, when Brian came close. But Brian's
face was once again utterly bloodless, his whole face and body were limp and
his face was the face of a man in a walking dream.
"I thank thee, James, for thy most courteous& " he began in a thin voice. But
the voice gave out, his eyes closed; and he fell heavily against Alan, who was
on his left side. The other sons clustered around to help hold him, but he was
completely limp. It was obvious he could not even be held upright in the
saddle.
"He must be gotten back to the castle with all dispatch!" said Herrac. "I
fear already it may be too late. He may have pushed himself too far."
"Never mind!" said a sharp voice; and Carolinus was amongst them again. He
pointed to Giles and Alan. "I'll send him back to the castle; and you two with
him to explain things.Now!"
He snapped his fingers. Brian with Blanchard, Giles and Alan with their
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horses as well, disappeared.
"They are now in the castle courtyard," said Carolinus after a moment, "and
your Liseth, Sir Herrac, has already been called and is running through the
Great Hall to come to Brian."
"Carolinus!" said Jim. "The Accounting Office will crucify you for this!"
"It will, will it?" said Carolinus, his mustaches bristling. "It may just be
I'll have a word to say to it, as well!"
He turned to look across the clearing.
"But James," he went on, "your Worm is still coming. Go at it now with the
lance. Remember what Brian told you. Sword high, when it's time to fight it on
foot, shield against the armor boss on one of your shoulders and the greave of
one leg; and be sure to attack it well back from where the front part of its
body lifts from the rest. You can go at it from the side, now. It hears
through the ground with its skin, so it'll hear you coming, but it can't turn
quickly enough to keep you from reaching it, behind its forepart."
"Right!" said Jim, lifting his reins in his left hand, while the other hand
kept the lance balanced on the high pommel of his saddle before him.
"Wait!" said Carolinus urgently."One other thing. Once you're in position to
strike it with your sword, use the weapon point-first to pierce it; then
simply hack your way in. By that time, it'll have you pinned, its front part
against your shield, its mouth striving to reach you with its teeth and the
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