But the King would not be browbeaten before the great
lords and barons, and he swore a great oath that he would go by the
valley, come what might. Thereupon Eleanor turned her back on him,
wheeling her horse short round; and she bade her knights ride up the
hill to the trees with her, and gave orders that her army should follow
her, and leave the King to take his men by any way he chose. On this
the confusion became greater than ever, for in the host there were
thousands of men, half pilgrims, half soldiers, who had come of their
own accord, as free men, bound neither to the King nor the Queen; there
were also the Poles and Bohemians, who were independent. All these
began to discuss and quarrel among themselves.
Meanwhile the Queen and Anne of Auch rode slowly up the hill, straight
toward the trees, with Castignac and Gilbert's men before them, and the
knights of Guienne following closely after; but none of them expected
evil, for the place looked peaceful in the high sunshine. Eleanor and
the Lady Anne rode fearlessly in their skirts and mantles, but the men
were fully armed in their mail and steel caps.
The foremost were half a dozen spears' lengths from the brushwood when
the sharp twang of a bowstring broke the stillness, and an arrow that
was meant for the Queen's face flew just between her and the Lady Anne.
The fair woman flushed suddenly at the danger; on the dark one's
forehead a vein stood out, straight from the parting of the hair,
downward between the eyes.
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