The men spurred their horses instantly, and
dashed into the wood before the Queen could stop them, Castignac first
by a length, with his sword out. The flight of arrows that followed the
first shot struck horses and men together, and three or four horses
went down with their riders; but the mail was proof, and the men were
on their feet in an instant and running among the trees, whence came
the sound of great blows, and the sharp twanging of many bowstrings,
and the yell of the Seljuks. Now and again an arrow flew from among the
trees at random, and while Eleanor sat on her horse, looking down the
hill and crying to her knights to come on quickly and join in the
fight, she did not know that Anne of Auch covered her with her body
from the danger of a stray shaft, facing the danger with a light heart,
in the hope of the blessed death for which she looked.
Of those who went in under the trees, none came back, while the din of
the fight rose louder and wilder, by which Eleanor guessed that the
enemy were very few and were being driven up the hill, overpowered by
numbers; and lest her own men should hamper each other, she stopped
them and would not allow any more to go up.
Meanwhile the King looked on from below, saying prayers; for he was in
mortal dread of wishing that the Queen might be killed, since that
would have been as great a sin as if he had slain her with his own
hand; so that whereas when there was no present danger he constantly
prayed that by some means he might be delivered from the woman of
Belial, he now prayed as fervently that she might be preserved.
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