Adventure Magazine Cover — page 67: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A Son of Strife “They will not protect vou from my master.” The Saracen spun his horse in a demi- volte, and cantered back to his escort. Three times they tossed their lances in the air, with shrill outcries of derision. Then their cymbals and nakirs sounded a dis- cordant melody, and they galloped off at headlong speed into the sere brown hills that rimmed the desert. Sir Gui descended from the battlements with an unusually thoughtful look on his reckless face. In the garden beneath the Tower of Winds he met Horazahde. ~ “Wot you the business I have been upon, dear heart?” he asked. She nestled against his shoulder. “Aye, lord.” ‘And what if I had given you up?” “Nay, nay,” she sobbed. ‘It may not be. There is that now which binds us twain faster than iron chains.” ““Naught binds closer than love,” he an- swered. But she whispered in his ear, and a great light blazed in his eyes. ‘“‘Zounds!”’ he swore. ‘‘We will make him a right puissant man-at-arms!”’ The child of Horazahde was born on the Feast’of St. Matthew—or, as Fray Gilberto had it in the Italian manner, Matteo—a night of storm and cloudwrack, with the thunder rolling across the hills and the lightning splitting the darkness outside the loopholes of the bower atop of the keep. Sir Gui cowered by the chamber door, his hands clasped over his ears to dull the screams of agony that slipped like arrow- heads between the thunder peals. It was near morning when old Moosha summoned him within and offered for his inspection a squirming bundle of fluffy black hair and pink flesh. “Ts it ) He hesitated, with a questioning look toward the strangely inert figure on the bed. “It is a man child,” said old Moosha proudly. ‘Behold how he kicks and strikes, lord. And the voice of him! ‘Ne’er did I behold so sturdy an infant.” “Nay, nay,’ he answered impatiently. “The Lady Horazahde! Your mistress! She is so—” He could not bring himself to express his fears, this cruel, relentless border lord, whose own will was his sole guide. “Fear naught, lord,’ Moosha reassured 99 him promptly. “ ’Tis only that she is ex- hausted. Before the next night she will be ready to hear your praises.” Qe’ BUT with the night arrived a herald 4 from Jerusalem, proclaiming the as- = size of arms. The southern borders of the kingdom were threatened, and the king summoned all his lords to their feudal obligations. When Sir Gui returned a month later his mistress was again in health and the child had grown lustily. But there was friction in his household. ‘“‘Lord,”’ began Horazahde, when she had him to herself in the bower, “‘I have a boon to beg of you.” ‘‘Name it, sweet one,”’ he replied. “That evil old one,” she said, ‘‘the Hojji ” “Fray Gilberto?” he asked. ‘“‘Aye,” she affirmed spitefully; “ ’tis he with his dirty robes and his horrid sandals.” “Shall I tire him in silks and damasks?”’ queried Sir Gui, amused. “Nay, lord, but send him forth, or per- chance, hang him to the justice-tree In the village.” “Why?” “He hath put a slight upon me.”’ ‘“What may it have been, dear heart?” ‘“‘He gave a name to the child.” **T see no harm in that.” “But he would not give the child the name I wished.” “What name?” “Yours.” “Ah,” said Sir Gui, and he thought deeply. ‘‘Doubt not Fray Gilberto had his reasons. Leave this to me.”’ He rose to go, but tarried at the door. ‘‘What name did Fray Gilberto choose?” he inquired. “Matteo,” spat Horazahde, conveying a load of odium upon the tripping syllables. Sir Gui smiled and sought the priest. ‘* Tis as she saith,” replied Fray Gilberto stoutly. “Look you, Messer Gui, the little one was born out of wedlock, in mortal sin. *Twas necessary to insure its protection that Holy Church should set the seal of baptism upon him. I might not wait.” ‘“‘But why reject her desire for my name?” asked Sir Gui. Fray Gilberto regarded him sidewise. “Some day, lord, you may wed a lawful wife,” he answered in almost the same words that John the Englishman had used. “If GOMIIGooOo S (© iin