It was midnight. A great bell boomed and clashed over the city, with a roar of many voices floating on the wind, like the sullen1 thunder of a rising sea. Torches flashed and ebbed3 along the streets, with hundreds of scampering4 shadows, and a glinting of steel. Knots of armed men hurried towards the great piazza5, where, by the City Cross, Sforza the Gonfaloniere and his senators had gathered about the red and white Gonfalon of the Commune. All the Guild6 companies were there with their banners and men-at-arms. "Fulviac," "Saint Yeoland," "Liberty and the Commune": such were the watchwords that filled the mouths of the mob.
Cressets had burst into flame on the castle's towers, lighting7 a lurid8 firmament9; while from the steeps of the city, where stood the palaces of the nobles, smoke and flame began to rush ominously10 into the night. Waves of hoarse11 ululations seemed to sweep the city from north, south, east, and west. Trumpets12 were clanging in the castle, drums beating, fifes braying13. Through the indescribable chaos14 the great bell smote15 on, throbbing16 through the minutes like the heart of a god.
It will be remembered that the Lord Flavian was in Gilderoy for the purchasing of arms. At midnight you would have found him in his state bed-chamber in the abbot's palace, tugging17 at his hose, fumbling18 at his points and doublet, buckling19 on his sword. He was hardly awake with the single taper20 winking21 in the gloom. The shrill22 ululations of the mob sounded through the house, with the clash of swords and the crash of hammers. The Lord Flavian craned from the window, saw what he could, heard much, and wondered if hell had broken loose.
"Fulviac and the Commune!"
"Saint Yeoland!"
"Down with the lords, down with the priests!"
The man at the window heard these cries, and puzzled them out in his peril23. Certainly he was a lord; therefore unpopular. And Yeoland! Wherefore was that name sounding on the tongues of brothel-mongers and cooks! Was he still dreaming? Certes, these rallying-cries carried a certain blunt hint, advising him that he would have to care for his own skin.
Malise, his page, knelt at the door with his ear to the key-hole. The boy was in his shirt and breeches, and trembling like an aspen. Flavian stood over him. They heard a rending24 sound as of a gate giving, a roar as of water breaking through a dam, a yelp25, a scream or two, a confused medley26 of many voices.
Flavian told Malise to open the door and look out into the gallery. He did so. A man, more zealous27 than the rest, sprang out of the dark and stabbed at the lad's throat. He fell with a whimper. Flavian plunged29 his sword home, dragged Malise within, barred the door again. Very tenderly he lifted the boy in his arms. Malise's hands clung about his lord's neck; he moaned a little, and was very white.
"Save yourself, messire!"
Flavian bore him towards a door that stood open in the panelling. He felt the lad's blood soaking through his doublet; entreaties30 were poured into his ears.
"I die, I die; oh, the smart, the burn of it! Leave me, messire; let me lie still!"
"Nonsense----"
"It is no use; I have it deep, the man's knife went home."
Flavian felt the lad's hands relax, saw his head droop31 on his shoulder. He turned and put him down on the bed, and knelt there, while Malise panted and strove to speak.
"Go--messire."
Flavian was trying to staunch the flow from the boy's neck with a corner of the sheeting. His own doublet was drenched32 with blood. In a minute he saw the futility33 of such unconscious heroism34; the flickering35 taper by the bed told that Malise's life would ebb2 before its own light would be gutted36. Blows were being dealt upon the door. Flavian kissed the lad, took the taper, and passed out by the panel in the wainscotting.
A stairway led him to a little gate that opened on the abbot's garden. He more than thought to find the passage disputed, but the place stretched quiet before him as he came out with sword drawn37. The scent38 of the flowers and fragrant39 shrubs40 was heavy on the night air, and the shouts of the mob sounded over the black roofs, and rang in his ears with an inspiriting fury.
There was a gate at the far end of the garden, opening through a stone wall into a narrow alley41, and Flavian, as he scoured42 the paths, could see pike points bobbing above the wall, and a flare43 of torches. Men were breaking in even here, and he was caught like a rat in a corner. In an angle of the wall he found a big marrow44 bed, and crawling under the leaves like a worm, he smeared45 dirt over his face and clothes and awaited developments. In another minute the garden gate fell away, and a tatterdemalion rout46 poured in, strenuous47 and frothy as any tavern48 pack. They spread over the garden towards the house, shouting and blaspheming like a herd49 of satyrs. Flavian saw his chance, plunged from his dark corner, and joined the mob of moving figures. Dirty face and dirtier clothes were in kindred keeping. He shouted as lustily as any, and by dint50 of gradual and discreet51 circumlocutions, edged to the gate and escaped into the now-deserted52 alley.
Running on, he skirted the abbey and came out into the square that flanked the abbey church, and the great gate. A hundred torches seemed moving behind the abbey windows. The square teemed53 and smoked with riot. Flavian went into the crowd with drawn sword, screeching54 out mob cries like any huckster, smiting55 men on the back, laughing and swearing as in excellent humour. His gusto saved him. As he passed through the mob he saw heads, gory56 and mangled57, dancing upon pikes; he saw women drunk with beer and violence, waving a severed58 foot or hand, kissing men, hugging each other, mouthing unutterable obscenities in the mad delirium59 of the hour. He saw whelps of boys scrambling60 and struggling for some ghastly relic61; scavengers and sweeps dressed up in the habits of the Benedictines they had slain62. One man carried in his palm an eye that had been torn from its socket63, which he held with a leer in the faces of his fellows. Further still, he saw half a dozen beggars dragging the dead body of a lady over the stones by cords fastened to the ankles, while dogs worried and tore at the flesh. He learnt afterwards that it was the body of his own cousin, a young girl who had been lately betrothed64. Last of all, he saw a carcase dangling65 from a great iron lamp bracket in the centre of the square, and understood from the crowd that it was the body of the abbot, his uncle. Men and women were pelting66 it with offal.
And he, an aristocrat67 of aristocrats68, dirty and dishevelled, rubbed shoulders with the scourings of the gutter69, shouted their shouts, echoed their exultation70. At first the grim humour of the thing smote him in grosser farcical fashion; but the mood was not for long. He remembered Malise, whimpering and quivering in his arms; he remembered the body dragged about the square and worried by dogs; he remembered the carcase swinging by the rope; he remembered the dripping heads and the fragments of flesh tossed about by the maddened and intoxicated71 mob. It was then that his eyes grew hot with shame and his blood ran like lava72 through his veins73. It was then that the spirit of a vampire74 rushed into his heart, and that he swore great solemn oaths by all the bones and relics75 of the saints. God give him a hale body out of Gilderoy, and this city scum should be scourged76 with iron and roasted by fire.
He got across the square by dint of his noisy hypocrisy77, and turned morosely78 into a dark alley that led towards the walls. Hot-hearted gentleman, the mere79 panic-stricken thirst for existence had cooled out of him, and he was in a fine, rendering80 passion to his finger-tips, a striding, blasphemous81 temper, that longed to take the whole city by the throat and beat a fist in its bloated face. He wondered what had become of his knights82, esquires, and men-at-arms. It was told him in later days how they died fighting in the abbey refectory, died with the Benedictines at their side, and a rare barrier of corpses83 to tell of the swing of their swords.
Flavian dodged84 into a dark porch to consider his circumstances and the baffling influence of the same. He had caught enough from the mob to comprehend what had occurred, and what was to follow. Certainly for many months he had heard rumours85, but, like other demigods, he had turned a deaf ear and smiled like a Saturn86. The largeness of the upheaval87 stupefied him at first; now, as he pondered it, it gave a more heroic colour to his passions.
To be free of Gilderoy: that was the necessity. He guessed shrewdly enough that the gates would be well guarded. And the walls! He smote his thigh88 and remembered where the river coursed round the rocky foundations, and washed the walls. A big plunge28, a swim, and he would have liberty enough and to spare.
He set off instanter down alleys89 and byways, through the most poverty-stricken quarter of the city. The place had a hundred stenches on a hot summer night. Naturally enough, such haunts were deserted, save for a few hags garrulous90 at the doorways91, and a few fragments of dirt, called by courtesy, children. The rats had gone marauding, leaving their offal heaps empty.
Keen as a fox, he threaded on, and came before long to the walls, a black mass, rising above the hovels packed like pigsties92 to the very ramparts. Avoiding a tower, he held along a lane that skirted the wall, looking for one of the many stairways leading to the battlements. It was here, in the light of a tavern window, that he came plump upon two sweaty artisans, rendered somewhat more gross and insolent93 by the fumes94 of liquor. The men challenged Flavian with drunken arrogance95; they had their password, to the devil. All the accumulated viciousness of an hour tingled96 in his sword arm. He fell upon the men like a Barak, kicked one carcase into the gutter, and ran on.
He was soon up a stairway, and on the walls, finding them absolutely deserted. The city stretched behind him, a black chaos, emitting a grim uproar97, its dark slopes chequered here and there with angry flame. Before him swept the river, and he heard it swirling98 amid the reeds. Further still, meadows lay open to the stars, and in the distance stood solemn woods and heights, touched with the silver of the sky.
He moved on to where a loop of the river curled up to wash the walls. The water was in full flood at the place, and he heard it gurgling cheerily against the stones. Flavian took a last look at Gilderoy, its castle red with burning cressets, its multitudinous roofs, its uproar like the noise of a nest of hornets. He shook his fist over the city, climbed the battlements, jumped for it, plunged like a log, came up spluttering to strike out for the further bank.
In the meadows the townsfolk kept horses at graze. Flavian, aglow99 to the finger-tips, with water squelching100 from his shoes, caught a cob that was hobbled in a field hard by the river. He unhobbled the beast, hung on by the mane, mounted, and set off bare-back for the road to Gambrevault.
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1
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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3
ebbed
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的过去式和过去分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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4
scampering
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| v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的现在分词 ) | |
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5
piazza
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| n.广场；走廊 | |
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guild
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| n.行会，同业公会，协会 | |
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7
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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8
lurid
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| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
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9
firmament
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| n.苍穹；最高层 | |
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10
ominously
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| adv.恶兆地，不吉利地；预示地 | |
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11
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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12
trumpets
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| 喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花 | |
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13
braying
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| v.发出驴叫似的声音( bray的现在分词 )；发嘟嘟声；粗声粗气地讲话（或大笑）；猛击 | |
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14
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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15
smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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16
throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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17
tugging
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| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
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18
fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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19
buckling
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| 扣住 | |
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taper
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| n.小蜡烛，尖细，渐弱；adj.尖细的；v.逐渐变小 | |
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21
winking
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| n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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22
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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23
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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24
rending
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| v.撕碎( rend的现在分词 )；分裂；（因愤怒、痛苦等而）揪扯（衣服或头发等）；（声音等）刺破 | |
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25
yelp
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| vi.狗吠 | |
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26
medley
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| n.混合 | |
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27
zealous
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| adj.狂热的，热心的 | |
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28
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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29
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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30
entreaties
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| n.恳求，乞求( entreaty的名词复数 ) | |
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31
droop
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| v.低垂，下垂；凋萎，萎靡 | |
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32
drenched
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| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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33
futility
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| n.无用 | |
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34
heroism
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| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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35
flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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36
gutted
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| adj.容易消化的v.毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的过去式和过去分词 )；取出…的内脏 | |
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37
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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38
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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39
fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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40
shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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41
alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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42
scoured
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| 走遍（某地）搜寻（人或物）( scour的过去式和过去分词 )； （用力）刷； 擦净； 擦亮 | |
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43
flare
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| v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发 | |
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44
marrow
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| n.骨髓；精华；活力 | |
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45
smeared
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| 弄脏； 玷污； 涂抹； 擦上 | |
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46
rout
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| n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮 | |
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47
strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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48
tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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49
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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50
dint
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| n.由于，靠；凹坑 | |
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51
discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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52
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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53
teemed
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| v.充满( teem的过去式和过去分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
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54
screeching
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| v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫 | |
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55
smiting
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的现在分词 ) | |
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56
gory
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| adj.流血的；残酷的 | |
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57
mangled
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| vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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58
severed
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| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
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59
delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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60
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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61
relic
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| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
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62
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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63
socket
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| n.窝，穴，孔，插座，插口 | |
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64
betrothed
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| n. 已订婚者 动词betroth的过去式和过去分词 | |
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65
dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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66
pelting
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| 微不足道的，无价值的，盛怒的 | |
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67
aristocrat
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| n.贵族，有贵族气派的人，上层人物 | |
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68
aristocrats
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| n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 ) | |
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69
gutter
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| n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟 | |
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70
exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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71
intoxicated
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| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
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72
lava
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| n.熔岩，火山岩 | |
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73
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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74
vampire
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| n.吸血鬼 | |
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75
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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76
scourged
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| 鞭打( scourge的过去式和过去分词 )； 惩罚，压迫 | |
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77
hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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78
morosely
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| adv.愁眉苦脸地，忧郁地 | |
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79
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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80
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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81
blasphemous
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| adj.亵渎神明的，不敬神的 | |
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82
knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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83
corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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84
dodged
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| v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 )；回避 | |
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85
rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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86
Saturn
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| n.农神，土星 | |
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87
upheaval
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| n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱 | |
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88
thigh
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| n.大腿；股骨 | |
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89
alleys
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| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
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90
garrulous
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| adj.唠叨的，多话的 | |
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91
doorways
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| n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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92
pigsties
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| n.猪圈，脏房间( pigsty的名词复数 ) | |
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93
insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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94
fumes
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| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
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95
arrogance
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| n.傲慢，自大 | |
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96
tingled
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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97
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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98
swirling
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
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99
aglow
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| adj.发亮的；发红的；adv.发亮地 | |
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100
squelching
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| v.发吧唧声，发扑哧声( squelch的现在分词 )；制止；压制；遏制 | |
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