Chivalry, golden champion of beauty, had much to avenge7, much to expurgate. The peasant folk had plunged8 the land into ruin and red war. Castles smoked under the summer sky; the noble dead lay unburied in the high places of pride. To the wolf cry of the people there could be no answer save the hiss9 of the sword. Before the high altar at Lauretia, the King had sworn on relics10 and the Scriptures11, to deal such vengeance12 as should leave the land cowering13 for centuries in terror of his name.
Southwards from St. Gore there stretched for some fifteen leagues the province of La Belle14 Forêt, a region of rich valleys and romantic woods, green and quiet under the tranquil15 sky. Its towns were mere16 gardens, smothered17 deep in flowers, full of cedars18 and fair cypresses19. Its people were simple, happy, and devout20. War had not set foot there for two generations, and the land overflowed21 with the good things of life. Its vineyards purpled the valleys; its pastures harboured much cattle. Its houses were filled with rich furniture and silks, chests laden22 with cloth of gold, caskets of gems23, ambries packed with silver plate. The good folk of La Belle Forêt had held aloof24 from the revolt. Peace-loving and content in their opulence25, they had no fondness for anarchy26 and war.
It was into this fair province that Fulviac led his arms on the march south for Gilderoy and the great forest by the sea. Belle Forêt, neutral and luxurious27, was spoil for the spoiler, stuff for the sword. Plundering28, marauding, burning, butchering, Fulviac's rebels poured through like a host of Huns. Strength promised licence; there was little asceticism29 in the cause, though the sacred banner flew in the van with an unction that was truly pharisaical. From that flood of war, the provincials30 fled as from a plague. It was Fulviac's policy to devastate31 the land, to hinder the march of the royal host. Desolation spread like winter over the fields; Fulviac's ravagers left ruin and despair and a great silence to mark their track.
The march became a bloody32 parable33 before three days had passed. Fulviac had taken burning faggots upon his back, and the iron collar of war weighed heavy on him that autumn season. It was a grim moral and a terrible. He had called up fiends from hell, and their antics mocked him. Storm as he would, even his strong wrath34 was like fire licking at granite35. Death taunted36 him, and Murder rode as a witness at his side. The mob of mad humanity was like a ravenous38 sea, hungry, pitiless, and insatiate. Even his stout39 heart was shocked by the bestial40 passions war had roused. His men were mutinous41 to all restraint. Fight they would when he should marshal them; but for their lusts43 they claimed a wolf-like and delirious44 liberty.
Yeoland the Saint rode on her white horse through La Belle Forêt, like a pale ghost dazed by the human miseries45 of war. A captive, she had surrendered herself to Fate; her heart was as a sea-bird wearied by long buffetings in the wind. There was no desire in her for life, no spark of passion, no hope save for the sounding of a convent bell. She imagined calmly the face of death. Her grave stretched green and quiet to her fancy, under some forest tree.
Even her hebetude of soul gave way at last before the horrors of that bloody march. She saw towns smouldering and flames licking the night sky, heard walls crack and roofs fall with a roar and an uprushing of fire. She saw the peasant folk crouching46 white and stupefied about their ruined homes. She heard the cry of the children, the wailing47 of women, the cracked voices of old men cursing Fulviac as he rode by. She saw the crops burnt in the fields; cattle slaughtered49 and their carcases left to rot in the sun.
The deeds of those grim days moved in her brain with a vividness that never abated50. War with all its ruthlessness, its devilry, its riotous51 horror, burnt in upon her soul. The plash of blood, the ruin, the despair, appalled52 her till she yearned53 and hungered for the end. Life seemed to have become a hideous54 purgatory55, flaming and shrieking56 under the stars.
She appealed to Fulviac with the vehemence57 of despair. The man was obdurate58 and moody59, burdened by the knowledge that these horrors were beyond him. His very impotence was bitterness itself to his strong spirit. In the silent passion of his shame, he buckled60 a sullen61 scorn about his manhood, scoffed62 and mocked when the woman pleaded. He was like a Titan struggling in the toils63 of Fate, flinging forth64 scorn to mask his anguish65. He had let war loose upon the land, and the riot mocked him like a turbulent sea.
One noon they rode together through a town that had closed its gates to them, and had been taken by assault. On the hills around stood the solemn woods watching in silence the scene beneath. Corpses66 stiffened67 in the gutters68; children shrieked69 in burning attics70. By the cross in the market-square soldiers were staving in wine casks, the split lees mingling71 with the blood upon the cobbles. Ruffians rioted in the streets. Lust42 and violence were loose like wolves.
Fulviac clattered72 through the place with Yeoland and his guards, a tower of steel amid the reeking73 ruins. He looked neither to the right hand nor the left, but rode with set jaw74 and sullen visage for the southern gate, and the green quiet of the fields. His tawny75 eyes smouldered under his casque; his mouth was as stone, stern yet sorrowful. He spoke76 never a word, as though his thoughts were too grim for the girl's ears.
Yeoland rode at his side in silence, shivering in thought at the scenes that had passed before her eyes. She was as a lily whose pure petals77 quailed78 before the sprinkling plash of blood. Her soul was of too delicate a texture79 for the rude blasts of war.
She turned on Fulviac anon, and taunted him out of the fulness of her scorn.
"This is your crusade for justice," she said to him; "ah, there is a curse upon us. You have let fiends loose."
He did not retort to her for the moment, but rode gazing into the gilded80 glories of the woods. Even earth's peace was bitter to him at that season, but bitterer far was the woman's scorn.
"And all this butchery, this ruin?"
"Blame war for it."
"Mark you," he said to her, with some deepening of his voice, "I am no god; I cannot make angels of devils. The sea has risen, can I cork83 it in a bottle, or tie the storm wind up in a sack? Give me my due. I am human, not a demi-god."
She understood his mood, and pitied him in measure, for he had a burden on his soul sufficient for a Hercules. His men were half mutinous; they would fight for him, but he could not stem their lusts. He was as a stout ship borne upon the backs of riotous waves.
"Well would it have been," she said, "if you had never raised this storm."
"It is easy to be wise at the eleventh hour," he answered her.
"Can you not stay it even now?"
"Woman, can I stem the sea!"
"The blood of thousands dyes your hands."
He twisted in the saddle as though her words gored84 him to the quick. His face twitched85, his eyes glittered.
"My God, keep silence!"
"Fulviac."
Thus Fulviac and his rebels passed on spoiling towards Gilderoy and the sea, where Sforza lay camped with forces gathered from the south. The great forest beckoned86 them; they knew its trammels, and hoped for strategies therein. Like a vast web of gloom it proffered87 harbour to the wolves of war, for they feared the open, and the vengeful onrush of the royal chivalry.
Meanwhile, the armies of the King came down upon Belle Forêt, a great horde88 of steel. From its black ashes the country welcomed them with the dumb lips of death. Ruin and slaughter48 appealed them on the march; the smoke of war ascended89 to their nostrils90. Fierce was the cry for vengeance in the ranks, as the host poured on like a golden dawn treading on the dark heels of night.
该作者其它作品
《The Red Saint》
该作者其它作品
《The Red Saint》
点击收听单词发音
1 gore | |
n.凝血,血污;v.(动物)用角撞伤,用牙刺破;缝以补裆;顶 | |
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2 chivalry | |
n.骑士气概,侠义;(男人)对女人彬彬有礼,献殷勤 | |
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3 levies | |
(部队)征兵( levy的名词复数 ); 募捐; 被征募的军队 | |
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4 panoply | |
n.全副甲胄,礼服 | |
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5 rippling | |
起涟漪的,潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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6 trumpets | |
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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7 avenge | |
v.为...复仇,为...报仇 | |
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8 plunged | |
v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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9 hiss | |
v.发出嘶嘶声;发嘘声表示不满 | |
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10 relics | |
[pl.]n.遗物,遗迹,遗产;遗体,尸骸 | |
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11 scriptures | |
经文,圣典( scripture的名词复数 ); 经典 | |
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12 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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13 cowering | |
v.畏缩,抖缩( cower的现在分词 ) | |
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14 belle | |
n.靓女 | |
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15 tranquil | |
adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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16 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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17 smothered | |
(使)窒息, (使)透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 ); 覆盖; 忍住; 抑制 | |
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18 cedars | |
雪松,西洋杉( cedar的名词复数 ) | |
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19 cypresses | |
n.柏属植物,柏树( cypress的名词复数 ) | |
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20 devout | |
adj.虔诚的,虔敬的,衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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21 overflowed | |
溢出的 | |
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22 laden | |
adj.装满了的;充满了的;负了重担的;苦恼的 | |
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23 gems | |
growth; economy; management; and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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24 aloof | |
adj.远离的;冷淡的,漠不关心的 | |
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25 opulence | |
n.财富,富裕 | |
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26 anarchy | |
n.无政府状态;社会秩序混乱,无秩序 | |
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27 luxurious | |
adj.精美而昂贵的;豪华的 | |
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28 plundering | |
掠夺,抢劫( plunder的现在分词 ) | |
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29 asceticism | |
n.禁欲主义 | |
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30 provincials | |
n.首都以外的人,地区居民( provincial的名词复数 ) | |
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31 devastate | |
v.使荒芜,破坏,压倒 | |
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32 bloody | |
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染 | |
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33 parable | |
n.寓言,比喻 | |
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34 wrath | |
n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒 | |
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35 granite | |
adj.花岗岩,花岗石 | |
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36 taunted | |
嘲讽( taunt的过去式和过去分词 ); 嘲弄; 辱骂; 奚落 | |
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37 taunt | |
n.辱骂,嘲弄;v.嘲弄 | |
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38 ravenous | |
adj.极饿的,贪婪的 | |
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40 bestial | |
adj.残忍的;野蛮的 | |
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41 mutinous | |
adj.叛变的,反抗的;adv.反抗地,叛变地;n.反抗,叛变 | |
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42 lust | |
n.性(淫)欲;渴(欲)望;vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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43 lusts | |
贪求(lust的第三人称单数形式) | |
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44 delirious | |
adj.不省人事的,神智昏迷的 | |
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45 miseries | |
n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 );痛苦的事;穷困;常发牢骚的人 | |
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46 crouching | |
v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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47 wailing | |
v.哭叫,哀号( wail的现在分词 );沱 | |
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48 slaughter | |
n.屠杀,屠宰;vt.屠杀,宰杀 | |
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49 slaughtered | |
v.屠杀,杀戮,屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50 abated | |
减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 ); 减去; 降价; 撤消(诉讼) | |
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51 riotous | |
adj.骚乱的;狂欢的 | |
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52 appalled | |
v.使惊骇,使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的;丧胆的 | |
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53 yearned | |
渴望,切盼,向往( yearn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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55 purgatory | |
n.炼狱;苦难;adj.净化的,清洗的 | |
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56 shrieking | |
v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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57 vehemence | |
n.热切;激烈;愤怒 | |
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58 obdurate | |
adj.固执的,顽固的 | |
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59 moody | |
adj.心情不稳的,易怒的,喜怒无常的 | |
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60 buckled | |
a. 有带扣的 | |
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61 sullen | |
adj.愠怒的,闷闷不乐的,(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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62 scoffed | |
嘲笑,嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63 toils | |
网 | |
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64 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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65 anguish | |
n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦,烦恼 | |
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66 corpses | |
n.死尸,尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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67 stiffened | |
加强的 | |
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68 gutters | |
(路边)排水沟( gutter的名词复数 ); 阴沟; (屋顶的)天沟; 贫贱的境地 | |
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69 shrieked | |
v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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70 attics | |
n. 阁楼 | |
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71 mingling | |
adj.混合的 | |
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72 clattered | |
发出咔哒声(clatter的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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73 reeking | |
v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的现在分词 );散发臭气;发出难闻的气味 (of sth);明显带有(令人不快或生疑的跡象) | |
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74 jaw | |
n.颚,颌,说教,流言蜚语;v.喋喋不休,教训 | |
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75 tawny | |
adj.茶色的,黄褐色的;n.黄褐色 | |
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76 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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77 petals | |
n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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78 quailed | |
害怕,发抖,畏缩( quail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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79 texture | |
n.(织物)质地;(材料)构造;结构;肌理 | |
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80 gilded | |
a.镀金的,富有的 | |
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81 larders | |
n.(家中的)食物贮藏室,食物橱( larder的名词复数 ) | |
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82 brutal | |
adj.残忍的,野蛮的,不讲理的 | |
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83 cork | |
n.软木,软木塞 | |
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84 gored | |
v.(动物)用角撞伤,用牙刺破( gore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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85 twitched | |
vt.& vi.(使)抽动,(使)颤动(twitch的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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86 beckoned | |
v.(用头或手的动作)示意,召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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87 proffered | |
v.提供,贡献,提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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88 horde | |
n.群众,一大群 | |
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89 ascended | |
v.上升,攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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90 nostrils | |
鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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