THEN Merlin lodged them in a wood among leaves beside the highway,and took off the bridles of their horses and put them to grass and laid them down to rest them till it was nigh midnight.
Then Merlin bade them rise,and make them ready,for the king was nigh them,that was stolen away from his host with a three score horses of his best knights,and twenty of them rode to-fore to warn the Lady de Vance that the king was coming;for that night King Rience should have lain with her.Which is the king?said Balin.Abide,said Merlin,here in a strait way ye shall meet with him;and therewith he showed Balin and his brother where he rode.
Anon Balin and his brother met with the king,and smote him down,and wounded him fiercely,and laid him to the ground;and there they slew on the right hand and the left hand,and slew more than forty of his men,and the remnant fled.Then went they again to King Rience and would have slain him had he not yielded him unto their grace.Then said he thus:Knights full of prowess,slay me not,for by my life ye may win,and by my death ye shall win nothing.Then said these two knights,Ye say sooth and truth,and so laid him on a horse-litter.With that Merlin was vanished,and came to King Arthur aforehand,and told him how his most enemy was taken and discomfited.By whom?said King Arthur.
By two knights,said Merlin,that would please your lordship,and to-morrow ye shall know what knights they are.Anon after came the Knight with the Two Swords and Balan his brother,and brought with them King Rience of North Wales,and there delivered him to the porters,and charged them with him;and so they two returned again in the dawning of the day.King Arthur came then to King Rience,and said,Sir king,ye are welcome:by what adventure come ye hither?Sir,said King Rience,I came hither by an hard adventure.Who won you?said King Arthur.Sir,said the king,the Knight with the Two Swords and his brother,which are two marvellous knights of prowess.I know them not,said Arthur,but much I am beholden to them.Ah,said Merlin,I shall tell you:it is Balin that achieved the sword,and his brother Balan,a good knight,there liveth not a better of prowess and of worthiness,and it shall be the greatest dole of him that ever Iknew of knight,for he shall not long endure.Alas,said King Arthur,that is great pity;for I am much beholden unto him,and I have ill deserved it unto him for his kindness.Nay,said Merlin,he shall do much more for you,and that shall ye know in haste.But,sir,are ye purveyed,said Merlin,for to-morn the host of Nero,King Rience's brother,will set on you or noon with a great host,and therefore make you ready,for I will depart from you.
CHAPTER X
How King Arthur had a battle against Nero and King Lot of Orkney,and how King Lot was deceived by Merlin,and how twelve kings were slain.
THEN King Arthur made ready his host in ten battles and Nero was ready in the field afore the Castle Terrabil with a great host,and he had ten battles,with many more people than Arthur had.
Then Nero had the vanguard with the most part of his people,and Merlin came to King Lot of the Isle of Orkney,and held him with a tale of prophecy,till Nero and his people were destroyed.And there Sir Kay the seneschal did passingly well,that the days of his life the worship went never from him;and Sir Hervis de Revel did marvellous deeds with King Arthur,and King Arthur slew that day twenty knights and maimed forty.At that time came in the Knight with the Two Swords and his brother Balan,but they two did so marvellously that the king and all the knights marvelled of them,and all they that beheld them said they were sent from heaven as angels,or devils from hell;and King Arthur said himself they were the best knights that ever he saw,for they gave such strokes that all men had wonder of them.
In the meanwhile came one to King Lot,and told him while he tarried there Nero was destroyed and slain with all his people.
Alas,said King Lot,I am ashamed,for by my default there is many a worshipful man slain,for an we had been together there had been none host under the heaven that had been able for to have matched with us;this faiter with his prophecy hath mocked me.All that did Merlin,for he knew well that an King Lot had been with his body there at the first battle,King Arthur had been slain,and all his people destroyed;and well Merlin knew that one of the kings should be dead that day,and loath was Merlin that any of them both should be slain;but of the twain,he had liefer King Lot had been slain than King Arthur.Now what is best to do?said King Lot of Orkney;whether is me better to treat with King Arthur or to fight,for the greater part of our people are slain and destroyed?Sir,said a knight,set on Arthur for they are weary and forfoughten and we be fresh.As for me,said King Lot,I would every knight would do his part as I would do mine.And then they advanced banners and smote together and all to-shivered their spears;and Arthur's knights,with the help of the Knight with the Two Swords and his brother Balan put King Lot and his host to the worse.But always King Lot held him in the foremost front,and did marvellous deeds of arms,for all his host was borne up by his hands,for he abode all knights.Alas he might not endure,the which was great pity,that so worthy a knight as he was one should be overmatched,that of late time afore had been a knight of King Arthur's,and wedded the sister of King Arthur;and for King Arthur lay by King Lot's wife,the which was Arthur's sister,and gat on her Mordred,therefore King Lot held against Arthur.So there was a knight that was called the Knight with the Strange Beast,and at that time his right name was called Pellinore,the which was a good man of prowess,and he smote a mighty stroke at King Lot as he fought with all his enemies,and he failed of his stroke,and smote the horse's neck,that he fell to the ground with King Lot.