She caught her breath and turned away her face as if from an inner hurt.
"There are cherry trees in Cathay," said she, without looking at him, "and fountains too—and finer palaces than I have ever seen."
"But there are no such mountains," returned the knight.
"No," her voice was low, "there are no such mountains—nor— "
"Nor what?"
"No Frankish knight to save me from bandits," she laughed suddenly and gayly.
"Nor will there be here, long," he said somberly. "The time approaches when I must take the trail again. I come of a restless breed and I have dallied here overlong."
"Whither will you go, oh Godric?" Did she catch her breath suddenly as she spoke?
"Who knows?" In his voice was the ancient bitterness that his heathen Viking ancestors knew. "The world is before me —but not all the world with its shining leagues of sea or sand can quench the hunger that is in me. I must ride—that is all I know. I must ride till the ravens pluck my bones. Perchance I will ride back to tell Montferrat that his dream of an Eastern empire is a bubble that has burst. Perhaps I will ride east again."
"Not east," she shook her head. "The ravens are gathering in the east and there is a red flame there that pales the night. Wang Khan and his Keraits have fallen before the riders of Genghis Khan and Hia reels before his onslaught. Black Cathay too, I fear, is doomed, unless the Chins send them aid."
"Would you care if I fell?" he asked curiously.
Her clear eyes surveyed him.
"Would I care? I would care if a dog died. Surely then I would care if a man who saved my life, fell."
He shrugged his mighty shoulders. "You are kind. Today I ride. My wounds are long healed. I can lift my sword again. Thanks to your care I am strong as I ever was. This has been paradise— but I come of a restless breed. My dream of a kingdom is shattered and I must ride—somewhere. I have heard much from the slaves and You-tai of this Genghis Khan and his chiefs. Aye, of Subotai and Chepe Noyon. I will lend my sword to him — "
"And fight against my people?" she asked.
His gaze fell before her clear eyes. "'Twere the deed of a dog," he muttered. "But what would you have? I am a soldier —I have fought for and against the same men since I rode east. A warrior must pick the winning side. And Genghis Khan, from all accounts, is a born conqueror."
Her eyes flashed. "The Cathayans will send out an army and crush him. He can not take Jahadur—what do his skinclad herders know of walled cities?"
"We were but a naked horde before Constantinople," muttered Godric, "but we had hunger to drive us on and the city fell. Genghis and his men are hungry. I have seen men of the same breed. Your people are fat and indolent. Genghis Khan will ride them down like sheep."
"And you will aid him," she blazed.
"War is a man's game," he said roughly; shame hardened his tone; this slim, clear-eyed girl, so ignorant and innocent of the world's ways, stirred old dreams of idealistic chivalry in his soul— dreams he thought long lost in the fierce necessity of life. "What do you know of war and men's perfidy? A warrior must better himself as he may. I am weary of fighting for lost causes and getting only hard blows in return."
"What if I asked you—begged you?" she breathed, leaning forward.
A sudden surge of madness swept him off his feet.
"For you," he roared suddenly, like a wounded lion, "I would ride down on the Mongol yurts alone and crush them into the red earth and bring back the heads of Genghis and his khans in a cluster at my saddle-bow!"
She recoiled, gasping before the sudden loosing of his passion, but he caught her in an unconsciously rough embrace. His race loved as they hated, fiercely and violently. He would not have bruised her tender skin for all the gold in Cathay, but his own savagery swept him out of himself.
Then a sudden voice brought him to himself and he released the girl and whirled, ready to battle the whole Black Cathayan army. Old Roogla stood before them, panting.
"My princess," he gasped; "the courtiers from Greater Cathay—they have just arrived—"
She went white and cold as a statue.
"I am ready, oh Roogla," she whispered.
