Page:Celtic Stories by Edward Thomas.djvu/120

 'Lord,' said Owen, 'thou hearest the youth; if it seem good to thee, forbid thy pages and attendants.'

'Owen,' said Arthur, 'it is thy turn to play.'

So the youth returned to the tent, and Arthur and Owen finished the game and began another. At the beginning of this game Rhonabwy saw a goodly youth striding out of a great tent speckled yellow and adorned with an eagle of gold, having a precious stone on its head. His hair was thick and yellow, his cheeks ruddy, and his eyes large and like a hawk's, and he wore a scarf of blue satin fastened on his right shoulder by a golden brooch. His shoes of parti-coloured leather were clasped with gold. In his right hand he bore a mighty lance, speckled yellow and displaying a banner. Anger was in his speed as he came up to the chess-players and saluted Owen.

'Lord,' he said, 'most of thy Ravens are dead. Those that live are so wounded they cannot raise their wings a fathom above the earth.'

'Lord,' said Owen, 'forbid thy men.'

'Play,' said Arthur, his eyes on the board.

Till he had spoken to the youth, Owen did not regard the chess-men.

'Go back,' he said, 'and in the thickest of the strife lift up the banner and let come what pleases Heaven.'

So the youth returned, and where the Ravens most suffered, Rhonabwy saw him lift up the banner on his yellow-speckled lance. Immediately the Ravens clapped their wings in the wind with a noise that drowned the roaring of the trees. They were shaking off their hurts and their weariness and even death. They rose up into the air boldly and very angrily, and swept down together in a frenzy on Arthur's men. They caught the men by their heads, by their eyes, by their ears, by their arms,