Page:Celtic Stories by Edward Thomas.djvu/62

 choor that he would gladly have stayed looking at Deirdre with his one eye.

The king now ordered the men of Ulster to set fire to the House of the Red Branch, and they did so. But one of the sons of Fergus made a sally through the fire and slew three hundred of his enemies and quenched the flames before he accepted the king's price of treachery. After him the other son of Fergus sallied out of the house and he slew three hundred men and was killed himself. Again the men of Ulster surrounded the house and set fire to it. Through the flames burst Ardan and Ainley and slew more men than could be counted. They returned in safety. At daybreak Naisi himself and his two brothers, with Deirdre in their midst, broke forth from the house. They slew many and scattered the survivors. They would have escaped had it not been for the spells of the king's druid, Cathbad. He worked a spell so that it seemed to the sons of Usna that they were in a sea of stormy waters. They fought against the waves, and Naisi lifted Deirdre on high. Taller towered the waves and they had to fling away their arms to save themselves. When they were near drowning, Cathbad suddenly took away the tempest and the unarmed heroes were bound and brought before Conachoor. The worst tumult of the storm had separated Deirdre from Naisi. She now spied him again and, as the spears of the guards could not keep her back without killing her, she was free to walk at his side. Nor could they then or thereafter lay hands on her lest she should kill herself. In spite of a promise to Cathbad, the king condemned the sons of Usna to death. One man only, with great difficulty, was persuaded to be the executioner, and he was a man of Norway. Each of the brothers in turn begged to be allowed to die first,