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Out of this well there came a pipe of silver, from which a crystal stream ran into a high marble basin. When Accolan beheld all this he crossed himself and said, "God save my lord King Arthur, and King Uriens, for those damsels in the ship have betrayed us all. They were not women, but devils, and if I escape this misadventure I shall destroy all enchantresses wherever I find them."
Thus stroke by stroke went on the battle, each knight roused to fury, and each fighting with his utmost skill and strength; but Accolan lost scarcely a drop of blood, while Arthur's life-blood flowed so freely that only his knightly soul and unyielding courage kept him on his feet.
"Is this the truth?" she asked the bound knight. "It is false," he replied. "He is a villain to whom I have done no wrong. He took me unawares or I should not have been in such a state." "Who are you, and of what country?" "My name is Manassen. I am of the court of King Arthur, and cousin to Accolan of Gaul."
As they spoke there came to them a knight and a lady, with six squires, who asked Sir Accolan why he lay there, and begged him to rise and come with them to a neighboring manor, where he might rest in better ease. As fortune willed it, this manor was the dwelling of Sir Ontzlake, the brother of the traitor Damas.
That some treason had been practised on him he felt sure, for his sword bit not steel as a good blade should, while the sword in Accolan's hand seemed to have the trenchant edge of Excalibur. "Sir knight," said Accolan, "keep well your guard if you care for life." "Thus will I," answered Arthur, and he dealt him a blow on the helm that nearly brought him to the ground.
Arthur heard this with deep dismay. For there came into his mind the enchantment of the ship, and his heart sank with fear of the treason of his sister. "Tell me this also, sir knight," he asked, "from whom had you this sword?" "Woe worth that sword," cried Accolan; "I have gotten my death by it." "That may well be," answered Arthur, "and I fancy have got no more than you deserve."
If by craft she could slay Arthur, she would quickly dispose of her husband, King Uriens. Then it was her intent to make me king of this realm, and to reign herself as its queen. But all this now is at an end, for death is upon me." "It would have been great wrong in you to destroy your lord," said Arthur. "That I never could have had the heart to do," said Accolan.
On a day not long after the event of Balin's death, it befell that Arthur and many of his knights went out hunting in a great forest, where, as fortune willed, King Arthur, Sir Accolan of Gaul, and King Uriens, who had wedded Morgan le Fay, followed far on the track of a great hart, which led them astray till they were ten miles distant from their late companions.
Therefore yield to me as recreant, and force me not to kill a helpless foe." "That I may not do," said Arthur. "I have promised, by the faith of my body, to fight this battle to the uttermost; and I had rather die in honor than live in shame. If I lack weapon, I lack not spirit; and if you slay me weaponless, the shame be on you." "That shame I can bear," said Accolan.
But now we must leave the story of Arthur and Damas, and turn to that of Accolan of Gaul, the third of the three knights who had gone to sleep in the enchanted ship. This knight was, unknown to Arthur, a lover of Morgan le Fay, being he for whose sake she had counterfeited the magic scabbard of the sword Excalibur.
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