Then Leothric said: 'I am the Lord of the sword Sacnoth.'

And he advanced towards the camel-guard of Gaznak, and Sacnoth
lifted up and down in his hand as though stirred by an exultant
pulse. Then the camel-guard of Gaznak fled, and the riders leaned
forward and smote their camels with whips, and they went away with a
great clamour of bells through colonnades and corridors and vaulted
halls, and scattered into the inner darknesses of the fortress. When
the last sound of them had died away, Leothric was in doubt which
way to go, for the camel-guard was dispersed in many directions, so
he went straight on till he came to a great stairway in the midst of
the hall. Then Leothric set his foot in the middle of a wide step,
and climbed steadily up the stairway for five minutes. Little light
was there in the great hall through which Leothric ascended, for it
only entered through arrow slits here and there, and in the world
outside evening was waning fast. The stairway led up to two folding
doors, and they stood a little ajar, and through the crack Leothric
entered and tried to continue straight on, but could get no farther,
for the whole room seemed to be full of festoons of ropes which
swung from wall to wall and were looped and draped from the ceiling.
The whole chamber was thick and black with them. They were soft and
light to the touch, like fine silk, but Leothric was unable to break
any one of them, and though they swung away from him as he pressed
forward, yet by the time he had gone three yards they were all about
him like a heavy cloak. Then Leothric stepped back and drew Sacnoth,
and Sacnoth divided the ropes without a sound, and without a sound
the severed pieces fell to the floor. Leothric went forward slowly,
moving Sacnoth in front of him up and down as he went. When he was
come into the middle of the chamber, suddenly, as he parted with