off her feet. And with Elsalill before him as a shield Sir Archie
ran through the tavern to the doorway. And the men who were posted
to guard the door levelled their long pikes at him, but they durst
not use them for fear of hurting Elsalill.

When Sir Archie reached the narrow stair and the lobby, he held
Elsalill before him in the same way. And she protected him better
than the strongest armour, for the pikemen who were drawn up there
could make no use of their weapons. Thus he came a good way up the
steps, and Elsalill could feel the free air of heaven blowing
about her.

But Elsalill's love for Sir Archie was changed to the most deadly
hatred, and her only thought was that he was a villain and a
murderer. And when she saw that her body shielded him, so that he
was likely to escape, she stretched out her hand and took hold of
one of the watchmen's pikes and aimed it at her heart. "Now I will
serve my foster sister, so that her mission shall be fulfilled at
last," thought Elsalill. And at the next step Sir Archie took up
the stairs, the pike entered Elsalill's heart.

But then Sir Archie was already at the top of the stairway. And
the pikemen fell back when they saw that one of them had hurt the
maid. And he ran past them. When Sir Archie came out into the
market-place he heard a Scottish war cry from one of the lanes: "A
rescue! A rescue! For Scotland! For Scotland!"

It was Sir Philip and Sir Reginald, who had mustered the Scots and
now came to relieve him.