"Back!" said the king, and he was obeyed; but the door to the knights' hall remained half open, and ere the guard arrived to fetch the prisoner. Archbishop Grand had taken a bold resolve. He hastily seized the crucifix, upon which he had gazed so long, and with this holy symbol in his hand, before which all were forced to bow, he advanced with long powerful strides into the middle of the knights' hall; here he halted, and turned suddenly towards the king, who stood on the threshold, amazed at this sight, and seemed about to issue orders for the seizure of the prisoner.
"Anathema!" shouted the archbishop, in a terrific voice, and raising the chained hand which bore the crucifix. "King Eric Ericson of Denmark! I pronounce the sentence of excommunication upon thy head. I announce to thee, and every Christian here present, that thou art fallen under the church's awful ban--"
"What? audacious villain! seize--gag him!" exclaimed the king, stepping over the threshold.
"Anathema!" shouted the archbishop still louder.--"He who lays hands on me is accursed.--Thou art cast out of the community of believers and of saints.--Thou hast no longer any power over Christians, King Eric! In virtue of my holy office, and the apostolical authority of St. Paul, I give thee over, as the enemy of God and the church, to Satan, and to the destruction of the flesh." So saying, he described the stroke of forked lightning in the air with the crucifix, and looked around him with flashing eyes.
All stood as if petrified by terror and amazement. The king appeared once more about to speak; but he had grown deadly pale, and it seemed as if his voice was choked by anger. Ere he was able to speak, the archbishop again burst forth with a deafening voice, while he turned to the knights and courtiers: "Fly, Christians! leave the pestilent one! pollute not your souls by intercourse with the excommunicated one! accursed is now the hand which brings him food, accursed the servant who serves him with fire or water, accursed the tongue which comforts him with a single word, so long as his soul is given over to the Evil One. He who ten days hence still serves and obeys this foe of the church I give over with him to Satan and to the destruction of the flesh, that the soul may be saved at the day of the Lord Jesus! Amen!"
On finishing this speech he made a genuflexion, kissed the crucifix, and handed it to the chaplain of the castle, who stood trembling nearest him among the king's suite, and bent his knee, while he pressed this so fearfully abused symbol of blessing with a look of sorrow to his heart. "And now, excommunicated king!" added the archbishop, with a triumphant countenance, and with the mien of an exulting martyr, tearing the mantle from his emaciated breast, "now may'st thou, if thou darest, order to be torn asunder the church's anointed, who announced to thee the sentence of the Lord. My body is, perhaps, in thy power, but the spirit is God's, and his is the power throughout all eternity."
A death-like silence reigned throughout the hall, the greatest terror was depicted in the faces of the knights, while their eyes turned with sorrowing sympathy towards their excommunicated sovereign. It seemed for a moment as if the lightnings of excommunication had struck the young king with the power of real lightning, and smitten him with lameness. He had staggered back so dizzy that he was forced to support himself by the door-post; but he now summoned up all his strength, and stepped forward with quick and passionate strides among his knights and courtiers.
"A regicide stands in the midst of us, and would give us over to the Devil, to whom he himself belongs," he burst forth, in a tone of the highest exasperation; "he who is himself accursed presumes to pronounce the Lord's judgment upon men. On this unfortunate St. Cecilia's eve my father's blood cried aloud from the earth, and accused this criminal before the Lord's tribunal. His head should long since have fallen under the axe of the executioner, and now he would judge and excommunicate us; he would destroy my immortal soul, had he the power; but no! each word he hath spoken is lifeless and powerless--his curses fall back on his own guilty head. The Holy Father shall judge between us! The King of Denmark recognizes no sentence as lawful which is not confirmed by 'the Father of Christendom. Away with the miscreant!"
The knights and courtiers appeared able to breathe freely again, on hearing these words from the king. They looked on him with confidence and devotion, yet still appeared to hesitate, and no one prepared to seize the dreaded prisoner, who stood erect and haughty among them, and seemed to triumph in the spiritual power he had exercised even in chains.
"Hence with the criminal!" repeated the king; "until he recalls the ungodly ban he sees not the light of day. Guards! halberdiers! why tarry ye? hath this miscreant's words struck you deaf and lame? Fear ye to obey your liege sovereign?"