"Truly," said the man; "they are both killed."
"Now, Jesus forbid! What! both? Is Gareth slain? Dare you tell me so?"
"Alas! the pity of it!"
"Killed! Who killed him?"
"Sir Lancelot slew them both."
"That is false. Gareth loved him better than he did me or the king. He would have joined him against us all, had Lancelot desired. And he was unarmed. Dare you repeat this story?" and he caught the man fiercely by the shoulders and glared wildly in his face.
"Sir, it is so noised abroad," said the man.
"Then is all joy gone from my life," moaned Gawaine, and he fell to the floor in a deep swoon, in which he lay long like one dead.
But when Gawaine recovered, and had sought the king, and learned that his two brothers had been killed, unarmed and defenceless, his sorrow changed to bitter and revengeful anger.
"My king, my lord, and my uncle," he sternly said, "I vow by my knighthood that I shall never forgive Lancelot for this murderous deed, but from this day forth shall remain his deadly foe, till one of us has slain the other. War to the death it shall be, and if you aid me not I shall seek Sir Lancelot alone, if it be through seven kings' realms, till I hold him to answer for this deed of blood."