“Tell me, is it true that Uther has gone into the wilds, and been seen of no man many days?”
“Uther left Winchester more than two months ago, and no word of him has come to Ambrosius.”
“Curious.”
“Madame, nothing is curious in Uther. If I were to hear some day that he had ridden down to Hades to fight a pitched battle with Satan, I should say, ‘Poor Satan, I warrant he has a sore head.’”
“Indeed!” quoth Igraine.
She shook her hair, tilted her chin, and looked at Gorlois out of the corners of her eyes. She guessed her power, was young, and a woman. It tempted her to read this creature called “man” in his various forms and phases, and hold his heart in the hollow of her hand. Her interest in Gorlois was no discourtesy to her love for Pelleas. She had seen few men in her time; they seemed strange beings, strong yet weak, wise yet very foolish, sometimes heroic, yet utter children.
Gorlois, who had the sun in his eyes, beheld her as in an unusual mist. He was warming to life, for his brain seemed full of the sound of harping, and his blood blithe with summer. Stretching out a hand he touched Igraine’s hair as it poured over her shoulders, for the red gold threads seemed magnetic to his fingers, and the glimmer of her eyes made his tough flesh creep.
“You have wonderful hair,” he said.
“I learnt that long ago,” drawing the strand away.
“The dawn of knowledge.”