egan.

The man Mallory sat up. "I want my real--" he began.

"I have great joy of thy swift recovery, fair sir," Rowena said.

She was perched on the edge of his bed, applying a cool and soothing
ointment to his ear. On the table by the bed lay a basin of water, and
on her lap lay a pink tube. He grabbed the tube, looked at the label.
_Sedasalve_. He sighed with relief. "Where did you find it?" he
asked.

"La! fair sir, when ye did seem no longer on live I did run both
toward and forward in the castle seeking a magical salve whereby I
might succor ye, whereupon I did come to a white box in the chapel
wherein lay many magical tubes of diverse colors and natures whereof I
did choose one and--"

Mallory was incredulous. "You chose a tube at random?" he demanded.
"Good Lord, it might have contained a counteragent that could have
killed me!"

"The ... the letters thereon seemed of a magical nature, fair knight.
And ... and the color was seemly."

"Well anyway it was the right one." He looked at her. Could she read?
he wondered. He was tempted to ask her, but refrained for fear of
embarrassing her. "In that same white box," he said, "you will find a
big bottle filled with round red pellets. Would you get it for me?"

When she returned with it, he took two of the pills, then he laid his
head back on the pillow. "They'll restore the blood I lost," he
explained, "but in order for them to do the job properly I've got to
lie perfectly still for at least one hour."

She sat down on the edge of the bed. "Marry! the magic of Merlin is
marvelous, albeit not as marvelous as the magic of Joseph of
Arimathea."

"What did he do that was so marvelous?"

The plum-blue eyes were fixed full upon his face. "Ye wit naught of
the tale of the white shield ye bear, fair sir? List, and I will tell
ye:

"It befell after the passion of our Lord thirty-two year, that Joseph
of Arimathea, the gentle knight, the which took down our Lord off the
holy Cross, at that time departed from Jerusalem with a great party of
his kindred with him. And so he labored till that they came to a city
that hight Sarras. And at that same hour that Joseph came to Sarras
there was a king that hight Evelake, that had great war against the
Saracens, and in especially against one Saracen, the which was King
Evelake's cousin, a rich king and a mighty, which marched nigh this
land, and his name was called Tolleme la Feintes. So on a day these
two met to do battle