king, the mighty warrior
and wise man, was dead: and his captains of war, some of them were
dead, and some weary of strife; and those who had been eager in debate
were falling to ask themselves wherefore they had fought and what was
to do that they should still be fighting; and lo! when it came to be
looked into, it was all a matter of the life and death of one woman, to
wit me myself, and why should she not live, why should she not sit upon
the throne with the man who loved her?

"Therefore when at last we came out from the twilight of the woods into
the sunny fields of the Land of the Tower, there was no man to naysay
us; nay, the gates of the strong places flew open before the wind of
our banners, and the glittering of our spears drew the folk together
toward the places of rejoicing. We entered the master City in triumph,
with the houses hung with green boughs and the maidens casting flowers
before our feet, and I sat a crowned Queen upon the throne high raised
on the very place where erst I stood awaiting the coming of the torch
to the faggots which were to consume me.

"There then began the reign of the Woman of the Waste; for so it was,
that my lord left to my hands the real ruling of the kingdom, though he
wore the crown and set the seal to parchments. As to them of the Dry
Tree, though some few of them abode in the kingdom, and became great
there, the more part of them went back to the wildwood and lived the
old life of the Wood, as we had found them living it aforetime. But or
ever they went, the leaders of them came before me, and kissed my feet,
and with tears and prayers besought me, and bade me that if aught fell
amiss to me there, I should come back to them and be their Lady and
Queen; and whereas these wild men loved me well, and I deemed that I
owed much to their love and their helping, I promised them and swore to
them by the Water of the Well at the World's End that I would do no
less than they prayed me: albeit I set no term or year for the day that
I would come to them.

"And now my lord and I, we set ourselves to heal the wounds which war
had made in the land: and hard was the work, and late the harvest; so
used had men become to turmoil and trouble. Moreover, there were many,
and chiefly the women who had lost husband, lover, son or brother, who
laid all their griefs on my back; though forsooth how was I guilty of
the old king's wrath against me, which was the cause of all? About
this time