V

The sweep of hills in coat of grasses sown
From finer weave than man can seek to learn
Did ripple in the wind and swell, a sea,
Through which their dappled horses waded deep.
Kay blew his hunting horn, let fly its drone,
Yet no reply returned: no human heard.
Beneath the surface of the sea-green grass
Some waves they saw that were the beasts that passed,
Some stalking prey, some hiding, slinking, swift,
And katydids did breach the surface with a leap
So like the leaping fish. "Upon my mind,"
Said Kay, the golden-tonguéd knight, "If we,
Much like these hopping things, would charge at him,
As from a sheltered secret place, my friend!
This plan the one to aid us most. We'll leap
And at the massy boar we'll charge with lance
To run him to his core! What blood he'll shed!
A plan like this says we've already won!"
"This plan has roots I like, yet needs regrowth:
The subtle sneak-attack is beauty true,
I wonder why you counter our surprise
By charging with the thunder of your hooves."
"The speed's the thing: the fastest, deadliest!
I need no more than three and ninety's pace
To spell Twrch Trwyth's end." A bird did perch,
A warbler on the arm of Gwalchmai grey,
And into song erupted. Like a gull
He called for feathered friends that on the knights
Did make their passage through the ocean hills.
"If out of hiding, Kay, you leap and yell,"
Said Gwalchmai in the breeze, "He'll notice you
And counter, block, or dodge to show us doom."
One gull did squawk agreement, so Sir Kay
In spite did sweep him from the horse's flank.
Above their helms, on wings he circled once
Then glid back down and landed in his spot.
Said Kay, "My heavy lance at heavy speed
Could pierce the thickest hide; you felt its weight.
In sooth, I say it holds our greatest hope
And finds the surest route to Arthur's hall --
Regardless of the risks that you foretell."
"And if you miss, then all and life is lost.
Surprise, it seems, would be the greater strength
To draw us home alive when deed is done.
It seems a waste, for one attack, to lose
This mighty hunting notion we have brought."
Kay said "What then do you suggest? Should we,
With bows, all silent stalk our monstrous prey?
If he should spot us thusly armed, a paste
We would become. At last, these birds have flown!
Some nuissances were they, my ears at ease
Now they have gone to seek some other stage."
"Look there upon the further hill. They swoop
And circle round: there's something in the grass."
And so they turned their mounts aside to seek
The mystery beneath the emerald sea.

The birds were gone, they'd landed in the waves,
But Gwalchmai in his stare did hold the spot
And set their course unerringly to sail
Through crash of green to island in the rough.
There, overgrown, amidst the flowers white,
Abandoned stones and songs: a sacred Well.
No birds in sight yet there a hobbled man,
To errant knights did call "Well met, young sirs,
Dismount and let me tend to you. This Well
Has healed those wounded long, those sadly cursed,
And those whose birth was tainted by a death."
"And who are you," said Kay, "who guards this place?
Thou dost not live among these plains of grass,
Nor from the hall of Arthur, that I know.
Where dwell your ilk, and wherefore are you here?"
"A man of questions, this I know," he rasped
And hacked a cough into his ragged sleeve.
Arthritis gripped his hands, his knuckles oak --
With sickness in his veins he clutched the rope
And tugged upon its lifeless length with strain
That rattled in his chest and wore his bones.
Sir Kay dismounted with a grunt to help,
And soon had drawn the ancient pitcher up.
"I would not trust this water, strange it seems
To drain the ocean underneath the land.
What if we sink, had that thought crossed your mind?
O, they who drink of wells know not their guilt."

The man of oaken knuckles heard him not
And downed the pitcherfull of melted ice.
Before the knights could blink, it seemed he'd shed
His weariness, his age, some weighty cloak
Was lifted from his shoulders and his heart.
The more the old man quaffed the straighter still
His spine did rearrange and form a shape
That spoke of strength and youth. The knights agape:
The miracles they'd seen before were sly,
Some subtlety upon the rim of thought,
As slight as if they'd mattered not at all --
Yet when examined by the brain their light
Exploded with the radiance that births a star.
This sight before them shook them to their greaves
And nearly shook their faith, each wondering
If they were truly men of god before.
"This Well a gift to man much like the sun,"
Then spoke the ancient man with reformed lips,
"For in his need, it helps him shine through all.
My limbs renewed as they have been each day
Since we, awash within these endless seas,
First birthed our way upon the land, from surf.
Some countless years have I, some countless dreams
I've dreamed and killed with fullness of the moon.
From now until tomorrow's brighter sun
I'll wither, flake, and nearly die, and yet
I'll draw elixir from the liquid deep
And drink a dream that neither lives nor dies.
Come Kay! Come Gwalchmai! Drink to me a hail
From water sleeping far below the hills.
Upon your task so grim, this potion sip
And strength your breast will fill, and sight your brow,
And thrust your mighty arms to pierce the beast."
Already Kay had cast the pail back in,
They heard it fall and strike the walls and splash
Far deep below where sunlight wanes and dies.
Yet "Halt!" cried Gwalchmai, "let us take a breath
Before we taste this precious blood of stones.
I fear we sway upon the brink of doom,
As blinded men repeating gloomy past.
One thought towards my plight and you will see
It parallels our own: we must refuse."
"What rot and nonsense," snorted blunt Sir Kay.
"This gift upon our route was placed -- this Well
Provides exactly that which cures our griefs!"
He clutched the rope, his gauntlet gripping firm,
And Gwalchmai too dismounted then to warn:
"Kay, have you ears? This Well is not a gift,
But foul temptation placed thus in our way.
'Twould seem we've naught to lose, yet there's the snare!
I thought the same when I took matron's belt,
But only after did it change to guilt.
We have the power, you and I! My blood,
I promise you we'll slay this beast as planned --
But on our own, and not with help from gods.
To take that gift when gifted as we are
Corrupts the boon until it eats your mind.
I say to you, the power we posess
Shall slay the boar, shall mend the realm, and still
Shall find us home in Arthur's sacred walls."
"What mind is it that scoffs at graceful luck?
A boon becoming sour is not the fault
Of he who gave the gift! How is the taste,
What is the water like in caverns dark?
Am I to never know?" He dropped the rope. 
"As you're the one returned from quest, I'll heed,
But such a draught as this would mend my mind.
I know my strength, yet still the face of death
Reflects within my dreams and waking thoughts.
What death, to die. Long-sought, the cure. And yet
Grey Gwalchmai bids me turn aside this cup."
"It is our lot to suffer: we are men.
Were we to hold the power that kills death
No honor could we find though foes we slew
Or righted wrongs the whole day through. In grief
Is glory won; in blood and screams of birth.
Come Kay, the things of honor's worth we seek
Without divine protection meant to aid,
For with it comes a blunting of the soul."

"We thank you well, you agéd man," said Kay,
"My heart that thirsts, your kindness must refuse
For I, it seems, am bound by higher laws
Than those that rule my flesh and blood and bone."
The old man cried "You made your choice," and then
He flew away. He was the birds they'd met,
The warblers from the rolling dunes of sea.
That half-remembered melody grew faint
And died upon the winds. And they were left
Once more adrift, alone upon the waves.
The sun was red, and sank as they set out:
A disc of light entangled in the mists.
Before blue twilight cloaked the land in full
Sir Kay began "I wish to hear this plan,
That safer is than immortality.
With bows we shall be slain, I still protest."
And Gwalchmai turned and smiled, thin-lipped and sly.
"If monstrous foe is marked by poison shafts
In rage he'll charge as boars are wont to do --
We all have flaws that can be overcome.
He'll rush at me, revenge for piercing pain,
Yet arrows with a paralyzing foam
Shall slow his mountain-moving hooves to cease,
And you shall guide your mighty lightning lance
To arc and sunder ribs and heart from beast."
When Kay had grasped the strategy he paused
And turned the image over in his mind
And rode on silent over hills that twist
Forever through the drifting of the mist.