“Then,” said Sir Artegall, “by the faith which I owe to my queen, and the knighthood which I bear, I will not rest till I have made trial of this same amazon, and have found out for myself what she has of strength and skill. And now, Sir Turpine, put off these unseemly clothes which you wear, and come with me that you may see how my enterprise shall prosper, and whether I shall avenge the cause of knighthood upon this woman.”
To which request Sir Turpine consented with all his heart.
Radigund the amazon dwelt a mile or so from the place where the gallows had been set up, in a city which she had called Radigone, after her own name. On the walls of the city were set watchmen to warn the queen of the coming of strangers. One of these espied Sir Artegall and his company, and gave warning accordingly, saying: “I see three strangers; one of them is a knight fully armed, and the others have a warlike look!” Thereupon all the people ran in haste to arm themselves, like to bees when they come forth in a swarm from their hive, and Radigund herself, half-arrayed as a man, came forth from her palace. Meanwhile the three drew near to the city gate, and when the porter, thinking scorn of them because they were so few, did not trouble to open to them the gate, they beat upon it with many blows, threatening the man also that he should suffer much for his insolence.
When the queen heard this she fell into a great rage and cried: “Open the gate; these fellows shall soon know to what a city they have come!” So the porter threw wide the gate, and the three pressed forward, meaning to pass through. But lo! of a sudden there fell upon them such a storm of arrows that they had perforce to halt.
“These women,” said Sir Artegall, “are stout fighters; let us be careful what we do.” And when they halted, the rout set upon them more fiercely than ever. As for Queen Radigund, when she saw Sir Turpine, and knew that he had escaped from the doom which she had decreed for him, and was now dealing blows to her women, she was carried away with rage, and flew at him headlong, as a lioness flings herself at an ox, and dealt him so fierce a blow as brought him headlong to the ground. And when she saw him lying she set her foot upon his neck, with intent to make him pay with his life for his disparagement of her authority. So does a bear stand over the carcase of an ox, and seem to pause awhile to hear its piteous crying. When Sir Artegall saw what had befallen Sir Turpine, he made all haste to help him, and dealt the queen so mighty a blow that it reft her of her senses; nay, but that she somewhat broke its force, for she was expert in arms, it had laid her dead upon the ground. For a while she lay without speech or hearing; then, recovering herself, she would have assailed him with all her might, for never before had she endured such disgrace. But when her maidens saw it, for a great company, armed for battle, accompanied her, they thrust themselves between; for they deemed that she was not wholly in fit condition for fighting. Thus were Sir Artegall and Queen Radigund perforce kept apart. As for the rest, Talus, with his iron flail, drove them hither and thither, breaking their bows and marring their shooting, and they fled before him as sheep fly from a wolf.