"You speak the words of a coward! Strike off these cursed chains, I say, you lying scoundrel, and let fair combat decide between us. I fear no braggart such as you, who can only heap insults upon a fettered and a helpless man. Strike off these chains, I say, and then----"
"Hold thy peace! or I will have thy noisy tongue cut out," Perodii answered, stung by Graham's bitter words. "Back to Edos shalt thou go; and the lake of Melag shall be a couch of flowers compared with the bed of thorny agony on which thou now shalt slowly die. Perodii hates thee: and--take heed of what thou sayest--hates thee for thy cursed interference with the woman he would have favoured, and might have wed!"
"Wife! Wife! Volinè your wife! Know that she despises you as much as she loves and favours me, and long has she known your designs of evil upon at least one maiden's innocence. You, a scoundrel such as you, whose name is but another word for villainy throughout all Edos, take Volinè to wife!----"
"Take heed of what thou sayest, or thy death shall be made more terrible than the one I have already planned for thee," said Perodii, starting to his feet in rage, and half drawing the heavy knife which hung sheathed from his girdle.
"My words are true, as you will know," continued Graham, his voice getting louder as he went on. "Volinè is mine! Coward, do you hear me?--is MINE! Behold this ring--her ring--upon my finger, a pledge and token of her love, and a talisman to preserve its wearer from a violent death!"--and as he spoke he held out his fettered hand, in triumph, to show his treasured gift.
"Then, when she weds thee, she shall have a corpse for her groom. Ha! Ha! Methinks Volinè, much as thou sayest she loves thee, will shun thee in death! Death is but a sorry mate upon a bridal couch!"
"Your threats are but empty words. My comrades' lives and my own are in the King's keeping. He speaks, and we may die; he says the word, and we go free. Already Echri's displeasure has been shown by our miraculous escape from Remagaloth. The King--yea, even the King--will not tempt his holy wrath a second time!"
"For little I would strip this ring from off thy hand."
"You dare not! Know you not that he who seeks to take it by force, or by stealth, is cursed? And braver men than you would hesitate before risking their souls' damnation!" said Graham calmly.