The Sundering Flood · Chapter
LXII: They Fall in with Three Chapmen explained
The Lady of Brookside sends men-at-arms to retrieve the Carline and the Maiden from the Grey Sisters, but the sisters have already helped them escape southward disguised as lay-sisters.
What happens
The Lady of Brookside sends men-at-arms to retrieve the Carline and the Maiden from the Grey Sisters, but the sisters have already helped them escape southward disguised as lay-sisters. The two travelers journey peacefully for weeks until they encounter a group of merchants who are actually thieves. The Carline overhears the three chapmen arguing over whether to sell the Maiden to the Lord James or keep her for themselves, but she resolves to deliver them from this danger.
Themes in this chapter
Separation and Longing
Elfhild fears being separated from her love and sold into thraldom, highlighting the theme of longing and loss.
Community and Kinship
The Grey Sisters provide aid and disguise, showing the support of religious community; the Carline acts as a protective mother figure.
Social Justice and Rebellion
The chapmen plot to sell Elfhild as a thrall, and the Carline plans to resist this injustice.
Characters to notice
- The Carline
Travels with the Maiden disguised as a lay-sister; overhears the chapmen's plot and resolves to deliver them.
- Elfhild
Travels with the Carline; fears being sold into thraldom and separated from her love.
- Hardcastle
The Lady of Brookside, who sends men-at-arms to retrieve the Carline and the Maiden.
- James
Mentioned as the Lord James, to whom the chapmen plan to sell the Maiden.
Key passages
“But the Sisters said that they had come to them indeed the night before and had slept in their house, but had gone on early in the morning; and when the men asked what road they had taken, they said they had gone north, and were minded for the uplands and the mountains.”
The Grey Sisters lied to the men-at-arms, saying the Carline and Maiden went north, when in fact they went south.
The sisters protect the travelers by misdirecting their pursuers.
“Two thousand nobles at the least would the Lord James pay down for her; he hath none like her in the house.”
The elder chapman claims Lord James would pay at least two thousand nobles for the Maiden, as he has no one as beautiful as her.
Reveals the chapmen's mercenary intentions toward Elfhild.
“The beginning and the end of it is that I will take her to myself alone and sell her to none.”
The youngest chapman declares he will keep the Maiden for himself and not sell her.
Shows the internal conflict among the thieves over Elfhild's fate.