Choosing death in battle as a warrior's way out
Bradamante set off straight away
For the centre of the fray
After more dangers and desperate adventures
Than we have time to tell
She arrived
And threw herself into battle
Looking for the sleek figure of her rival
And when she and Marfisa met
It was like the clash of two lionesses
Like waves breaking against a cliff
Or lightning splitting a mountain top
They grappled and tumbled and rolled down a valley slope
To land at the feet of a marble tomb
The burial place of the necromancer Atlas
Ruggiero, dancing around them
Drew his sword to stop Marfisa harming his beloved Bradamante
When a great cry from the tomb shattered the air
'Stop! Ruggiero! Don't kill Marfisa! She is your sister!'
It was the voice of Atlas
It turned out that the necromancer had cheated death one last time
His ghost had waited on this very spot
To give Ruggiero a final piece of advice
There would have been more
But Bradamante interrupted:
'You're his sister? I thought you were going to get married!'
'Marry him?' snorted Marfisa
'I was nursing him back to health
So that I could smash the living daylights out of him
You don't know how he insulted me.'
At this Bradamante understood
That they truly were brother and sister
'Then you're my sister too.'
Bradamante hugged Marfisa
And then she and Ruggiero embraced.
The three swore to meet in six months time
At the fair monastery of Vallombrosa
Where Ruggiero and Bradamante would get married
And would never be separated again
And so it might have turned out
If Ruggiero hadn't decided to go on one last adventure
He didn't know it would end up
With him being shipwrecked on a desert island
With nothing to do but sit, and think...