Canto XII.  After awhile, seeing she does not do as much execution as she would like, Clorinda proposes to Argantes that they steal out of the city by night, and by chemical means set fire to the engines with which the Christians are threatening to capture the city.  Willingly Argantes promises to accompany her in this perilous venture, but her slave, hoping to dissuade her, now reveals to her for the first time, the story of her birth, and informs her she is the daughter of a Christian.  He adds her dying mother besought him to have her child baptized, a duty he had failed to perform, although repeatedly warned by visions to repair his neglect.  But, although similar visions have frequently haunted the dreams of Clorinda herself, she persists in her undertaking to set fire to the war machines.

She has no sooner done so, however, than the Christians, aroused, set out in pursuit of her and of her companions.  Bravely covering their retreat so they can re-enter the city safely, Clorinda delays her own until the gates closed.  But with great presence of mind, the warrior-maid, who is wearing black armor, mingles in the darkness with the Crusaders.  None of these suspects she does not belong to their ranks, save Tancred, who follows her to a remote place beneath the walls, where he challenges her to a deadly fight, little divining who she is.  The battle proves fierce, and both combatants strike until Tancred runs his sword through his opponent.  Dying, Clorinda reveals her name and faintly begs Tancred to baptize her before life leaves her body.

    “Friend! thou hast won; I pardon thee, and O
    Forgive thou me!  I fear not for this clay,
    But my dark soul—­pray for it, and bestow
    The sacred rite that laves all stains away:” 
    Like dying hymns heard far at close of day,
    Sounding I know not what in the sooth’d ear
    Of sweetest sadness, the faint words make way
    To his fierce heart, and, touch’d with grief sincere,
  Streams from his pitying eye th’ involuntary tear.

Such a request cannot be disregarded, so, although Tancred is frantic with grief at the thought of having slain his beloved, he hurries to a neighboring stream, draws water in his helmet, and, after baptizing his dying sweetheart, swoons over her body.  His companions, finding him there, convey him and Clorinda’s body to his tent, where they vainly try to rouse him, but he is so overcome with melancholy that he thinks of nothing but joining Clorinda in her tomb.

Canto XIII. Meantime the foe, having heard of Clorinda’s death, vow to avenge her, while the Crusaders seek materials to reconstruct their towers.  Hastening to a forest near by, they discover a wizard has cast such a spell upon it that all who try to enter are frightened away.  Finally Tancred enters this place, and, although he is met by earthquakes and other portents, he disregards them all, and starts to cut down a tree.  But, when blood gushes from its stem, and when Clorinda’s voice informs him he has wounded her again, he flees without having accomplished his purpose.  Heat and drought now cause further desertions and discourage the Crusaders, until Godfrey, full of faith in the justice of their cause, prays so fervently that rain is vouchsafed them.