There was a haze far out at sea, and a fog was coming in with the
tide when we came to the mouth of Ingvar's haven; and rounded the
spit of land that shelters it from the southerly winds. Soon we
cleared it and then saw the town and hall above it at the head of
the haven, and what my longings were I need not write.
Now by the wharves lay two ships, and I thought little of that, but
on seeing them, Thormod, by whose side I was as he steered, seemed
to wonder.
"Ingvar has got another ship from somewhere," he said, "or has
built one this winter, for he sailed home with one only."
Then, too, the men began to say the like, for the second ship was
strange to them also, and, as seamen will, they puzzled over her
until we were close at hand. But I leaned on the gunwale and
dreamed dreams of my own, paying no heed to their talk.
Out of those dreams I was roused by Thormod's voice.
"Yon ship is no Dane," he said sharply. "Clear the decks and get to
arms, men. Here is somewhat amiss."
Then was a growl of wrath from our crew, yet no delay, and in a
moment every man was in his place. Down came the sail, and the mast
was lowered and hoisted on its stanchions overhead, and in five
minutes or less the oars were out, and the men who were arming
themselves ran to take them as they were ready, while those who had
rowed should get to arms also. Not for the first time saw I that
ship cleared for action, but never had I seen it done so swiftly,
though we had but half our fighting crew, sixty men instead of a
hundred and thirty or so.
I armed myself swiftly as any, and Thormod bade me take Halfden's
place on the fore deck, where the men were already looking to
bowstrings and bringing up sheaves of arrows and darts.
Then when I came they shouted, and one gray-headed warrior cried:
"Now you have a good fight on hand, axeman."
Then I asked:
"Who are the strangers?"
"It is a ship of the Jomsburg vikings," he said. "They know that
our men are all in England, and have come to see what we have left
behind--Thor's bolt light on them!"
Now, of all savage vikings these Jomsburgers are the worst.
Red-handed they are, sparing none, and it is said of them that they
will sacrifice men to the gods they worship before a great fight.
Nor are they all of one race, but are the fiercest men of all the
races of the Baltic gathered into that one nest of pirates,
Jomsburg.
Now a cold thrill of fear for Osritha ran through me, and then came
hot rage, and for a little I was beside myself, as it were, glaring
on that ship. Then I grew cool and desperate, longing only to be
hand to hand with them.
Swiftly we bore down on the ship, and now from her decks came the
hoarse call of uncouth war horns, and her crew came swarming back
from the streets with shouts and yells, crossing Ingvar's ship to
reach their own, for she lay alongside, stem to stern of the Dane,
and next to the open water.
Now I could see that men fought with the last of the Jomsburgers as
they came down the street to their ship, and there were no houses
burning, so that they could have been for no long time ashore. And
that was good to know.
We came into the channel abreast of her, and then Thormod roared to
me:
"Now I will ram her. Board her as we strike if we do not sink her!"
Then he called on the oarsmen, and they cheered and tugged at the
oars, the men in the waist helping them, and my fore deck warriors
gripping the bulwarks against the shock. Down we swooped like a
falcon on a wild duck, and as we came the Jomsburgers howled and
left their own ship, climbing into Ingvar's to fly the crash, while
some tried to cast off, but too late.
"Shoot!" I shouted to my men, and the arrows flew.
Through skin-clad backs and bare necks the arrows pierced, and the
smitten pirates fell back into their own ship, as they swarmed the
higher sides of Ingvar's, like leaves from a tree.
Then with a mighty crash and rending of cloven timbers our dragon
stem crushed the Jomsburg ship from gunwale to gunwale, splintering
the rail of the other ship as the wreck parted and sunk on either
side of our bows, while above the rending of planks and rush of
waters rose the howls of the drowning men.
I clung to the dragon's neck, and the shock felled me not. Yet my
men went headlong over the oarsmen as we struck, rising again with
a great shout of grim laughter, to follow me over the bows as I
leapt among the pirates who thronged on Ingvar's deck before me.
Then was the sternest fight I have ever seen, for we fought at
close quarters, they for dear life, and we for those even dearer
than life. There was no word of quarter, and at first, after our
cheer on boarding, there was little noise beyond the ringing of
weapon on helm and shield and mail, mixed with the snarls of the
foul black-bearded savages against us and the smothered oaths of
our men.
Then came a thickness in the air and a breath of chill damp over
me, and all in a moment that creeping sea fog settled down on us,
and straightway so thick it was, that save of those before and on
either side of him no man might see aught, but must fight in a ring
of dense mist that hemmed him round. And for a while out of that
mist the arrows hissed, shot by unseen hands, and darts, hurled by
whom one might not know, smote friend and foe alike, while if one
slew his man, out of the fog came another to take his place,
seeming endless foes. And as in a dream the noise of battle
sounded, and the fight never slackened.
All I knew was that Cyneward was next me, and that my axe must keep
my own life and take that of others; and I fought for Osritha and
home and happiness--surely the best things for which a man can
fight next to his faith. And now men began to shout their war cries
that friend might rally to friend rather than smite him coming as a
ghost through the mist. Then a man next me cried between his teeth:
"It is Ragnaroek come--and these are Odin's foes against whom we
fight."
And so smote the more fiercely till he fell beside me, crying:
"Ahoy! A Raven!--a Raven!"
Then was I down on the slippery deck, felled by a blow from a great
stone hammer that some wild pirate flung over the heads of his
comrades before me, and Cyneward dragged me up quickly, so that I
think he saved my life that time. And I fought on, dazed, and as in
a dream I fancied that I was on the deck of my father's ship
fighting the fight that I looked for in the fog that brought my
friend Halfden.
When my brain cleared, I knew not which way we faced. Only that
Cyneward was yet with me, and that out of the dimness came against
us Jomsburgers clad in outlandish armour, and with shouts to
strange gods as they fell on me.
"Hai, Wainomoinen! Swantewit, ho!"
Then I cast away my shield, for I grew weary, and taking both hands
to my axe, fought with a dull rage that I should have fallen, and
that there were so many against me. And all alone we two seemed to
fight by reason of the fog, though I heard the shouts of our crew
to right and left unceasingly.
Then I felled a man, and one leapt back into mist and was gone, and
a giant shape rose up against me out of the thickness, towering
alone, and at this I smote fiercely. Yet it was not mail or
hardened deerskin that I smote, but solid timber, and I could not
free my axe again, so strongly had I smitten.
It was the high stem head of the vessel. For I and my men had
cleared away the foe from amidships to bows, and still the noise of
fight went on behind us, while the fog was thick as ever.
Then Cyneward leaned against the stem head and laughed.
"Pity so good a stroke was wasted on timber, master," he said.
"Pull it out for me," I answered, "my arm is tired."
For now I began to know that my left shoulder was not yet so strong
as once.
He tugged at the axe and freed it, not without trouble.
"What now?" said one of the men.
But a great shout came from aft, and then a silence that seemed
strange. We were still, to hear what we might, and I think that
others listened for us.
"Surely we have cleared the ship?" I said. "Let us go and see."
Then I hailed our men, asking how they fared--and half I feared to
hear the howl and rush of pirates coming back on us. But it was a
Danish voice that called back to me that the last foe was gone.
We stumbled back now along either gunwale, over the bodies of
friend and foe that cumbered all the deck, and most thickly and in
heaps amidships, where our first rush fell. One by one from aft met
us those who were left of the men who had fought their way to the
stern. Well for us was it that the darkness had hindered the
Jomsburgers from knowing how few we were and how divided. But
shoulder to shoulder we had fought as vikings will, never giving
back, but ever taking one step forward as our man went down before
us.
Now I called to Thormod, and his voice answered me from shoreward.
"Here am I, Wulfric. How have you sped?"
"Some of us are left, but no foemen," I answered.
"Call your names," he said. And when we counted I had but sixteen
left of my thirty, so heavy had been the fighting. Yet I thought
that the Jomsburgers were two to our one as we fell on them, and of
them was not one left.
"What now?" asked Thormod. "There are more of these men in the
town. Here have I been keeping them back from the ship."
"Let us go up to the hall," I answered. "We could find our way in
the dark, and they cannot tell where they are in this fog."
So I and my men climbed on to the wharf, and there were the rest of
the crew with Thormod, who had crossed the decks as we cleared a
passage, even as the fog came down, and had driven the rest of the
Jomsburgers away from the landing place before they could join
those in the ship. Well for us it was that he had done this, or we
should have been overborne by numbers, for the ship was a large
one, carrying maybe seven score men.
"We must leave your tired men with the ship and go carefully," said
Thormod. "Likely enough we shall have another fight."
We marched up the well-known street four abreast, and as we left
the waterside the fog was thinner, so that we could see the houses
on either side of the way well enough. And as we went we were
joined by many of Ingvar's people, old men and boys mostly, who had
been left at home when the fleet sailed. And they told us that the
Jomsburg men were round the great house itself.
Yet we could hear no sound of them, and that seemed strange, so
that we feared somewhat, drawing together lest a rush on us were
planned. But beyond a few men slain in the street we saw nothing
till we came to the gate of the stockade. And that was beaten down,
while some Danes and Jomsburgers lay there as they had fallen when
this was done.
Now when we saw this I know not which was the stronger, rage or
surprise, and I called one of the old men.
"Where is the king?" I asked.
"He is not in the town," he said; "he is away with his own
courtmen, fighting against these pirates for Jarl Swend, who is
beset by them."
Now it was plain that this ship came from that place; either beaten
off, or knowing that Ingvar's haven lay open to attack while his
men were away thus. And a greater fear than any came over me.
"Where is the Lady Osritha?" I said.
"She was here in the town this morning."
"So, Wulfric," said Thormod quickly, "she will have fled. The
steward will have seen to that. No use her biding here when the
ship came."
So I thought, but I was torn with doubt, not knowing if time for
flight had been given, or if even now some party of Jomsburgers
might not be following hard after her. I must go into the hall and
find out, whatever the risk, for it was certain that it held the
rest of the pirates.
"Leave men here to guard the gates," I said to Thormod. "Needs must
that we see more of this."
Ten men stayed at the gate, lest Jomsburgers lurked in the houses
to fall on us, and we went across to the great porch. The door was
open, nor could we see much within; and there was silence.
"Stand by," said Thormod, and picked up a helm that lay at his
feet.
He hurled it through the door, and it clanged and leapt from the
further wall across the cold hearthstone. Then there was a stir of
feet and click of arms inside, and we knew that the hall was full
of men.
I know not what my thoughts were--but woe to any pirate who came
within my reach.
"Show yourselves like men!" shouted Thormod, standing back.
Then, seeing that there was no hope that we should fall into this
trap they had laid, there came into the doorway a great,
black-haired Jomsburg Lett, clad in mail of hardened deerskin, such
as the Lapp wizards make, and helmed with a wolf's head over the
iron head piece. He carried a long-handled bronze axe, and a great
sword was by his side.
"Yield yourselves!" said Thormod.
The savage hove up his axe, stepping one pace nearer into the
porch.
"What terms?" he said in broken Danish.
"Give up your prisoners and arms, and you shall go free," answered
Thormod, for he feared lest if any captives were left alive they
would be slain if we fought.
"Come and take them!" spoke back the Jomsburger in his harsh voice,
and with a sneering laugh.
Now I could not bear this any longer, and on that I swung my axe
and shouted, rushing on the man. Up went his long weapon overhead,
and like a flash he smote at me--but he forgot that he was in the
porch, and as his blow fell the axe lit on the crossbeams and stuck
there. The handle splintered, and he sprang back out of reach of my
stroke.
Then I dropped my axe and closed with him, and I was like a Berserk
in my fury, so that I lifted him and flung him clear over my
shoulder, and he fell heavily on the threshold on his head. Nor did
he move again.
Cyneward thrust my axe into my hand, as past me Thormod and the men
charged into the doorway. The hall was full of the pirates, and now
we fought again as on the decks, hand to hand in half darkness. But
it was no long fight, for those of our men who had been at the
gate, finding they might leave it, came round and fell on the
Jomsburgers from the back of the hall, coming through the other
doors. So there was an end, and though many of us were wounded, we
lost there but three men, for there were ale casks lying about, and
the pirates fought ill.
Now we stood among the dead and looked in one another's faces.
There were no Danes among the Jomsburgers, and they had, as it
seemed, found the place empty. Then I thought:
"Those men who fell at the gate should be honoured, for they have
fought and died to give time for flight to the rest."
And I called Cyneward to me, and we went through the house from end
to end. Everywhere had been the pirates, rifling and spoiling in
haste, so that the hangings were falling from the walls, and rich
stuffs torn from chests and closets strewed the floors of Osritha's
bower. But we found no one.
Then said Cyneward:
"They are safe--fled under cover of the fog."
But now broke out a noise of fighting in the streets, and we went
thither in haste. Some twenty Jomsburgers had sallied from a house,
and were fighting their way to the ships, for now one could see
well enough. They were back to back and edging their way onward,
while the boys and old men tried to stay them in vain.
When they saw us, they broke and fled, and were pursued and slain
at last, one by one. Then were no more of that crew left.
Now Thormod and I went back to the hall, and in the courtyard stood
a black horse, foam covered, and with deeply-spurred sides. It was
Ingvar's.
And when we came to the porch, the axe still stuck in the timbers
overhead, and the Jomsburg chief's body lay where I had cast
him--but in the doorway, thin and white as a ghost, stood Ingvar
the king, looking on these things.
He saw me, and gave back a pace or two, staring and amazed, and his
face began to work strangely, and he stepped back into the dim
light of the hall, and leant against the great table near the door,
clutching at its edge with his hands behind him, saying in a low
voice:
"Mercy, King--have mercy!"
Now, so unlike was this terror-stricken man to him who stood in
Hoxne woods bidding that other ask for mercy, and gnashing his
teeth with rage, that I could hardly think him Ingvar, rather
pitying him. I would have gone to him, but Thormod held me back.
"Let him bide--the terror is on him again--it will pass soon."
"Aye, I saw him thus once before in Wessex," said one of our men;
and I knew that this was what Cyneward had told me of.
Very pitiful it was to see him standing thus helpless and unmanned,
while his white lips formed again and again the word of which he
once knew hardly the meaning--"Mercy".
Presently his look came back from far away to us, and he breathed
freely. At last he stood upright and came again to the doorway,
trying to speak in his old way.
"Here have you come in good time, comrades. Where are the
Jomsburgers?"
"Gone," said Thormod, curtly. "Where were you, King?"
Now Ingvar heeded me not, but answered Thormod.
"With Jarl Swend beating off more of this crew. Then I saw the ship
leave, and I knew where she would go. Hard after me are my
courtmen, but I was swifter than they."
Now all this was wearisome to me, for I would fain follow Osritha
in her flight, if I could. So I left Thormod, without a word to
Ingvar, and went to the stables. There were but two horses left,
and those none of the best; but Cyneward and I mounted them, and
rode as fast as we might on the road which he said was most likely
to be taken by fugitives.
We had but two miles to ride, for in the fog that frightened crowd
of old men, women, and children had surely circled round, and had
it lasted would never have gone far from the town.
When they saw us the women shrieked, and what men were with them
faced round to meet an attack, thinking the pirates followed them;
but we shouted to them to hold, as we were friends, though not
before an arrow or two flew towards us.
At my voice, Osritha, who sat on her own horse in the midst of the
company, turned round, saying quickly:
"Who is it speaks?"
And I took off my helm, and she saw me plainly, and cried my name
aloud, and then swayed in her saddle and slipped thence into her
old steward's arms, and one or two of the maidens went to her help.
But the men cheered, knowing that now help, and maybe victory, had
come with us.
"Is all well?" they said in many voices.
"All is well," I answered; "let us take back your mistress."
Now Osritha came to herself, and saw me standing looking on her,
for I feared that she was dead, and she stretched her hands to me,
not regarding those around her in her joy and trouble.
"Wulfric," she cried, "take me hence into some place of peace."
I raised her very gently, holding her in my arms for a moment, but
not daring to speak to her as yet. And I lifted her into the saddle
again, telling her that all was well, and that we might take her
back to the town in safety. Then she smiled at me in silence, and I
walked beside her as we went back.
Then rode forward Cyneward and the steward to deal so with matters
that the women might be terrified as little as possible with sights
of war time, and we followed slowly. Naught said Osritha to me as
we went, for there were too many near, and she knew not what I
might have to tell; yet her hand sought mine, and hand in hand we
came to Ingvar's house, and to the lesser door. There I left her,
and went to seek Thormod.
The large hall was cleared, and little trace beyond the dint of
blows on walls and table showed what fight had raged therein, but
only Thormod and Cyneward and Ingvar were there; and Ingvar slept
heavily in his great chair.
"This is his way of late," said Thormod, looking coldly at him;
"fury, and terror, and then sleep. I fear me that Ingvar the King
goes out of his mind with that of which he raves. Nor do I wonder,
knowing now from Cyneward here what that is. Little help shall we
take back from Ingvar, for he has bestirred himself to gather no
new host since he came back."
"Men said that trouble at home brought him from England. I suppose
he judged it likely that the Jomsburgers might give trouble," I
said.
"The foes that sent him back were--ghosts," said Thormod bitterly.
"Come and let us see to the ship."
So we went down to the wharf, and found the ship but little hurt by
that business. And I stayed on board her that night, for I would
not see Ingvar again just yet.
But in the early morning he sent to beg me to speak with him, and I
came. He sat in his great chair, and I stood before him.
"You have brought me a quiet night, Wulfric," he said. "Tell me how
you came here, for I think it was not that you would wish to see me
again."
So Thormod had told him nothing, and I answered:
"I came with Thormod for more men, for Ethelred the King is growing
strong against you. Have you heard no news?"
"None," he said; "but that is not your errand, but his."
"That will Thormod tell you, therefore," I answered. "As for me, I
came at Halfden's bidding, which Thormod told me."
"What did Halfden bid you come here for?"
"To take Osritha his sister into safety and peace again. Suffer me
to do so," I said, boldly enough, but yet quietly.
Now Ingvar looked fixedly at me from under his brows, and I gave
back his look. Yet there was no silent defiance between us therein.
"Take her," he said at length; "you have saved her from these
Jomsburgers, and you have the right. Take her where you will."
"Do you come back with us, King?" I asked him, giving him no word
of thanks, for I owed him none.
"Tell Guthrum from me that I shall never set foot in England again.
Tell him, if you will, that our shores here need watching against
outland foes, and that I will do it. Let him settle his kingship
with Hubba and Halfden."
Then he paled and looked beyond me, adding in a low voice: "Eadmund
is king in East Anglia yet."
Now I answered him not, fearing lest his terror should come on him
again. And slowly he slipped from his arm the great gold bracelet
that he had so nearly given Eadgyth.
"Tell your people that never should a bridal train cross the Bridge
of the Golden Spurs on the way to the church while the brook flows
to the sea, lest ill should befall both bride and groom, because
thus found I Eadmund the King, whose face is ever before me by
night and day. Take this gold, I pray you, Wulfric, and lay it on
the tomb where his bones are, in token that he has conquered--and
let me fight my shame alone till I die."
Wondering, I took the bracelet, pitying the man again, yet fearing
what he might say and do next, for I thought that maybe he would
slay himself, so hopeless looked he.
"Fain would I have been your friend," he said, "but pride would not
let me. Yet Eadgyth your sister and Egfrid called me so, and maybe
that one deed of ruth may help me. Now go, lest I become weak
again. Lonely shall I be, for you take all that I hold dear--but
even that is well."
So he turned from me, and I went out without a word, for he was
Ingvar. Yet sometimes I wish that I had bidden him farewell, when
the thought of his dark face comes back to me as I saw him for the
last time in his own hall, leaning away from me over his carven
chair, and very still.
I sought Thormod, and told him that he must see the king with his
tidings, for I would not see his face again.
"Nor shall we see Jutland again," he said, pointing to the ship,
which lay now in the same place where the pirate had been,
alongside Ingvar's. And the other ship had come in during the
night, and was at anchor in the haven.
"Shall we sail home at once?" I asked him.
"Aye; no use in waiting. We are wanted at Guthrum's side, and can
take no men, but a few boys back. Yet the other ship will stay
while I send messengers inland, if Ingvar will not. But I shall
return no more."
"Then," said I, "I will speak to the Lady Osritha."
"Go at once," he said, smiling; "bid her come with us to the better
home we have found."
I had not seen Osritha since I left her yesterday, and now I feared
a little, not knowing how she would look on things.
Yet I need not have feared, for when they took me to her bower she
rose up and came to me, falling on my neck and weeping, and I knew
that I had found her again not to part with her.
When she grew calmer, I asked her if she would return with us to
Reedham, telling her how there would be no fear of war there in the
time to come. And she held her peace, so that I thought she would
not, and tried to persuade her, telling her what a welcome would be
to her from all our folk, and also from the Danish people who loved
her so well.
So I went on, until at last she raised her head, smiling at me.
"Surely I will follow you--let me be with you where you will."
So it came to pass that next day we sailed, Osritha taking her four
maidens with her, for they would not leave her; having, moreover,
somewhat to draw them overseas even as I had been drawn to this
place again. And with us went close on a score of women and
children whose menfolk were settled already near to Reedham. These
were the first who came into our land, but they were not to be the
last.
I had seen Ingvar no more, busying myself about fitting the ship
with awnings and the like for these passengers of ours; and what
Thormod did about the men he sought I know not, nor did I care to
know.
There is a dead tree which marks the place where I had been cast
ashore in Lodbrok's boat, and which is the last point of land on
which one looks as the ship passes to the open sea from the haven.
And there we saw Ingvar the king for the last time. All alone he
stood with his hands resting on his sword, looking at our ship as
she passed. Nor did he move from that place all the time we could
see him.
Silently Thormod gave the tiller into my hands, and went to the
flag halliards. Thrice he dipped Halfden's flag in salute, but
Ingvar made no sign, and so he faded from our sight, and after that
we spoke no more of him. But Osritha wept a little, for she had
loved him even while she dreaded him, and now she should see him no
more.
Very quietly passed the voyage, though the light wind was against
us, and we were long on the way, for we were too short handed to
row, and must beat to windward over every mile of our course. Yet I
think of the long days and moonlit evenings on the deck of
Halfden's ship with naught but keenest pleasure, for there I
watched the life and colour come back into Osritha's face, and
strove to make the voyage light to her in every way. And I had
found my heart's desire, and was happy.
Then at last one night we crossed the bar of our own haven, and the
boats came out to meet us, boarding us with rough voices of hearty
welcome; and from her awning crept Osritha, standing beside me as I
took the ship in, and seeing the black outline of hill and church
and hall across the quiet moonlit water. And when the red light
from wharf and open house doors danced in long lines on the ripples
towards us, and voices hailed our ship from shore, and our men
answered back in cheery wise, she drew nearer me, saying:
"Is this home, Wulfric?"
"Aye," I answered. "Your home and mine, Osritha--and peace."
Now have I little more to say, for I have told what I set out to
tell--how Lodbrok the Dane came from over seas, and what befell
thereafter. For now came to us at Reedham long years of peace that
nothing troubled. And those years, since Osritha and I were wedded
at Reedham very soon after we came home, have flown very quickly.
Yet there came to us echoes of war from far-off Wessex, as man
after man crept back to Anglia from the great host where Guthrum
and Hubba warred with Alfred the king. And tired and worn out with
countless battles, these men settled down with us in peace to till
the land they had helped to lay waste and win. Hard it was to see
the farms pass to alien owners at first, but I will not say that
England has altogether lost, for these Danes are surely becoming
English in all love of our land; and they have brought us new
strength, with the old freedom of our forefathers, which some of us
had nigh forgotten.
Now today I know that all the land is at peace, for Alfred is
victor, and Guthrum is Athelstan the Christian king of Eastern
England; and I for one will own him unasked, for he has governed
well, and English is our overlord.
But Hubba is dead in far-off Devon, slain as he landed as Halfden
had landed, to hem Wessex in between Guthrum and himself, and his
dream of taking the Wessex kingdom is over. And the Raven banner
that my Osritha made flaps its magic wings no more, for it hangs in
Alfred's peaceful hall, a trophy of Saxon valour.
Thormod, my comrade, lies in his mound in wild Strathclyde, slain
fighting beside Halfden my brother, the king of Northumbria. Him I
have seen once or twice, and ever does he look for peace that he
may sail to Reedham and bide with us for a while. Well loved is
Halfden, and he is English in every thought.
Many of our old viking crew are here with me, for they would fain
find land in our country, and I gave them the deserted coast lands
that lie to our northward, round the great broads. Good lands they
are, and in giving them I harmed none. Filby and Ormesby and
Rollesby they have called their new homesteads, giving them Danish
names.
Now as to our own folk. My mother is gone, but first she stood for
Osritha at the font, naming her again with the name by which I
learnt to love her, for I would not have it changed.
Gone also has good old Ingild; but before he went he and I were
able without fear of hindrance to build a little church of squared
oaken timbers at Hoxne, for the heathen worship died quickly from
among our Danes. On that church, Cyneward, who was Raud, and is our
well-loved steward, wrought lovingly with his own hands side by
side with the good monk who baptized him. And he has carved a
wondrous oaken shrine for the remains of our martyred king, whereon
lies the bracelet that Ingvar sent in token that Eadmund had
conquered him who was his slayer.
How fared Ingvar I know not, for soon the incoming tide of Danes
slackened, and I heard no news of him; and, as he said, never did
he set foot on English shores again.
Egfrid and Eadgyth are happy in their place at Hoxne, and on them
at least has fallen no shadow of misfortune from that which came of
their passing over the Bridge of the Golden Spurs--the Golden
Bridge as our folk call it now.
Yet it needed no words of Ingvar's to keep the memory of that day's
work alive in the minds of our people. Never so long as the Gold
Brook flows beneath that bridge will a bridal pass churchwards over
its span, for there, but for such a crossing, Eadmund the king
might have bided safely till Ingvar the Dane had passed and gone.
Little use is there in grieving over what might have been, but this
I know, that in days to come forgotten will be Ingvar, and English
will have become his mighty host, but in every English heart will
live the name of Eadmund, who died for faith and country.
NOTES.
i Ran: the sea goddess or witch of the old mythology, by whose
nets drowning men were said to be entangled.
ii The Jarl ranked next to the king, and was often equally
powerful. Our English title "Earl" is derived from this.
iii A small wharf.
iv A lay brother of the monastery of Hackness, near Whitby, who
rendered the Sacred Histories into verse about A.D. 680.
v Now Whitby. The present name was given by the Danish
settlers.
vi As if under the shadow of coming death.
vii The Viking ship of war, or "long ship".
viii The usual Scandinavian and Danish greeting: "Health".
ix After expulsion from his bishopric of York by King Egfrid.
x Mail shirt.
xi The fine allowed as penalty for killing an adversary in a
quarrel, or by mischance. The penalty for wilful murder was death.
xii Nidring, niddering, or nithing, may be beet expressed by
"worthless ". It was the extreme term of reproach to a Saxon.
xiii The "Lodbrokar-Quida", which is still in existence. By
some authorities Ragnar is said to have been the father of Ingvar
and Hubba, but the dates are most uncertain.
xiv "The Fates" of the Northern mythology.
xv St. Ansgar, or Ansgarius, built the first church in Denmark
at Hedeby, now Slesvig, in 840 A.D.
xvi The "twilight of the Gods", when the Asir were to fight
against the powers of evil, and a new order should commence.
xvii The Danes traced their origin back to a great migration
from the East, under Odin. Their priesthood was vested in the head
of the tribe after the ancient patriarchal custom.
xviii The great representative Council from which our
Parliament sprang.
xix Four degrees of kingship are spoken of in the Sagas, the
highest being the overlord, to whom the lesser kings paid tribute.
The "kings of the host" came third in rank, the "sea kings" last,
these being usually sons of under kings, to whom a ship or two had
been given.
xx Now Peterborough.
xxi Tribute.
xxii "The King's Guardian."