KING ALSI’S WELCOME.
Now there was one thing that was in the minds of all of us, and that
was the winning of Goldberga’s kingdom for her; but that was a matter
which was not to be thought of yet for a long while. Two years were we
in Denmark, and well loved was Havelok by all, whether one speaks of
the other kings who owned him as Gunnar’s heir at once, or the people
over whom he and Goldberga reigned. But we sent messages to Arngeir and
to Ragnar to say that all was well, and we heard from them in time how
Alsi feared what was to come, and had rather make friends with the
Anglians than offend them. So he had not given out anything that was
against the princess, but had told all how she had wedded the heir of
Denmark, and that she had given up her land to himself, and followed
her husband across the sea. It was not hard for him to feign gladness
in her well-doing; and Berthun counselled Ragnar to let things be thus,
and yet prepare for her return.
In my own heart was the wish to go back to England always, for there
was my home; and I found that it was the same with my brothers, for
there is that in the English land which makes all who touch it love it.
And there was the mound that held my father, and there were the folk
among whom we had been brought up in the town that we had made; and I
longed to see once more the green marshes and the grey wolds of
Lindsey, and the brown waves of the wide Humber rolling shorewards,
line after line. I tired of the heaths and forests and peat mosses of
this land of my birth. And if that was so to me, it was a yet deeper
longing in the hearts of the brothers who hardly remembered this place;
and after a while we spoke of it more often.
I do not know if we said much to others, but at last the younger chiefs
began to wonder when the promised time when they should cross the
“swan’s path” for Goldberga should come. Maybe they tired of the long
peace, as a Dane will. But when that talk began, Withelm knew that
things were ripe, and he told Havelok. That was in the third spring of
Havelok’s kingship, when it grew near to the time when men fit out
their ships.
“This is what I have looked for,” he said; “and now we will delay no
longer, for here am I king indeed, and there is none who will rise
against me. Wonderful it is that men have hailed me thus. And now I
will tell you, brother, that I long for England. If I might take my
friends with me, I do not think that I should care if I never came here
again. It is not my home; and here my Goldberga is not altogether
happy, well as the folk love her.”
Thereafter he called a great Thing[12] of all the freemen in the land,
and set the matter plainly before them, asking if they minded the words
he spoke when they crowned the queen, and if they were still ready to
follow him to the winning of her crown beyond the sea.
There was no doubt what the answer would be; and it was said at once
that the sooner the ships were got ready the better.
“Then,” said Havelok, “who shall mind this land while I am away? It may
be long ere I come back.”
Now there was a cry that I should be king while Havelok was away,
forsooth! and a poor hand I should have made at the business. But I
said that it was foolishness, and that, moreover, I would go with
Havelok. And when they said that this was modesty on my part, I
answered that I had seen several kings, and that there was but one who
was worth thinking of, and that was my brother; therefore, I would go
on serving him where I could see him.
“This is what Grim, my father, said to me long ago,” I said—“I was to
mind the old saying, ‘Bare is back without brother behind it;’ and,
therefore, I must see Havelok safe through this.”
“Why, brother,” says Havelok, laughing, “if that saying must be
remembered—and I at least know it is true—it would make for leaving you
behind me here to see all fair when my back was turned.”
Then he saw that I was grieved, for I thought for the moment that he
would bid me to stay, and so I should have to do so; but he took my
part.
“I cannot be without my brothers,” he said. “If I had any word in the
matter—which mainly concerns the folk to be ruled, as it seems to me
(for I do not know of any man who would not uphold me)—I should say
that Sigurd the jarl was the right man, for all know that he is a good
ruler, nor will it be any new thing to submit to him.”
That pleased all, and the end of it was that Sigurd was chosen to hold
the land for Havelok.
Then Sigurd sat on the steps of the high place at Havelok’s feet, and
the king said, “I have no need to tell any man here who this is, and
why I think him worthy of the highest honour, for all know him and his
worth as well as I. Mainly by him was the thought of my return kept in
the minds of men, so that when the time came all were ready to hail me,
as you have done. Therefore, as by him I am king, so I make him king
also for me. He shall rule all the land while I am away, and to him
shall all men account as to me. And because it is right that his
kingship should be certain, I give him all his jarldom as a kingdom
from henceforth, only subject to me and my heirs as overlord. King
therefore he is, and none can say that you are ruled by naught but a
jarl.”
Then Havelok girt on the new king’s sword, and set his own crowned helm
on his head for a moment; and all the Thing hailed him gladly, for he
was the right man without doubt.
Then Sigurd did homage for his new honour; and after that he rose up,
and grew red and uneasy, as if there was somewhat that he wished to
say, and was half afraid to do so.
Thereat some friend in the hall said, “You take your kingship worse
than did Radbard himself, as it seems. What is amiss?”
“Why, I wanted to go on the Viking path with Havelok, and now it seems
that I cannot.”
Then one shouted, “I never heard of a land going wrong while its king
was away risking his life to get property for his men. There is no man
here who is going to rise against either you or Havelok. And it is only
to send a message to our great overlord to say what we are about, and
he will see that the land is in peace. Nor do I think that any king
would harry Havelok’s land, for he is well loved by all his peers.”
Wherefore it seemed that Sigurd must go also, and we had to set Biorn
as head man while Sigurd was away; but that would only be for a month
or two. So all things were ordered well, and in a month we set sail
with twenty ships, and in them a matter of fifteen hundred men.
At first we thought that we would make for Grimsby; but then it seemed
best to land elsewhere, and more to the south, for we would have
messages sent at once to Ragnar to call East Anglia to Havelok’s
banner, and Alsi would have less chance of cutting us off from him. So
we sailed to Saltfleet haven, which lies some twenty-five miles
southward from Grimsby. Raven piloted us in safely, and there were none
to hinder our landing. The town was empty, indeed, when the ships came
into the haven, for all had fled in haste, except a few thralls, for
fear of the Vikings.
Yet when we sent these thralls to say that Goldberga had come for her
own, the people came back and made us welcome, for her story was in
every mouth; and after that we fared well in Saltfleet, and men began
to gather to us.
We sent to Arngeir and to Ragnar at once, and next day the Grimsby folk
were with us, but long before any word could come to Norwich, Alsi had
set about gathering a host against us.
But we had not come to fight him for Lindsey, and our errand was to bid
him give up her own rights to Goldberga. One must be ready with the
strong hand if one expects to find justice from such a man; and Havelok
had thought it possible that if we came here first we should bring him
to reason at once, whereas if we went to Norfolk there would be
fighting with all the host of the Lindsey kingdom before long; while if
he did fight here we might save Goldberga’s land from that trouble, and
maybe have fewer to deal with.
So a message was to be sent to Alsi at once, bidding him know that
Goldberga had come to ask for her rights, and that he might give them
to her in all honour. Arngeir was to take this, for it did not seem
right that a Dane should do so, and he was one who would be listened
to. I was to go with him, with my courtmen as guard; and we rode to
Lincoln on the fourth day after our coming to Saltfleet. Good it was to
ride over the old land again, and I thought that it had never looked
more fair with the ripening harvest, for when last I had seen it there
was none. The track of the famine was yet on all the villages, for
fewer folk were in them than in the days before the pestilence and the
dearth, but these had enough and to spare.
And when these poor folk heard from us that Curan and his princess had
come again for what was hers, they took rusty weapons and flint-tipped
arrows and stone hammers from the hiding places in the thatch of their
hovels, and went across the marshlands to where the little hill of
Saltfleet stands above its haven, that they might help the one whom
they had loved as a fisher lad to become a mighty king.
So we came to Lincoln, and already there was a gathering of thanes and
their men in the town, and they knew on what errand we had come well
enough. But they were courteous, and we were given quarters in the town
at once, that we might see Alsi with the first light in the morning.
I will not say that we had a quiet night there, for we did not trust
Alsi; but we had no need to fear. In the morning Eglaf came to bid us
to the palace to speak with the king.
“This is about what I expected, when I heard of the mistake that our
king had made,” he said, “and so far you are in luck. It is not
everyone who is a fisher one day and captain of the courtmen next, as
one might say. I like the look of your men, and I am going to take some
of the credit of that to myself, for a man has to learn before he can
command.”
“I will not deny your share in the matter,” I answered, laughing, “for
had it not been for my time with you I had been at sea altogether. Now,
shall we have to fight you?”
He shrugged his broad shoulders.
“Who knows what is in the mind of our king? I do not, and you know
enough of him by this time to be certain that one cannot guess. He may
be all smiles and rejoicing that his dear niece has come back safely,
or just the other way. He has been very careful how he has dealt with
the Norfolk thanes of late, and what that means I do not know.”
Then he asked what had become of Griffin, and I told him. I do not
think that he was surprised, for some word of the matter had reached
here by the news that chapmen bring from all parts.
Now there was no more time for talk, for we came to the hall; and we
went in, Arngeir leading, and the rest of us following two by two. The
hall was pretty full of thanes and their men, and it was just as I had
last seen it. Alsi sat alone on his high seat, and there was no man
with him on the dais. I thought that he looked thinner and anxious.
Arngeir went up the hall at once, and stood before the king, and
greeted him in the English way, which seemed strange to me after the
two years of Danish customs; and then Alsi bade him tell his errand.
“I have come from Goldberga of East Anglia, and from Havelok the Dane,
her husband, to say that she has returned to her land, and would ask
that you would give her the throne that you have held for her since the
day that her father made you her guardian. It has been said that she
might ask you to give account of your management of the realm to her;
but that she does not wish to do, being sure that all will be rightly
done in the matter, and she only asks to be set in the place that was
her father’s.”
So said Arngeir, plainly, and I could see that the thanes thought the
words good.
And Alsi answered, “Has this matter been put before the Witan of the
East Angles?”
I suppose that he thought to hear Arngeir say that there had been no
time for so doing at present, but my brother was readier than I should
have been.
“Doubtless it has,” he said, “for that was your own promise to
Goldberga on her marriage.”
At that Alsi flushed, and his brows wrinkled. He had said nothing to
the Witan at all, but had waited in hopes that he should hear no more
of his niece, telling the tale that we had heard.
“I have had no answer from them,” he said at last, for Arngeir was
looking at him in a way that he could not meet. “It was her saying that
she would do this for herself.”
“Then they do not refuse,” said Arngeir quietly, “nor did I think that
they would do so. It only remains therefore, that you, King Alsi,
should do your part. Then can the queen speak to the Witan, even as she
said, concerning her husband.”
Now it must have been clear to the king that nothing short of a plain
answer would be taken, and he sat and thought for a while. One could
see that he was planning what to say, as if things had not gone as he
expected. Maybe he hoped to put off the matter by talk of asking the
Witan, and so to gain time, for we had certainly taken him unawares.
At last he said, “How am I to know that you are here with full power to
speak for Goldberga? For this is a weighty matter.”
Arngeir held out his hand, and on it was the ring of Orwenna the queen,
which Alsi had last seen here on the high place.
“There is the token, King Alsi, and it is one which you know well,” he
answered.
“Ay, I know it,” answered the king with a grin that was not pleasant.
And then he said, “I will speak with my thanes, and give you word to
carry back in an hour’s time, now that I know you to be a true
messenger.”
“There should be no reason for waiting so long as that, nor do I think
that the matter of the throne of East Anglia is a question for Lindsey
thanes,” answered Arngeir at once. “All this is between you and the
princess.”
Thereat one of the thanes rose up and said, “If a kingdom has been
handed over to our king, it is not to be taken again without our having
a good deal to say about it. I do not know, moreover, if we can have a
foreigner over any part of our land.”
“Goldberga never gave up her right to the kingdom,” Arngeir answered,
“as anyone who was here at the wedding would tell you. And as for
Havelok, her husband, being a foreigner, it seems to me that a Jute who
has been brought up here in Lindsey since he was seven winters old is
less a foreigner than a Briton is to us.”
None made any answer to that, and I could see that the king was growing
angry at being met thus at every turn. But he began to smile in that
way of his that I had learned to mistrust.
“That is not altogether courteous to either Goldberga or myself,” he
said, as if he would think the words a jest, seeing that he was half
Welsh. “Give me time, I pray you, to think of this, as I have asked,
and you shall go back with your answer.”
There was no help for it, and we had to leave the hall in order that
Alsi might say what he had to say to his thanes. And I said to Arngeir
that it seemed that we should have to fight the matter out.
“Alsi risks losing both kingdoms if he does that,” he answered, “for we
shall take what we choose if we are the victors. The visions that have
been thus right so far say that we shall be so.”
“I shall be glad if we do come out on the right side,” I said; “but I
have not so much faith in these dream tellings as some. Nor do I think
that it seems altogether fair to fight on a certainty.”
“When it is a matter of punishing one who does not keep faith, I do not
think that it matters much,” he answered, laughing. “I should like
certainty that he would not get the best of the honest side in that
case.”
We were outside on the wide green within the square of the Roman walls
at this time, and now from within the hall came the sound of shouts and
cheering which we heard plainly enough. But whether it meant that the
thanes cheered Alsi because he would fight, rather than that they
applauded his justice to his niece, was not to be known as yet. As for
me, I thought that it was hardly likely to be the latter.
Then came three thanes from the hail with the message, and it was this,
“Alsi bids Havelok go back to his own land and bide content therewith.”
“What word is there for Goldberga, then?” asked Arngeir.
“None. She has thrown in her lot with the Dane, and it is he with whom
we will not deal.”
Then said I, “How was it that she had to throw in her lot with Havelok?
He was Alsi’s own choice for her.”
“That is not what we have heard,” the spokesman answered. “Now it is
best that you go hence, for you have the answer.”
“This means fighting for Goldberga’s rights,” said Arngeir, “and I will
tell you that Havelok will not be backward in the matter.”
“In that case we shall meet again on the battlefield ere long,”
answered the thane. “I will not say that Havelok is in the wrong, and
things might have been better settled. Farewell till then. The Norns
will show who is right.”
So we went, and I thought, as did Arngeir, that there was some little
feeling among his men that Alsi was wrong.
Now Alsi set to work to gather forces in earnest, and he went to work
in a way that was all his own: for, saying nothing about Goldberga, he
sent to all his thanes with word that the Vikings had come in force and
invaded the land, led by the son of Gunnar Kirkeban, whose ways were
worse than those of his father, for he spared none, whereas Kirkeban
harried but the Welsh Christian folk. He prayed them therefore to
hasten, that this scourge might be driven back to the sea whence he
came. And that brought men to him fast, for no Englishman can bear that
an invader shall set foot on his shore, be he who he may. Few knew who
the wife of Havelok was at that time, but I do not know that it would
have made so much difference if they had. None thought that into
England had come the fair princess who was so well loved.
Sorely troubled was Goldberga when she heard this answer, but it was
all that the rest of us looked for. And the next question was how best
to meet the false king.
In the end we did a thing that may seem to some to have been rash
altogether, but it was our wish to compel Alsi to fight before his
force was great enough to crush us. It might be long before Ragnar
could raise a host and join us, for there was always a chance that he
might have trouble in getting the Norfolk thanes to come to his
standard for a march on Lindsey. If we had gone to Norfolk at once
there would have been no fear of that kind, but the fighting might have
been more bitter and longer drawn out.
We sent the fleet southward into the Wash, that it might wait for us at
the port of the Fossdyke, on what men call the Frieston shore; and then
we left Saltfleet and marched across country to the wolds, and
southward and westward along them, that we might draw Alsi from
Lincoln. And all the way men joined us for the sake of Curan, whom they
knew, and of Goldberga, of whom they had heard, so that in numbers at
least our host was a great one. Ragged it might be, as one may say,
with the wild marshmen, who had no sort of training and no chiefs to
keep them in hand; but I knew that no host Alsi could get together had
any such trained force in it as we had in the fifteen hundred Vikings,
for they had seen many fights, and the ways of the sea teach men to
hold together and to obey orders at once and without hesitating.
So we went until we came to Tetford, above Horncastle town; and there
is a great camp on a hilltop, made by the British, no doubt, in the
days when they fought with Rome. There we stayed, for Alsi was upon us.
We saw the fires of his camp in the village and on the hillsides across
the valley, but a mile or two from us that night; and it seemed that
his host was greater than ours, as we thought it would be, but not so
much so as to cause dread of the battle that was to come.
Now there were two men who came to us that night, and we thought that
they had brought some message from Alsi at first. But all that they
wanted was to join Havelok, and we were glad of them. They were those
two seconds of Griffin’s, Cadwal and the other, whose name was Idrys,
and with them was David the priest, who had fled to us.
“We know that Havelok is one who is worth fighting for,” they said,
“for we have proved it already. We are not Alsi’s men, and our fathers
fought for his mother’s Welsh kin against the English long ago. Let us
fight for the rights of Goldberga, at least.”
Havelok welcomed them in all friendliness, though he asked them if they
had no grudge against him for the slaying of Griffin.
“As to that,” they said, “after the duel we think that he deserved all
that has befallen him. We were ashamed to be his seconds.”
Now these two took in hand to lead the marshmen, and set to work with
them at once, for they were ready to follow them as known thanes of the
British. And that was something gained.
We slept on our arms that night, and all night long David woke and
prayed for our success, and I think that his prayers were not lost.