For a few minutes Alfgar sat like one stunned by the intelligence. Joy
and fear were strangely mingled together; well did he remember
Sidroc's frequent visits to his father's English home, and that the
warrior had more than once taken him in his infancy upon his knee and
sung to him war songs, telling him that he too must be a warrior some
day.
He was roused from his reverie by the voice of Sidroc.
"Who is your companion?"
"Bertric, the son of Elfwyn of Aescendune; oh! you will see that no
wrong is done to him, will you not? his people saved my life."
"That they might make you a Christian, knowing that your father would
sooner you had expired in the flames which consumed his house.
"No," he added sternly; "he is doomed, he and his alike."
Alfgar uttered a piteous cry, and appealed so earnestly that one might
have thought he would have moved a heart of stone, yet all in vain.
"Does the eagle mourn over the death of the dove, or heed what pangs
the kid may suffer which writhes beneath its talons? If you are of the
race of warrior kings, act like one."
While this was going on the warriors had been selecting some light and
sharp arrows and stringing their bows.
"You have but one target, not two," cried Sidroc, "and scant time
wherein to use it."
"Then you shall have two, for I will die with him," cried Alfgar,
comprehending at once that the death by which Saint Edmund of East
Anglia, and many a martyr since, had glorified God, was destined for
his companion, his brother.
He snatched at a weapon, and rushed to the tree to which the victim
was bound, as if he would save him or perish in the attempt, but a
grasp like iron was thrown around him, and he struggled in vain.
"Bind him, but do him no harm," said Sidroc, "and detain him where he
may see all, and strengthen his nerves for future occasions."
Against the tree leaned Bertric, pale, yet strangely composed; the
bitterness of death seemed to be past, so composed were his youthful
features. The lips moved in earnest, fervent prayer. Once he glanced
with a look of affection, almost of pity, upon Alfgar, and when the
latter made the vain attempt to deliver him, he cried, "Do not grieve
for me, dear Alfgar, you cannot save me; you have done your best; pray
for me, that is all you can do."
His patient courage, so unexpected in one so young, touched his
captors, as nothing else would have touched them, and Sidroc
approached him.
"Bertric of Aescendune, thou mayst save thy life on one condition;
dost thou wish to live?"
The thought of home and friends, of his mother, awoke in his breast,
and he replied:
"Yes, for the sake of those who love me."
"I know nought of them, neither must thou henceforth, but thou mayst
live if thou wilt join our nation and renounce thy Christianity; for
I, who have no son, and seek one, will even adopt thee."
"I cannot deny my faith."
"Dost thou not fear the pain, the sharp arrows with which they will
pierce thee?"
"I fear them, but I fear eternal death more; God help me!"
He repeated these last words over and over again, as if the struggle
were very sore.
"Decide," said Sidroc.
"I have decided--'In manus tuas, Domine,'" he breathed out, "'commendo
spiritum meum.'"
"Let fly," cried the chieftain, "and let the obstinate young fool know
what death is."
Arrow after arrow sped through the air and pierced the legs and arms
of the martyr boy, for it was the cruel amusement of the Danes to
avoid the vital parts in their living target. The frame of the
sufferer quivered with agony, while the lip seemed striving to form
the holy name, which has given strength to thousands of martyrs,
whether at the stake, beneath the ferocious beast, or in whatsoever
manner it has pleased God to make His strength perfect in weakness.
Then Alfgar saw what was the marvellous power of Christianity, and
beheld a heroism utterly beyond the fierce excitement which nerved his
countrymen for their scenes of carnage and blood; not one of his pagan
friends could have suffered as calmly, as patiently--it seemed easier
for the sufferer to bear than for Alfgar to look on; once or twice the
latter gave audible vent to his emotions, but the look which Bertric
turned upon him spoke volumes, and he restrained himself lest he
should add to the pain of the victim. He knew not then that the
example before him would nerve him in moments of severest trial, then
fast approaching, that the one accusation urged against the
Christians, which he had felt most keenly, that of cowardice, was
answered in the weak yet valiant boy, who found strength in the name
of Christ to endure all for His sake; neither did his fierce
countrymen know that they were preparing a disappointment for the
pagan Anlaf, and for all those of his house and lineage.
We cannot enter more closely into the secret which gave the martyr his
strength; we know not the visions of heavenly joy which may have
overpowered the present pain, we know not whether He who gave this
elaborate framework of flesh and blood, nerve and sinew, miraculously
suspended the full operation of His laws, as is elsewhere recorded of
other martyrs. Certain it is, that sooner than relinquish Him,
Bertric, like Saint Edmund nearly two centuries earlier, yielded his
life to the rage of the enemies of His Lord {vi}.
The struggle was sharp but short, for Sidroc, to the surprise, and we
must add the disgust, of his compatriots, seized a bow and sent an
arrow straight to the heart. One nervous shudder passed through the
limbs, and all was still; they had killed the body, and had no more
that they could do.
Alfgar gazed with reverence, as well as love, upon the calm features
from which the expression of pain had wholly passed; the light of the
fire, mingling strangely with that of the rising full moon, illumined
them in this their first day of nothingness, for the spirit which had
lived and dwelt in the tabernacle of clay had fled.
Yet there was a wondrous beauty still lingering over them; they seemed
etherialised--as if an angel's smile had last stirred their lines,
when the spirit went forth, and left its imprint of wonder, joy, and
awe thereon; and Alfgar instinctively turned from them to the blue
depths of heaven above, where a few stars were visible, although
dimmed by the moonlight; and he seemed to trace his beloved Bertric's
passage to the realms of bliss. A light wind made music in the upper
branches of the oaks, and it seemed to him like the rush of angels'
wings.
It had often been a sharp struggle to him, nursed in heroic times,
learned in battle songs, and of the very blood of the vikings, to
avoid the feeling that Christianity was not the religion of the brave;
now the difficulty was over, and who shall say that the first joy of
the martyr's soul was not the knowledge that his sufferings had
already borne such fruit to God!
And not only was Alfgar reconciled to the reproach of the Cross, he
was also content to be an Englishman, if not in blood, at least in
affection and sympathy as in action.
An hour passed away; the body remained affixed to the tree; the night
grew darker, and the hour approached when, under ordinary
circumstances, people retired to rest, and the band commenced its
preparations for carrying out the attack upon Aescendune.
One hope Alfgar had, and that not a faint one: he knew that the two
theows had escaped unnoticed, and that they would give warning in time
for either defence or escape; their strength at Aescendune was but
slight for the former, all the able-bodied men were absent at the seat
of war.
In the excitement of the last hour Alfgar had almost forgotten the
meeting before him, but now it occupied his thoughts fully, and he
began to expect the arrival of Anlaf each moment. He learned from the
conversation around him that he and a portion of the band had gone to
reconnoitre the position of the prey.
While Sidroc was somewhat impatiently expecting the arrival of his
coadjutor, the cry of a raven was heard; it proved to be the signal
for the party to advance, and Sidroc and his men obeyed at once.
But all their horses were left picketed by the stream, under the care
of three of the youngest warriors, and there Alfgar was left, safely
bound to a tree, for his captors could not trust him.
He was strongly, but not cruelly bound; it evidently was not intended
to hurt him, only to secure him, and he could see that one of the
warriors was especially charged to guard him.
Oh, how anxiously he strained the senses of sight and hearing for news
from the forest party! could he but have given one warning, he would
willingly have died like Bertric; all was silence--dread silence--the
sleeping woods around gave no token of their dread inmates.
An hour and a half must have passed, when a bright light, increasing
each minute in intensity, appeared through the trees--then a loud and
startling cry arose--after which all was silence.
The light seemed to increase in extent and to have two chief centres
of its brilliancy, and Alfgar guessed them to be the hall and the
priory.
But no screams of distress or agony pierced the air from two hundred
women and children, and Alfgar hoped, oh, so earnestly! that they
might have escaped, warned in time by the theows.
With this hope he was forced to rest content, as hour after hour
rolled by, and at length the footsteps of a returning party were
heard.
It proved to be only a detachment of the fifty, sent to bring horses
to be loaded with the spoil. Alfgar listened intently to gain
information, and heard enough to show that the Danes had been
disappointed in some way, probably in their thirst for blood.
"But how could they have known we were coming? We have marched through
a hundred miles of the most desolate country we could find, and have
come faster than any one could have carried the information."
Such seemed to be the substance of the complaint of the warriors on
guard, from which Alfgar felt justified in believing in the escape of
the theows, and the consequent deliverance of the people, if not of
the place.
Half the horses were taken to fetch the plunder, the other half left
where they were, for the spot was conveniently situated, and the
distance from Aescendune only about two miles.
When they had gone, Alfgar heard his guards talking together.
"What did they say, Hinguar?--not any blood?"
"No, but plenty of plunder."
"That is not enough, we want revenge. Odin and Thor will not know
their children; our spears should not be bright."
"They must have been forewarned; Eric said that they had taken away a
great many things."
"Why could we not trace them?"
"Because there is no time; we are too far from the army and fleet; we
must return immediately, before the country takes the alarm; remember
we are only fifty."
"Yes, but mounted upon the best horses, and the first warriors of our
family; we may take some plunder, and send a few Englishmen to
Niffelheim, before we get back; Anlaf would not let us stay to touch
anything as we came."
"No; all his desire was to get to this Aescendune."
"Then the lad whom we made into a target is the only victim, while our
kinsfolk's blood, shed near here, cries for vengeance."
"He died bravely."
"Yes, that is a Christian's kind of courage."
"Well, perhaps some day they will learn to fight, and then--"
"Their songs tell them of an Alfred who defeated our best warriors."
"That was long ago; if you go back far enough these English were sea
kings before they were spoiled by becoming Christians."
"Hush; I think I hear steps."
"Who comes?" cried one of the guards, challenging a newcomer.
"I, Anlaf, your chief."
And the father of Alfgar appeared on the scene.
Of average height, Anlaf possessed vast muscular powers; his sinews
stood out like tight cords, and his frame, although robust, was yet
such that there seemed no useless flesh about him. His hair was a deep
grizzled red, as also his beard, and his eyes were of the same tinge,
his nose somewhat aquiline, and his whole features, weatherworn as
they were, were those of one born to command, while they lacked the
sheer brutality of expression so conspicuous in some of his
subordinates.
Ho addressed a few words to the guards, and they led him to Alfgar.
"Cut him loose," he said.
They did so.
He looked mournfully yet sternly on the youth, who himself trembled
all over with emotion.
"Alfgar," he said, "do I indeed see my son?"
"You do, my father."
"Follow me; nay, you are wounded--lean on my arm."
Alfgar's thigh had, it will be remembered, been pierced by an arrow,
but the wound was not deep, and with his father's assistance he could
proceed. He knew where Anlaf led. At length they came upon a deserted
clearing, and there he paused until Alfgar, who could scarcely keep
up, stood by his side.
Before them the moonbeams fell upon a dark charred mass of ruins in
the centre of the space.
"This is the spot where father and son should meet again," said Anlaf
and he embraced his son.