Yet though the Romans were gone, the Goth-folk were very hard bested.
They had been overthrown, not sorely maybe if they had been in an alien
land, and free to come and go as they would; yet sorely as things were,
because the foeman was sitting in their own House, and they must needs
drag him out of it or perish: and to many the days seemed evil, and the
Gods fighting against them, and both the Wolfings and the other kindreds
bethought them of the Hall-Sun and her wisdom and longed to hear of
tidings concerning her.
But now the word ran through the host that Thiodolf was certainly not
slain. Slowly he had come to himself, and yet was not himself, for he
sat among his men gloomy and silent, clean contrary to his wont; for
hitherto he had been a merry man, and a joyous fellow.
Amidst of the ridge whereon the Markmen now abode, there was a ring made
of the chief warriors and captains and wise men who had not been slain or
grievously hurt in the fray, and amidst them all sat Thiodolf on the
ground, his chin sunken on his breast, looking more like a captive than
the leader of a host amidst of his men; and that the more as his scabbard
was empty; for when Throng-plough had fallen from his hand, it had been
trodden under foot, and lost in the turmoil. There he sat, and the
others in that ring of men looked sadly upon him; such as Arinbiorn of
the Bearings, and Wolfkettle and Thorolf of his own House, and Hiarandi
of the Elkings, and Geirbald the Shielding, the messenger of the woods,
and Fox who had seen the Roman Garth, and many others. It was night now,
and men had lighted fires about the host, for they said that the Romans
knew where to find them if they listed to seek; and about those fires
were men eating and drinking what they might come at, but amidmost of
that ring was the biggest fire, and men turned them towards it for
counsel and help, for elsewhere none said, "What do we?" for they were
heavy-hearted and redeless, since the Gods had taken the victory out of
their hands just when they seemed at point to win it.
But amidst all this there was a little stir outside that biggest ring,
and men parted, and through them came a swain amongst the chiefs, and
said, "Who will lead me to the War-duke?"
Thiodolf, who was close beside the lad, answered never a word; but
Arinbiorn said; "This man here sitting is the War-duke: speak to him, for
he may hearken to thee: but first who art thou?"
Said the lad; "My name is Ali the son of Grey, and I come with a message
from the Hall-Sun and the stay-at-homes who are in the Woodland."
Now when he named the Hall-Sun Thiodolf started and looked up, and
turning to his left-hand said, "And what sayeth thy daughter?"
Men did not heed that he said _thy_ daughter, but deemed that he said
_my_ daughter, since he was wont as her would-be foster-father to call
her so. But Ali spake:
"War-duke and ye chieftains, thus saith the Hall-Sun: 'I know that by
this time Otter hath been slain and many another, and ye have been
overthrown and chased by the Romans, and that now there is little counsel
in you except to abide the foe where ye are and there to die valiantly.
But now do my bidding and as I am bidden, and then whosoever dieth or
liveth, the kindreds shall vanquish that they may live and grow greater.
Do ye thus: the Romans think no otherwise but to find you here to-morrow
or else departed across the water as broken men, and they will fall upon
you with their whole host, and then make a war-garth after their manner
at Wolf-stead and carry fire and the sword and the chains of thralldom
into every House of the Mark. Now therefore fetch a compass and come
into the wood on the north-west of the houses and make your way to the
Thing-stead of the Mid-mark. For who knoweth but that to-morrow we may
fall upon these thieves again? Of this shall ye hear more when we may
speak together and take counsel face to face; for we stay-at-homes know
somewhat closely of the ways of these Romans. Haste then! let not the
grass grow over your feet!
"'But to thee, Thiodolf, have I a word to say when we meet; for I wot
that as now thou canst not hearken to my word.' Thus saith the
Hall-Sun."
"Wilt thou speak, War-duke?" said Arinbiorn. But Thiodolf shook his
head. Then said Arinbiorn; "Shall I speak for thee?" and Thiodolf nodded
yea. Then said Arinbiorn: "Ali son of Grey, art thou going back to her
that sent thee?"
"Yea," said the lad, "but in your company, for ye will be coming
straightway and I know all the ways closely; and there is need for a
guide through the dark night as ye will see presently."
Then stood up Arinbiorn and said: "Chiefs and captains, go ye speedily
and array your men for departure: bid them leave all the fires burning
and come their ways as silently as maybe; for now will we wend this same
hour before moonrise into the Wild-wood and the Thing-stead of Mid-mark;
thus saith the War-duke."
But when they were gone, and Arinbiorn and Thiodolf were left alone,
Thiodolf lifted up his head and spake slowly and painfully:
"Arinbiorn, I thank thee: and thou dost well to lead this folk: since as
for me that is somewhat that weighs me down, and I know not whether it be
life or death; therefore I may no longer be your captain, for twice now
have I blenched from the battle. Yet command me, and I will obey, set a
sword in my hand and I will smite, till the God snatches it out of my
hand, as he did Throng-plough to-day."
"And that is well," said Arinbiorn, "it may be that ye shall meet that
God to-morrow, and heave up sword against him, and either overcome him or
go to thy fathers a proud and valiant man."
So they spake, and Thiodolf stood up and seemed of better cheer. But
presently the whole host was afoot, and they went their ways warily with
little noise, and wound little by little about the Wolfing meadow and
about the acres towards the wood at the back of the Houses; and they met
nothing by the way except an out-guard of the Romans, whom they slew
there nigh silently, and bore away their bodies, twelve in number, lest
the Romans when they sent to change the guard, should find the slain and
have an inkling of the way the Goths were gone; but now they deemed that
the Romans might think their guard fled, or perchance that they had been
carried away by the Gods of the woodland folk.
So came they into the wood, and Arinbiorn and the chiefs were for
striking the All-men's road to the Thing-stead and so coming thither; but
the lad Ali when he heard it laughed and said:
"If ye would sleep to-night ye shall wend another way. For the Hall-Sun
hath had us at work cumbering it against the foe with great trees felled
with limbs, branches, and all. And indeed ye shall find the Thing-stead
fenced like a castle, and the in-gate hard to find; yet will I bring you
thither."
So did he without delay, and presently they came anigh the Thing-stead;
and the place was fenced cunningly, so that if men would enter they must
go by a narrow way that had a fence of tree-trunks on each side wending
inward like the maze in a pleasance. Thereby now wended the host all
afoot, since it was a holy place and no beast must set foot therein, so
that the horses were left without it: so slowly and right quietly once
more they came into the garth of the Thing-stead; and lo, a many folk
there, of the Wolfings and the Bearings and other kindreds, who had
gathered thereto; and albeit these were not warriors in their prime, yet
were there none save the young children and the weaker of the women but
had weapons of some kind; and they were well ordered, standing or sitting
in ranks like folk awaiting battle. There were booths of boughs and
rushes set up for shelter of the feebler women and the old men and
children along the edges of the fence, for the Hall-Sun had bidden them
keep the space clear round about the Doom-ring and the Hill-of-Speech as
if for a mighty folk-mote, so that the warriors might have room to muster
there and order their array. There were some cooking-fires lighted about
the aforesaid booths, but neither many nor great, and they were screened
with wattle from the side that lay toward the Romans; for the Hall-Sun
would not that they should hold up lanterns for their foemen to find them
by. Little noise there was in that stronghold, moreover, for the hearts
of all who knew their right hands from their left were set on battle and
the destruction of the foe that would destroy the kindreds.
Anigh the Speech-Hill, on its eastern side, had the bole of a slender
beech tree been set up, and at the top of it a cross-beam was nailed on,
and therefrom hung the wondrous lamp, the Hall-Sun, glimmering from on
high, and though its light was but a glimmer amongst the mighty wood, yet
was it also screened on three sides from the sight of the chance wanderer
by wings of thin plank. But beneath her namesake as beforetime in the
Hall sat the Hall-Sun, the maiden, on a heap of faggots, and she was
wrapped in a dark blue cloak from under which gleamed the folds of the
fair golden-broidered gown she was wont to wear at folk-motes, and her
right hand rested on a naked sword that lay across her knees: beside her
sat the old man Sorli, the Wise in War, and about her were slim lads and
sturdy maidens and old carles of the thralls or freedmen ready to bear
the commands that came from her mouth; for she and Sorli were the
captains of the stay-at-homes.
Now came Thiodolf and Arinbiorn and other leaders into the ring of men
before her, and she greeted them kindly and said:
"Hail, Sons of Tyr! now that I behold you again it seemeth to me as if
all were already won: the time of waiting hath been weary, and we have
borne the burden of fear every day from morn till even, and in the waking
hour we presently remembered it. But now ye are come, even if this Thing-
stead were lighted by the flames of the Wolfing Roof instead of by these
moonbeams; even if we had to begin again and seek new dwellings, and
another water and other meadows, yet great should grow the kindreds of
the Men who have dwelt in the Mark, and nought should overshadow them:
and though the beasts and the Romans were dwelling in their old places,
yet should these kindreds make new clearings in the Wild-wood; and they
with their deeds should cause other waters to be famous, that as yet have
known no deeds of man; and they should compel the Earth to bear increase
round about their dwelling-places for the welfare of the kindreds. O
Sons of Tyr, friendly are your faces, and undismayed, and the Terror of
the Nations has not made you afraid any more than would the onrush of the
bisons that feed adown the grass hills. Happy is the eve, O children of
the Goths, yet shall to-morrow morn be happier."
Many heard what she spake, and a murmur of joy ran through the ranks of
men: for they deemed her words to forecast victory.
And now amidst her speaking, the moon, which had arisen on Mid-mark, when
the host first entered into the wood, had overtopped the tall trees that
stood like a green wall round about the Thing-stead, and shone down on
that assembly, and flashed coldly back from the arms of the warriors. And
the Hall-Sun cast off her dark blue cloak and stood up in her
golden-broidered raiment, which flashed back the grey light like as it
had been an icicle hanging from the roof of some hall in the midnight of
Yule, when the feast is high within, and without the world is silent with
the night of the ten-weeks' frost.
Then she spake again: "O War-duke, thy mouth is silent; speak to this
warrior of the Bearings that he bid the host what to do; for wise are ye
both, and dear are the minutes of this night and should not be wasted;
since they bring about the salvation of the Wolfings, and the vengeance
of the Bearings, and the hope renewed of all the kindreds."
Then Thiodolf abode a while with his head down cast; his bosom heaved,
and he set his left hand to his swordless scabbard, and his right to his
throat, as though he were sore troubled with something he might not tell
of: but at last he lifted up his head and spoke to Arinbiorn, but slowly
and painfully, as he had spoken before:
"Chief of the Bearings, go up on to the Hill of Speech, and speak to the
folk out of thy wisdom, and let them know that to-morrow early before the
sun-rising those that may, and are not bound by the Gods against it,
shall do deeds according to their might, and win rest for themselves, and
new days of deeds for the kindreds."
Therewith he ceased, and let his head fall again, and the Hall-Sun looked
at him askance. But Arinbiorn clomb the Speech-Hill and said:
"Men of the kindreds, it is now a few days since we first met the Romans
and fought with them; and whiles we have had the better, and whiles the
worse in our dealings, as oft in war befalleth: for they are men, and we
no less than men. But now look to it what ye will do; for we may no
longer endure these outlanders in our houses, and we must either die or
get our own again: and that is not merely a few wares stored up for use,
nor a few head of neat, nor certain timbers piled up into a dwelling, but
the life we have made in the land we have made. I show you no choice,
for no choice there is. Here are we bare of everything in the wild-wood:
for the most part our children are crying for us at home, our wives are
longing for us in our houses, and if we come not to them in kindness, the
Romans shall come to them in grimness. Down yonder in the plain,
moreover, is our wain-burg slowly drawing near to us, and with it is much
livelihood of ours, which is a little thing, for we may get more; but
also there are our banners of battle and the tokens of the kindred, which
is a great thing. And between all this and us there lieth but little;
nought but a band of valiant men, and a few swords and spears, and a few
wounds, and the hope of death amidst the praise of the people; and this
ye have to set out to wend across within two or three hours. I will not
ask if ye will do so, for I wot that even so ye will; therefore when I
have done, shout not, nor clash sword on shield, for we are no great way
off that house of ours wherein dwells the foe that would destroy us. Let
each man rest as he may, and sleep if he may with his war-gear on him and
his weapons by his side, and when he is next awakened by the captains and
the leaders of hundreds and scores, let him not think that it is night,
but let him betake himself to his place among his kindred and be ready to
go through the wood with as little noise as may be. Now all is said that
the War-duke would have me say, and to-morrow shall those see him who are
foremost in falling upon the foemen, for he longeth sorely for his seat
on the days of the Wolfing Hall."
So he spake, and even as he bade them, they made no sound save a joyous
murmur; and straightway the more part of them betook themselves to sleep
as men who must busy themselves about a weighty matter; for they were
wise in the ways of war. So sank all the host to the ground save those
who were appointed as watchers of the night, and Arinbiorn and Thiodolf
and the Hall-Sun; they three yet stood together; and Arinbiorn said:
"Now it seems to me not so much as if we had vanquished the foe and were
safe and at rest, but rather as if we had no foemen and never have had.
Deep peace is on me, though hitherto I have been deemed a wrathful man,
and it is to me as if the kindreds that I love had filled the whole
earth, and left no room for foemen: even so it may really be one day. To-
night it is well, yet to-morrow it shall be better. What thine errand
may be, Thiodolf, I scarce know; for something hath changed in thee, and
thou art become strange to us. But as for mine errand, I will tell it
thee; it is that I am seeking Otter of the Laxings, my friend and fellow,
whose wisdom my foolishness drave under the point and edge of the Romans,
so that he is no longer here; I am seeking him, and to-morrow I think I
shall find him, for he hath not had time to travel far, and we shall be
blithe and merry together. And now will I sleep; for I have bidden the
watchers awaken me if any need be. Sleep thou also, Thiodolf! and wake
up thine old self when the moon is low." Therewith he laid himself down
under the lee of the pile of faggots, and was presently asleep.