The roar of that unseen battle came across the still water to us
without cease for well nigh half an hour. The first surety we had
that it was over was in the dying away of the noise and the coming
back to the shore of men from the front who were unwounded. After
that we could see the black mass of Irish climbing the hill to the
camp quietly, as if to tell their king that they had conquered.
There was much shouting thence shortly after they had passed within
the earthworks.
Then out of the gate of the camp, which was toward the river, came
a train of men, the leaders of which were mounted, and after them
swarmed the levies again. Dalfin was bringing his father to see the
place of the fight, and to welcome us as friends. It was not
altogether a new thing that Norseman and Dane should be known as
foes to one another here on the Irish coast, which both wasted. The
folk called us the "white" and the Danes the "black" Lochlannoch,
and I cannot say which they feared the most, though the Danes were
the most hated. But the Irish kings were not slow to take advantage
of our rivalries when they could.
Asbiorn came to me as I stood and watched the king coming out of
the camp. His face was white and drawn, but he was calm enough.
"Who was the tall, young chief on the red horse?" he asked me.
"Dalfin of Maghera, whom you let go with me," I answered.
"So I thought. Now, I think that he has avenged that doing on the
Caithness shore for you. It is not likely that my father has not
fallen; he was the leader of the wedge. There is no feud now
between you and me."
"There is not," I answered. "I do not know that I had ever thought
of one as possible."
"There would have been had Hakon slain Heidrek," he said.
The old law of the blood feud had its full meaning to him.
"If Heidrek had stayed his men to meet us, Hakon would have given
him terms rather than that this should have been the end," I said.
"I know it, for I heard him say so. But there was a touch of the
berserk in my father since his troubles came. This is not the first
time he has tried to fall fighting against odds. He would not have
listened to Hakon."
He sighed heavily, and then shook himself, so that his mail
rattled. I took his sword from the bottom of a boat on deck in
which I had set it, and gave it back to him, and he girt it on.
"So that is the end," he said. "And now I am my own man. Well, it
was a better end than might have been had Hakon waited to see if we
came raiding to Norway, as we most certainly should. Now I can
follow Hakon with a light heart, and maybe come to be known as an
honest man once more."
He said no other word, but turned and went forward. Bertric looked
after him and smiled.
"Hakon has a good follower there," he said. "I will see that he is
not overlooked. Heidrek was the son of a king in Jutland, and the
good blood will show itself at last."
"You know Hakon well," I said, having seen that the greeting
between those two was not of an every day sort, or as between
prince and follower merely.
"We two were long together in Athelstane's court," he answered. "I
also am Athelstane's foster son. He has many, according to our
custom."
There was a rush made for the entrance to the village by the Irish
who yet loitered on the shore staring at us. Some of them had
carried away the wounded from off the green already, and now they
left nothing to be seen of the track of the Danes across it. The
king was coming, and Hakon sent word to the cabin that the ladies
should come and see him. We lay perhaps three hundred paces from
the shore, and there was no sight to fray them now.
So they and we went to the after deck and watched, and there was
not long to wait. But it was Dalfin who came alone, and mounted on
a fresh horse. It was plain that he had been fighting, because he
had his left arm in a sling, though he managed his horse none the
worse for that. He rode down to the beach in all haste, with a
dozen men after him, and waved his hand to us. Then he dismounted,
and the men put off the nearest boat, into which he stepped. In
five minutes he was on the deck, and greeting us.
"This is wonderful," he said. "All this morning I have been
crossing the hills to reach here in the nick of time. I heard no
news, and I saw no messengers. I did not even know that Heidrek had
sailed hence and returned. Now you are here first, and one comes
with a message from you on the spot. The luck of the torque lingers
with Queen Gerda even yet."
He bowed to her in his way, and she laughed, and looked for the
gold. He had not it on him now.
"Have you parted with it already?" she asked.
"With the torque, but not with the luck, as it is to be hoped," he
said. "You will see my father wearing it soon. It must needs be on
the neck of the head of the realm."
"What were you while you wore it?" asked Thoralf, who knew the
Irish ways.
"Deputy king for the time," answered Dalfin dryly. "And in a hurry
to hand it over to my father therefore."
Now, as Dalfin had elder brothers, and there were chiefs almost as
powerful as the king himself, that was to be expected. Otherwise,
our friend might have had an evil time between them. Unless he had
chosen to put himself at the head of the men whom he had just led
to victory, and called to them to set the torque wearer on the
throne. They would have done it, by reason of the magic of the
thing; but there was no thought of treason in the mind of Dalfin,
though many a king's son would have grasped at the chance, holding,
perhaps, that as the sign of royalty had come to him, the throne
must needs come with it, though his father held it.
Then he told us how the fight had gone--how Heidrek fell at the
forefront of his steadfast wedge, and how but few men had been
taken unhurt. Hakon asked what he would do with those who were
taken.
"Give them to you," Dalfin answered carelessly, "if you will take
them out of this land."
"I was going to ask for the ship," Hakon said.
"She is yours already. You drove her ashore, and the honour falls
to us. We should only make a big fire of her and dance round it.
Where is the other?"
"Your men took her round the bend below. There will be no more
trouble with Heidrek. We have his son, Asbiorn, here with us."
"Give him to me," said Dalfin at once; "give him to me, King Hakon.
I owe him much for a good turn he did me and Malcolm here, and I
cannot see him a captive."
"Malcolm and Bertric have claimed him already," said Hakon, with a
smile. "He is yonder, and has taken service with me, and I think I
must keep him."
"That is all one could want for a man," answered Dalfin. "Now, I
have to ask if you will go ashore and meet my father. He would also
see my two comrades, and, if it may be so, Queen Gerda."
But Thoralf would not hear of the king going ashore, nor would Earl
Osric. Gerda, too, shrank from facing the wild crowd of warriors
and the sights of the field which she needs must see more or less
of. Nor did Dalfin press the matter, for he knew that any little
spark might be enough to rouse the wild Irish against the Norsemen.
It was but a chance that Hakon had played the part of an ally. So
in the end Bertric and I went ashore with Dalfin and the two
hermits, as an embassy, so to speak, to represent Hakon.
We had a good welcome at all events, I suppose because men had
heard the tale of our voyage and wreck, and maybe of how Hakon
saved the hermits at last. Phelim had spoken thereof when he and I
went ashore just now, and word passes swiftly without losing in the
telling. They took us up through the village to the camp, and there
a tent was pitched, large and open in front, as the court of the
king.
The enclosure swarmed with men, wilder than any I had ever seen,
and picketed rows of most beautiful horses were along one side.
It was a strange court. The nobles were dressed in black or dull
saffron-coloured tunics, with great, shaggy cloaks of the natural
hue of the wool they were made of, and but for the rich gold
ornaments they wore on their arms and necks, there was little to
choose between their attire and that of their followers. Not one
wore mail, but their swords were good, and their spears heavy and
well cared for. As for helms, they had no need of them. Their hair
was amazingly thick and long, and was massed into great shocks on
their heads, and might turn a sword stroke. Even Dalfin had twisted
his up into somewhat like what it might have been before he left
Ireland, lest he should be out of the fashion, and it spoilt his
looks, though it would be many a long day before he had it properly
matted together again. It was strange to see men tossing these
shocks aside as they turned.
One other thing I noted at once, and that was how every man, high
or low, carried a long-handled axe, bright and keen. It was the
only weapon of some, and if they knew how to handle it, maybe they
needed no other.
Among all that crowd there were only two men who seemed to shine in
any magnificence. One was the old king, who sat waiting us in a
great chair, clad in royal robes of scarlet and white and green
which no Irish looms could have compassed, with a little golden
crown on his white hair, and the torque round his neck. The other
was a bishop in mitre and all state robes, wonderfully worked, and
with a crosier in his hand. Not having seen the like before I
wondered most at him, but his looks were kind and pleasant. Phelim
told me who and what he was afterward.
Myrkiartan came from his throne to greet us as we passed through a
lane of wild courtiers, who had looks which were not all of the
most friendly for us. But we paid no heed to them, though I thought
that Hakon was well advised when he sent us instead of coming
himself. That first greeting was for us alone as the comrades of
Dalfin, and it was a good welcome. Then the king went back to his
throne with all ceremony, to receive us as the embassy from Hakon.
There was no little state kept up in this court, and matters were
to be kept in their right order.
Now, I need say little of all this ceremony and the words which
passed of thanks to Hakon for driving the enemy to his end.
Myrkiartan made no suggestion that Hakon should stay here, and
seemed more willing to speed him on his way elsewhere. Presently,
he said, there should be sent to the strand oxen and casks of mead
as provender for the voyage, and Hakon was most welcome to take the
ship if he would.
Thereon Dalfin asked for the captives, and they were brought in--a
dozen Danes, who stared at their captors haughtily in spite of
their bonds. Then they spied Bertric in the splendid arms which
Gerda gave him, for we had come fully armed, and they looked toward
him as if they would ask his help, but were too proud to do so. And
then of a sudden one of them spoke my name, and I knew him, though
his face was half-hidden in the mud of the field on which some
common chance had sent him down. It was that man of ours who had
told me that there was always the chance of escape, and had tried
to gnaw my bonds when we were in the ship's forepeak--Sidroc, the
courtman. I did not pretend to know him then and there, thinking it
might seem proof that Hakon was in league with Heidrek in some way.
Presently, when his low cry was forgotten, I looked at him, and he
saw that I knew him, and was content.
"Look at the men, Bertric," said Dalfin. "See if there are any you
will care to take. You know them."
"We cannot leave any of them here," Bertric said to me. "Hakon can
set them ashore anywhere if he does not like them. Asbiorn might
manage them though, and with Hakon's men they will learn manners."
He spoke our own tongue of course, and the king asked what he said.
Dalfin said that Hakon would take them away altogether if the
clemency of the king would allow it. Whereon the king waved his
hand, and said that they should be sent down with the oxen.
Now, I did not think that this pleased the men of the court. There
was a sort of uneasy murmur for a time, and then there was a
silence, which grew somewhat awkward at last. I thought it was time
for us to go, for there was nothing else to say, but the bishop
came forward. He had been speaking with Phelim for some time, and
now told Myrkiartan how that Hakon was a good Christian man and had
saved the hermit brotherhood even now. That story made the black
looks pass at once, and after that it was easy to take our leave
and make our way out of the tent; and glad enough I was to be in
the open once more. The whispering of the nobles had not been
pleasant at times.
Dalfin came out with us, and he was grave. There had been words and
looks now and then among the group of men with his two brothers
which he did not like.
"You had better tell Hakon from me that he had best sail hence as
soon as possible. Maybe as soon as tide will serve. I will see that
you get the men now and at once. Never wait for the provender
unless it comes soon."
"Come down to the ship with us," I said. "Tell Hakon this yourself
if you will."
He shrugged his shoulders at that and glanced round him.
"If it were not for you two I doubt if Hakon would not have been
fallen on by this time," he said. "There are boats enough, hidden
in the village from Heidrek, which can be brought out at any
moment."
He was speaking in the Dansk, but suddenly took to the Erse with
some words or other of common farewell, as a tall Irish chief
passed with a scowl at us.
"Jealousies through and through this court," he said quickly, when
the man was out of hearing. "Already some pretend to be wroth with
me for having any dealing with Lochlannoch at all. I am the
youngest son, and my father favours me, more's the pity."
"Better quit it all, and come and help Hakon to the throne," I
said.
"If it were not for my father," he answered.
So then and there he bade us farewell, with messages to Gerda and
Hakon, and called some of his own men to see us to the ship. We
left him standing in the gate, looking after us somewhat sadly, as
we thought.
"Now," said Bertric, "it seems to me that one may guess why Dalfin
went to sea to find adventure. This court is not a happy home, take
it all round."
Halfway down to the ship we heard some one running after us, and
looked round. It was Father Phelim.
"Take me with you, my sons," he said, breathless. "I feared that
you would go without me."
"We had not thought you would care to sail with us again," I said.
He made no answer beyond a smile, and we went on. Men stood and
stared at us at every turning, axe in hand. In the lane they
wrangled over the spoils they gathered there from the fallen Danes,
and fought fiercely with the long helves of their weapons without
hurting one another at all by reason of their shock heads. One who
was felled thus would rise and laugh, and the quarrel was at an
end. They were a light-hearted folk to all seeming.
Once a handsome, frowning chief came past us at a gallop on his
swift horse. He was glittering with gold, but the steed had neither
saddle nor bridle. Its only harness was a halter, but the man rode
as if he were part of the horse, so that it was a pleasure to watch
him. It was more than either Bertric or I could have managed.
The Danish ship was afloat when we reached the waterside, for the
tide had risen swiftly in these upper waters, and the Irish had
helped to get her off, after plundering her. There were a dozen or
more of Hakon's men on board at this time, making her decks
shipshape again. But below the bend rose a black cloud of smoke,
for the other ship was on fire, and Hakon had sent a boat to see
that all was well with the ship he had left there.
There was no surprise at the message from Dalfin. Thoralf only
laughed, and Hakon said he would wait for half an hour in case the
supplies came. As for the men, he would take them willingly. There
was no need to arm them, and they would take their spell at the
oars.
Presently Irish came to the beach holding up spoils--helms and mail
shirts, and the Danish swords they did not know how to use. Hakon
bought them for silver pennies easily, and the folk thought
themselves well paid. So an hour passed, and then the hapless Danes
were driven down in a string to the water's edge, and we sent a
boat for them. One had a hasty message from Dalfin to say that in
no wise were we to wait for aught else. The Dane told me that there
was strife up at the camp, and the young prince had had difficulty
in getting them away.
Hakon spoke to the men, when they came on board, kindly, and bade
them take service with him if they would, as had Asbiorn, and, as
may be supposed, they were only too willing. And then I asked for
our courtman, telling Hakon how it came about that he was with
these pirates, and he turned him over to me at once as my special
follower. Nor need it be said how Sidroc greeted me after that
escape. He said that Heidrek's men had thrust a spear into his hand
and hustled him over the bows to take his chance with the rest,
unarmed save with that.
Thereafter, Hakon found mail and helm and sword for him, which had
come from the spoils, and he was happy. Nor was I any the less
comfortable on board for having him to tend myself and Bertric. But
that is of course.
From him we learned two things--one which Asbiorn had not yet told
us, and the other which he also would learn. Heidrek had fled from
us thinking that the ships could be only those of Sigtryg, the
Dublin king, with whom he had some deadly feud. I minded that when
Dalfin had offered ransom for both of us how Asbiorn had said that
the Irish shore was not open to him. Then, when he was thus pent up
by us, Heidrek had tried to cut his way to the camp and take
Myrkiartan prisoner, that he might hold him as hostage for safe
departure. It was a mad attempt, but at least had some meaning in
it which we could not understand at the time. Moreover, had it not
been for the men who came up with Dalfin it had been done.
Now Hakon made no delay. Thoralf and as strong a crew as could be
spared took charge of the Danish ship, and together the two vessels
cautiously made their way down the long reach and past the place
where Heidrek's other ship was still burning. By that time the dusk
was falling, but we were sure that all along the shores the Irish
watched us as they had watched us as we came.
The beacon fires had died down now, for their work was done, and
the fair reaches of water were still and peaceful in the evening
glow, looking even more beautiful than in the morning, for the tide
was full to the banks. Gerda came with the other ladies and sat on
deck, and spoke with Hakon of the treasure, which he promised to
seek with daylight.
"I would have you take it, King Hakon," she said. "I do not
altogether know its worth, but it may go toward the freeing of
Norway from Eric and the men who follow him."
"Nay," he answered, "I cannot take it from you."
"Once," she said, and she looked at me as I sat on the deck hard by
with Bertric, "once--it seems long ago, though it is but so few
days--I would have sent it into the deep with him who gathered it.
These friends of mine over-persuaded me, saying that I should need
it. Now I am in your care, and I have not so much as to hire a ship
to take me home. It was Thorwald's. What if you had come back and
asked him to help you? Would it not have been laid at your feet for
the sake of the old land and the old friendship?"
He smiled, but did not answer. So she set the gift before him once
more, with eager words. I knew, as I listened, that she would be
the happier if the wealth once dedicated, so to speak, to so high
an end as that gift to the old hero were taken from her charge, and
used to the freeing of the land she loved; and at last Hakon saw
that there was some deeper feeling about it than gratitude to
himself only.
"Well," he said, "it seems that I must not refuse. Only, I will put
it in this way--I am to know that you hold it for me in case I need
it. Be sure that if it is needed I will make haste to ask."
"Aye, and you will need it," said Earl Osric bluntly.
Then Gerda said: "Take it now, and use it if and when you need it.
Let it be so, I pray you, King Hakon."
The young king bowed and thanked her, and there that matter ended
for the time. Presently, after the ships had come to anchor with
the last light in the river mouth, and the men had spread the
awnings for us aft, he spoke to us about it, and I told him what I
thought. Also I told him how that Bertric and I had enough wealth
on us at this moment for the fitting out of a ship as we had
planned. Whereon he laughed.
"Keep that," he said, "and I shall be content. Gerda will know
nothing of the worth of what you have, and you will use it for her
if needed. I have a plan in my mind for her, which may be told
hereafter."
Then one of the men came to the opening of the awning.
"A boat, King Hakon, with two men in her, pulling to us from the
western bank."
"Hail her to keep off," said Hakon.
And Osric added that they should heave a big stone into her if she
did not. "Spies, most like," he said.
They hailed the boat, and had an answer at once.
"Tell Hakon that hither comes a courtman of Queen Gerda's."
Hakon said that it must be some man who had escaped; but Bertric
and I knew at once.
"It is Dalfin the Prince," we said. "He has had to fly from those
brothers of his."
So it was, and he had come to see more adventure with King Hakon.
"I might find enough if I stayed," he said; "but of an evil sort."
"Why, what is amiss then?" I said.
"Only that my brothers do not like favourites, and I happen to be
one for the moment. There would have been fighting if I had stayed,
and that would have ended in my good father being pushed off his
throne by my elder brother lest I should be named as successor to
the crown. Or else in sudden end to myself."
Then he laughed, as if somewhat pleasant came to mind.
"There are strange stories afloat concerning me and the torque
already," he went on. "It is said that the fairy queen has had me
in her court for all this time I have been away, and that she gave
me back the thing. So I have even fled suddenly and secretly, and
they will hold that she has lured me back again."
"It is not altogether for your own safety that you have fled," said
Hakon gravely.
"Faith, and so it is not," he answered. "I had but to lift my
finger, and the wearing of the torque would have set me on the
throne. And a mighty uneasy seat that would have been, too! I think
my father is used to it, and might have missed the seat. So I
left."
"For your father's sake," said Hakon, smiling at him. "Well, come
and help me to not quite so uneasy a realm, and all may be for the
best. There is little freedom for him who holds an Irish throne, as
it seems to me."