CHAPTER XIV. HOW WULFRIC AND RAUD SEARCHED TOGETHER.
I sat in the warm sun under the wide spread of the farmhouse eaves,dreaming my dreams with the dog at my feet, for so soon as the Maytime came in I must needs get into the open air, and grow strongerdaily.
So it came to pass that one day up the green farm lane came astranger, at whom the dog barked not, as was his wont, but ran tomeet as if he were some well-loved friend. And it was Raud, his oldmaster, who came, lightly mail clad, and with a short hunting spearinstead of staff in his hand, and whistling his "Biarkamal" asever.
Now with Raud I had no quarrel concerning the death of the king,for well I knew that what he had done was truly in mercy, nor hadhe taken any part in what went before. So I greeted him heartilyenough, for all that with the sight of him came back to me, with asharp pang, the memory of how I saw him last. And he rejoiced tosee me again.
"I have half feared that I should find you gone," he said; "for,when I heard of this from Hubba's men, I must needs come and findyou, and little hope had I that you would live."
"I have nearly died, they say," I answered; "but I think that I oweit to you that I was not slain in Hoxne woods yonder."
"Why, not altogether," he answered, sitting on the settle by me,and looking me over, from arm yet in sling to lame leg. "Some ofthe men with Ingvar and me wanted to slay you before they left thatplace; but Ingvar growled so fiercely that they must let you be,that they said no more, nor even would look your way again. But hehimself looked at you, and said strange things to himself."
"What said he?" I asked, wondering.
"He said, paying no heed to me, 'Now, Wulfric--you will hate meforever more, nor do I think that Lodbrok my father would bepleased with this;' after which he spoke words so low that I caughtbut one here and there, but they were somewhat of the lady Osritha,our mistress. After that he said to me, 'Leave him horse and armsand unbind him,' and then turned away. Yet if I had not bound youat first, maybe they would have had to slay you."
"That is true enough," I said; "surely I should have stood betweenyou and the king. But what came to Ingvar to make him speak thus tome?"
"Why, after the hot fit comes the cold, ever, though Ingvar theKing's cold rage is worse at times than his fury. But since thatday there has been somewhat strange about the king."
"I wonder not," I said; nor did I. "But how goes it with him?"
"Men say, though they dare not do so openly, that the ghost ofEadmund will not let him rest, and that mostly does he fear himwhen his rage is greatest. Many a time when the fury seemed like tocome on him, Ingvar turns white and stares suddenly beyond allthings, as though seeing somewhat beyond other men's ken, and thesweat runs cold from his forehead. Many a man has escaped himthrough this."
"Surely Eadmund holds him back thus from more cruelty," I thought.And aloud I said:
"What think you of the matter?"
"Why, that I am glad that I was bold enough to save your dying kingfrom more torture--else had I seen somewhat before me day andnight. Truly I see him now betimes in my sleep, but he ever smileson me. Moreover, this is true, that all those seven men who shotthe arrows died in that week. Two died in Elmham Church when youwere nigh slain."
"Tell me of that," I said.
For no man knew rightly what had befallen there, save that underthe charred ruins of the roof lay Bishop Humbert and one or two ofhis men.
But when he told me, it was as I thought. Those few men had foughtbravely until they were slain, themselves slaying three Danes. Butone of the bishop's men escaped, cutting through a throng at thedoorway and seizing a horse. Then was slain the bishop, who kneltat the altar, not even turning round to face the Danes as theycame.
So I hold ever that as I lay for dead I had seen those brave onespass me even as they were slain. But of this I said naught to Raud,at that time at least.
Now I asked Raud whence he had come, and he said:
"From London."
And at that I feared greatly, asking:
"Has Ingvar taken the city, therefore?"
"Not the king himself, but Guthrum went into London, taking goodransom for peace."
"Where is Ethelred the king of England?" I said, half to myself.
"Ethelred?--he minds naught but Wessex for good reason. For Halfdenand Bagsac and the Sidracs are on one side of him, and Ingvar andHubba the other, waiting for him to make peace. But there is liketo be fighting. Alfred, the king's brother, has a brave heart and ahard hand."
"Then all is quiet in London?"
"Peaceful enough; and there Guthrum the King holds court, and Ithink men are well content with him."
"Of what is Guthrum king?" I asked, for I had not heard him calledby that name before. The only other king of the host beside thethree jarls was Bagsac.
"Why, of East Anglia. He holds it for Ingvar, while he tries to addWessex for his own to Mercia. Halfden will be king in Northumbria,maybe, and Hubba over another of the kingdoms."
So they had already parted out the land among them beforehand! Woefor us therefore, for unless a leader was raised up among us,surely all England must own Danish overlords! But I had heardAlfred the Wessex Atheling well spoken of as a warrior.
However, what was that to us of East Anglia? We had been desertedby Wessex at our need as it seemed, and these Danes were as nearkin to us as Wessex Saxons.
"How did you come to leave Ingvar's service?" I asked, not beingwilling to dwell on this matter.
"I think my face spoke to him too plainly of that which was inHoxne wood--and so he bade me stay with Guthrum. Nor was I loth,for I would find you again."
Then I was touched a little by the kindness of this rough warrior,and thanked him. After that we sat silent for a while, and the gooddame brought out food and ale for Raud, and I envied his pleasuretherein, for I took little as yet.
Now for many days past a great longing to be away from this placehad filled my mind, and now seemed to be the time.
"Take me to London, Raud," I said.
"Why, that is part of my errand here," he answered, smiling. "Ihave a message to you from Guthrum the King."
"What might that be?"
"He wants to speak to you as one who is known to be friend to Daneand Anglian alike, and being blamed by neither for friendship withthe other. So he would have you give him counsel."
"Let me get to London," I said, "and then I will answer. I cannotnow."
So Raud bided in the farm with me for a while, and now with newthoughts and with his talk of Halfden and Osritha, I mendedquickly, for it was my troubled mind that had kept me back mostly,as I cared for nothing.
One day I felt strong again, waking up and taking delight in thesmell of the fresh morning and in the sunlight. And I ate heartilyof the brown bread and milk they gave me, and afterwards told Raudof what I had been long thinking.
"All things are quiet in the land now. Let us gather a few of mypeople and seek the head of our king, if you fear not to go intoHoxne woods."
Raud thought for a while before he answered me.
"I fear not, for the poor king thanked me, smiling at me. Let me gowith you."
So that day the dame sent messages by her son to some who had comeback to their places, and in the evening when he came home, therewere with him two of Bishop Humbert's monks, dressed like churls,for they dared not wear their habits. These two and some otherswould gladly come with me on my search.
Next day, therefore, they set me on a pony that was quiet, andslowly we went towards Hoxne, coming thither in the afternoonearly, seeing no Danes anywhere, while many of our folk were backand at work in the fields.
Then I asked Raud if these poor people were safe now.
"Surely, master," he said, for so he would call me, having heardthe farm people name me thus. "There is none so great differencebetween you and us, and we Danes love to be at peace if we may. Ithink there will be no more trouble here. And, anyway, we are toowise to hinder a harvesting of that we may eat."
So too
thought I, and my heart was less sad after that ride, thoughthere was not one place left unburnt of all that we saw.
When we came to Hoxne I told the two monks where we had bestowedthe king's body, bidding them look to see if it was not disturbed.And they said that his bones were safely there.
Now we must seek for the head of the king, and in that Rand couldnot help us, for one had ridden away with it while he was taken upwith me and my plight.
So we went towards that place where the dog had taken us, andsearched long, until I, being weak, must get from off the pony andrest. I would ride back to the place where the king had been slainand sit there awhile; but first, knowing that Vig remembered thingswell, I sent him from me, bidding him search also, hoping that hewould not forget his last quest in this place. Yet what we mostfeared was that the forest beasts had made our search vain.
There were many men from the village with us now, for they hadfollowed the two monks, and they spread about over the wood far andwide, searching, while I sat at the foot of the oak tree to whichthe king had been bound, leaning my arms and head against the trunkthat had been stained with his blood, and thinking and praying, aswell I might in that sacred place.
I moved my hand, and felt something sticking from the hard bark andlooked to see what it was. It was an arrowhead, such a rough ironspike as men will use when they must make fresh arrows afterbattle, in all haste, and have to use what they can first find. Theshaft was snapped close to the iron and the rawhide lashing thatheld it, and I could not take it out as I would, for the young oakwas sturdy and tough; and so I left it, thinking that I wouldreturn some day to cut it out.
That I did in after years, but the arrowhead was hidden, for thetree had grown fast, closing on it, as I think, and I could notfind its place. So it will be there for one to find hereafter,maybe long hence, for such a tree has many a hundred years to lastyet, if saved from mishap of wind or lightning or axe. Then I thinkwill men still know what that iron is, for Eadmund the King cannotbe forgotten.
Presently it seemed to me that the voices I heard in the wood, asthe searchers called to each other, drew closer together, crying:
"Where are you?"
"Here--here!"
And then was a sort of outcry, and a silence, and I hoped thatmaybe they had found what they sought. So I rose up and went slowlyand limpingly to the place where they seemed to be.
I met them in a green glade. And foremost came the two monks,bearing between them a cloak, wherein was surely that we lookedfor, and after them came my dog and Raud, and then the rest. Andwhen they saw me they cried softly to me:
"Master, we have found the head of our king."
So they laid open the cloak before me, and I knelt and looked. Andthere was indeed the head of Eadmund, seeming whole and fresh aswhen I had last seen him; and his looks were very peaceful, for onhis face was still that smile with which he had greeted death atRaud's hands.
Then, seeing that, the rough Dane was fain to turn away and leanarms and face against a tree trunk, weeping as weeps a child thatwill not be comforted.
After a little I asked how they had found the head. And one of thevillagers, speaking low and holding his cap in his hands as thoughin the church, answered me.
"When I came to a certain thicket, I heard a crying, as it were,and I turned aside and looked, and at first was sorely afraid, foryon great wolf held the head between his paws, whining over it asin grief. Then I called to the rest, and they came, running, andwere afraid also till the good fathers came, to whom the wolf wasgentle, suffering them to take that which he guarded. And lo! hefollows us even now, as would a dog!"
So the man spoke, not having seen such a dog as mine before, fortill more came with the host there were none like him in our land.I told him that it was but my own dog; yet for all that, I knowthat this tale of a wolf passed for the truth over all the land asit flew from mouth to mouth, so that soon I myself heard from onewho knew me not very strange stories of that finding of ours.
Yet would that tale hardly be stranger than was the truth, that notone of the wild creatures, either beast or bird, had harmed ourking's sacred head. And how it should be so preserved in that placeI cannot tell, but I say what I saw. Yet his body was not sopreserved in the place where we had hidden it.
These things are beyond me, nor can I tell all the thoughts thatcame into my mind as I looked into the face of the king whom I hadloved, and who loved me.
Now would we take our treasure, as we must needs think it, toHoxne, and the monks were about to lift it again. But Raud cameforward very solemnly, begging that he might be allowed to bear it,"Because he would make what amends he might."
And I signed to the monks to suffer him to do so, and he took it.None else but I knew what part he had had with the other Danes inthis matter, and the monks did but think him grieving for what hiscomrades had done.
So he bore it to Hoxne village, and we passed the place where thechurch had been. There, amid the blackened ruins of the walls androof, stood the font of stone, fire reddened and chipped, yet withthe cross graven on its eastward face plain to be seen. And to thatplace Raud led us, none staying him, yet all wondering.
When he came there he strode over the burnt timber until he came tothe font, and there, under the graven cross, he set down his burdenvery gently, and stood up, looking in my face, and saying:
"Here will I leave the worship of Odin and cleave to that faith forwhich Eadmund the King died, and for which you, Wulfric, werewilling to die both in Jutland and here by Eadmund's side. Will anyforbid me?"
Then I knew that the man was in such earnest, that none, save heperilled his own soul, might hold him back, and I took his hand andspoke to the elder monk, saying:
"I will answer for this man, father, as to his will. If he knowsenough of our faith, I pray you baptize him straightway."
There was rain water in the font, sparkling and clear, and withoutany delay or doubt the good man came forward and stood thereby,while I yet held Raud's hand as his godfather.
"What know you of our faith, my son?" said the monk in his gentlevoice.
Now of his own accord Raud faced to the eastward, and clasping hishands before him, spoke the words of the Creed, slowly andhaltingly maybe, but with knowledge thereof, and all that littlecompany, standing hushed until he ended, answered "Amen" with onevoice.
Then again, untaught by us he turned to the west, where the sun waseven now sinking, and lifting his right hand very solemnly he putaway from him the false gods of his forefathers, and the goldensunlight made his face very glorious, as I thought.
"It is well, my son," said the old monk.
So he was baptized, and I gave him the new name of Cyneward{xxii}, for the memory of Eadmund the King and what he did forhim in saving him from torture as best he might. And surely he wasthe first fruit of the martyrdom of him whose head he had borne.
Then when all was done he took up his burden again, softly andreverently, saying:
"Life I took, and life has been given me. This is not the old wayof life for life, but it is better."
So he gave back the head to the monks, and they, wondering at him,but greatly rejoicing, took it, and stood awhile pondering where wemight safely bestow it.
Then came one of the villagers, telling of a stone-walled chamberthat had been a well in days long gone by, hard by the churchporch. That we found after some labour, moving much ruin from overit, and therein we placed the bones and head of our king, coveringit again until better days should come. And I, thinking of myriches in the hands of Ingild, promised that when it might be doneI would see to raising the church afresh, to be over the ashes ofthe king.
So our little company parted, and Cyneward, who had been Raud, andI went back with the elder monk and the farm folk to our place,going slowly in the warm twilight, with our hearts at rest, andfull of the wonders we had seen that day.
Only one thing would the monk and I ask Cyneward, for we wonderedhow he had learned our faith so well. And that he answe
red gladly.
"Ever as Wulfric and I escaped from the vengeance of Ingvar towardsHedeby I wondered that one should be strong enough to defy the Asirand their godar for the sake of the new faith. So I sat in thechurch of Ansgar among the other heathen and heard somewhat. Andagain in London of late, where Guthrum will have no man harmed forhis religion, I have listened and learnt more. So when I neededthem, the words were ready. Now, therefore, both in life and death,Wulfric, my master, I thank you."
But I was silent, knowing how much greater a part in this I mighthave had. For I thought that, but for the need of proving my faithor denying it, I should have surely been as a heathen among heathenin those days in Jutland. Yet Beorn asked me to pray for him, andthat I had done, and it had kept me mindful when I had elseforgotten.
So began the work Humbert the Bishop foretold before he died, andthat monk of his who saved his own life at Humbert's bidding forthe work, saw it, and rejoiced.
After this, in a week's time, Cyneward and I took horse and rodeaway to London, for the dame's son came back to me, having foundIngild, bringing me messages from him, and also from Egfrid andmany more. And all was well. At that time I could not reward as Iwould those good people who had thus cared for me, but I would sendpresents when I might. Yet they said they needed naught from me butto see me again at some time, which I promised, as well for my ownlove of them as for their asking.
We went unharmed and unquestioned, for all the land was at peace.Truly there were new-made huts where farmsteads had been, and atthe town gates were Danish axemen instead of our spearmen as ofold. Yet already in the hayfields Dane and Anglian wroughttogether, and the townsmen stood on Colchester Hill beside theDanish warriors, listening while gleeman and scald sang in rivalryto please both.
Little of change was there in London town, save again thescarlet-cloaked Danish guards and watchmen. Few enough of thesethere were, and indeed the host left but small parties in the townsbehind them in our land. Yet those few could hold the country inpeace, because men knew that at their back was the might ofIngvar's awful host, which came on a land unawares, marching moreswiftly than rumour could fly before it, so that not one might knowwhere the next blow would fall until suddenly the war beacons offlaming villages flared up, and it was too late to do aught butfly.
Yet in our land was none to fight for. No king had we to follow themartyr. Ethelred had left us alone, and already in the hearts ofmen grew up the thought that the strong hand of the Dane meantpeace.
In the house of good old Ingild, my second father, as he would haveme hold him, was rest at last. And there I found all whom I helddear gathered to meet me on the night when I came, for they hadfled by ship, as they had hoped, and had reached London safely.
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