CHAP. XII.
It was past midnight when Drost Aage, with his troop of horsemen, drewnear the Issefiord near Holbek. The weather was calm and frosty, thesnow sparkled in the starlight winter night, the marshes and all thepools by the road side were frozen, but the ford was still open andpassable. Holbek rather resembled a ruin than a town; instead ofhouses, there were now chiefly to be seen single walls and solitaryhearths. Five years before the town had been plundered and nearly burntdown by the Norwegian fleet, in the feud with Marsk Stig and theoutlaws. Some small houses, however, had been rebuilt. The church andthe monastery of the Gray Friars stood unscathed, as well as thecastle, which had been lately put in good repair by Junker Christopher,and which, it appeared, he now intended, despite the king'sprohibition, to make as strong a fortress as Kallundborg.
By Aage's side rode an elderly captain of horse, Sir Ribolt's brother,a silent, serious personage, whom the Drost informed by the way of whatwas here to be attempted. When they approached the town they halted,and had their horses rubbed down, while each horseman received hisseparate directions. They then rode slowly, and as quietly as possible,through the snow-covered streets of the town, and past the monastery,where all lay in profound slumber. At the castle also the inmatesseemed to be reposing in the greatest calmness and security; even thewarders on the battlements were asleep. They examined the castlenarrowly on every side. There was not a light to be seen in the wholeof the upper story; it was only from the knights' hall, opposite theford, that a faint light gleamed from a window; and at the quay behindthe castle lay a boat with a red sail, from which glimmered the lightof a horn lantern. On the quay a fat knight, wrapped in a fox-skinpelisse, paced up and down, apparently waiting for some one; he oftenyawned, and rubbed his hands, while he looked up impatiently at thewindow from whence gleamed the solitary light. A rough-looking,one-eyed fellow, with a hideous and bloated visage, lay half asleep onthe rampart.
"If thou fallest asleep, and drop'st into the ford, Kyste! thou wiltcheat the rope-maker of an hempen cord," said the fat knight, andlaughed at his own wit.
"Ha, indeed! think ye the halter is so sure of me. Sir Palle?" mutteredthe fellow; "_you_ may well crack your jests, you are neither made tobe drowned nor hanged; with your round carcass, you would swim like anale barrel, and he who would hang you must risk his own neck."
"Well," answered Palle, yawning, "mine is a very politic shape; thouand thy daring masters might need such an one. But what the devil hasbecome of them? They are wrangling and consulting a confounded timetogether."
"It concerns high play, though, Sir Palle," muttered the man, flappinghis arms around his body to keep himself warm. "Had I but a good can ofGerman ale at my side, of a surety I would keep my eyes open."
"If thou canst keep one eye open it deserves all honour, since thouhast not more by thee," jested the knight. "But what the devil is thejunker about?" he continued, "to set me to watch here in frost and coldwhile he consults on weighty matters in his warm private chamber! Me,his right hand, and let into all his secrets! But tell me, Kyste, whatmeans this secret nightly visit? The proud Niels Brock and Johan Pape Iwell know; they are two limbs of Satan, and I can easily divine whatthey would be at; but who was the third stranger thou broughtesthither,--yon little fellow, with the hump and the red mantle?"
"It is the Evil One himself, I almost believe," answered the deserter,and crossed himself; "a wizard at the least. I will be hanged if heunderstands not the black art. They call him wise Master Thrand; he hasbeen condemned to fire and stake by the pope, and banished both bykings and emperors; but he snaps his fingers at them all--he laughs atthe world's governors and rulers, and cares not for our Lord or ourLady, either, when he is on the seas. If he is right, then are we allfools together in Christendom, and should obey none other than _him_our master, who is within us and in all things; but that passes myunderstanding. He can be pious too when it serves his turn. I saw thatwhen he kissed the archbishop's hand at parting, and took the letter ofabsolution, which truly he afterwards cast overboard--he is a goodfriend of Niels Brock, and can make gold, they say."
"Then would he might teach us and the junker that art!" said Palle;"then it were sin should he be burned for a little touch of heresy--forthat he will one day burn in the other world. But tell me, Kyste, ifthou and thy masters come from Hammershuus, from the archbishop, howdarest thou appear before the junker? The archbishop hath given himover, as well as the king, to the devil; and I must needs admit thejunker hath been worse to him than ten devils."
"That's the great folks' business," answered Kyste. "I serve the manwho pays best, and ask not of aught besides--had I known the archbishopbrought not so much as a mark with him, and should lose all he expectedfrom Skaane, the devil take me if I would have perilled my life for hissake."
"You had a rough passage, then, with him from Sjoeborg?"
"Yes, you may well say that;--we were hard put to it ere we got himhoused. We were obliged to run in under Hveen; and we lay with our lifein our hands a whole day and two nights at Saltholm.--They were chasingus every where with barks and those confounded fishing smacks; but thefog and the bishop's prayers helped us that once. We sailed, in perilof our lives, in a howling storm, to Kaasebjerg, and by the time wereached Hammershuus we were half perished with cold and hunger; andwhat got we for our pains? Mad Morten the cook got a bishop's letterfor a pilgrimage. I and Ole Ark got a dry blessing with three wizenedfingers, and a fresh absolution for ten years' sins. It may have itsuse;--I never slight God's gifts; but such like gifts help little tofill purse and stomach. Of course," he added, "we have now leave toseek our bread where we can find it, and plunder our Lord's and thearchbishop's enemies till our dying day, without having a hair singedin purgatory for it; but----"
"Content thyself, Kyste; it will be a livelihood, nevertheless,"interrupted Palle. "But if thy new masters side with the archbishop Icannot imagine what the devil they want here--the junker and thearchbishop agree together like cat and dog."
"As I said, that's the great folks' business," answered the deserter."What they have plotted with the archbishop at Hammershuus I can'ttell; but could they patch up an agreement for the junker with MasterGrand, and get the ban done away, he would have nought against it, Itrow; and one service is as good as the other. If the junker gets intoa scrape with the king, he will need a prop; and if the king goes tothe wall, the junker perhaps will get uppermost, and may help hisfriends again. But that concerns not me; matters may turn out as thefoul fiend pleases for aught I care, so long as there are good oars tobe had, and something to lay one's hands on. But what was that noise?Heard ye not horses tramp on the other side of the castle?"
"Dream'st thou, Kyste? Who would visit the castle so late?" said Palle,listening anxiously.
"Here I have _my_ masters. Now any one may come that Satan pleases,"said the deserter, and ran towards the vessel.
Two tall men, in ample grey mantles, and with hoods over their heads,accompanied by a little hump-backed personage, in a red cloak, cameforth from a secret door in the castle wall, and passed over a smalldrawbridge which was let down over the outer castle moat. They hasteddown to the quay, where they greeted Sir Palle by a silent nod, and,without uttering a word, entered the vessel, which instantly pushed offfrom the shore, and set sail. Sir Palle shook his head thoughtfully,and looked after them as he listened, and thought he heard a distantnoise of arms and horses' hoofs without the castle gate. He hasted overthe small drawbridge before which he had stood on guard, and drew it uphastily behind him. He then passed quickly through the private doorinto the castle.
On the opposite side of the outer fortification stood Drost Aage withhis horsemen, who, according to his orders, had led their horsesslowly, and one at a time, over the half-completed drawbridge, which asyet could not be drawn up. The strongly secured castle gate was shut,and they had knocked several times, apparently without being heard byany one. "Who is there?" at last said a drowsy voice from thebattlem
ent over the gate. It was the watchman or warder of the castle,who now stood up, with a long spear in the one hand, and an alarm hornin the other.
"Sleep'st thou at thy post, watch?" called Aage, in a stern tone;"seest thou not it is the king's men who would enter? Haste! let theporter open to us instantly.--This is the new garrison."
"New garrison! That know we nought of here," muttered the warder. "Ishall have to blow the horn, then, as the junker hath commanded."
"A single sound costs thee thy life, fellow!" menaced the Drost. "Wherethe king himself commands no junker hath a word to say."
"The Lord bless you, if that be true, noble sir!" said the warder,joyfully; "I shall then not have to ride the wooden horse to-morrowbecause I slept?"
"Haste thee! or we force the gates."--To Aage's surprise, the castlegate was opened without demur in a few minutes. The troop presentlyfilled the castle yard. Guards were immediately stationed at all theentrances, as well as on the towers and the battlements on the wallsurrounding the fortress. This was done hastily, and with as littlenoise as possible. The sound of so many horses' hoofs and clashingweapons had, notwithstanding, awakened all the inhabitants of thecastle, who peeped in dismay out of the windows and loopholes, ignorantinto whose hands it had fallen. But the Drost now ordered threetrumpeters to call together all the unarmed household servants, withall the men-at-arms in the castle. He announced to the warder and thehousehold, in the king's name, that they were released from theirduties here in the junker's service; and that the king for the presenthad taken possession of the castle himself. Those who would enter hisservice, and swear fealty to him, might remain; the rest were atliberty to withdraw, and serve the junker at his other castles andestates. On hearing this proclamation fear was suddenly changed intogeneral rejoicing, "Long live the king!" re-echoed from mouth to mouth.There was not a single domestic who hesitated to change masters; andmany expressions and exclamations were heard which showed how littleJunker Christopher had understood to win the good will of hisdependants. As soon as the new force had garrisoned all the posts,Drost Aage, with the remainder of his troop, entered the castle. Thesteward was the first person who appeared. He was a taciturn personage,of short stature, with a half German accent. He delivered the keys ofthe castle to the Drost, and seemed to share in the generalsatisfaction; but as soon as he had installed his unexpected guests hevanished, and did not again make his appearance.
Ere the day had dawned, Drost Aage was again on horseback, and, withthe half of his troop of horse, quitted Holbek castle, and took theroad to Kallundborg. Sir Ribolt's brother remained as commandant, withstrict orders not to open the gates to any one, or give up the castleto the junker, ere he had the king's warrant and seal for so doing.
"Sir Drost," said an old horseman, as they rode out of the stillslumbering town, amid its ruins and deserted sites, "was it then yourown order that we might not stop any one who would out of the castle;and that none, under pain of death, might lift a hand against thehigh-born junker, if he was on the spot?"
"That was the king's command to us all," answered the Drost.
"Then I now know that I was right, even though I did let rogues andtraitors slink off," continued the horseman. "I stood on guard at thegate of the back court. Sir Drost, and I saw three men in disguise leadtheir horses out of the stable. They disappeared through the rampartgate close to the ford, and the Lord only knows what became of them. Mycomrades thought we should have stopped and seized them, for they stoleso strangely away, and looked around them on all sides; but I said,'No! it is a criminal act if we touch them,' and we let them 'scape.The one was assuredly the little German who was forced to give you thekeys; the other was a fat fellow, who could hardly waddle away; but thethird was a tall stern man; he swore, and laid about him, at everystep. I could almost take my oath it was the junker himself. He washardly twelve paces from me when he caught a sight of me, and shyedoff, as it were.--He led his horse over the dunghill, that he might notcome too near us, I suppose; but then the hood fell back from hisneck, and I saw the long black hair you know of; it is as rough as ahorse-tail. No one in the country has such dark unsightly hair asthe junker. But, as I say, we let him go, and budged not from thespot.--The king himself will know how to chastise him, thought I."
"Good!" exclaimed the Drost; "thou hast behaved as was thy duty--as tothe rest, what is between the king and his brother concerns not us, andstill less whether the junker's hair be fine or coarse." He thenspurred his horse, and proceeded at a brisk trot, without stopping.
Ere Drost Aage, with his horsemen, reached Kallundborg, the kingapproached the town, with the greater part of his chivalry, and a morenumerous troop of horsemen and spearmen than he was ever wont to takewith him when about to visit his vassals or one of his castles. It wasnoon. The horses foamed with hard riding. The troop halted at St.George's Hospital, upon the high hill just without the town.
King Eric and the Outlaws, Vol. 1 Page 13