Havelok the Dane Part 38

So Withelm and Arngeir and I went foremost, and behind us came the courtmen, and in the midst of their shield wall was Havelok, with Raven and the banner at his side. After them, rank on rank and with close-locked shields, was such a force as had not been seen in Lindsey for many a long day. Alsi's men grew very silent as they saw us come on, until we reached, through a storm of arrows that could not stay us, the bank of the stream, and then they raised a war song that roared and thundered among the hills as though the tide was coming up the valley in one great wave. But we saved our breath until the first of us were on the banks of the stream, and then I shouted, and with a great shout of "Ahoy!" in answer, we charged through the stream and up the far bank, where Alsi's spearmen waited for us.

They crowded together as they saw how narrow our front was, and there was a hedge of steel before us three brothers; but the spear is not the weapon to use if one would check the onrush of the Northman's wedge, and shield and axe between them dashed and hewed a way to the men who got to their swords too late, and then we were in the midst of Alsi's line, with the gap that we had made widening behind us with each step that we took forward.

Now it was sheer hewing at the ma.s.s who crowded on us; and I mind how we seemed to fight in silence, although the battle cries were unceasing, and waxed ever louder; for it was as when one walks by the sh.o.r.e and thinks not at all of the noise of breakers that never ends. Now and then there was one shout that was new, and it seemed to be the only voice. Most of all, the noise grew on the wings where the savage Welsh fell on their masters and ancient foes in wild tumult.

We tried to cut our way to Alsi, for we could see him as he sat on his horse -- the only mounted man in all the hosts; but we could not reach him. And presently the time came when we who were foremost must let fresh men take our places. Sigurd stepped to my side, and Withelm fell back, and another took the place of Arngeir, and then my turn came, and we went slowly from the front to where the hollow centre of the wedge gave us rest. Only a few arrows fell there now and then; but the time for using bows was past, seeing that we were hand to hand with all the Lindsey host. And then I saw that Sigurd had done what we had failed in, for he had reached the shield wall that was round the king himself. And for a moment I was savage that the chance came to him so soon after I had left the fighting line; but then I minded that Eglaf, my friend, would be there, and I was glad that I need not cross swords with him after all. I had thought of that happening before the fight began, but in the turmoil of hottest struggle I had forgotten it.

Now Sigurd was before the thick ma.s.s of the housecarls, and hand to hand with them; and then he was among them, and he leapt at the bridle of Alsi's horse and grasped it. I saw the king's sword flash down on his helm, and he reeled under the stroke, but without letting go of the rein. Then the housecarls made a rush, and bore back our men, and the horse reared suddenly. There was a wild shout, and the war saddle was empty; and again our men surged forward, so that I could not see what had happened.

But now our Welshmen had been beaten back from the wings -- not easily, but for want of training -- and they were forced back across the brook, and there held our bank well, giving way no step further. The water kept them in an even front, against their will, as it were; and Alsi's men charged them in vain, knee deep in the stream that ran red. But that let loose the men who had been held back from us; and now we were overborne by numbers, and we began to go back. That was the worst part of the whole fight, and the hardest hour of all the battle, as may be supposed, for the wedge grew closer, as it was forced together by sheer weight. None ever broke into it.

Presently our rear was on the water's edge, and it seemed likely that in crossing there might be a breaking of the line; and when he saw that, Havelok called to me, and he went to the front with the courtmen round him. It was good to hear the cheers of our men as they saw the dancing banner above the fight, and beneath it, in the bright sun, the gold-circled helm of their king. The Lindseymen drew back a foot's pace as they saw the giant who came on them, and I heard some call that this was Curan of Grimsby, as if in wonder. Then we had to fight hard, and Sigurd fell back past me, with a wound on his shoulder where Alsi's sword had glanced from the helm. No life had been left to Sigurd had a better hand wielded the weapon; but he was not badly hurt. I could not see Alsi anywhere, nor Eglaf.

Steadily the numbers drove us back, though before Havelok was always a s.p.a.ce into which men hardly dared to come. The wedge was pushed away from us, and we had to fall back with it, until we crossed the stream; and there Sigurd swung the ma.s.sed men into line, and then came the first pause in the fight. The two hosts stood, with the narrow water between them, and glared on each other, silent now. And then the bowmen began to get to work from either side, until the arrows were all gone.

Now Havelok called to the foe, and they were silent while he spoke to them.

"Is Alsi yet alive?" he said; "for if not, I have no war with his men. If he is, let me speak with him."

None answered for a while, and the men looked at each other as if they knew not if the man they were fighting for lived or not.

Then one came forward and said, "Alsi lives, and we have not done with you yet. Get you back to your home beyond the sea!"

And then they charged us again; but the water was a better front for us than it had been for them, and across it they could not win. We drove them back once and twice; and again came a time when both sides were wearied and must needs rest.

So it went on until night fell. We never stirred from that water's edge, and the stream was choked with valiant English and hardy Danes; and yet the attacks came with the shout of "Out! out!" and the answer from us of "Havelok, ahoy!"

At last one who seemed a great chief came and cried a truce, for night was falling; and he said that if Havelok would claim no advantage therefrom, the men of Lindsey would get back from the field, and leave it free for us to take our fallen.

"But I must have your word that with the end of that task you go back to the place you now hold, that we may begin afresh, if it seems good to us, in the morning."

Then said Havelok, "That is well spoken, and I cannot but agree. Who are you, however, for I must know that this is said with authority?"

"I am the Earl of Chester," he answered. "Alsi has set the leading of the host in my hands, for he is hurt somewhat."

"I did not think that Mercians would have troubled to fight to uphold Alsi of Lindsey in his ways with his niece," Havelok said.

"What is that?" said the earl. "Hither came I for love of fighting, maybe, in the first place; and next to drive out certain Vikings. I know naught of the business of which you speak."

"Then," said I, "go and ask Eglaf, the captain of the housecarls, for he knows all about it. We are no raiding Danes, but those who fight for Goldberga of East Anglia."

At that a hum of voices went down the English line, and this earl bit his lip in doubt.

"Well," he said, "that is Alsi's affair, and I will speak to him. We have had a good fight, and I will not say that either of us has the best of it. Shall it be as I have said?"

"Ay," answered Havelok; and the earl drew off his men for half a mile, and in the gathering dusk we crossed the brook, and went on our errand across the field. It was not hard to find our men, for they lay in a great wedge as we had fought. There had been no straggling from that array, and no break had been made in its lines. Alsi had lost more than we, for his men had beaten against that steel wall in vain, and the arms of the Northman are better than those of any other nation.

We took the wounded back to the camp, and there Goldberga and the wives of our English thanes tended them; and as we gathered up the slain the Lindsey men were among us at the same work, and we spoke to them as if naught was amiss between us, nor any fight to begin again in the morning. And then we learned how few knew what we had come for. It was with them as with the Earl of Chester. They had no knowledge of Goldberga's homecoming, and least of all thought that at the back of the trouble were the wiles of Alsi. It was two years ago that Goldberga had gone, and her wedding had seemed to end her story. Now the men heard and wondered; and it is said that very many left Alsi that night and went home, angry with him for his falsehood.

Now when all was done we sought rest, and weary we were. I will say for myself that I did not feel like fighting next morning at all, for I was tired out, and the one or two wounds that I had were getting sorely stiff. Raven was much in the same case, and grumbled, sailor-wise, at the weight of the banner and aught else that came uppermost in his mind. Yet I knew that he would be the first to go forward again when the time came.

The host slept on their arms along the bank of the stream through the hot night, and the banner was pitched in their midst. Soon the moon rose, and only the footsteps of the sentries along our front went up and down, while across the water was the same silence; for both hosts were wearied out, and each had learned that the other were true men, and there was no mistrust on either side. When the light came once more we should fight to prove who were the best men at arms, and with no hatred between us.

Presently the mists crept up from the stream and wreathed the sleepers on either bank with white, swaying clouds, and I mind that the last thought I had before I closed my eyes was that my armour would be rusted by the clinging damp -- as if it were not war-stained from helm to deerskin shoe already with stains that needed more cleansing than any rust.

Then I waked suddenly, for someone went past me, and I sat up to see who it might be. The moon was very bright and high now, but the figure that I saw wading in the white mist was shadowy, and I could not tell who it was. And then another and yet another figure came from the rear of our line, and pa.s.sed among the sleeping ranks, and joined the first noiselessly; and after a little while many came, hurrying, and they formed up on the bank of the stream into the mighty wedge. And I feared greatly, for not one of the sleepers stirred as the warriors went among us, and I had looked on the faces of those who pa.s.sed me, and I knew that they were the dead whom I had seen the men gather even now and lay in their last rank beyond our line.

Then I saw that on the far bank was gathered another host, and that was of Alsi's men, and among them I knew the forms of some who had fallen in the first onset when I led the charge.

I tried to put forth my hand to wake Withelm, but I could not stir, and when I would have spoken, I could frame no word, so that alone in all the host I saw the slain men fight their battle over again, step by step. The wedge of the Northmen won to the far sh.o.r.e as we had won -- as they had won in life but a few hours ago -- and into the line of foemen they cut their way, and on the far side of the stream they stayed and fought, as it had been in the battle. Yet though one could see that the men shouted and cried, there was no sound at all, and among the wildest turmoil walked the sentries of Alsi's host unconcerned and unknowing. And to me they seemed to be the ghosts, and the phantom strife that which was real.

Then I was ware of a stranger thing yet than all I had seen so far, for on the field were more than those whom I knew. There stood watching on either side of the battle two other ghostly hosts, taking no part in the struggle, but watching it as we had watched from our place when we fell back into the rear to rest, pointing and seeming to cheer strokes that were good and deeds that were valiant. And I knew that these were men who had fought and died on this same field in older days, for on one side were the white-clad Britons, and on the other the stern, dark-faced Romans, steel and bronze from head to foot.

So the battle went onward to where we had won and had been pressed back; and then, little by little, the hosts faded away, and with them went the watchers, and surely across the field went the quick gallop of no earthly steeds, the pa.s.sing to Odin of the choosers of the slain, the Valkyries.

Then came across the brook to me one through the mist, and the sentries paid no heed to him, and he came to my side and spoke to me. It was Cadwal, the Welsh thane, and his breast was gashed so that I thought that he could not have lived.

"Ay, I am dead," he said, "as men count death, and yet I would have part in victory over Alsi, for the sake of Havelok and of Goldberga. Stay up my body on the morrow, that I may seem to fight at least, that I may bide in the ranks once more in the day of victory. Little victory have the British seen since Hengist came. Say that you will do this."

Then he looked wistfully at me, and I gave him some token of a.s.sent; and at that came back all the shadows of our men, and seemed to pray the same. And then was a stir of feet near me, and a shadow across the trampled gra.s.s, and instead of the dead the voice of Havelok spoke softly to me, and with him was Goldberga, clad in her mail. And I thought that they and I were slain also, and I cried to this one who seemed to be one of Odin's maidens that I too would fain be stayed up with Cadwal and the rest, that I might have part in victory.

Then Goldberga stooped to me, and laid her soft hand on my forehead, and took off my helm, so that the air came to me, and thereat I woke altogether.

"Brother," she said, "you are restless and sorely wounded, as it seems. It is not good that you should lie in this mist."

At her voice the others woke, and for a while she talked with us in a low tone, cheering us. And presently she asked of that strange request that I had made to her.

I told her, for it was a message that should not be kept back, thus given; and when he heard it, Withelm sighed a little, and said, "Would that we had all those who have fallen. Yet if it is as they have asked our brother, our host will seem as strong as before we joined battle in the morning. Leave this to me, brother, for it may be done."

Then he rose up and went softly to where Idrys, the friend of Cadwal, lay, and spoke long with him. It was true that Cadwal was slain, though I had not yet heard of it until he told me himself thus.

Then I slept heavily, while the others talked for a while. It is a hard place at a wedge tip when Englishmen are against one; and I am not much use in a council. Presently they would wake me if my word was wanted.

But it was not needed, for the sunlight woke me. There was a growing stir in our lines and across the water also, and I looked round. The mists were yet dense, for there was not enough breeze to stir the heavy folds of the banner, and Raven slept still with his arm round its staff. Havelok was not here now, and I thought that he had gone to the camp with Goldberga, and would be back shortly.

Then I saw that our rear rank was already formed up, as I thought, and that is not quite the order of things, as a rule, and it seemed far off from the stream. I thought that they should have asked me about this, for there were some of my courtmen in that line.

And then I saw that in the line was no movement, and no flash of arms, as when one man speaks to another, turning a little. And before that line stood the form of a chief who leant on his broad spear, motionless and seeming watchful. I knew him at once, and it was Cadwal, and those he commanded were the dead. That was even to me an awesome sight, for in the mists they seemed ready and waiting for the word that would never come to their ears, resting on the spears that they could use no more. It had been done by the marshmen in the dark hours of the morning, and from across the stream I saw Alsi's men staring at the new force that they thought had come to help us. There were men enough moving along our bank with food to us to prevent them seeing that this line stirred not at all.

There was a scald who came with us from Denmark, and now with the full rising of the sun he took his harp and went along the stream bank singing the song of Dunheidi fight and so sweet was his voice, and so strong, that even Alsi's men gathered to hearken to him. His name was Heidrek, and he has set all that he saw with Havelok into a saga; but we, here, mostly remember the brave waking that he gave us that morning. It was wonderful how the bright song cheered us. One saw that the stiffened limbs shook themselves into litheness once more, and the listless faces brightened, and into the hearts that were heavy came new hope, and that was the song's work.

Now men began to jest with their foes across the stream, and those who had Danish loaves threw them across in exchange for English, that they might have somewhat to talk of. Ours were rye, and theirs of barley; but it was not a fair change after ours had been so long a voyage.

It was not long before our war horns sounded for the mustering, and men ran to their arms. The Lindsey host drew back from the talk with our men at the same time, and, without waiting for word from their leaders, began to get in line along the stream, where they had been when we halted last night. But we had no thought of falling on them until we had had some parley with the king or the Earl of Chester. And now it was plain that with the grim rearguard behind us we outnumbered the men of Alsi who were left.

Now came from the village in rear of the foe a little company, in the midst of which was one horseman, and that was the king himself. His arm was slung to his breast, and he sat his horse weakly, so that it was true enough that he had been hurt. With him were the earl and Eglaf, and the housecarls, and I sent one to fetch Havelok quickly, that there might be no delay in the words that were to be said.

Alsi rode to the water's edge and looked out over our host, and his white face became whiter, and his thin lips twitched as he saw that our line was no weaker than it had seemed when first he saw it. He spoke to the earl, and he too counted the odds before him, and he smiled a little to himself. He had not much to say to Alsi.