Wulnoth the Wanderer. Inman Herbert Escott

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СКАЧАТЬ the Prince went on sadly, "if this thing is true, will you promise not to forget me? And if you may, afterwards come and seek me out and aid me. Wulnoth, we have been friends and brothers, will you promise me this?"

      "That will I promise, Guthred," answered Wulnoth. "As soon as my trust to Edgiva is over, I will come."

      "Poor Edgiva," sighed the Prince. "I wonder what fate will be in store for her."

      Now, while the boys talked, all was hurry and bustle, and Hald went to the ships with the sailors, and King Hardacnute gathered the army on the shore, and Cerdic, and Hith, and Æthelmar, and others went into the hold to be able to succor the rest, should they have to flee, and then the war horns blew again, and the ships went to sea to meet the foe.

      And when they neared each other, old Hald, standing in the prow, called across the water and said —

      "Greeting, strangers! Sea-kings and pirates I trow ye are, and your message is war; yet tell us whom we war against lest we shame you by saying ye are nameless men."

      Then a great warrior, yet a young man, standing in the poop of one of the foremost of the foe ships, laughed and replied —

      "Little care we what you call us, warrior, yet know that we are the sons of Regner, called Lodbrok, Hungwar and Hubba, and we come to avenge injury done to Osbert the Dane. We come to war against Hardacnute for sheltering a thrall of Berwulf's named Cerdic and his family; and we come to carry away a fair child Edgiva, that when she is maiden grown she may mate with the best of the sea-kings' warriors. Now dost thou yield?"

      "Thus do I yield, you wolves of Denmark," replied Hald, hurling his spear, but Hungwar caught it on his shield, and then the battle commenced.

      Now, we have no time to talk long of that battle, for we have to follow the song of Wulnoth; but it was a brave and fierce one, when many hero deeds were done, and when the sword sang its death-song again and again. Yet in the end the ships of Hardacnute were destroyed and his sailors perished, and the Danes ran their own ships aground, and swarmed out to meet the forces of Hardacnute on land.

      And there, on land, a mighty war was waged, and many heroes fell; yet still the victory was with the Danes, and the men of Lethra were driven back, leaving many slain on the seashore.

      Now while this battle was raging, Wulnoth was in the King's courtyard, when a man touched him on the arm; and the man was big and brawny and shaggy like some wild berserker, and this man said to Wulnoth —

      "Are you Wulnoth, the watcher of the Princess?" and to this Wulnoth answered that he was.

      "Then," said the man, "I have a message for thee, O Wulnoth," and Wulnoth asked whom the message was from.

      "It is from Wyborga the Wise," answered the stranger, "and thus she says: 'Fire and sword are come, O Wulnoth, and by to-night will Edgiva be without father or mother. Now, therefore, bring her to me, and I will shelter her in safety, for Hungwar the Dane has sworn to carry her off and to make her his slave child. If my words are wrong, then can you have her back; but if they are right, then will the King know that his daughter is spared the fate which shall befall his son.'"

      Now, when Wulnoth heard this, he sped to the Queen, and he told her all the truth. And Wulfreda answered and said —

      "Now, if these words are true, and if the King my husband perish, then shall I rejoice to have the death-song sung to me also; and if that be so, then shall it be well that Edgiva has a friend to aid her. Therefore, take her to Wyborga, Wulnoth."

      So Wulnoth and Guthred took Edgiva the Beautiful, and carried her away into the forest and gave her to Wyborga, and Wyborga said that they had done well. And then said Wulnoth —

      "Why should not Guthred tarry here also, good mother, so that he will be safe?"

      But Wyborga shook her head.

      "Guthred must go back," she said, "for so the lines of his runes run. But let Guthred be of good cheer and brave heart, for he shall have a kingdom and a name in the end, and ye three shall meet again."

      "When shall we meet?" cried Guthred. And for answer Wyborga again drew the cross on the ground and said —

      "When you all understand this, then shall you meet, and then shall you be united."

      And that was all she could say. So Wulnoth and Guthred hurried back, for the blood was hot in Wulnoth's veins, and he longed to be in the man's game. And they got back to the hall just as King Hardacnute's men were being driven in, and there they saw the brothers Hungwar and Hubba, the sons of Regner, mighty warriors, with long black moustachios and sweeping hair, and arms like the stout branches of an oak.

      And also there did Wulnoth see Osbert the Dane, and he cried to him in a voice that rang over the din of the fight —

      "Hi, there! Greeting to you, Osbert, nithing and attacker of little children. Come hither, for I have a greeting for thee, unless thou dost still fear my spear."

      "By Thor's hammer!" growled Hungwar as he heard this. "Thou must answer this, Osbert. Go thou, whilst we rest a space, and silence that wolf cub." But Osbert looked as though he liked not his task.

      Still he could not escape, and he advanced towards the keep; and Wulnoth sprang from the wall and ran to meet him.

      "Now, now, Osbert," he cried, "never have I slain a man yet, but thou wilt do for a start!" And Osbert answered with a thrust of his spear.

      But Wulnoth caught it on his shield and turned it aside, and then he struck once, and once only, and the blow pierced through shield and arm behind it, and Osbert gave a bitter cry and fell.

      "Mercy! mercy!" he cried, and the Danes howled with anger. But the wild war madness was in Wulnoth's blood now, and he drew his sword and plunged it into the nithing's throat, crying out, "So shall all nithings and Danish pirates perish!"

      "By Troth!" cried Hubba, "that is a gamesome young wolf. We must have him alive." But Wulnoth had fled back, and was let into the hold by the men, who cried "Skoal" to him.

      And then did the man's game begin again, and still the fight was with the vikings. And Cerdic was slain by a sling stone, and one after another of the King's champions went to the storm-world, and the flames burst from the roofs, and the cries of the women sounded on the air, for the vikings slew and spared none.

      In the courtyard Wulfreda stood by her husband's side and shielded him while he fought, and around him lay a ring of Danish slain. But he fell at last, and Hubba himself smote off his head.

      "This is the King's son!" cried Hungwar, seizing Guthred. "I have an oath as regards this boy and his sister. They shall be thralls in my castle." But to that Guthred answered boldly —

      "Thou Danish pirate, though thou hast me in thy power, thou shalt never have my sister, for she is beyond thy reach."

      "That we will see," answered Hungwar. "Bind this boy with chains, and take him to my long ship."

      Then he caught sight of Wulnoth, who had fought as a man fights and was sore wounded, and he cried aloud —

      "By my beard, but 't is our little warrior wolf! – a boy, but thou must be of us. Now, methinks, thou art the son of that Cerdic that we came to seek, for thou hast Saxon blood in thee I will swear, and thou hast thrall collar on. But thou art a man and we will spare thee, and thou shalt be my servant. What dost thou say to that?"

      "No servant of СКАЧАТЬ