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Havelok The Dane written by Charles Whistler

C >> Charles Whistler >> Havelok The Dane




"What has been amiss?" asked the king sharply, and trying to look
troubled. He let the smile go now altogether.

"Your henchman, Griffin the Welshman, had no guard with her that was
fitting for our princess," Ragnar said. "He had but twenty men, and
these not of the best. It is in my mind also that I should have been
told of this journey, for I am surely the right man to have guarded my
queen who is to be."

At that Alsi's face went ashy pale, and I did not rightly know why at
the time, but it seemed more in anger than aught else. But he had to
make some answer.

"We sent a messenger to you," he said hastily; "I cannot tell why he did
not reach you."

"He must have come too late, and after I had heard of this from others;
so I had already gone to meet the princess. I am glad that I was sent
for, and it may pass. Well, it is lucky that I was in time, for we were
attacked on the road, and but for my men there would have been trouble."

Then Alsi broke into wrath, which was real enough.

"This passes all. Where and by whom were you attacked? and why should
any fall on the party?"

"Five miles on the other side of Ancaster town, where the Ermin Street
runs among woods, we were fallen on, but who the men were I cannot say.
Why they should fall on us seems plain enough, seeing that the ransom of
a princess is likely to be a great sum."

"Was it a sharp fight?"

"It was not," answered Ragnar, "for it seemed to me that the men looked
only to find your Welsh thane Griffin and his men. When they saw my
Norfolk housecarls, they waited no longer, and we only rode down one or
two of them. But I have somewhat against this Griffin, for he helped me
not at all. Until this day he and his men had ridden fairly with us, but
by the time this attack came they were half a mile behind us."

"Do you mean to say that you think Griffin in league with these--
outlaws, as one may suppose them?" said Alsi, with wrath and more else
written in twitching mouth and crafty eyes.

"I would not have said that," Ragnar answered, looking in some surprise
at the king, "it had never come into my head. But I will say that as the
Ermin Street is straight as an arrow, and he was in full sight of us, he
might have spurred his horses to our help, whereas he never quickened
his pace till he saw that the outlaws, or whoever they were, had gone. I
put this as a complaint to you."

"These men seem to have scared you, at least," sneered the king.

Ragnar flushed deeply.

"For the princess--yes. It is not fitting that a man who is in charge
of so precious a lady should hold back in danger, even of the least
seeming, as did Griffin. And I told him so."

Now I thought that Alsi would have been as angry with Griffin as was the
earl, and that he would add that he also would speak his mind to him,
hut instead of that he went off in another way.

"It was a pity that a pleasant journey with a fair companion was thus
broken in upon. But it was doubtless pleasant that the lady should see
that her kinsman was not unwilling to draw sword for her. A pretty
little jest this, got up between Griffin and yourself, and such as a
young man may be forgiven for playing. I shall hear Goldberga complain
of honest Griffin presently, and now I shall know how to answer her. Ay,
I will promise him the like talking to that you gave him, and then we
three will laugh over it all together."

And with that the king broke into a cackle of laughter, catching hold of
the earl's arm in his glee. And I never saw any man look so altogether
bewildered as did Ragnar.

"Little jest was there in the matter, lord king, let me tell you," he
said, trying to draw his arm away.

"Nay, I am not angry with you, kinsman; indeed, I am not. We have been
young and eager that bright eyes should see our valour ourselves ere
now," and he shook his finger at the earl gaily. "I only wonder that you
induced that fiery Welshman to take a rating in the hearing of the
princess quietly."

"What I had to say to him I said apart. I will not say that he did take
it quietly."

"Meaning--that you had a good laugh over it;" and Alsi shook the
earl's arm as in glee. "There now, you have made a clean breast, and I
am not one to spoil sport. Go and meet Goldberga at the gates, and bring
her to me in state, and you shall be lodged here, if you will. Quite
right of you to tell me this, or Griffin would have been in trouble. But
I must not have the lady scared again, mind you."

He turned quickly away, then, with a sort of stifled laugh, as if he
wanted to get away to enjoy a good jest, and left Ragnar staring
speechless at him as he crossed the high place and went through the
private door.

Then the earl turned to me, "By Loki, fellow countryman, there is
somewhat wrong here. What does he mean by feigning to think the whole
affair a jest? It won't be much of a jest if Griffin and I slay one
another tomorrow, as we mean to do, because of what was not done, and
what was said about it."

"It has seemed to me, jarl," I said plainly, "that all this is more like
a jest between the king and Griffin."

"Call it a jest, as that is loyal, at least. But I think that you are
right. If Goldberga had been carried off--Come, we shall be saying too
much in these walls."

I had only been told to wait while the king and earl spoke together, and
so I opened the door and followed him out. The horse was yet there
waiting for him, and it was plain that the king had not meant him to stay.

"Bid the grooms lead the horse after us, and we will go to your captain.
Then you shall take me to one of my friends, for you will know where
their houses are."

But at that moment a man from the palace ran after us, bringing an order
from the king that I was to go back to him. So Ragnar bade me farewell.

"Come to me tonight at the gatehouse," he said. "I will speak to the
captain to let you off duty."

"Say nothing to him, jarl, for it is needless. I am only with him for a
time, and am my own master. I have no turn on watch tonight, and so am
free."

So I went back, and found the king in the hall again, and he was still
smiling. If he had looked me straight in the face, I suppose that he
might have seen that I was not a man to whom he was used, but he did
not. He seemed not to wish to do so.

"So, good fellow," he said, "you have heard a pleasant jest of our young
kinsman's contriving, but I will that you say nothing of it. It is a
pity to take a good guardroom story from you, however, without some
recompense, and therefore--"

With that he put a little bag into my hand, and it was heavy. I said
nothing, but bowed in the English way, and he went on, "You understand;
no word is to be said of what you have heard unless I bid you repeat it.
That I may have to do, lest it is said that Griffin the thane is
'nidring' [9] by any of his enemies. You know all the
story--how the earl and he planned a sham attack on the princess's
party, that Ragnar might show his valour, which, of course, he could not
do if Griffin was there. Therefore the thane held back. But maybe you
heard all, and understood it."

"I heard all, lord king, and I will say naught."

The king waved his hand in sign that I was dismissed, and I bowed and
went. There were five rings of gold in the bag, worth about the whole
year's wage of a courtman, and I thought that for keeping a jest to
myself that was good pay indeed. There must be more behind that
business, as it had seemed to me already.

Now, as I crossed the green within the old walls on my way to the gate,
it happened that Havelok came back from the town, and as he came I heard
him whistling softly to himself a strange wild call, as it were, of a
hunting horn, very sweet, and one that I had never heard before.

"Ho, brother!" I said, for there was no one near us. "What is that call
you are whistling?"

He started and looked up at me suddenly, and I saw that his trouble was
on him again.

"In my dream," he said slowly, "there is a man on a great horse, and he
wears such bracelets as Ragnar of Norwich, and he winds his horn with
that call, and I run to him; and then I myself am on the horse, and I go
to the stables, and after that there is nothing but the call that I
hear. Now it has gone again."

And his hand went up in the way that made me sad to see.

"It will come back by-and-by. Trouble not about it."

"I would that we were back in Grimsby," he said, with a great sigh.
"This is a place of shadows. Ghosts are these of days that I think can
never have been."

"Well," said I, wanting to take him out of himself, "this is no ghost,
at all events. I would that one of our brothers would come from home
that I might send it to them in Grimsby. We do not need it."

So I showed him the gold, and he wondered at it, and laughed, saying
that the housecarls had the best place after all. And so he went on, and
I back to the gate.

Surely he minded at last the days when Gunnar his father had ridden home
to the gate, as the Danish earl had ridden even now, and had called his
son to him with that call. It was all coming back, as one thing or
another brought it to his mind; and I wondered what should be when he
knew that the dream was the truth. For what should Havelok, foster-son
of the fisher, do against a king who for twelve long years had held his
throne? And who in all the old land would believe that he was indeed the
son of the lost king? Better, it seemed to me, that this had not
happened, and that he had been yet the happy, careless, well-loved son
of Grim, with no thought of aught higher than the good of the folk he knew.

When I got back to the gate, we were marched down the town, that we
might be ready to receive the princess; and as I went through the
market, I saw one of the porters whom I knew, and I beckoned to him, so
that he came alongside me in the ranks, and I asked him if he would go
to Grimsby for me for a silver penny. He would do it gladly; and so I
sent him with word to Arngeir that I needed one of them here to take a
gift that I had for them. I would meet whoever came at the widow's
house, and I set a time when I would look for them. I thought it was
well that the king's gold should not be wasted, even for a day's use, if
I could help it. And I wearied to see one of the brothers, and hear all
that was going on.


CHAPTER XI. THE COMING OF THE PRINCESS.

There is no need for me to tell aught of the entry of the Lady Goldberga
into the town, for anyone may know how the people cheered her, and how
the party were met by the Norfolk thanes and many others, and so rode on
up the hill to the palace. What the princess was like I hardly noticed
at that time, for she was closely hooded, and her maidens were round
her. And I had something else to think of; for foremost, and richly
dressed, with a gold chain round his neck, rode a man whose strange way
of carrying his head caught my eye at once, so that I looked more than a
second time at him.

And at last I knew him. It was that man of ours whose neck had been
twisted by the way in which he had been hauled on board at the time of
the wreck, and had afterwards gone to Ethelwald's court. One would say
that this Mord had prospered exceedingly, for he was plainly a man of
some consequence in the princess's household. He did not know me, though
it happened that he looked right at me for a moment; but I did not
expect him to do so after twelve years, seeing that I was but a boy when
we parted. I thought that I would seek him presently.

Then I saw Griffin, the Welsh thane, and I did not like the looks of him
at all. He was a black-haired man, clean shaven, so that the cruel
thinness of his lips was not hidden, and his black eyes were restless,
and never stayed anywhere, unless he looked at Ragnar for a moment, and
then that was a look of deadly hatred. He wore his armour well, and had
a steady seat on his horse; but, if all that I had heard of him was
true, his looks did not belie him. Men had much to say of him here, for,
being some far-off kin to Alsi's Welsh mother, he was always about the
court, and was hated. He had gone to Dover to fetch the princess before
we came here, but it happened that I had once or twice seen him at other
times when I was in Lincoln, so that I knew him now.

There was great feasting that night in the king's hall, as one may
suppose, and I sat with the housecarls at the cross tables beyond the
fire, and I could see the Lady Goldberga at Alsi's side. Tired she was
with her long journey, and she did not remain long at the table; but I
had never seen so wondrously beautiful a lady. Griffin sat next to her
on the king's right hand, for Ragnar was at the king's left, in the seat
of next honour; and I saw that the lady had no love for the Welsh thane.
But I also thought that I saw how he would give his all for a kindly
glance from her; and if, as Alsi had seemed to hint, Ragnar was a
favoured lover, I did not wonder that Griffin had been ready to do him a
bad turn. I had rather that the thane was my friend than my foe, for he
would be no open enemy.

I left the feast when the first change of guard went out, for I saw that
the ale cup was passing faster than we Danes think fitting, being less
given to it than the English. And when the guard was set I waited alone
in the guardroom of the old gate, for Eglaf was yet at the hall, and
would be there all night maybe. And presently Earl Ragnar came in and
sat down with me.

He was silent for a while, and I waited for him to speak, until he
looked up at me with a little laugh, and said, "I told you that I had to
fight Griffin tomorrow?"

"You did, earl. Is that matter settled otherwise?"

"Not at all," he answered. "I believe now that he was acting under
orders, but I have said things to him which he cannot pass over. I
called him 'nidring' to his face, and that I still mean; for though I
thought of cowardice at the time, he is none the less so if he has
plotted against the princess. So naught but the sword will end the feud."

He pondered for some moments, and then went on, "It is a bad business;
for if I slay Griffin, he is the king's favourite; and if he slays me,
the Norfolk thanes will have somewhat to say. And all is bad for the
Lady Goldberga, who needs all the friends that she has, for in either
case there will be trouble between the two kingdoms that Alsi holds just
now."

"If Griffin is slain," I said, "I think that the lady has one trouble
out of the way."

"Ay; and the king will make out, as you heard him do even now, that I am
looking that way myself. It is not so, for I will say to you at once
that to me there is but one lady in all the world, and she is in Norfolk
at this time. Now I am going to ask you something that is a favour."

I thought that he would give me some message for this lady, in case he
fell; but he had more to ask than that. Nothing more or less than that I
should be his second in the fight, because I was a fellow countryman,
while to ask an East Anglian thane would he to make things harder yet
for Goldberga.

"I am no thane, earl," I said plainly. "This is an honour that is over
high for me."

"It seems that you own a town, for I asked Eglaf just now," he answered;
"and that is enough surely to give you thane's rank in a matter like
this. But that is neither here nor there; it is as Dane to Dane that I
ask you. If I could find another of us I would ask him also, that you
might not have to stand alone. I am asking you to break the law that
bids the keeping of the peace at the time of the meeting of the Witan."

"That is no matter," I said. "If I have to fly, it will be with you as
victor; and if it is but a matter of a fine, I have had that from the
king today which will surely pay it."

And I told him of the gift for silence, whereat he laughed heartily, and
then said that the secret was more worth than he thought. This looked
very bad, and like proof that the king was at the bottom of the whole
business.

Now I had been thinking, and it seemed better that there should be two
witnesses of the fight on our side, and I thought that Havelok was the
man who would make the second. So I told Ragnar that I could find
another Dane who was at least as worthy as I, and he was well pleased.
Then he told me where the meeting was to be, and where we should meet
him just before daylight; and so he went back to the hall, where the
lights were yet burning redly, and the songs were wilder than ever.

And I found Havelok, and told him of the fight that was to be, and asked
him to come with us. His arms were at the widow's, and he could get them
without any noticing him.

There is no need to say that he was ready as I to help Ragnar, and so we
spoke of time and place, and parted for the night.

Very early came Havelok to the house, for I lodged at the widow's when I
was not on night duty; and we armed ourselves, and then came Ragnar. He
greeted me first, and then looked at Havelok in amaze, as it seemed, and
then bowed a little, and asked me to make my friend known to him.

"If you are the friend of whom Radbard has told me, I think that I am
fortunate in having come to him."

"I am his brother, lord earl," answered Havelok, "and I am at your service."

Ragnar looked from one of us to the other, and then smiled.

"A brother Dane and a brother in arms, truly," he said. "Well, that is
all that I need ask, except your name, as I am to be another brother of
the same sort."

Then Havelok looked at me, and I nodded. I knew what he meant; but it
was not right that the earl should not know who he was.

"Men call me Curan here, lord earl, and that I must be to you hereafter.
But I am Havelok of Grimsby, son of Grim."

In a moment I saw that the earl knew more of that name than I had deemed
possible; and then I minded Mord, the wry-necked, who was the
chamberlain now. But Ragnar said nothing beyond that he would remember
the request, and that he was well seconded. And then we went out into
the grey morning, and without recrossing the bridge, away to the level
meadows on the south of the river, far from any roadway.

"There is not an island in the stream," said Ragnar, "or I should have
wanted the old northern holmgang battle. I doubt if we could even get
these Welshmen to peg out the lists."

"That we must see to," I said. "We will have all things fair in some way."

Half a mile from the town we came to what they call a carr--a woody
rise in the level marsh--and on the skirts of this two men waited us.
They were the seconds of Griffin, Welsh or half Welsh both of them by
their looks, and both were well armed. Their greeting was courteous
enough, and they led us by a little track into the heart of the
thickets, and there was a wide and level clearing, most fit for a fight,
in which waited Griffin himself.

Now I had never taken any part in a fight before, and I did not rightly
know what I had to do to begin with. However, one of the other side
seemed to be well up in the matter, and at once he came to me and
Havelok and took us aside.

"Here is a little trouble," he said: "our men have said nothing of what
weapons they will use."

"I take it," said Havelok at once, "that they meant to use those which
were most handy to them, therefore."

The Welshman stared, and answered rather stiffly, "This is not a matter
of chance medley, young sir, but an ordered affair. But doubtless this
is the first time you have been in this case, and do not know the rules.
Let me tell you, therefore, that your earl, being the challenged man,
has choice of weapons.

"Why, then," answered Havelok, "it seems to me that if we say as I have
already said, it is fair on our part. For it is certain that the earl
will want to use the axe, and your man is about half his weight, so that
would be uneven."

"As the challenged man, the earl is entitled to any advantage in weapons."

"He needs none. Let us fight fairly or not at all. The earl takes the
axe.--What say you, Radbard? Griffin takes what he likes."

"You keep to the axe after all, and yet say that it gives an advantage."

"Axe against axe it does, but if your man chooses to take a twenty-foot
spear and keep out of its way, we do not object. We give him his own
choice."

Then the other second said frankly, "This is generous, Cadwal. No more
need be said. But this young thane has not yet asked his earl whether it
will suit him."

"Faith, no," said Havelok, laughing; "I was thinking what I should like
myself, and nothing at all of the earl."

So I went across to Ragnar, who was waiting patiently at one end of the
clearing, while Griffin was pacing with uneven steps backward and
forward at the other, and I told him what the question was.

"I thought it would be a matter of swords," he said, "but I am Dane
enough to like the axe best. Settle it as you will. Of course he knows
naught of axe play, so that you are right in not pressing it on him. He
is a light man, and active, and maybe will be glad not even to try sword
to sword; for look at the sort of bodkin he is wearing."

The earl and we had the northern long sword, of course; but when I
looked I saw that the Welsh had short, straight, and heavy weapons of
about half the length of ours, and so even sword to sword seemed hard on
the lighter man; wherein I was wrong, as I had yet to learn.

I went back, therefore, and told the others.

"The earl takes the axe, and the thane has his choice, as we have said."

"We have to thank you," said the other second, while Cadwal only laughed
a short laugh, and bade us choose the ground with them.

There was no difficulty about that, for the light was clear and bright,
and though the sun was up, the trees bid any bright rays that might be
in the eyes of the fighters. However, we set them across the light, so
that all there was might be even; and then we agreed that if one was
forced back to the edge of the clearing he was to be held beaten, as if
we had been on an island. It was nearly as good, for the shore of trees
and brushwood was very plain and sharp.

Now Ragnar unslung his round shield from his shoulders, and took his axe
from me, for I had carried it for him, and his face was quiet and
steady, as the face of one should be who has a deed to do that must be
seen through to the end. But Griffin and his men talked quickly in their
own tongue, and I had to tell them that we understood it well enough.
Then they looked at each other, and were silent suddenly. I wondered
what they, were about to say, for it seemed that my warning came just in
time for them.

Griffin took a shield from the thane they called Cadwal, and it was
square--a shape that I had not seen before in use, though Witlaf had
one like it on the wall at Stallingborough. He said that it had been won
from a chief by his forefathers when the English first came into the
land, and that it was the old Roman shape. It seemed unhandy to me, but
I had no time to think of it for a moment, for now Cadwal had a last
question.

"Is this fight to be to the death?"

"No," I answered; "else were the rule we made about the boundary of no use."

Then Griffin cried in a sort of choked voice, "It shall be to the death."

But I said nothing, and the other second, with Cadwal, shook his head.

Ragnar made no sign, but Cadwal said to Havelok, "You were foremost in
the matter just now. What say you?"

"Rules are rules, and what my comrade says is right. If the first blow
slays, we cannot help it, but there shall be no second wound. The man
who is first struck is defeated."

"I will not have it so," said Griffin.

"Well, then, thane, after you have wounded the earl you will have to
reckon with me, if you must slay someone."

Griffin looked at the towering form of my brother and made no answer,
and the other second told him that it was right. There was naught but an
angry word or two to be atoned for. So there was an end, and Ragnar went
on guard. Griffin made ready also, and at once it was plain that here
was no uneven match after all.

Both of them wore ring mail of the best. We had set the two six paces
apart, and they must step forward to get within striking distance. At
once Griffin seemed to grow smaller, for he crouched down as a cat that
is going to spring, and raised his shield before him, so that from where
I stood behind Ragnar I could only see his black glittering eyes and
round helm above its edge. And his right arm was drawn back, so that
only the point of his heavy leaf-bladed sword was to be seen glancing
from the right edge steadily. And now his eyes were steady as the sword
point, which was no brighter than they. If once he got inside the sweep
of the great axe it would be bad for Ragnar.

One step forward went the earl, shield up and axe balanced, but Griffin
never moved. Then Ragnar leapt forward and struck out, but I could see
that it was a feint, and he recovered at once. Griffin's shield had gone
up in a moment above his head, and in a moment it was back in its place,
and over it his eyes glared as before, unwavering. And then, like a
wildcat, he sprang at Ragnar, making no sweeping blow with his sword,
but thrusting with straight arm, so that the whole weight of his flying
body was behind the point. Ragnar struck out, but the square shield was
overhead to stay the blow, and full on the round Danish buckler the
point of the short sword rang, for the earl was ready to meet it.