The House of the Wolfings
kindreds for our helping.
"Not long endured the spear-rain, so swift we were, neither were we in
one throng as betid in Heriulf's Storm, but spread abroad, each trusting
in the other that none thought of the backward way.
"Though we had the ground against us we dashed like fresh men at their
pales, and were under the weapons at once. Then was the battle grim;
they could not thrust us back, nor did we break their array with our
first storm; man hewed at man as if there were no foes in the world but
they two: sword met sword, and sax met sax; it was thrusting and hewing
with point and edge, and no long-shafted weapons were of any avail; there
we fought hand to hand and no man knew by eyesight how the battle went
two yards from where he fought, and each one put all his heart in the
stroke he was then striking, and thought of nothing else.
"Yet at the last we felt that they were faltering and that our work was
easier and our hope higher; then we cried our cries and pressed on
harder, and in that very nick of time there arose close behind us the
roar of the Markmen's horn and the cries of the kindreds answering ours.
Then such of the Romans as were not in the very act of smiting, or
thrusting, or clinging or shielding, turned and fled, and the whoop of
victory rang around us, and the earth shook, and past the place of the
slaughter rushed the riders of the Goths; for they had sent horsemen to
us, and the paths were grown easier for our much treading of them. Then
I beheld Thiodolf, that he had just slain a foe, and clear was the space
around him, and he rushed sideways and caught hold of the stirrup of
Angantyr of the Bearings, and ran ten strides beside him, and then
bounded on afoot swifter than the red horses of the Bearings, urging on
the chase, as his wont was.
"But we who were wearier, when we had done our work, stood still between
the living and the dead, between the freemen of the Mark and their war-
thralls. And in no long while there came back to us Thiodolf and the
chasers, and we made a great ring on the field of the slain, and sang the
Song of Triumph; and it was the Wolfing Song that we sang.
"Thus then ended Thiodolf's Storm."
When he held his peace there was but little noise among the
stay-at-homes, for still were they thinking about the deaths of their
kindred and their lovers. But Egil spoke again.
"Yet within that ring lay the sorrow of our hearts; for Odin had called a
many home, and there lay their bodies; and the mightiest was Heriulf; and
the Romans had taken him up from where he fell, and cast him down out of
the way, but they had not stripped him, and his hand still gripped the
Wolf's-sister. His shield was full of shafts of arrows and spears; his
byrny was rent in many places, his helm battered out of form. He had
been grievously hurt in the side and in the thigh by cast-spears or ever
he came to hand-blows with the Romans, but moreover he had three great
wounds from the point of the sax, in the throat, in the side, in the
belly, each enough for his bane. His face was yet fair to look on, and
we deemed that he had died smiling.
"At his feet lay a young man of the Beamings in a gay green coat, and
beside him was the head of another of his House, but his green-clad body
lay some yards aloof. There lay of the Elkings a many. Well may ye
weep, maidens, for them that loved you. Now fare they to the Gods a
goodly company, but a goodly company is with them.
"Seventy and seven of the Sons of the Goths lay dead within the Roman
battle, and fifty-four on the slope before it; and to boot there were
twenty-four of us slain by the arrows and plummets of the shooters, and a
many hurt withal.
"But there were no hurt men inside the Roman array or before it. All
were slain outright, for the hurt men either dragged themselves back to
our folk, or onward to the Roman ranks, that they might die with one more
stroke smitten.
"Now of the aliens the dead lay in heaps in that place, for grim was the
slaughter when the riders of the Bearings and the Wormings fell on the
aliens; and a many of the foemen scorned to flee, but died where they
stood, craving no peace; and to few of them was peace given. There fell
of the Roman footmen five hundred and eighty and five, and the remnant
that fled was but little: but of the slingers and bowmen but eighty and
six were slain, for they were there to shoot and not to stand; and they
were nimble and fleet of foot, men round of limb, very dark-skinned, but
not foul of favour."
Then he said:
"There are men through the dusk a-faring, our speech-fiends and our
kin,
No more shall they crave our helping, nor ask what work to win;
They have done their deeds and departed when they had holpen the
House,
So high their heads are holden, and their hurts are glorious
With the story of strokes stricken, and new weapons to be met,
And new scowling of foes' faces, and new curses unknown yet.
Lo, they dight the feast in Godhome, and fair are the tables spread,
Late come, but well-beloved is every war-worn head,
And the God-folk and the Fathers, as these cross the tinkling bridge,
Crowd round and crave for stories of the Battle on the Ridge."
Therewith he came down from the Speech-Hill and the women-folk came round
about him, and they brought him to the Hall, and washed him, and gave him
meat and drink; and then would he sleep, for he was weary.
Howbeit some of the women could not refrain themselves, but must needs
ask after their speech-friends who had been in the battle; and he
answered as he could, and some he made glad, and some sorry; and as to
some, he could not tell them whether their friends were alive or dead. So
he went to his place and fell asleep and slept long, while the women went
down to acre and meadow, or saw to the baking of bread or the sewing of
garments, or went far afield to tend the neat and the sheep.
Howbeit the Hall-Sun went not with them; but she talked with that old
warrior, Sorli, who was now halt and grown unmeet for the road, but was a
wise man; and she and he together with some old carlines and a few young
lads fell to work, and saw to many matters about the Hall and the garth
that day; and they got together what weapons there were both for shot and
for the handplay, and laid them where they were handy to come at, and
they saw to the meal in the hall that there was provision for many days;
and they carried up to a loft above the Women's-Chamber many great
vessels of water, lest the fire should take the Hall; and they looked
everywhere to the entrances and windows and had fastenings and bolts and
bars fashioned and fitted to them; and saw that all things were trim and
stout. And so they abided the issue.
CHAPTER XVI--HOW THE DWARF-WROUGHT HAUBERK WAS BROUGHT AWAY FROM THE HALL
OF THE DAYLINGS
Now it must be told that early in the morning, after the night when Gisli
had brought to the Wolfing Stead the tidings of the Battle in the Wood, a
man came riding from the south to the Dayling abode. It was just before
sunrise, and but few folk were stirring about the dwellings. He rode up
to the Hall and got off his black horse, and tied it to a ring in the
wall by the Man's-door, and went in clashing, for he was in his battle-
gear, and had a great wide-rimmed helm on his head.
Folk were but just astir in the Hall, and there came an old woman to him,
and looked on him and saw by his attire that he was a man of the Goths
and of the Wolfing kindred; so she greeted him kindly: but he said:
"Mother, I am come hither on an errand, and time presses."
Said she: "Yea, my son, or what tidings bearest thou from the south? for
by seeming thou art new-come from the host."
Said he: "The tidings are as yesterday, save that Thiodolf will lead the
host through the wild-wood to look for the Romans beyond it: therefore
will there soon be battle again. See ye, Mother, hast thou here one that
knoweth this ring of Thiodolf's, if perchance men doubt me when I say
that I am sent on my errand by him?"
"Yea," she said, "Agni will know it; since he knoweth all the chief men
of the Mark; but what is thine errand, and what is thy name?"
"It is soon told," said he, "I am a Wolfing hight Thorkettle, and I come
to have away for Thiodolf the treasure of the world, the Dwarf-wrought
Hauberk, which he left with you when we fared hence to the south three
days ago. Now let Agni come, that I may have it, for time presses
sorely."
There were three or four gathered about them now, and a maiden of them
said: "Shall I bring Agni hither, mother?"
"What needeth it?" said the carline, "he sleepeth, and shall be hard to
awaken; and he is old, so let him sleep. I shall go fetch the hauberk,
for I know where it is, and my hand may come on it as easily as on mine
own girdle."
So she went her ways to the treasury where were the precious things of
the kindred; the woven cloths were put away in fair coffers to keep them
clean from the whirl of the Hall-dust and the reek; and the vessels of
gold and some of silver were standing on the shelves of a cupboard before
which hung a veil of needlework: but the weapons and war-gear hung upon
pins along the wall, and many of them had much fair work on them, and
were dight with gold and gems: but amidst them all was the wondrous
hauberk clear to see, dark grey and thin, for it was so wondrously
wrought that it hung in small compass. So the carline took it down from
the pin, and handled it, and marvelled at it, and said:
"Strange are the hands that have passed over thee, sword-rampart, and in
strange places of the earth have they dwelt! For no smith of the
kindreds hath fashioned thee, unless he had for his friend either a God
or a foe of the Gods. Well shalt thou wot of the tale of sword and spear
ere thou comest back hither! For Thiodolf shall bring thee where the
work is wild."
Then she went with the hauberk to the new-come warrior, and made no
delay, but gave it to him, and said:
"When Agni awaketh, I shall tell him that Thorkettle of the Wolfings hath
borne aback to Thiodolf the Treasure of the World, the Dwarf-wrought
Hauberk."
Then Thorkettle took it and turned to go; but even therewith came old
Asmund from out of his sleeping-place, and gazed around the Hall, and his
eyes fell on the shape of the Wolfing as he was going out of the door,
and he asked the carline.
"What doeth he here? What tidings is there from the host? For my soul
was nought unquiet last night."
"It is a little matter," she said; "the War-duke hath sent for the
wondrous Byrny that he left in our treasury when he departed to meet the
Romans. Belike there shall be a perilous battle, and few hearts need a
stout sword-wall more than Thiodolf's."
As she spoke, Thorkettle had passed the door, and got into his saddle,
and sat his black horse like a mighty man as he slowly rode down the turf
bridge that led into the plain. And Asmund went to the door and stood
watching him till he set spurs to his horse, and departed a great gallop
to the south. Then said Asmund:
"What then are the Gods devising, what wonders do they will?
What mighty need is on them to work the kindreds ill,
That the seed of the Ancient Fathers and a woman of their kin
With her all unfading beauty must blend herself therein?
Are they fearing lest the kindreds should grow too fair and great,
And climb the stairs of God-home, and fashion all their fate,
And make all earth so merry that it never wax the worse,
Nor need a gift from any, nor prayers to quench the curse?
Fear they that the Folk-wolf, growing as the fire from out the spark
Into a very folk-god, shall lead the weaponed Mark
From wood to field and mountain, to stand between the earth