The letters I had brought lay open on the table at the king"s elbow, and his hand was on them, and there were other writings scattered about; great ones with red seals hanging thereto -- made no doubt by the gold signet which stood close by in its open casket.
"Come near, Thanes," the king said in his deep, quiet voice. "Let us talk together of this matter as friends, for a useless king were I but for such as you who keep my throne from the blows of enemies."
"Stay, Father," said Alfred the Atheling, starting up. "Let me write while the thanes speak," and he gathered up pens and such, and a roll of parchment, sitting down at the table and then holding pen ready, and looking at us.
The king smiled at him and his haste, and said, "Verily, Thanes, you must mind your words if Alfred writes them down, for he will ever keep records of tales such as yours, saying that they are for men to read hereafter."
But that had no terrors for us, seeing that we had a plain tale to tell, truth and nothing more. So, as Ceorle bid us, we four sat down by the window, and the king asked me to tell my story from the first.
So I began by saying that I had seen the landing of the Danes at Stert, and warned the watchmen of the levy.
There Alfred stopped me, holding up his pen suddenly.
"Tell us, Thane, of the Watchet landing," he said.
And when I began to tell of that he looked up again, with his eyes dancing, and asked me how I came on Quantock hill.
Thereat the king laughed a little, saying that Alfred should have been a lawman, and the atheling said that, with his father"s help, he meant to be such, and a good one.
And that he has become, for the laws he has given us will last, as it seems to me, till the name of Saxon has departed.
Then I was a little in doubt what to say, and the king saw this. So he told me kindly that he had had very full accounts written by the bishop and ealdormen; but now both he and the atheling would fain hear about myself; that is, if my friends already knew all, and if I would not heed Ceorle.
Now I saw that I must speak more of myself than I wished, and would fain have been excused, saying something of that sort. But the atheling asked me to think of them as friends who would feel for me, saying, too, that of my own history he would not write, and so kindly did he urge me, drawing me on, that at last I had told him all from the beginning of my troubles, even to the time when I rode with Alswythe into Glas...o...b..ry and sought the bishop.
"That is well told," said Alfred, when I had finished so far, and the king sighed a little, but left all the speaking to his son.
"Now, Wulfhere," he went on, "it is your turn," and so made the old warrior take up the tale; but he bade him begin at the first fight.
However, Wulfhere must needs go back to the war arrow business, and then to the staying of the flight at Cannington, and in this Alfred did not stop him, though I thought it more than needed.
So he told all his tale, even to the slaying of the berserk, and things like that. And as he told of the breaking of the ring, and our stand inside of it, Alfred the Atheling wrote fast, and presently he bade Wulfhere cease, and going to a corner took down a harp, while his father smiled on him, and tuning it, broke out into a wondrous war song that made our hearts beat fast, for we seemed to feel that it was full of the very shout and ring of battle inside our circle of foes, and we were as men who looked on and saw our own deeds over again, only made more glorious by the hand of the poet and the voice of the singer.
So that when he ended the king"s eyes flashed, and Ceorle"s face was red and good to look at with a war light on it, and Wislac shouted, as I had nearly done.
But at that sound, strange in the king"s presence, we all started, and Wislac seemed abashed.
"Truly, Lord King," he said humbly, "I could not help it."
"Almost had I done as you did," said the kindly king. "Alfred must bear the blame. Now shall you tell your story."
But Wislac said he had nought to add to Wulfhere"s tale, save that Aldhelm here had saved him at his own cost, and that he had had, moreover, as much fighting as he was like ever to want.
But even from him Alfred gained many things about the fighting, and from Aldhelm also, and these he wrote down.
Thus we all told our tales, and they were long in the telling, so that when Aldhelm had finished, the king rose up, blaming Alfred gently for the long sitting, saying, however, that he had feared somewhat of the sort, but that doubtless the thanes were more wearied than either of the other three who had listened.
"Now," he said, "well have you four thanes deserved of me and of all, and you shall not say that the king is ungrateful. And I think that each of you has said less of your own selves than might be said, or, indeed, than is said in these letters. Now have Ceorle and I and my council spoken of this matter, and we have thought of rewards fitting for the shield wall of the standard."
Then would we thank the king; but he bade us wait for a little, putting his hand on those great parchments with the seals. One of these he took and gave to Aldhelm.
"This is to your father, confirming his rights of the land he holds of me to him and his heirs for ever, by reason of your good service. Yet is there a little blame to you from the way in which you found a foremost place, though much praise for the holding thereof and in your manner of ending that quarrel."
So Aldhelm took the deed and kissed the king"s hand in token of homage, going to his place very glad, for this was what his father desired most of all.
Then the king beckoned Wislac and gave him also a deed like Aldhelm"s, granting him the lordship of the manor of Goring on the Thames, and that was a good reward to the stout Mercian, who thanked the king, saying that he wotted not how his majesty knew what he would have most wished. Whereupon the king laughed, saying that kings knew more than men gave them credit for, and so Wislac did homage, and sat down.
Then Ethelwulf looked at Wulfhere, and said; "Wulfhere, my old warrior, I know not rightly what to do with you, for you are a lonely man, and I think that a place in my court would not suit you. Nor would you care to hold a manor in a strange place. Wait a little, and we will think it over."
Now at that Wulfhere looked glad, for I think he feared rather than desired reward.
Now came my turn, and my face flushed, and I was a little frightened, for there was but one thing I wanted, and I feared that that might not be.
But the king made a step towards me and took me by the hand, looking hard at me.
"Heregar," he said, "yours has been a strange story, and from beginning to end you have been first in this victory that will gain us peace for many years to come. Moreover you have suffered wrong, being punished for evil falsely laid to your charge on my account. And that I must show all men to be untrue, and that I, the king, hold it so. Now shall you choose your own reward."
Then was I sorely abashed, not knowing how to say what I longed for, and the king stood waiting a little. And maybe I should never have got it out, but the atheling looked up, and said:
"May I speak for you, Heregar?"
And so plainly did I see that he knew all, that I asked him to do so, and he came beside me and said; "Heregar needs but one thing, my father, and that is the hand of the maiden he loves -- Alswythe the daughter of Matelgar, and your ward since her father was slain."
"Are you so foolish as to ask no more than that?" said the king, smiling.
And on that my tongue was loosed, and I answered; "Aye my Lord the King. If foolish it be to long for the one whom a man loves, and who loves him, so that he holds her beyond all other reward."
"Then is your request granted," said the king very kindly. "Yet must you have withal to keep so great a treasure rightly."
Now I had forgotten that I was landless, and well it was for me that the king went on quickly; "So I give you the lands that were Matelgar"s, and your own lands again; and my men, and at my cost, shall build your halls afresh that the Danes have burnt. And whatever rights were Matelgar"s or your father"s shall be confirmed to you and yours for ever. Yet these things are but justice, and no reward."
So he paused a little, and I found courage to speak.
"My Lord the King, I need no more than you have given, for love and honour and lands have come back to me, and withal friendship of these three here, and of Ealhstan the Bishop, and of the n.o.ble ealdormen; while but for what has befallen I might have been still a careless thane, living at ease and for naught; but now, having heard Your good words, it is enough, and reward fit for any man."
And this I meant from my heart, for no more could I see that any man should need than this: honour of his fellows and of the king, and love and lands, and friends. Surely is a man rich in these things.
Yet must Alfred the Atheling add a word.
"Call me your friend also, Heregar, if you will, for fain would I be so," and he held out his strong white hand to take mine.
And it is good to think that, as it were, the grasp of his has never slackened from that day to this, but that he is my friend still.
Then Ceorle must say likewise, and last of all the king said; "Friend to all my people would I be, and to none more than to those who have risked life for the land. Therefore, to you and yours am I friend always, so that you shall ever think of me as friend first and king after. Nor is it to everyone that I dare say that, Heregar, my friend."
And he took my hand also, as the atheling and Ceorle had taken it.
So was I fain to weep for very joy at all this that had come to me, and must turn away for a little lest it should be seen.