It was the first time Alfred had ever gazed upon a battlefield; and now he saw it stripped of all the romance and glamour which bards had thrown over it, and the sight appalled him.
He drew near a large pit into which the thralls were casting the dead.
Many of the bodies presented, as we have already seen, a most ghastly spectacle; and nearly all had begun to decompose. Mentally he thanked G.o.d that Elfric, at least, was not there; and he turned aside his head in horror at the sight.
He now inquired of the foreman of the labourers whether he knew where the Etheling Edgar would be.
"You mean King Edgar, for the Mercians will acknowledge no other king.
The people of Wess.e.x may keep the enemy of the saints, if they like."
"King Edgar, I mean. Where is he now?"
"He has been holding a council at Tamworth town, in the old palace of King Offa; and they say all the tributary kings have come there to be his men, and all the great earls."
"Can you tell me the nearest road to Tamworth?"
"Why, it lies through the forest there, where you see those wolves lurking about. They will begin to be dangerous when the sun goes down, and perhaps some of them would not mind a snap at a horse or even a man, now."
"We must take our chance;" said Alfred: "life and death hang on our speed," and he and Oswy rode on.
The wolves were no longer seen. In the summer they generally avoided men, at least during the day, and they were gradually becoming more uncommon at that date. Alfred entertained little fear as he proceeded, until the darkening shadows showed that night was near, and they were still in the heart of the forest, when he began to feel alarmed. The road before them was a good wide woodland path, and easy to follow even in the gathering darkness.
Suddenly their horses started violently, as a loud howl was heard behind, and repeated immediately from different quarters of the forest.
Alfred felt that it was the gathering of the ferocious beasts, which had been attracted from distant forests by the scent of the battlefield, and had thus happened to lie in increased numbers around their path. The howling continued to increase, and their horses sped onward as if mad with fear--it was all they could do to guide them safely.
Nearer and nearer drew the fearful sound; and looking back they beheld the fiery eyes swarming along the road after them. They had begun to abandon hope, when all at once they heard the sound of advancing hors.e.m.e.n in front of them, accompanied by the clank of arms. The wolves heard it too, and with all the cunning cowardice of their race scampered away from their intended prey, just as Alfred and Oswy avoided impaling themselves upon the lances of the coming deliverers.
"Whom have we here, riding at this pace through the woods?" cried out a rough, manly voice.
"The wolves were after the poor fellows," said another.
"They may speak for themselves," said the leader, confronting Alfred.
"Art thou a Mercian and a friend of King Edgar? Under which king? Speak, or die!"
"I seek King Edgar. My name is Alfred, son of Ella of Aescendune."
"Who sheltered the men of Wess.e.x, and entertained the impious Edwy in his castle."
"We had no power to resist had we wished to do so."
"Which you evidently did not. May a plain soldier ask you now why you seek King Edgar?"
"Because," said Alfred, "my father has been murdered, and my brother made a prisoner by Redwald, the captain of King Edwy"s hus-carles, who holds our house, and has driven us all out."
"Your father murdered! Your family expelled! Your brother a prisoner!
These are strange news."
"Why this delay!" cried another speaker, riding up from behind. "The king is impatient to get on. Ride faster."
"The king!" cried Alfred. "Oh, lead me to him."
"Who is this," demanded the second officer, "who demands speech of the royal Edgar?"
"Alfred of Aescendune. He tells us that the infamous Redwald holds the fortified house there, has murdered the thane Ella, and expelled the family, save the brother, whom he holds to ransom."
"No, not to ransom," cried Alfred. "It is his life that is threatened.
Oh, take me to Edgar!"
"He is close behind, in company with the Ealdorman of Mercia and Siward of Northumbria."
"Stay behind with him, Biorn, and let us continue our route. You may introduce him to the king, if he will see him."
The first party--the advance guard--now pa.s.sed on, and was succeeded almost immediately by the main body, foremost amongst whom rode Prince or rather King Edgar, then only a youth of fifteen years of age. We last beheld him a boy of twelve, at the date of Elfric"s arrival at the court of Edred. By his side rode Siward, Ealdorman of Northumbria.
"Who is this?" cried the latter, as he saw Alfred and his attendant waiting to receive him.
"Alfred of Aescendune, with a pet.i.tion for aid against Redwald, who has seized his father"s castle."
"Alfred of Aescendune!" cried Edgar. "Halt, my friends, one moment.
Alfred of Aescendune, tell me your story; to me, Edgar, your king."
Alfred hastened to pour his tale of sorrows into an ear evidently not unsympathising, and when he had concluded Edgar asked--"And tell me what is your request. It shall be granted even to the uttermost."
"Only that you, my lord, would hasten to our aid and deliver my brother for his poor widowed mother"s sake."
"We should send a troop against Redwald in any case, but even had our plans been otherwise, know this, Alfred of Aescendune, that he who by his devoted service saved the life, or at least the liberty, of Dunstan, the light of our realm of England, and the favourite of heaven, has a claim to ask any favour Edgar can grant.
"Siward, my father, bid the advanced guard bend its course towards Aescendune at once."
"My lord, the men are too weary to travel all night. We had purposed halting when we reached the battlefield on our march southward. There is a cross-country road thence to Aescendune, almost impa.s.sable in the night."
"Then we will travel early in the morning; and doubt not, Alfred, we shall arrive in time to chastise this insolent aggressor. Redwald has been my poor brother"s evil spirit in all things; he shall die, I swear it," said the precocious Edgar, a man before his time.
"But, my lord," said Alfred, "may I ask but one favour, that you will permit me to proceed and relieve the anxiety of my people with the tidings of your approach?"
"If you must leave our side, such an errand would seem to justify you.
Poor Elfric! I remember him well. I could not have thought him in any danger from Redwald."
"Redwald is his, is our bitterest foe."
"Indeed," said Edgar, and proceeded to elicit the whole history of the case from Alfred.
The sad tale was not complete till they reached the battlefield, and encamped in the entrenchments the young prince had occupied the night before the combat.
"We had intended," said Edgar, "to march at once for London, owing to news we have received from the south, but we will tarry at Aescendune until the work is completed there, even if it cost us our crown.
"Nay, Siward, I may have my way this once. I am soldier enough to know I may not leave an enemy behind me on my march."
"But a small detachment might accomplish the work."