Giving the reins of his horse to a servant, Polaris reached his spear from the saddle and placed himself in the first rank of the footmen, under the great, blood-red banner of Ruthar. A mighty cheer swept down the ranks as he joined them. The horsemen drew out to the side of the roadway; a blare of trumpets sounded the advance; the crimson standard dipped and went forward. Over the seamed and broken hill, past the masses of fallen ruin, across the melinite-blasted trench, and through the breach in the wall flowed the iron stream.
As far as they could see it, the little group on the hilltop watched the tall form that strode under the tossing banner.
"This king of ours has a will of his own," muttered Oleric. "Now to do the work he bade us."
But first of all the red captain sent for old Jastla of the hills. When the white-bearded chieftain stood before him, Oleric said:
"The king has gone yonder through the wall, Jastla. Take a hundred of your best men—men who know how to die as well as fight. Find the king. Ring him round with a band of steel. Guard him with your lives." Oleric grinned as he added, "'Twill be a task to your liking, old bear. Ever you loved fighting, and this man will lead you to where it is thicker than earth-berries. I have seen him at the game. But watch him well, Jastla; he is of a reckless temper when his blood is stirred, and caution is not his watchword."
Lifting his arm in salute, Jastla replied:
"When harm comes to the king, it shall have set its foot on Jastla's corpse." The chief drew a deep breath of pride and satisfaction. "I thank you, Oleric the Learned, for this task. I have trained the lad, and I love him."
Jastla hurried into the forest to the camp. Presently he, too, was gone through the wall on his mission.
When the last of the armed force had passed the gap, another army took its place—an army of pick and shovel men, with chains and ropes and tugging, sweating horses. Speedily the last of the screen of trees was down and the stumps torn out. On a foundation of crushed rock Oleric built up his roadway, and brought it through to the shadow of the Kimbrian Wall; and there he met trouble.