I got off my horse and walked beside her, and I was glad that I had met her first of all. She had been to some sick thrall, and was now returning.
"Partings are hard," she said, "but one may always hope to meet again."
Then I said, speaking my thoughts:
"I must go west into Wessex with the earl's ships, and I have more partings to come therefore."
She made no answer at once, and I thought that none was needed; but when she spoke again her voice was graver than before.
"You would be near our king if possible by doing so?"
"That is my thought," I answered. "If I wait in this pleasant place I may be far from him when the day comes that I should stand at his side again."
"You have six weeks--not so much by two days--yet," she said thoughtfully. "It is not long. Then you will be fighting once more."
"I hope so--and not in vain at last," I answered. "All our land longs for peace."
"Aye, and they tell me that you have a search to make," she said, looking away across the woodlands that lay down the valley to our right. "I fear there will be sorrow if--if you fall."