While he thus lay musing, forgetful of the scene around him, a sudden step woke him from his revery; and the next moment his former antagonist, Ardaric, king of the Gepidæ, cast his huge bulk down upon the ground beside him. "Well, my friend," he said, looking upon the countenance of Theodore, and running his eye over the limbs of the youth, manly and strong as they were, but still infinitely inferior in muscular strength to his own, "well, my friend, when last we met it was in deadly strife; and now, in calm friendship, after our contest is over. I love the brave, whether they be enemies or not: and when the boy Ernac, who is not unlike thee in face and manners, told me thou wert here, I resolved to come and see thee, that I might discover, if I could, how one who seemed to me but a stripling could give me more trouble in the combat than a whole cohort of his countrymen. I cannot understand it even now, for thou art very young, and certainly not yet in strength mine equal. Thou art more active, perhaps; but that will not do everything. However, let us not talk of strife! I come to eat and drink with thee, that the bond of hospitable union may be strong between us."
"Gladly will I make it so, noble Ardaric," replied Theodore. "The generous and noble soon become friends whenever they cease to be enemies. You spared my life when you might have taken it, and I will love you not a bit the less because you vanquished me."
"I spared you not, good youth, for your own sake," replied Ardaric, frankly; "I spared you for the sake of Attila, my friend. I would have slain you at the next blow had it not been for him; for at that moment my blood was heated. You had, with your own hand, killed three of my people, and I had not time nor coolness to think, just then, that you were a brave youth, and a noble spirit, and that it were a pity to cut you off so soon. I may have thought so since; and from my heart I forgive you for thinning our ranks of two or three of those startled foxes, who fled before you when you burst among them as if they thought you must be some evil demon, to dare, with but two comrades, to attack a whole tribe."
"You held as prisoners, noble Ardaric," replied Theodore, "those whom I valued far more than life itself; and my only calculation was how long I could bar the way against your warriors, while those I sought to save effected their escape."
"I thought so," rejoined the King of the Gepidæ, "I thought so: and now I hear that your mother and that fair girl--who is not your sister--are among your kinsmen of the Alani. Why go you not to see them?"
"Because," replied Theodore, "I have promised to stay with Attila for full seven years."
"Oh, he will give you leave to go," replied Ardaric. "Use him but nobly, and Attila is ever kind and generous. He will give you leave to go. When first he speaks to you, lead you the conversation to your wishes; and besides," added the chief, with a grave and warning look, "I think it may be better for you to be absent from this land for a brief space. Bleda, the brother of the monarch, loves you not. He is ambitious; and men scruple not to say, among the leaders of nations who obey and accompany the great king, that his hatred towards you proceeds from some idle prophecy which combines the safety of Attila with thine. I say not that he would slay his brother; but he would little scruple, men affirm, to take away the life of one whose existence was important to the monarch's safety. I believe not in such prophecies," added Ardaric, after a pause of thought--"I believe not in such prophecies, but Attila, and Bleda, and many others do. They think that a man's destiny is fixed and known long before his birth; that every little act which he performs is but one part of a great necessity; and that, such being the case, the gods give intimation of what they have already determined to certain men peculiarly chosen for that purpose. I believe, on the contrary, that everything takes place by accident; and that, if the gods interfere at all with what we do, it is but to drive us on again upon our way, as a herd does to a stray bull that wanders from the drove. I put no faith in such prophecies; and I see that even those who do strive as much to have their own way against destiny as those who think that there is no such thing. Now Bleda would take your head to-morrow, in order to put his brother's fate out of joint; and Ellac, they say, has no great love for you, though he be Attila's son. But his hatred proceeds merely from overbearing pride. He loves his father, and would not injure him; but he likes not that Attila should favour or promote any one but himself."
"I will take care to give him no offence," replied Theodore. "I seek no promotion at Attila's hands, because, as a Roman, I can receive none. His love, I believe, I already possess; but Ellac will not envy me that, when he finds that it is followed by no benefits demanded or conferred."
"It is therefore, I say," answered Ardaric, "that it would be well for you to be absent from this land for a short space. Bleda's ambition will not let him rest, though Attila thinks that he has sated him with honours and with spoil. But the grave, and ambition, and avarice are insatiable. Bleda's ambition will not let him rest, I say; and these things will come to an end ere many months be over! But here come thine attendants and mine, loaded with food far more than we need, yet let us partake."
There was something so frank and noble in the bearing of Ardaric, that Theodore was not unwilling to possess his friendship; but scarcely had they tasted the meal placed before them, when a messenger from Attila called the young Roman to his presence. Without delay, he followed the Hun to the tent of the monarch, whom he found with Ernac, his youngest son, alone.