Wager of Battle: A Tale of Saxon Slavery in Sherwood Forest

by Henry William Herbert

In these wild rural districts, however, it was quite different, where the roads merely gave access and egress to the country lying below the mountains, but opened no thoroughfare either for trade or travel, there being no means of approach from that side, even to Penrith or Carlisle, already towns of considerable magnitude, lying but a few miles distant across the vast and gloomy fells and mountains, except by the blindest of paths, known only to shepherds and outlaws, leading through tremendous passes, such as that terrible defile of Dunmailraise, famous to this day for its stern and savage grandeur. Hence it came, that, unless it were visitors to some of the few castles or priories in the lower valleys, such as Furness Abbey, Calder Abbey, Lannercost Priory, Gleaston Castle, the stronghold of the Flemings, Rydal, the splendid manor of the Ratcliffes, this fortalice of De Taillebois, at Hawkshead, and some strong places of the Dacres and Cliffords, yet farther to the east, not constituting in the whole a dozen within a circumference of fifty miles, no strangers were ever seen in these secluded valleys, without exciting wonder, and something of consternation.

So it was in this instance; and so urgent did it appear to Sir Yvo, that, although he was just sitting down to supper when his officer arrived—for Kendal was his manorial town, where he held his courts, leet and baron—that he put off the evening meal an hour, until he should have heard his report, and examined into all the circumstances of the case.

Then commending his bailiff for his discretion, he dismissed him, with orders to make all speed home again, without signifying at Kendal whither he had been, to give all heed and courteous attention to the strangers, keeping ever a sharp eye on their actions, and to expect himself in the burgh ere midnight.

This done, he returned to the hall, as calm as if nothing had occurred to move him, though he was indeed doubly moved, both as lord of the manor and sheriff of the country; and, merely whispering to Aradas to have fifty lances in the saddle within an hour, and to dispatch a messenger to have the horse-boats ready on the lake, opposite to Bowness, took his place at the board-head, with his fair child on his right, and the young esquire on the left, and carved the roe venison and moor fowl, and jested joyously, and quaffed his modicum of the pure light wines of Gascony, as if he had nothing on hand that night beyond a walk on the battlements, before retiring. So soon, however, as supper was over, he bade his page go up to his private apartment, and bidding Aradas look sharp, for there was little time to lose, he told Guendolen, with a smile, that he should make her chatelaine for the night, since he must ride across the lake to Kendal.

"To-night, father!" she exclaimed, astonished, "why, it is twenty miles; you will not be there before daybreak."

"Oh, yes, by midnight, girl, if we spur the sharper; and it is partly on your business that I go, too, child; for I fancy there is something afoot, that bodes no good to your friend Kenric; but we'll nip it in the bud, we'll nip it in the bud, by St. Agatha!"

"Ah!" said the girl, turning pale, "there will be danger, then——"

"Danger!" said the old knight, looking at her sharply, "danger, not a whit of it! It is but that villain d'Oilly, with a score of spears of Sherwood. I must take fifty lances with me, for, as sheriff, I must keep peace without spear-breaking; were it not for that, I would meet him spear to spear; and he should reckon with me, too, for poor Sir Philip, ere we parted, as he shall do yet, one day, although I see not how to force him to it. So now, kiss me, silly minion, and to bed with you while I go arm me."

And the stout old warrior strode up to his cabinet, whence he descended in half an hour, armed cap-a-pie in chain mail, plate armor not having yet come into use, with his flat-topped casque on his head, his heater-shaped shield hung about his neck, and his huge, two-handed sword crossing his whole person, its cross-hilt appearing above his left shoulder, and its tip clashing against the spur on his right heel. As he entered the court of the castle, his men were all in their saddles, sitting firm as pillars of steel, each with his long lance secured by its sling and the socket attached to the stirrup, bearing a tall waxen torch in his right hand, making their mail-coats flash and twinkle in the clear light, as if they were compact of diamonds. Aradas was alone dismounted, holding the stirrup for his lord until he had mounted, when he sprang, all armed as he was, into the saddle. The banner-man at once displayed the square banner of his lord, the trumpeter made the old ramparts ring with the old gathering blast of the house of De Taillebois, and, two and two, the glittering men-at-arms, defiled through the castle gate, and wound down the steep hill side, long to be traced from the battlements, now seen, now lost among the woods and coppices, a line of sinuous light, creeping, like a huge glow-worm, over the dark champaign.

Before they reached the lake shore, however, the moon rose, round and red, from behind the Yorkshire fells; and, extinguishing their flambeaux, they pricked rapidly forward through the country, which, intricate as it was, soon became as light as at noonday.