Then said Osbert in great rage, “Stay, bowmen, your hands; back, carls, I will deal, for he hath slain my kinsman.”
Then the beast of Feargus swerved round again and faced the thane as he drew his sword.
“Nay,” said Feargus; “enough bale hath been wrought already, Osbert, and I would that thou and thy rash kinsman, whom I have slain thus hastily in high blood, should be with me on the right hand and on the left of king Penda on the day of battle. Nay, I will not do further hurt to the cause of our king by the slaying of thee; but when his enemies are scattered we can settle this quarrel—for I am Feargus.”
“Then have we here a traitor caught with the daughter of our enemy, Sigmund. Long hast thou deserved death, and now shalt thou have it, for thou hast shamed me by the slaying of my kinsman.”
“No traitor am I, Osbert, to Penda, only in trysting with the lady Torfrida, else what need had I to meet my lady in the wood, and in secret, when in this guise I might have entered the very courts of king Sigmund.”
“Defend thee, traitor,” cried Osbert, fiercely drawing his brand.
“Nay, a tryst have you and I with king Penda by the waters of Aire. Thou wouldst right thine own wrongs at Penda’s cost, but such am not I.”
“Then a coward I brand thee, and a traitor, before these my men,” and so saying he smote Feargus with his sheathed sword.