And the great red beast went down and the rider with him. And so swift ran the flood that half a mile soon lay between the sought and his seekers, and the bend of the river hid the rest. Seeing this the thanes turned back to carry the news to Edwy. And when they reached him they found he was bending over the body of one of the Picts who seemed to be still breathing, for he had great regard for his mother’s kin.
“Where is Feargus?” said Edwy, looking up.
“Alas! he hath thrown himself into the water of Aire and is drowned.”
“Then right heavy am I and sad indeed will the lady Torfrida be, for to me he was ever as a kinsman and to her, alas! such store she set by him as never woman by man before, for surely he was the noblest man and the greatest swordsmith in all the land. And so was his heart set upon Torfrida that he knew not himself how much; and such was his love and his faith to his chief that ’twixt love and grief for tryst unkept he was beside himself.”
And when they told the lady Torfrida she fell down in a swoon and lay sick unto death for many a day, and ever in her sickness called upon her lover nigh to the breaking of the hearts of those that watched.
CHAPTER X
OF THE WOODSMAN OF SHERWOOD
So the waters that drowned the Mercians had Feargus, and in a moment whirled him out of the sight of the thanes of Edwy, and he was carried down the stream till all the breath was out of him, for no stroke to save himself made he. And all that day men from the country around had been gathered on the banks of the river and had garnered a rich harvest in gold and arms from the dead corpses of the Mercians won from the water. And when the body of Feargus floated past, the sun glowed on its golden byrny[6] and they saw that it was kinglier clad than any that had come to their hands, so they set about to win it from the flood, and with branches of trees drew it ashore and there stripped it of its buckler and byrny, and to get the clothing from it they turned it about first on its back and then on its face and there left it. So lying on its face it chanced that the mouth fell open and all the water ran out from it, and there it lay all the night, and the sweet air filled it in place of the water, and by reason of the great strength that was in him the heart of Feargus rallied, and the warrior turned himself on to his back and groaned and murmured. And he lay there for two days and two nights and then rose upon his arm, for the breath of the were wolf wakened him, and he seized the beast rudely by the throat so that it yelled and fled. Then Feargus stood upon his feet, but the past had gone from him, and he knew not to-day from yesterday or to-morrow, each being alike empty, and only the sense of a great evil hung upon him so that his brow was ever knotted. Then he felt weak for hunger and sought out of habit for his sword, but it had gone: they had taken all from him save the plaid which hung in folds around his middle and was then wound round his body. So he drew near to a stout oak sapling which had been thrown ashore by the water, and rent the branches from it, leaving himself a club tough and strong and of such weight that few men could have wielded it. With this he lay among the bushes till a red deer came past, then he leapt to his feet and felled it at a blow. And he kindled a fire and cooked and ate of it and drank of a burn and was refreshed. Next he set about to make himself a mighty bow of willow, strung with sinews of the deer, and he hardened arrows in his fire, setting flints in the points of them and in like manner made himself a spear, but no sword had he. In the forest he stayed for many a month, but never could bide two nights in the one place, for the fever of unrest that was upon him kept him ever awandering. All through the day he sat upon fallen trees or down by the gowans on the wayside with his head sunk upon his breast and the water coursing down his cheeks, yet knew not what it was that made him greet. And in the night he would wander the forest through, or bathe his fevered limbs in dark streams; and when hunger fell on him he followed the chase, and so swift of foot he grew and so strong of his hands that the wild boar, the wolf, and deer found him a dreich blow-dealer. So it chanced that soon there was little in him that was like to the Feargus of the lady Torfrida, richly clad and gay and strong. His red hair hung to his waist and his beard fell down an ell before him and wild and trackless as the wilderness through which he strayed. His plaid was ragged and faded, and his skin of the colour of the ripened grain. Shelter he never knew, but such was his hardihood that he lay out in the wind and rain, through winter and summer alike without scath.