Presently, however, between her and the comely apparition there intervened the brawny figure of a yeoman-soldier. He said breathlessly, “Chief—before you go to the King—be it known to you that those horse-feet you heard—belong to the mounts of Edric of Mercia and his men—and he is with King Edmund now!”
The three stolid old warriors got to their feet with curses. The Etheling bent forward to gaze incredulously into the man’s face.
“Edric of Mercia? With the King? Why do you think so?”
“I was a little way beyond the King’s fire, watching a fellow who was showing how he could jump over the flames, when I saw the Gainer ride past; and I followed him, as near as the guards would permit—near enough to see that the King received him—let him settle it with Saint Cuthbert!”
There was a pause of utter stupefaction; then, from all within hearing, a clamorous outburst: “It is the Gainer’s luck again!”—“The messenger knew what he was saying!”—“No sharpness of wit can comprehend it!”—“It is the magic of his flattering tongue.”—“A hundred tongues had done no harm if Edmund—” The voices sank into a snarling undertone: “Ay, there it is!”—“Ethelred’s blood!”—“It is no more to be counted on than is water—” “What could have moved him to it?”
Morcard’s throat emitted a sound that might have been a chuckle or might have been a growl. “I will tell you plainly for why; it is his dauntlessness. He is going to pit his green wit against Edric’s, that has made two kings as wax between his fingers! And he has begun by letting the wolf into the fold.”
It appeared that the Etheling had recovered from his surprise, for now he said steadily, “I will not believe it. Until their oaths have been spoken and their hands have clasped and my own eyes have witnessed it, I will not believe it of him.”
Motioning them from his path, he was starting forward a second time, when the old cniht laid a hand lightly upon his shoulder.
“Hear me, Lord Sebert! If then,—to weigh all perils like a soldier,—if then, you do witness it with your own eyes?”
The blue gave out a flash of smitten steel.