"Haoi! there's fighting, king's daughter!" shouted Olvir, his eyes aflame. But Rothada shrank back, and pressed her hands upon her eyes, to shut out the cruel sight.
"What! So fearful of a little bloodshed?" he exclaimed. "But I forget. You 're still a cloister-dove. Come down and hide with your pages. I must look to the door when Floki comes knocking."
"Holy Mother! Why must there be so much of war and slaying?" wailed the girl.
"Ask the priests of your White Christ," retorted Olvir, and taking her hand, he led her quickly down the tower stair.
Having left the little princess in the care of her tiring-woman, he ran from post to post of the citadel's defences, that he might see with his own eyes whether every man was in his appointed position. Last of all, he mounted the great arch above the entrance, whose oaken doors stood ajar to welcome the retreating gate wardens.
At sight of his earl, a watchman who had climbed the main tower shouted down to him: "Ho, ring-breaker! Floki's gate swings open. The Asiamen ride into the burg."
"What of Floki?" demanded Olvir.
"I cannot see. But the other wardens gather in the great square. Ho! there come the Crane and his men, a horde of swart curs yelping at their heels. The bands join, and the Asiamen run to shelter. Now the Crane turns this way."
"Good!" said Olvir. "They have little more than a bow-shot to come, and the crooked lanes will check the horsemen."
It was none too soon, however, that the men of the gate watches swung up the steep path after Floki and Liutrad, and poured through the archway into the citadel court. As the ponderous doors swung to behind them, the vanguard of the Saracen host came racing into view, hot on their trail. But when they saw that their quarry had reached cover, the swarthy riders contented themselves with a derisive yell, and wheeled swiftly about to seek shelter from the arrows of the vikings.