At first none other than Olvir gave heed to the dreary cry; for now the storm's forerunners came soughing through the leafless treetops. A half-mile, however, and the howls had merged into one continuous note that rose and fell on the breeze like the wail of fiends in torment. Even Rothada's untrained ear caught the appalling sound as it swelled out with a sudden flaw of the wind. The girl cowered and pressed closer to her companion. Nor was she alone in her fear. With all their boyish pride, her brothers cried out in dread, and Gerold turned as pale as his sister. Liutrad slackened speed, and looked instinctively to Olvir.
"Hearken, earl!" he called. "The wolf-pack is before us! Should we not turn back?"
"Heu!" shouted Gerold; "turn--turn and fly while there's yet time!"
"Where?" rejoined Olvir,--"to perish in the forest? The storm lowers. Our only hope is ahead. Let us only sweep by the pack, and we may yet gain safety. At the worst, we can mount an oak till Floki brings aid. Lead on, son of Erling! Already we glide through the midst of the horde. Look back!"
A cry of terror burst from all others than Liutrad as they stared back over their shoulders. From the point of the last bend, not a hundred paces behind them, a dozen gaunt beasts were breaking cover to leap out upon the ice. Even as the skaters looked about, other bands of the silent pursuers sprang into the open from either bank, and a dry snapping in the alders drew the eye to half-hidden forms flitting through the thickets abreast of the party.
Suddenly a huge grey wolf leaped out from the left bank, several yards in the lead of the skaters. The beast made no attempt to attack the quarry. Hardly even did he look at them, but bounded along on the ice-edge, whining like a young dog. The strange actions of the beast, coupled with the silence of the gathering pack, struck Liutrad's stout heart with a fear little less intense than that of his companions.
"Tyr! the beasts are upon us!" he shouted, and, gripping Hildegarde and Pepin fast in his giant grasp, he bent far over and drove into the teeth of the freshening wind at racing speed. At his heels followed Gerold with young Karl, keen to hold the vantage of the wind-break offered by the great body of the Northman.
Olvir, however, did not join in the mad rush. With a word of assurance to Rothada, he freed his hold of her and plucked an arrow from his quiver. With the twang of the bow the grey leader of the wolf-pack uttered a yell and leaped high in the air, pierced through and through by the Norse arrow. Even as the beast fell dying, Olvir was back at Rothada's side, and his arm linked in hers with a grip of steel.
"Ho, dear heart!" he cried cheerily; "now will Odin's dogs whet their fangs on the bones of their leader, while we race away up the ice-street. Bend now--yet farther! The others outstrip us."
"Christ save us!" gasped Rothada, despairingly.