The Paladins of Edwin the Great Read online

  CHAPTER V

  KIDNAPPED

  "I feel the Berserker rage flowing through me, and arousing thedesire to fight and to kill." It was Hereric who spoke, and he endedhis strange words with a wild shout. "You, Hereric!" exclaimed Porlor;"why, you are the gentlest of us all, though no niddring. How strangethat you should be so taken! Yet I have heard Coifi say that the hourwhen the sacred rage inflames us no man knows, but that it should neverbe resisted. When it comes, he told me, we must kill and kill." Heraised another shout, which was echoed by Hereric and Coelred. "Leadus to the attack of savage beasts ten times our size," said Porlor toCoelred, whose eyes were also sparkling with excitement. "That will I,"shouted the elder boy; "I will fight any one ten times my size," and hethrew his arms over his head. The three boys had just been having theirmorning bath, and were sitting and lying on the grass, with their feetin the water of the brook, which rippled over the stones.

  It was early morning, and they were to take Bergliot with them intothe woods. When they ran home to get their arms, the young princesswas waiting at the gate. In a few minutes they joined her, with hosencross-girt, knives at their sides, and spears in their hands. "We arefull of Berserker rage," they told her. "You are full of naughtiness"(the word she used was _hinderscype_), she answered, "and will bewhipped." Yet their excitement was contagious, for she ran back intothe hall and returned with a short spear and Shuprak at her heels.All four then ran wildly down the hill and over the brook, shoutingand brandishing their spears, with the dog running and barking infront. Startled by the noise, the Lady Volisia came to the gate, andwatched them, with anxious eyes, until they were hidden by the trees.Then tears trickled down her cheeks. She never saw the boys again.The wild young creatures made a great circuit in the forest, hurlingtheir spears at everything, and running at speed until they came to thewillow thicket where the Stillingfleet brook empties itself into theriver Ouse. Here they paused to regain their breath.

  Presently Bergliot, in looking through the leafy branches of thewillows at the surface of the water, saw, sitting on a tree trunk onthe edge of the bank, what she thought was a nixy or water sprite. Itwas singing, she fancied, but the sound was scarcely audible. "Thereis a nixy," she said in a whisper to the rest, pointing to where itsat. "Let us kill it," said Hereric. They all ran forward; the boyspushed the little creature into the rushing stream with the butt endsof their spears, while the girl threw a needle at it, which is supposedto be fatal to such sprites. Then they all sang the cruel spell and ranaway:--

  Nix, Nix--needle in water, Virgin casteth steel in water Thou sink and we flee.

  As they ran they could hear a long wailing cry, and when they stoppedout of breath it appeared to all of them to form itself into theseominous words:--

  Dreadful your doom, Slaves shall ye be, Kindred and home Never to see.

  They looked at each other half-frightened, and Bergliot began tocry. She said she wanted to go home. The boys embraced her tenderlyand kissed her, and Coelred told Shuprak to see her safe back. As sheturned away she asked them to tell Oswith, if they saw him, that shehoped he would come to visit her very soon. She waved a farewell tothem with her hand. Reluctantly, and after casting many longing glancesat his young masters, the dog went home with the little girl. "Let usdefy the omen," said Coelred: "let us go further afield to satiate ourBerserker rage," and all three again plunged into the forest. Theyran for hours, hurling their spears at every creature that came insight. At length, on emerging from the forest into the heathy expanseof Skipwith Common, they paused for a moment to look round. Close bythere was a huge wild bull of a dun colour, with spreading horns, andthree cows. Coelred uttered a triumphant cry and hurled his spear atthe bull's shoulder. In a moment the ferocious creature was upon him,threw him down amongst the heather, and would have gored and crushedhim, if Porlor had not diverted its attention by driving his spear intoits flank. It turned round foaming with rage just as Porlor sprangbehind a tree and Hereric faced it on one knee with his spear pointed.Wild with rage, it dashed in his direction, then halted with its headup, its eyes glaring, and foam dropping from its mouth. Coelred hadbeen stunned for a minute. He now ran up and attacked the bull in theflank, prodding it with his spear. Daunted by the vigour of the attack,the bull now galloped across the common, followed by the cows. Theboys gave chase, shouting and brandishing their weapons, coming upwith their antagonist amidst dense underwood, where they succeeded inkilling it with their spears. As the noble creature fell there was adownpour of rain and a loud clap of thunder, and amidst the peals theboys thought they again heard the ominous curse of the nixy:--

  Dreadful your doom, Slaves shall ye be, Kindred and home Never to see.

  They dashed wildly on, they knew not whither. Porlor started awild-cat, which sprang up a tree. He followed with marvellous agility.The chase turned fiercely at bay, and Coelred climbed up the tree tohelp. There was a desperate fight among the branches, and the boys gotsome nasty scratches, but at last one of them plunged a knife intothe cat, it lost its hold, and fell to the ground. Meanwhile Hererichad roused a badger from its hole and kept it at bay with his spear.Its mouth was open and its rows of sharp teeth glistened. It wouldhave gone hard with the Atheling if Coelred had not sprung upon itfrom behind and plunged his knife into a vital part. Once more thethree boys resumed their wild career, with the ominous words of thenixy ringing in their ears. The sun was low when they emerged from theforest and came out on the banks of the muddy Ouse just at the pointwhere the Wharfe joins it. They were now exhausted and hungry, so tiredindeed that they could run no more without rest. They were unhappy too,and frightened at the sounds which seemed to form themselves into suchdreadful words. The three boys threw themselves on the grass, and in aminute they were fast asleep.

  They had not seen a long black boat, like some foul snake, creepingstealthily down the Wharfe to its confluence. It was flat-bottomedand of unusual beam, but low in the water. The crew consisted ofhalf a dozen villainous-looking ruffians, sent by a vessel anchoredat the mouth of the Humber to Calcaria on pretence of selling somecloths, and the return cargo was to be stolen. They were sea-thievesand cut-throats. As they descended the Wharfe they saw Forthere andSivel fishing on the bank and suspecting no evil. Four of them sprangon shore, and in a minute the lads were bound hand and foot, gagged,and thrown into the bottom of the boat. A few minutes afterwards theycame in sight of the confluence, just in time to see Coelred, Porlor,and Hereric throw themselves on the grass by the opposite shore. Verystealthily the boat was brought under the bank. Coelred and Herericwere overpowered and bound before they were half awake. Porlor,however, was aroused by the footsteps. He had time to draw his knifeand make a desperate resistance, gashing the arm of one ruffian andstabbing another in the hand. But he was quickly overpowered. His twocompanions were thrown into the bottom of the boat, where, to theirhorror and astonishment, they found Forthere and little Sivel in likeplight. Porlor was put across a thwart and given an unmerciful beatingwith a thong of leather, which, in the dialect of the cut-throats,was called a _lorum_. His young friends were nearly mad with impotentrage as they heard the ferocious blows being showered on the child'sbody. At last he was thrown, bruised and bleeding, among the rest; but,bound as they were, they could do nothing to console or help him. Itall seemed like a horrible dream; they scarcely knew where they were,and could do nothing but sob as they were roused at intervals from ahalf-dozing state.

  Meanwhile the boat went swiftly down the Ouse with an ebb-tide. Thevillains kept a sharp look-out on either bank, and, when half a mileabove Hemingborough, they saw a boy bathing, and swimming out boldlyas the tide had slackened. Thinking no harm, he caught hold of one ofthe boat's oars to rest. In an instant his wrists were seized, he wasbound hand and foot, and thrown into the bottom of the boat with theothers. It was Oswith. He was quite naked, and one of the crew threw acoarse cloth over him. The grief of the rest of the
kidnapped childrenwas redoubled at the sight of their beloved friend, the fearless son ofGuthlaf. He was as little able to understand what had really happenedas they were, yet he tried to console them. He whispered that he wouldlook out for chances of escape, and reminded them that at least theyhad the consolation of being together.

  All through the night the boat kept her course down the Humber, withthe tide against them during the first watch, but with a fair wind. Offthe mouth of the Trent the sea-thieves stopped and made fast, untilthey were joined by another smaller boat coming down that river, whichwent alongside and passed another boy on board. In spite of theirmisery and discomfort, the kidnapped children were fast asleep whilethe boat was waiting in the mud, and they were aroused by anotherlittle boy being thrown amongst them. He said that he was Godric theson of Ulchel, a thegn of the Gainas. He seemed to be as small asSivel. After a time the seven forlorn children went fast asleep as theboat was rowed down the Humber, and finally came alongside the vesselwhose leader had sent the thieves on their kidnapping errand.

  This vessel was small, but suited for sea-voyages, and with muchmore beam than was allowed for an ordinary fighting ship. Her lineswere indeed very unlike those of a dragon ship of the Vikings. For shewas built primarily for trading, and in the second place for piracy,whenever the opportunity offered, and she had a capacious hold, nowhalf full of merchandise. She was lying off Ravenspur, the site of theRoman station of Praetorium, under the shelter of Y-kill, the OcellumPromontorium, now Spurn Head. The seven boys were bundled out of theboat and into the ship's hold like so many bales of goods, and theboats were turned adrift. They had been stolen. The vessel then gotunder weigh and hoisted her single sail, shaping a southerly course,with a strong breeze which soon freshened into a gale. The stolenchildren nestled together and slept long, for they were quite wornout with anxiety and grief, to which three of them had added a day ofintense excitement and fatigue. They awoke quite famished and weregiven some food, but throughout the voyage the poor children weretreated with vile inhumanity, half-starved, and exposed to the seaswhich washed into the vessel during the gale. They could not havesurvived many more days of such treatment. Fortunately the wind wasfair, and the voyage had been a short though a stormy one, when thepiratical thieves anchored in the port of Amfleet. It is not knownwhence they came nor what land was disgraced by having bred them, nordoes it matter. They were paid and employed by a trader with morehumanity but as little conscience as themselves.