The Roots of the Mountains Page 27

  CHAPTER XXVI. THE ENDING OF THE GATE-THING.

  BUT just as the Alderman was on the point of rising to declare thebreaking-up of the Thing, there came a stir in the throng and it opened,and a warrior came forth into the innermost of the ring of men, arrayedin goodly glittering War-gear; clad in such wise that a tunicle ofprecious gold-wrought web covered the hauberk all but the sleevesthereof, and the hem of it beset with blue mountain-stones smote againstthe ankles and well-nigh touched the feet, shod with sandalsgold-embroidered and gemmed. This warrior bore a goodly gilded helm onthe head, and held in hand a spear with gold-garlanded shaft, and wasgirt with a sword whose hilts and scabbard both were adorned with goldand gems: beardless, smooth-cheeked, exceeding fair of face was thewarrior, but pale and somewhat haggard-eyed: and those who were nearbybeheld and wondered; for they saw that there was come the Bride arrayedfor war and battle, as if she were a messenger from the House of theGods, and the Burg that endureth for ever.

  Then she fell to speech in a voice which at first was somewhat hoarse andbroken, but cleared as she went on, and she said:

  ‘There sittest thou, O Alderman of Burgdale! Is Face-of-god thy sonanywhere nigh, so that he can hear me?’

  But Iron-face wondered at her word, and said: ‘He is beside thee, as heshould be.’ For indeed Face-of-god was touching her, shoulder toshoulder. But she looked not to the right hand nor the left, but said:

  ‘Hearken, Iron-face! Chief of the House of the Face, Alderman of theDale, and ye also, neighbours and goodmen of the Dale: I am a womancalled the Bride, of the House of the Steer, and ye have heard that Ihave plighted my troth to Face-of-god to wed with him, to love him, andlie in his bed. But it is not so: we are not troth-plight; nor will Iwed with him, nor any other, but will wend with you to the war, and playmy part therein according to what might is in me; nor will I be worserthan the wives of Shadowy Vale.’

  Face-of-god heard her words with no change of countenance; but Iron-facereddened over all his face, and stared at her, and knit his brows andsaid:

  ‘Maiden, what are these words? What have we done to thee? Have I notbeen to thee as a father, and loved thee dearly? Is not my son goodlyand manly and deft in arms? Hath it not ever been the wont of the Houseof the Face to wed in the House of the Steer? and in these two Housesthere hath never yet been a goodlier man and a lovelier maiden than areye two. What have we done then?’

  ‘Ye have done nought against me,’ she said, ‘and all that thou sayest issooth; yet will I not wed with Face-of-god.’

  Yet fiercer waxed the face of the Alderman, and he said in a loud voice:

  ‘But how if I tell thee that I will speak with thy kindred of the Steer,and thou shalt do after my bidding whether thou wilt or whether thou wiltnot?’

  ‘And how will ye compel me thereto?’ she said. ‘Are there thralls in theDale? Or will ye make me an outlaw? Who shall heed it? Or I shallbetake me to Shadowy Vale and become one of their warrior-maidens.’

  Now was the Alderman’s face changing from red to white, and belike heforgat the Thing, and what he was doing there, and he cried out:

  ‘This is an evil day, and who shall help me? Thou, Face-of-god, whathast thou to say? Wilt thou let this woman go without a word? What hathbewitched thee?’

  But never a word spake his son, but stood looking straight forward, coldand calm by seeming. Then turned Iron-face again to the Bride, and saidin a softer voice:

  ‘Tell me, maiden, whom I erst called daughter, what hath befallen, thatthou wilt leave my son; thou who wert once so kind and loving to him;whose hand was always seeking his, whose eyes were ever following his;who wouldst go where he bade, and come when he called. What hath betidthat ye have cast him out, and flee from our House?’

  She flushed red beneath her helm and said:

  ‘There is war in the land, and I have seen it coming, and that thingsshall change around us. I have looked about me and seen men happy andwomen content, and children weary for mere mirth and joy. And I havethought, in a day, or two days or three, all this shall be changed, andthe women shall be, some anxious and wearied with waiting, some castingall hope away; and the men, some shall come back to the garth no more,and some shall come back maimed and useless, and there shall be loss offriends and fellows, and mirth departed, and dull days and empty hours,and the children wandering about marvelling at the sorrow of the house.All this I saw before me, and grief and pain and wounding and death; andI said: Shall I be any better than the worst of the folk that loveth me?Nay, this shall never be; and since I have learned to be deft with minehands in all the play of war, and that I am as strong as many a man, andas hardy-hearted as any, I will give myself to the Warrior and the God ofthe Face; and the battle-field shall be my home, and the after-grief ofthe fight my banquet and holiday, that I may bear the burden of mypeople, in the battle and out of it; and know every sorrow that the Dalehath; and cast aside as a grievous and ugly thing the bed of the warriorthat the maiden desires, and the toying of lips and hands and soft wordsof desire, and all the joy that dwelleth in the Castle of Love and theGarden thereof; while the world outside is sick and sorry, and the fieldslie waste and the harvest burneth. Even so have I sworn, even so will Ido.’

  Her eyes glittered and her cheek was flushed, and her voice was clear andringing now; and when she ended there arose a murmur of praise from themen round about her. But Iron-face said coldly:

  ‘These are great words; but I know not what they mean. If thou wilt tothe field and fight among the carles (and that I would not naysay, for ithath oft been done and praised aforetime), why shouldest thou not go sideby side with Face-of-god and as his plighted maiden?’

  The light which the sweetness of speech had brought into her face haddied out of it now, and she looked weary and hapless as she answered himslowly:

  ‘I will not wed with Face-of-god, but will fare afield as a virgin ofwar, as I have sworn to the Warrior.’

  Then waxed Iron-face exceeding wroth, and he rose up before all men andcried loudly and fiercely:

  ‘There is some lie abroad, that windeth about us as the gossamers in thelanes of an autumn morning.’

  And therewith he strode up to Face-of-god as though he had nought to dowith the Thing; and he stood before him and cried out at him while allmen wondered:

  ‘Thou! what hast thou done to turn this maiden’s heart to stone? Who isit that is devising guile with thee to throw aside this worthy wedding ina worthy House, with whom our sons are ever wont to wed? Speak, tell thetale!’

  But Face-of-god held his peace and stood calm and proud before all men.

  Then the blood mounted to Iron-face’s head, and he forgat folk andkindred and the war to come, and he cried so that all the place rang withthe words of his anger:

  ‘Thou dastard! I see thee now; it is thou that hast done this, and notthe maiden; and now thou hast made her bear a double burden, and set heron to speak for thee, whilst thou standest by saying nought, and wilttake no scruple’s weight of her shame upon thee!’

  But his son spake never a word, and Iron-face cried: ‘Out on thee! Iknow thee now, and why thou wouldest not to the West-land last winter. Iam no fool; I know thee. Where hast thou hidden the stranger woman?’

  Therewith he drew forth his sword and hove it aloft as if to hew downFace-of-god, who spake not nor flinched nor raised a hand from his side.But the Bride threw herself in front of Gold-mane, while there arose anangry cry of ‘The Peace of the Holy Thing! Peace-breaking,peace-breaking!’ and some cried, ‘For the War-leader, the War-leader!’and as men could for the press they drew forth their swords, and therewas tumult and noise all over the Thing-stead.

  But Stone-face caught hold of the Alderman’s right arm and dragged downthe sword, and the big carle, Red-coat of Waterless, came up behind himand cast his arms about his middle and drew him back; and presently helooked around him, and slowly sheathed his sword, and went back to hisplace and sat him down; and in a little while the noise abated an
d swordswere sheathed, and men waxed quiet again, and the Alderman arose and saidin a loud voice, but in the wonted way of the head man of the Thing:

  ‘Here hath been trouble in the Holy Thing; a violent man hath troubledit, and drawn sword on a neighbour; will the neighbours give the doominghereof into the hands of the Alderman?’

  Now all knew Iron-face, and they cried out, ‘That will we.’ So he spakeagain:

  ‘I doom the troubler of the Peace of the Holy Thing to pay a fine, to witdouble the blood-wite that would be duly paid for a full-grown freeman ofthe kindreds.’

  Then the cry went up and men yeasaid his doom, and all said that it waswell and fairly doomed; and Iron-face sat still.

  But Stone-face stood forth and said:

  ‘Here have been wild words in the air; and dreams have taken shape andcome amongst us, and have bewitched us, so that friends and kin havewrangled. And meseemeth that this is through the wizardry of thesefelons, who, even dead as they are, have cast spells over us. Good itwere to cast them into the Death Tarn, and then to get to our work; forthere is much to do.’

  All men yeasaid that; and Forkbeard of Lea went with those who had bornethe corpses thither to cast them into the black pool.

  But the Fiddle spake and said:

  ‘Stone-face sayeth sooth. O Alderman, thou art no young man, yet am Iold enough to be thy father; so will I give thee a rede, and say this:Face-of-god thy son is no liar or dastard or beguiler, but he is a youngman and exceeding goodly of fashion, well-spoken and kind; so that fewwomen may look on him and hear him without desiring his kindness andlove, and to such men as this many things happen. Moreover, he hath nowbecome our captain, and is a deft warrior with his hands, and as I deem,a sober and careful leader of men; therefore we need him and his courageand his skill of leading. So rage not against him as if he had done anill deed not to be forgiven—whatever he hath done, whereof we knownot—for life is long before him, and most like we shall still have tothank him for many good deeds towards us. As for the maiden, she is bothlovely and wise. She hath a sorrow at her heart, and we deem that weknow what it is. Yet hath she not lied when she said that she would bearthe burden of the griefs of the people. Even so shall she do; andwhether she will, or whether she will not, that shall heal her owngriefs. For to-morrow is a new day. Therefore, if thou do after myrede, thou wilt not meddle betwixt these twain, but wilt remember allthat we have to do, and that war is coming upon us. And when that isover, we shall turn round and behold each other, and see that we are notwholly what we were before; and then shall that which were hard toforgive, be forgotten, and that which is remembered be easy to forgive.’

  So he spake; and Iron-face sat still and put his left hand to his beardas one who pondereth; but the Bride looked in the face of the old man theFiddle, and then she turned and looked at Gold-mane, and her facesoftened, and she stood before the Alderman, and bent down before him andheld out both her hands to him the palms upward. Then she said: ‘Thouhast been wroth with me, and I marvel not; for thy hope, and the hopewhich we all had, hath deceived thee. But kind indeed hast thou been tome ere now: therefore I pray thee take it not amiss if I call to thy mindthe oath which thou swearedst on the Holy Boar last Yule, that thouwouldst not gainsay the prayer of any man if thou couldest perform it;therefore I bid thee naysay not mine: and that is, that thou wilt ask meno more about this matter, but wilt suffer me to fare afield like anyswain of the Dale, and to deal so with my folk that they shall not hinderme. Also I pray thee that thou wilt put no shame upon Face-of-god myplaymate and my kinsman, nor show thine anger to him openly, even if fora little while thy love for him be abated. No more than this will I askof thee.’

  All men who heard her were moved to the heart by her kindness and thesweetness of her voice, which was like to the robin singing suddenly on afrosty morning of early winter. But as for Gold-mane, his heart wassmitten sorely by it, and her sorrow and her friendliness grieved him outof measure.

  But Iron-face answered after a little while, speaking slowly andhoarsely, and with the shame yet clinging to him of a man who has beenwroth and has speedily let his wrath run off him. So he said:

  ‘It is well, my daughter. I have no will to forswear myself; nor hastthou asked me a thing which is over-hard. Yet indeed I would that to-daywere yesterday, or that many days were worn away.’

  Then he stood up and cried in a loud voice over the throng:

  ‘Let none forget the muster; but hold him ready against the time that theWarden shall come to him. Let all men obey the War-leader, Face-of-god,without question or delay. As to the fine of the peace-breaker, it shallbe laid on the altar of the God at the Great Folk-mote. Herewith is theThing broken up.’

  Then all men shouted and clashed their weapons, and so sundered, and wentabout their business.

  And the talk of men it was that the breaking of the troth-plight betweenthose twain was ill; for they loved Face-of-god, and as for the Bridethey deemed her the Dearest of the kindreds and the Jewel of the Folk,and as if she were the fairest and the kindest of all the Gods. Neitherdid the wrath of Iron-face mislike any; but they said he had done welland manly both to be wroth and to let his wrath run off him. As to thewar which was to come, they kept a good heart about it, and deemed it asa game to be played, wherein they might show themselves deft and valiant,and so get back to their merry life again.

  So wore the day through afternoon to even and night.