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Updated: June 5, 2025
"Here, chiefs, are two good and tried warriors who willingly choose Alfred's faith. You and I have heard thereof since we were in England; and many a man have we seen die, since we have been here, because he would not give it up. I mind me of Edmund, the martyred king, whom Ingvar, our great chief, slew, and of Humbert the bishop, and many more lesser folk.
And he did but seem to put it in place, as if thinking. Then he replaced his helm, bowing, and said: "Now must I stay your rejoicing no longer. Fare you well, lady, and you, noble Egfrid; I must ride back to Thetford town on my own affairs. Yet I leave you Wulfric. Will you remember hereafter that you spoke with Ingvar the king, and that he was your friend?"
Even the ravens, scared maybe by the great shout, were gone, and all was very still. At last Ingvar turned slowly to us and faced our crew. "The sacrifice is yours," he said, "and if it is not accepted the fault is yours also. We are clear of blame who have bided at home." Then Halfden answered for his men and himself: "I know not what blame is to us."
Then Ingvar laid his hand on a great golden snake that twined round his right arm, and I thought he was going to give it as a bridal gift to my sister, for that is ever a viking's way, to give lavishly at times when he might have taken, if the mood seizes him. But as he glanced at the gold he saw blood specks thereon, and I heard him mutter: "No, by Freya, that were ill-omened."
Now what I told Ingvar and Guthrum was this only, knowing that to give the full message was to enrage Ingvar: "Eadmund refuses." "Your king is a wise man," said Guthrum, "for who knows how a fight will go?" Ingvar reined round his horse to go to his own men, and he and Guthrum left me standing there.
"Some of the men with Ingvar and me wanted to slay you before they left that place; but Ingvar growled so fiercely that they must let you be, that they said no more, nor even would look your way again. But he himself looked at you, and said strange things to himself." "What said he?" I asked, wondering.
Twelve of them there were, and foremost of all rode Ingvar on his black horse. Well for the king that they had no change of steeds, but had ridden hotfoot after him from the battlefield. Now their horses were failing them, but they would take me, and delay would give the king another chance; and I was half-minded to stay and fight.
Then Ingvar thought for a moment, and said to me, still frowning: "Go and tell your king those terms, and bring word again." So I went back and told Eadmund, knowing full well what his answer would be. And it was as I thought. "Go and tell this Ingvar that I will not give my land into the hands of the heathen, or own them as lords."
Pale he was, and all soiled with the stains of war, and with the moss and greenery of his strange hiding place; but his eye was bright and fearless, and he sat upright and stately though he was yet with his hands bound behind him. I rode past Ingvar and to Eadmund's side, and throwing myself from my horse stood by him, while the Dane glared at us both without speaking.
Little use is there in grieving over what might have been, but this I know, that in days to come forgotten will be Ingvar, and English will have become his mighty host, but in every English heart will live the name of Eadmund, who died for faith and country. i Ran: the sea goddess or witch of the old mythology, by whose nets drowning men were said to be entangled.
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