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Updated: May 4, 2025
So he laughed and went out, having done his best to cheer us all, and I went with him to where the men were gathered in their arms in the wide space in the midst of the houses. There I sought for little Withelm, but could not find him among the women and children who looked on; and before we had been there more than a few minutes the jarl gave the word, and the march was begun.
"Now let us go, for mother will grow anxious." With that he put his hand in mine, and we both saluted Thor, as was fitting, and then went homeward. It seemed to me that the glare in the north was fiercer now than when I had first seen it. Now, after my mother had put Withelm to bed, I told her how I had found him; and thereat she wept a little, as I could see in the firelight.
And presently she asked of that strange request that I had made to her. I told her, for it was a message that should not be kept back, thus given; and when he heard it, Withelm sighed a little, and said, "Would that we had all those who have fallen. Yet if it is as they have asked our brother, our host will seem as strong as before we joined battle in the morning.
Now when he came back to the great kitchen, which was nigh as big as the hall, Withelm was yet there, for the priest was at the widow's, and there was no haste to bring him; and by that time I had come in also, and was sitting with him at the far end, where none had need to come. It was Berthun's own end, as one might say, and he was lord in his own place.
Only Withelm was curious in the matter, and was wont to ask them thereof at times, though at first they feared to tell him anything, seeing how the Saxons and English had treated the Christian folk at their first coming. But that was forgotten now, by the English at least, and times were quiet for these poor folk.
"As it pleases you," the steward said; and Havelok waved his hand to me, and they went their way. He had not seen Withelm, and I was glad, for I wanted to speak to him alone first. Now men began to ask who this was, and many voices answered, while the porter went to claim the prize from the thane who held it.
Now I longed for Withelm and his counsel, for one thing was plain to me, and that was that with the once familiar things of the kingship before him the lost memory of his childhood was waking in Havelok, and I thought that the time my father boded was at hand.
So Withelm and Arngeir and I went foremost, and behind us came the courtmen, and in the midst of their shield wall was Havelok, with Raven and the banner at his side. After them, rank on rank and with close-locked shields, was such a force as had not been seen in Lindsey for many a long day.
Only the Norsemen held back; and presently, when we were talking to the Danish chiefs in all friendly wise, they drew apart with their men, and formed up into a close-ranked body that looked dangerous. "Surely they do not mean to fight!" said Withelm. Then one of them shouted that he must speak to the king, and that seemed as if they owned him at least, so Havelok went to them.
There was a long talk, and then one chief came back to us. "I am going to ask a strange thing," he said, "but the men wish to see Havelok face to face." Now Sigurd said that this was too great a risk, and even Withelm agreed with him. But Havelok answered, "The men are my own men, but they are not sure that I am the right king.
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