For The White Christ Part 22

He, our hersir, He, our hero, Have we here!"

rang out the mellow voice of a skald from the thick of the crowd, and the quickly turned verse was echoed by a roar to be heard even at Ca.s.seneuil.

Olvir's eyes sparkled, and he wheeled Zora slowly around, that he might see all. As the shouting died away, he lifted his hand, and answered the boisterous welcome: "Greeting to you, sons of Thor! My heart leaps at the sight of viking faces! But now I must go to the Frank king. I will come again before nightfall. Arm yourselves as for battle, that I may see if the camp-sloth has overtaken you."

"If one man shows a rust-speck on mail or helmet, strike off my hand,"

said Floki.

"The Crane has looked to it!" grumbled the old berserk. "There are softer-spoken leaders. But he has kept all well in hand, even as against Liutrad's red pig."

"I will hear of that later; now I must be going. Farewell," replied Olvir, and Zora pa.s.sed with her triple burden through the opening crowd.

The mare's gentle canter soon covered the distance to the a.s.sembling-ground of the national council. But when she left the last bit of coppice, young Karl, who held the reins, turned her away from the immense gathering of freemen to a little grove that shaded a company of priests, court-officials, and war-counts. The royal standard, planted before the grove, marked the presence of the king. Here, in fact, was the inner council of the Frankish national a.s.sembly, whence the sovereign, surrounded by his high liegemen, both lay and ecclesiastical, sent over his decrees to be confirmed by the voice of the freemen.

When Zora approached the grove, the king was reading from a long scroll, and his audience had eye and ear only for the royal speaker. Not until Zora thrust her head over Count Amalwin's heavy shoulder, were the new-comers perceived. The Saxon turned with a frown, to start back and stare at the Northman, open-mouthed. Olvir leaned toward him, smiling.

"So, Saxon," he said quietly, "what do you now say of my mare, and what of her master? We crossed Rhine Stream, and more,--I held your Grey Wolf by the throat."

"How--Rudulf!" shouted Amalwin, forgetting all else in his surprise.

The cry rang through the grove like an alarm, and king, counts, and priests alike turned to stare at the intruders. The first look on many faces was one of resentment; but then, just beyond the oaken throne, Roland sprang up and came running with a cry of greeting: "Olvir!

Olvir! Welcome back again!"

Close after him ran Liutrad and Gerold, while from all sides the liegemen pressed forward with excited shouts: "The Dane! It is the Dane count! He cannot have gone and come already! Saint Michael, what a mare!"

Then Gerold caught Zora's bridle, while behind him Roland and Liutrad clasped Olvir by the hands. So escorted, with the king's son before him and the king's daughter at his back, the young Northman rode forward to the very edge of the dais. There his friends stepped aside, and Olvir would have dismounted. But Karl stayed him with a gesture, and came forward to lay his great palm on Zora's forehead.

"By the King of Heaven," he muttered, "well did I name you my Dane hawk!

Six and twenty days ago you rode northward. Have you, in truth, crossed the Rhine?"

"To Fulda and beyond, lord king," replied Olvir; "to the lair of the Grey Wolf."

"Beyond Fulda! And how did the old count greet you?"

"We played at back-breaking till I throttled him. Then we rode to Fulda, and he made his mark on what I asked him."

"How, Dane," demanded the purple-faced Count Hardrat; "do you claim to have outwrestled Rudulf of the Sorb Mark? I cannot swallow that boast."

Olvir's lip curled, and he bent over toward the speaker.

"Shall I prove the boast--now?" he asked softly.

"Ay; now!" retorted the Thuringian. But then the soft hand of Duke Lupus fell upon his shoulder: "Go easy, friend. Count Olvir has already tossed you over his head; he will toss you again."

"Enough!" interrupted Karl, imperiously. "We will have no brawling. I answer for Lord Olvir's truth."

"A word, lord king," called out Amalwin. "I know that Rudulf vowed never to give his daughter to one who could not best him at his own game."

"And here is Rudulf's mark to my betrothal lines," added Olvir.

"I need no such proof of the deed, my gerfalcon. Put up your scroll, and dismount. Give me the child."

At the bidding, Olvir tossed young Karl into his father's arms, and Roland swung down Rothada. Then Olvir leaped from the saddle. As the foster-brothers parted, Liutrad touched his earl's shoulder.

"Have no thought for the mare, ring-breaker," he said. "Gerold and I will groom her with our own hands."

Among the first of the company to congratulate the Northman on his wonderful ride was Duke Lupus.

"I rejoice, hero, that you are here to be with us on the morrow," he concluded. "Count Roland and your learned young Liutrad have planned a boating party up the Lot. The queen herself will attend, and also one whom I need not name."

"My thanks for the good tidings," replied Olvir, and his hand closed with cordial firmness about the Vascon's soft palm.

Then Lupus glided away, and Count Amalwin thrust forward a slim, hazel-eyed young warrior, whose firm-set jaw alone saved his delicate face from girlish softness.

"Here, hero," called out the Saxon; "you have wrestled with Rudulf; here now is one, half a monk, who will strive to match you in book-craft,--Worad, Count of Metz."

"Not I, hero!" protested the young man. "Already Liutrad has worsted me. If the man be so learned, how dare I meet the master? Rather, measure your lore with Abbot Fulrad."

"You would set me against all the learning of Frank Land," said Olvir, smiling.

"That we shall, lad," replied the king. "For what should we gain learning, if not to impart it? My war-counts, alas, give little heed to letters."

"The greater heed we give to our swords, lord king," mumbled Amalwin.

"To your trenchers, rather!" laughed Karl. "And now I myself would give heed to the same. Here comes my cupbearer, to tell us that the meat cools on the spits."

Giving over Rothada and her brother into the charge of the page, the king led the way to the table with a hastiness that betrayed a hunter's appet.i.te.

Olvir soon found himself seated at a rustic board, between Roland and Worad. Overhead the breeze sighed through the green foliage; but the birds of the grove had flown away, frightened by the clamor. After no little confusion, seats were found for all the company, and a crowd of attendants served the guests. Very shortly the loud talk of the warriors lulled, and little else was to be heard than the click of knives and spoons.

In the midst of the feast the air shook with a great rolling outcry that sent Olvir's hand to the hilt of Al-hatif. But the Franks went on with their eating as though nothing had happened. Roland, however, observed Olvir's movement, and hastened to explain.

"It is the a.s.sembly," he said. "The freemen have brought their deliberations to an end."

Olvir smiled ironically: "Otkar had somewhat to say of your Frankish _folk-thing_. Your warriors meet to shout for what the king bids them.

In the North at the _thing_ all alike--kings, earls, and common freemen--stand on the same footing. So it is in Saxon Land, and so it was once among the free Franks."

"You speak boldly, Count Olvir," rejoined young Worad of Metz. "I might answer that we free Franks have pa.s.sed the stage of the barbarous Saxons. The Romans were very wise; we have learned from them."

"And Rome to-day is a grave-mound of dead might. Its folk bent knee to the foul kaisers as to G.o.ds, and their realm crumbled away. Kings alone cannot long uphold kingdoms. The strength of a land lies in its freemen."

"You jest, Olvir," protested Roland. "See how our folk have become bound together and our strength been magnified since Karl the Hammer seized the reins of power in his single grasp."

"But why were you weak before? Your freemen then had as little part in the making of your laws as they have now. Already they were falling into slavery and serfdom. Even during my few weeks in your land, I have heard how your freemen, to save themselves from pillage and starvation, are fast pledging themselves as followers of the counts. Lucky for you so great a one as yonder world-hero sits on the throne! When he is gone, I foresee evil for Frank Land."

"You speak words of ill-omen, lord Dane," said Worad, flus.h.i.+ng. "The Franks have never been stronger. All outland folk tremble before Karl our King."

"Not all! I know of one folk--"