CHAPTER XLIX. DALLACH FARETH TO ROSE-DALE: CROW TELLETH OF HIS ERRAND:THE KINDREDS EAT THEIR MEAT IN SILVER-DALE.
NOW Dallach, who had gone away for a while, came back again into theHall; and at his back were a half score of men who bore ladders withthem: they were stout men, clad in scanty and ragged raiment, but girtwith swords and bearing axes, those of them who were not handling theladders. Men looked on them curiously, because they saw them to be ofthe roughest of the thralls. They were sullen and fierce-eyed to behold,and their hands and bare arms were flecked with blood; and it was easy tosee that they had been chasing the fleers, and making them pay for theirmany torments of past days.
But when Face-of-god beheld this he cried out: ‘Ho, Dallach! is it sothat thou hast bethought thee to bring in hither men to fall to thecleansing of the Hall, and to do away the defiling of the Dusky Men?’
‘Even so, War-leader,’ said Dallach; ‘also ye shall know that all battleis over in Silver-stead; for the thralls fell in numbers not to beendured on the Dusky Men who had turned their backs to us, and hinderedthem from fleeing north. But though they have slain many, they have notslain all, and the remnant have fled by divers ways westaway, that theymay gain the wood and the ways to Rose-dale; and the stoutest of thethralls are at their heels, and ever as they go fresh men from the fieldsjoin in the chase with great joy. I have gathered together of the bestof them two hundreds and a half well-armed; and if thou wilt give meleave, I will get to me yet more, and follow hard on the fleers, and soget me home to Rose-dale; for thither will these runaways to meet whatsoof their kind may be left there. Also I would fain be there to set someorder amongst the poor folk of mine own people, whom this day’s work hathdelivered from torment. And if thou wilt suffer a few men of theDalesmen to come along with me, then shall all things be better donethere.’
‘Luck go with thine hands!’ said Face-of-god. ‘Take whomso thou wilt ofthe Burgdalers that have a mind to fare with thee to the number of fivescore; and send word of thy thriving to Folk-might, the chieftain of theDale; as for us, meseemeth that we shall abide here no long while. Howsayest thou, Folk-might, shall Dallach go?’
Then Folk-might, who stood close beside him, looked up and reddenedsomewhat, as a man caught heedless when he should be heedful; but helooked kindly on Face-of-god, and said:
‘War-leader, so long as thou art in the Dale which ye kindreds have wonback for us, thou art the chieftain, and no other, and I bid thee do asthou wilt in this matter, and in all things; and I hereby give command toall my kindred to do according to thy will everywhere and always, as theylove me; and indeed I deem that thy will shall be theirs; since it isonly fools who know not their well-wishers. How say ye, kinsmen?’
Then those about cried out: ‘Hail to Face-of-god! Hail to the Dalesmen!Hail to our friends!’
But Folk-might went up to Face-of-god, and threw his arms about him andkissed him, and he said therewithal, so that most men heard him:
‘Herewith I kiss not only thee, thou goodly and glorious warrior! butthis kiss and embrace is for all the men of the kindreds of the Dale andthe Shepherds; since I deem that never have men more valiant dwelt uponthe earth.’
Therewith all men shouted for joy of him, and were exceeding glad; butFolk-might spake apart to Face-of-god and said:
‘Brother, I suppose that thou wilt deem it good to abide in this Hall oranigh it; for hereabouts now is the heart of the Host. But as for me, Iwould have leave to depart for a little; since I have an errand, whereofthou mayest wot.’
Then Face-of-god smiled on him, and said: ‘Go, and all good go with thee;and tell my father that I would have tidings, since I may not be there.’So he spake; yet in his heart was he glad that he might not go to beholdthe Bride lying sick and sorry. But Folk-might departed without morewords; and in the door of the Hall he met Crow the Shaft-speeder, whowould have spoken to him, and given him the tidings; but Folk-might saidto him: ‘Do thine errand to the War-leader, who is within the Hall.’ Andso went on his way.
Then came Crow up the Hall, and stood before Face-of-god and said:‘War-leader, we have done that which was to be done, and have cleared allthe houses about the Market-stead. Moreover, by the rede of Dallach wehave set certain men of the poor folk of the Dale, who are well looked toby the others, to the burying of the slain felons; and they be diggingtrenches in the fields on the north side of the Market-stead, and carrythe carcasses thither as they may. But the slain whom they find of thekindreds do they array out yonder before this Hall. In all wise arethese men tame and biddable, save that they rage against the Dusky Men,though they fear them yet. As for us, they deem us Gods come down fromheaven to help them. So much for what is good: now have I an ill word tosay; to wit, that in the houses whereas we have found many thralls alive,yet also have we found many dead; for amongst these murder-carles weresome of an evil sort, who, when they saw that the battle would go againstthem, rushed into the houses hewing down all before them—man, woman, andchild; so that many of the halls and chambers we saw running blood liketo shambles. To be short: of them whom they were going to hew to theGods, we have found thirteen living and three dead, of which latter isone woman; and of the living, seven women; and all these, living anddead, with the leaden shackles yet on them wherein they should be burned.To all these and others whom we have found, we have done what of servicewe could in the way of victual and clothes, so that they scarce believethat they are on this lower earth. Moreover, I have with me two score ofthem, who are men of some wits, and who know of the stores of victual andother wares which the felons had, and these will fetch and carry for youas much as ye will. Is all done rightly, War-leader?’
‘Right well,’ said Face-of-god, ‘and we give thee our thanks therefor.And now it were well if these thy folk were to dight our dinner for us insome green field the nighest that may be, and thither shall all the Hostbe bidden by sound of horn. Meantime, let us void this Hall till it becleansed of the filth of the Dusky Ones; but hereafter shall we comeagain to it, and light a fire on the Holy Hearth, and bid the Gods andthe Fathers come back and behold their children sitting glad in theancient Hall.’
Then men shouted and were exceeding joyous; but Face-of-god said oncemore: ‘Bear ye a bench out into the Market-place over against the door ofthis Hall: thereon will I sit with other chieftains of the kindreds, thatwhoso will may have recourse to us.’
So therewith all the men of the kindreds made their ways out of the Halland into the Market-stead, which was by this time much cleared of theslaughtered felons; and the bale for the burnt-offering was now butsmouldering, and a thin column of blue smoke was going up wavering amidstthe light airs of the afternoon. Men were somewhat silent now; for theywere stiff and weary with the morning’s battle; and a many had been hurtwithal; and on many there yet rested the after-grief of battle, andsorrow for the loss of friends and well-wishers.
For in the battle had fallen one long hundred and two of the men of theHost; and of these were two score and five of the kindreds of the Steer,the Bull, and the Bridge, who had made such valiant onslaught by thesouthern road. Of the Shepherds died one score save three; for thoughthey scattered the foe at once, yet they fell on with such headlongvalour, rather than wisely, that many were trapped in the throng of theDusky Men. Of the Woodlanders were slain one score and nine; for hardhad been the fight about them, and no man of them spared himself onewhit. Of the men of the Wolf, who were but a few, fell sixteen men, andall save two of these in Face-of-god’s battle. Of the Burgdale men whomFolk-might led, to wit, them of the Face, the Vine, and the Sickle, werebut seven men slain outright. In this tale are told all those who diedof their hurts after the day of battle. Therewithal many others weresorely hurt who mended, and went about afterwards hale and hearty.
So as the folk abode in the Market-place, somewhat faint and weary, theyheard horns blow up merrily, and Crow the Shaft-speeder came forth andstood on the mound of the altar, and bade men fare to dinner, andtherewith he led the wa
y, bearing in his hand the banner of the GoldenBushel, of which House he was; and they followed him into a fair andgreat mead on the southwest of Silver-stead, besprinkled about withancient trees of sweet chestnut. There they found the boards spread forthem with the best of victual which the poor down-trodden folk knew howto dight for them; and especially was there great plenty of good wine ofthe sun-smitten bents.
So they fell to their meat, and the poor folk, both men and women, servedthem gladly, though they were somewhat afeard of these fiercesword-wielders, the Gods who had delivered them. The said thralls weremostly not of those who had fallen so bitterly on their fleeing masters,but were men and women of the households, not so roughly treated as theothers, that is to say, those who had been wont to toil under the lash inthe fields and the silver-mines, and were as wild as they durst be.
As for these waiting-thralls, the men of the kindreds were gentle andblithe with them, and often as they served them would they stay theirhands (and especially if they were women), and would draw down theirheads to put a morsel in their mouths, or set the wine-cup to their lips;and they would stroke them and caress them, and treat them in all wise astheir dear friends. Moreover, when any man was full, he would arise andtake hold of one of the thralls, and set him in his place, and serve himwith meat and drink, and talk with him kindly, so that the poor folk weremuch bewildered with joy. And the first that arose from table were theSun-beam and Bow-may and Hall-face, with many of the swains and the womenof the Woodlanders; and they went from table to table serving the others.
The Sun-beam had done off her armour, and went about exceeding fair andlovely in her kirtle; but Bow-may yet bore her hauberk, for she loved it,and indeed it was so fine and well-wrought that it was no great burden.Albeit she had gone down with the Sun-beam and other women to a fairstream thereby, and there had they bathed and washed themselves; andBow-may’s hurts, which were not great, had been looked to and bound upafresh, and she had come to table unhelmed, with a wreath of wind-flowersround her head.
There then they feasted; and their hearts were strengthened by the meatand drink; and if sorrow were blended with their joy, yet were theyhigh-hearted through both joy and sorrow, looking forward to the gooddays to be in the Dales at the Roots of the Mountains, and the love andfellowship of Folks and of Houses.
But as for Face-of-god, he went not to the meadow, but abode sitting onthe bench in the Market-place, where were none else now of the kindredssave the appointed warders. They had brought him a morsel and a cup ofwine, and he had eaten and drunk; and now he sat there with Dale-wardenlying sheathed across his knees, and seeming to gaze on the thralls ofSilver-dale busied in carrying away the bodies of the slain felons, afterthey had stripped them of their raiment and weapons. Yet indeed all thiswas before his eyes as a picture which he noted not. Rather he satpondering many things; wondering at his being there in Silver-dale in thehour of victory; longing for the peace of Burgdale and the bride-chamberof the Sun-beam. Then went his thought out toward his old playmate lyinghurt in Silver-dale; and his heart was grieved because of her, yet notfor long, though his thought still dwelt on her; since he deemed that shewould live and presently be happy—and happy thenceforward for many years.So pondered Face-of-god in the Market-place of Silver-dale.