Talbot Mundy

“ Caswallon answered. "I am vexed not to have slain him. But as for you now, you will do well to bridle impudence. You are not free, so you have no right to challenge any one."
"Lud's blood!" the youngster swore, "I came to burn your house! I'll ask no mercy!"
He spat, and a Briton close beside him would have struck him in the face, but Caswallon prevented that:
"Let him be. He has fire in his brain. Boy, I will not kill you, nor shall any woman kill you while you are at my charge. Will you lie in fetters until some foreign ship puts in needing rowers? Or shall I give you to my friend Tros?" ”

“ Tros ordered gruffly.
He knew predicament was coming, needed all his wits to meet it. Emotion, such as she showed, angered him, and in anger there is not much wisdom.
"As for Skell, what say the druids?" asked Caswallon, raising his voice louder than before.
There was a murmur at that, but Skell was speechless; fear held him rigid, the whites of his eyes glistening. Caswallon spoke again, his head a little turned toward Fflur:
"The druids say, a good deed is for men to repay—evil deeds are for the gods to punish. What say you?" ”

“ He flexed his own great muscles, but it hurt him.
"Neither more nor less than any fight," Tros answered. "Tell him, Helma, that a man does what he can do, and neither gods nor men should ask more or expect less!"
He saw that nothing could be gained by telling Sigurdsen how great the danger was. The Northmen had too recently been beaten to thrill at any thought of a folorn hope. He must make them think their task was easy; so he led off, whistling to himself.
And first he returned to Caswallon's house to rifle the great racks of arms that lined a storeroom near the hall. ”

“ There is none in Lunden, save the fire-guard, a few old women and, it may be, a handful of drunken fishermen down by the riverside."
"Who is the fire-guard?" Sigurdsen asked; for he knew next to nothing of Britons, except that they were not fit to be reckoned with at sea, although great fighters on horse-back, and on foot in their forests.
"They," said Tros, "are about a score of old men, who sleep by day and are supposed to patrol by night. This night, instead of snoring in the watch-house, they shall serve a purpose. ”

“ Fflur laughed, high-pitched and cynical. Skell looked at Tros as a tied steer eyes the butcher.
"Slave?" he said, wetting his lips with his tongue. "I was born free. Oar-bench?"
"Aye!" Tros answered. "Loose him, lest his arms grow weak! I will keep that promise," he said, grinning at Caswallon. "His hands shall blister and his hams shall burn. If he has freedom in him, he shall earn it!"
So they loosed Skell, and the Northmen took charge of him with low-breathed insults, despising him as neither Norse nor Briton, but a traitor to both races, speaking both tongues. ”

“ Conops! Go find the fire-guard. Wake them. Keep them awake. See that each cripple of them arms himself with two good torches. Hide them within Caswallon's wall, with a small fire handy at which to light the torches swiftly when I blow three blasts somewhere near the town-gate.
"When I do that, make all the noise possible and run downhill toward the gate, as if at least fifty of you were coming to my aid. If the running kills them they will die in a good cause, so spare none! No talk now! Go about your business! Hurry!"
"How much of a fight is this to be?" asked Sigurdsen. ”

“ Maybe my men will catch a few more rebels for you. However, a man needs enemies, so they shall let some go! Boy, you belong to my brother Tros, but all your father's lands and property are mine."
Young Glendwyr hung his head and the men who held him would have tied his wrist if Tros had permitted; but Tros put two Northmen in charge of him, which stung the youngster less than if he had been tied, and mocked, by his own countrymen. Caswallon sent the other prisoners into Lunden under guard, to await Tros' disposition. ”

“ The youngster nearly wrenched his two guards off their feet as he turned to glare at Tros, whose amber eyes met his and laughed at him.
"Be still, boy!" Tros advised him. "If I say no to this, you will die of scurvy on some Phenician's deck, or else be sold to be chained to an Egyptian oar." ”

“ So the gods will do theirs; for they like to see men and women prove themselves!"
With that he left her to her own devices and tramped away with Sigurdsen, the other Northmen following; and presently he hid them all on the shoulder of the slope above the road, where even if mounted men should spy them from the higher level of horse or chariot, their heads would look like tree-stumps in the mist. ”

“ He seized a bow and arrows from a man who did not understand him and launched shaft after screaming shaft into the riot, where fallen horses kicked and men cursed, none sure yet whence the arrows came and each men yelling contrary advice, as some fell stricken, and some saw the torches coming downhill. ”

“ The wall reached either way into obscurity. It was a thing of mud and lumber, useless against battery, but too high for an enemy to waste time climbing if he should see a gap that he might gallop through. ”