"Still cold with dew in the morning the Shielding Roof-ridge stands, Nor yet hath grey Hell bounden the Shielding warriors' hands;But lo, the swords, O War-duke, how thick in the wind they shake, Because we bear the message that the battle-road ye take, Nor tarry for the thunder or the coming on of rain, Or the windy cloudy night-tide, lest your battle be but vain.
And this is the word that Otter yestre'en hath set in my mouth;Seek thou the trail of the Aliens of the Cities of the South, And thou shalt find it leading o'er the heaths to the beechen-wood, And thence to the stony places where the foxes find their food;And thence to the tangled thicket where the folkway cleaves it through, To the eastern edge of Mid-mark where the Bearings deal and do."Then said Thiodolf in a cold voice, "What then hath befallen Otter?"Said Geirbald:
"When last I looked upon Otter, all armed he rode the plain, With his whole host clattering round him like the rush of the summer rain;To the right or the left they looked not but they rode through the dusk and the dark Beholding nought before them but the dream of the foes in the Mark.
So he went; but his word fled from him and on my horse it rode, And again it saith, O War-duke seek thou the Bear's abode, And tarry never a moment for ought that seems of worth, For there shall ye find the sword-edge and the flame of the foes of the earth.
"Tarry not, Thiodolf, nor turn aback though a new foe followeth on thine heels. No need to question me more; I have no more to tell, save that a woman brought these tidings to us, whom the Hall-Sun had sent with others to watch the ways: and some of them had seen the Romans, who are a great host and no band stealing forth to lift the herds."Now all those round about him heard his words, for he spake with a loud voice; and they knew what the bidding of the War-duke would be;so they loitered not, but each man went about his business of looking to his war-gear and gathering to the appointed place of his kindred.
And even while Geirbald had been speaking, had Hiarandi brought up the man who bore the great horn, who when Thiodolf leapt to his feet to find him, was close at hand. So he bade him blow the war-blast, and all men knew the meaning of that voice of the horn, and every man armed him in haste, and they who had horses (and these were but the Bearings and the Warnings), saddled them, and mounted, and from mouth to mouth went the word that the Romans were gotten into Mid-mark, and were burning the Bearing abodes. So speedily was the whole host ready for the way, the Wolfings at the head of all. Then came forth Thiodolf from the midst of his kindred, and they raised him upon a great war-shield upheld by many men, and he stood thereon and spake:
"O sons of Tyr, ye have vanquished, and sore hath been your pain;But he that smiteth in battle must ever smite again;And thus with you it fareth, and the day abideth yet When ye shall hold the Aliens as the fishes in the net.
On the Ridge ye slew a many; but there came a many more From their strongholds by the water to their new-built garth of war, And all these have been led by dastards o'er the way our feet must tread Through the eastern heaths and the beechwood to the door of the Bearing stead, Now e'en yesterday I deemed it, but I durst not haste away Ere the word was borne to Otter and 'tis he bids haste to-day;So now by day and by night-tide it behoveth us to wend And wind the reel of battle and weave its web to end.
Had ye deemed my eyes foreseeing, I would tell you of my sight, How I see the folk delivered and the Aliens turned to flight, While my own feet wend them onwards to the ancient Father's Home.
But belike these are but the visions that to many a man shall come When he goeth adown to the battle, and before him riseth high The wall of valiant foemen to hide all things anigh.
But indeed I know full surely that no work that we may win To-morrow or the next day shall quench the Markmen's kin.
On many a day hereafter shall their warriors carry shield;On many a day their maidens shall drive the kine afield, On many a day their reapers bear sickle in the wheat When the golden wind-wrought ripple stirs round the feast-hall's feet.
Lo, now is the day's work easy--to live and overcome, Or to die and yet to conquer on the threshold of the Home."And therewith he gat him down and went a-foot to the head of the Wolfing band, a great shout going with him, which was mingled with the voice of the war-horn that bade away.
So fell the whole host into due array, and they were somewhat over three thousand warriors, all good and tried men and meet to face the uttermost of battle in the open field; so they went their ways with all the speed that footmen may, and in fair order; and the sky cleared above their heads, but the distant thunder still growled about the world. Geirbald and Viglund joined themselves to the Wolfings and went a-foot along with Wolfkettle; but Hiarandi went with his kindred who were second in the array.
