"Nay; why should we grudge them their miserable lives; they have done us no harm."

At that moment a loud cry of dire alarm was heard, the trampling of an immense body of horse followed--a rush into the hall already filled with smoke--loud outcries and shrieks from without.

"What is the matter?" cried Ragnar.

"The Mercians are upon us! the Mercians are upon us!"

Ragnar rushed to the gateway, and a sight met his startled eyes he was little prepared to behold.

The clouds had been driven away by a fierce wind, the moon was shining brightly, and revealed a mighty host surrounding the hall on every side.

Every horse before the gateway was driven away or seized, every man who had not saved himself by instant retreat had been slain by the advancing host; without orders the majority of his men had repa.s.sed the moat, and had already raised the drawbridge against the foe, not without the greatest difficulty.

"Extinguish the fires which you have raised; let each man fight fire-- then we will fight the Mercians."

It was high time to fight fire, rather it was too late.

CHAPTER XXIII. "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY."

When the door was finally closed upon the brothers and their faithful thrall, Alfred did not give way to despair. The words of Ragnar, "If there be a G.o.d, let Him deliver you," had sunk deeply into his heart, and had produced precisely the opposite effect to that which his cousin had intended; it seemed as if his cause were thus committed to the great Being in Whose Hand was the disposal of all things; as if His Honour were at stake, Whom the murderer had so impiously defied.

"'If there be a G.o.d, let Him deliver you,'" repeated Alfred, and it seemed to him as if a Voice replied, "Is My Arm shortened, that It cannot save?"

But how salvation was to come, and even in what mode danger was to be expected, was unknown to them; nay, was even unguessed. They heard the bustle below, which followed Ragnar's announcement of his intended departure from Aescendune. They heard the mustering of the horses--and at last the conviction forced itself upon them that the foe were about to evacuate the hall. But in that case, how would he inflict his sentence upon his victims?

The dread truth, the suspicion of his real intention, crept upon the minds of both Alfred and Oswy. Elfric yet lay insensible, or seemingly so, upon the bed, lost to all perception of his danger. Alfred sat at the head of the bed, looking with brotherly love at the prostrate form of him for whom he was giving his life; but feeling secretly grateful that there was no painful struggle imminent in his case; that death itself would come unperceived, without torturing forebodings.

It was at this moment that Oswy, who stood by the window, which was strongly barred, but which he had opened, for the night was oppressively warm, caught the faint and distant sound of a mighty host advancing through the forest; at first it was very faint, and he only heard it through the pauses in the storm of sound which attended Ragnar's preparations for departure, but it soon became more distinct, and he turned to Alfred.

"Listen, my lord, they come to our aid; listen, I hear the army of Edgar."

Alfred rushed to the window, the hope of life strong within him; at first he could hear nothing for the noise below, but at length there was a lull in the confusion, and then he heard distinctly the sound of the coming deliverers. Another minute, and he saw the dark lines leaving the shadow of the forest, and descending the hill in serried array, then deploying, as if to surround a foe in stealthy silence; he looked around for the object, and beheld Ragnar's forces all unconscious of their danger, not having heard the approach in their own hasty preparations for departure. Another moment of dread suspense, like that with which the gazer watches the dark thundercloud before the lightning's flash. A moment of dread silence--during which some orders, given loudly below, forced themselves upon him:

"Fire the castle, every portion of it; fire the stables, the barns, the outbuildings; we will leave a pile of blackened ruins for Edgar when he comes; the halls where the princely Edwy has feasted shall never be his, or entertain him as guest."

Meanwhile, the dark forces, unseen by the destroyers, were still surrounding the castle, deploying on all sides to surround it as in a net; for they saw the intention of their victims, and meant to cut off all chance of escape.

But the position of the brothers seemed as perilous as ever--for how could Edgar's troops rescue them if the place were once on fire? Alfred gazed with pallid face upon Oswy, but met only a resigned helpless glance in return.

Yet, even at this moment of awful suspense, a voice seemed to whisper in his ear, "Stand still, and see the salvation of G.o.d."

"Oswy," he exclaimed, "we shall not die--I feel sure that G.o.d will save us!"

"It must be soon then," replied Oswy; "soon, my lord, for they have already set the place on fire, just beneath us; can you not smell the smoke?"

Just at that moment came the war cry of the Mercians, and the charge we have already described.

It was during the following few minutes, while Ragnar and all his men were vainly striving to extinguish the conflagration they had raised-- for the dry timber of which the hall was chiefly built had taken fire like matchwood--it was while the friends without were preparing to attack, that a sudden change came over the patient.

"Alfred, my brother!"

Alfred looked round in surprise; consciousness had returned, and the face was calm and possessed as his own.

"Elfric, my dear Elfric!"

"What does all this mean? How came I here? What makes this smoke?"

"We are in danger, great danger; prisoners in our own house, which they have set on fire."

"I remember now--is not this our dear father's room?"

"Yes; we are prisoners in it, they have barred the door upon us."

"But they cannot bar us in: there is another door, Alfred; one my father once pointed out to me, but told me to keep its existence a secret, as it always had been kept. Who are without?"

"The Mercians, Edgar's army, come to deliver us; if we can reach them, we are safe."

"I thought they were our foes, but all seems strange now. Alfred, lift up the tapestry which conceals the recess where dear father's armour hung."

Alfred complied.

"Now, just where the breastplate hung you will find a round k.n.o.b of wood like a peg."

"Yes, it is here."

"Push it hard--no, harder."

Alfred did so, and a concealed door flew open; he stepped through it with a cry of joy, and found himself on the staircase leading up from the postern gate by which he had entered, just below the closed door which led into the gallery above.

"G.o.d be thanked! we are saved--saved. Elfric!

"Oswy, take him in your arms, quick! quick! I lead the way, and will get the boat ready--door open and boat ready."

It was all the work of a moment; they were on the private staircase, carrying Elfric, carefully wrapt up. The smoke had entered even here; the next moment they were at the entrance. Happily the whole attention of Ragnar was concentrated on self preservation.

One more minute, and Elfric was placed in the coracle. The Mercians on the further bank now observed them, and at first, not knowing them, seemed disposed to treat them as foes; when Oswy cried aloud, "Spare your arrows; it is Elfric of Aescendune;" and they crowded to the bank joyfully, for the purpose of the attack was known to all, and now they saw its object placed beyond the reach of further risk of failure.

The coracle touched the further bank; a dozen willing hands a.s.sisted them up the slope. And amidst shouts of vociferous joy and triumph they were conducted to King Edgar, who hastened towards the scene with Siward.

"Now, let the castle burn, let it burn," said Oswy.

"Alfred, is it you?" exclaimed the young king; "just escaped from the flames! How came you there? and this is Elfric; you have saved him."

"G.o.d has delivered us."

"But you have been the instrument; you must tell me all another time, get him into shelter quickly.

"Here, men, bear him to the priory, while we stay to do our duty here.