"Olvir, I should like to at least tell Hildegarde. She is so gracious and kindly."

"As well tell the king himself, simple heart! No, dearest, we had best wait. It will not be for long, I trust. And now, remember, should I not see you sooner, the counts are to join my vikings in the Yule games.

The king himself will take part. Be sure to come. There will be merry play, and the Moselle is like a burnished shield. I will teach you to skate."

"I was taught long since, Olvir. Berga, my maid, is a Frisian. So I shall soon learn again. And I shall not fail to attend the games,--to--to see the deeds of the king, my father."

For a moment the violet eyes were upraised in a look of tender mockery, and then their owner was darting off to join the queen's following.

CHAPTER VII

Fish of the wildwood, Worm smooth crawling.

VOLSUNGA SAGA.

Never had Frank or viking known fairer weather for the Yule games. Each day the sun shone bright through the frosty air; the snow lay hard and firm on field and river-bank, and the Moselle offered to the feet of the skaters its broad street of gla.s.sy ice.

In the meadows before the villa, hazel rings for the wrestling had been enclosed, racing-courses marked out, and targets set up for the contests with spear and bow. Northmen and Danes, skilled in their own sports, burned to outmatch the king's men in the games of Frank Land, and the proud counts, whether East Frank or West Frank, Saxon, Goth, or Lombard, were no less zealous to prove their superiority over the outlanders.

Yet, keen as was the rivalry, good-humor prevailed in all contests.

Each day great crowds gathered to watch the games, and to skate on the Moselle. Not a viking was to be found in the high-peaked huts, and such inmates of the villa as failed to troop out after the king to the field of games did not stay behind from choice. Aside from the house-slaves, few were left in the villa. The chapel was deserted by its priests and choristers, and the hall of state saw little of the sleek courtiers. In the bower only a maiden or two and the queen's tiring-women lingered in attendance on their mistress.

The morning after Christmas, Hildegarde, complaining of a headache, had sent Fastrada to summon Kosru the leech to her bedside. The Magian had at once p.r.o.nounced her sickness to be of a nature which, while not dangerous, would require the utmost of rest and quiet. So the chattering workers were sent from the chamber, and Kosru took up his quarters in the anteroom, to overlook the queen's service and administer her sleeping-draught with his own hand.

Full of yearning for his beautiful queen, Karl would have chosen to watch at her bedside; but the Magian's a.s.surance of her safety, and his plea for absolute quiet, sent the king out into the meadows to share in the games. With the same plea and a.s.surance, the leech also turned Rothada away, and the girl, no longer dressed as a novice, went gaily out across the snow-fields to meet her lover.

Behind, in the silent bower, Hildegarde lay in a feverish sleep, waking only to sip her broth and to drink the sweetish potion which was to lull her again to sleep. But without, in the merry crowds, was one who took good care that the king did not lack company.

From morning till evening the daughter of Count Rudulf found occasion to be always within reach of the king's eye. When Karl won in the axe-throwing, neither the loud applause of the Franks and the vikings, nor even Olvir's gift of the great sword Ironbiter as prize, was so gratifying to him as the silent and half-awed admiration of the Thuringian maiden. The readiness with which she joined in the praise of Olvir's archery showed him how utterly her gentle nature had been misjudged; and when, skimming beside him over the ice, she shyly confided her love for Rothada, and her longing to see Olvir accept baptism so that the little princess might wed her bright hero, the heart of the great Frank went out to the girl in tender sympathy.

At every turn she was ready to please and amuse him. Now it was a gentle jest; now a murmured phrase whose flattery was too subtle to startle his honest Teuton heart; and always accompanying the words would be a look whose faint suggestion of allurement ever gave way to shy confusion.

Soon Karl began to give heed as never before to the many charms of the lovely Thuringian. Often as he had remarked her beauty, he now wondered at the perfection of her supple, rounded form and the rich bloom of her cheeks. Others might own greater regularity of features, but none could surpa.s.s her in grace of movement or charm of expression.

But most of all the king was pleased and his heart touched by the girl's words of endearment for Rothada and Hildegarde. Her inquiries about the queen's health often ended in a sigh, and a naive exclamation of how happy must be the lot of one wedded to a world-hero.

So the days of Yuletide slipped by, each bringing with it new games on the Moselle bank, and merry play for the onlookers. Even young Karl and Pepin Hunchback took part, and in many ways proved by their boyish skill the efficiency of Floki's training. Both were afield from dawn to sunset, and when not testing their skill at the b.u.t.ts with bow or spear, or watching some hotly contested race or wrestling match, they were to be found skimming over the Moselle, in vain efforts to follow Olvir and their sister.

Dawn of the last day of Yule brought with it a threat of a weather change. But Franks and vikings gathered as usual on the river-bank, and the fact that this day was to see an end of the festivities gave added zest to the games.

None hurried afield with greater eagerness than Pepin Hunchback and the boy Karl, whom Olvir had promised to take with Rothada down the Moselle.

Gerold and Liutrad were also to be of the party, and the failure of the latter to appear at the set time kept the others waiting on the bank for an hour or more.

When at last the young giant did arrive, with the excuse that Abbot Fulrad had needed him, Olvir, who had been studying the sky, urged that the trip be given over. But at this the king's sons cried out in bitter disappointment. Liutrad and Gerold good-naturedly yielded to their appeals to plead for them, and Olvir finally consented to go part way on the intended course. Yet before he would give the word to start, he first sought out Floki in the midst of the wrestlers, and while the lofty viking was stripping to enter the ring spoke a brief command in his ear.

As he approached the ring, Olvir had pa.s.sed a tall and graceful woman, who was gazing intently across to where the king stood bandying jests with Fastrada. The gazer's face had been m.u.f.fled in her scarf and hood, and when Olvir, after speaking to Floki, turned with casual curiosity to observe her more closely, she had disappeared in the crowd. But a little later, as he was binding on Rothada's skates, the same woman came down the river-bank, and, half running to young Karl, caught him in her embrace.

"Mother!" cried the boy, clinging to her neck.

"Hildegarde!" echoed Gerold, in amazement, as the hood fell back from the queen's pale face. "How is this, sister? You 're mad to venture out--"

"Hush, Gerold; be silent!" rejoined the queen. "I was stifling in the bower. I woke when all were gone but the leech. He lay asleep, outworn with watching; so I dressed myself and pa.s.sed out quietly, that his rest might not be broken. Have no fear; my strength has come again, and every breath of the wintry air fills me with new life. See; I have brought my skates. I will join you on the ice."

Rothada came and put her arms about the queen.

"We had thought to go down the river, mother," she said; "but now that you are with us--"

"I 'll run tell the good tidings to our lord king," broke in Liutrad.

"No, lad; stay!" exclaimed Hildegarde, and she drew the hood out over her face again. "It would mar the games should his Majesty withdraw from the field, and--and there would be great outcry were my presence known. I wish quiet--peace and quiet--while I skim about on the smooth ice and breathe in the pure air. Now I am cold and sad. When the blood leaps freely in my veins, I can join the folk without fear of marring their play. Take me with you down the Moselle. Bind on my skates, brother!"

"The storm-light is in the sky, Dame Hildegarde," protested Olvir. "Is it wise that you should venture beyond sight of the villa?"

"I have spoken," replied Hildegarde, with unwonted sharpness. "Gerold, lead on with the boys. I will trust to Liutrad's arm."

When the queen spoke in such a tone, even Gerold could not venture a remonstrance. He lashed the skate-thongs over his sister's slender buskins, and sprang up, boar-spear in hand, to join the king's sons.

The boys were circling about, wild with delight at the thought that some stray wolf or bear might give them opportunity to prove their prowess to their beloved mother. As they darted off before Gerold, Hildegarde rested her gloved hand lightly on Liutrad's ma.s.sive forearm and glided out beside him with the graceful stroke of a practised skater.

Olvir slung his war-bow with its full quiver upon his back, and caught up Rothada's hand, to follow the queen.

"All's well with our gracious dame, dearest," he said. "She skims over the ice-street with the ease of a swallow's flight. I wager she can cover many long miles without wearying."

"True, dear hero; and already I see the bloom creeping back into her cheeks."

"As it has crept into yours, little nun, day by day, since the first of Yule. The cloister pallor is all but gone. Once more you are the vala of my sea-wolves."

"Their morning greeting still roars in my ears. Yet they are heathen,--only heathen! How beautiful the world is, Olvir!"

"To those whose hearts are filled with beauty and love, dearest."

Rothada's fingers tightened in the firm palm of her hero, and for a long time the lovers skimmed over the ice in happy silence.

CHAPTER VIII

Troll's lore and witchcraft.

VOLSUNGA SAGA.

As the little party shot out from among the other skaters, to sweep away down the river, a shrivelled old man crept out of an alder thicket near the bank, and called to a pa.s.sing boy. The sight of a silver penny lent wings to the lad's feet, and he ran nimbly through the crowds on the snowy field, repeating to himself the two simple words which he was to whisper in the ear of Fastrada, the queen's maiden. Chance favored him.

The king had drawn apart with Abbot Fulrad, and the Franks were moving across the meadow to see the wrestling. In the confusion, the boy was able to gain Fastrada's side and tell his message, unheeded by those around.

With all her years of court training, Fastrada was unable to hide her vexation when the boy muttered his two words in her ear. She stopped short and stamped her jewelled buskin deep into the snow, and her eyes blazed with angry light. Count Amalwin, who chanced to be near, inquired with uncouth sympathy what might be troubling the Grey Wolf's daughter. But Fastrada turned from him without answer, to hasten after Kosru's messenger.