The Wake (27 page)

we has risen

i sees nuthan

when it is time

thu is all words and lies

it is cuman we is cuman

we is waitan

all things at this time seemed scearper deoper than before. weland he spac to me mor and he spac harder. the times they was cuman together the light in the wud was brighter the fyrs smelt scarper the mete we ate was stronger. sum thing was cuman now for sure it colde be felt in the heofon by all of my men

when it cum it cum in a scape i wolde not see. it was a daeg in sumor and siward had been out for sum time efry daeg now he wolde cum baec with tales from angland and the tales wolde be good he saed. he wolde tell us of grene men cuman together all ofer in holts and in fenns and on hylls there was gangs lic ours risan up they was cwellan frenc in their lands and they was waitan for the call from the northern eorls when we wolde all go to one place and mac a fyrd and tac down the bastard and mac angland ours again. well my men they was in thryll to hiere of this they was wantan frenc blud now but i was wiser always i was wiser lic i had been when the fugol cum and the haeric star lic i had always been

when it cum it cum in the scape of a preost. siward fuccan siward well he had seemed a triewe man but this daeg he cum in to the holt to our hus our castel in the holt and with him he brought another man though he cnawan i had saed no to this no others nefer. worse this man was a preost and this wolde be why siward cum in with his head low lic a hund for he cnawan my thoughts on these things. well he was seen cuman by grimcell who was locan out from the tall treow and so i called all my men to ready them selfs for war. who cnawan if this man was frenc or if siward lic the gleoman had sold us for gold

when siward cum in to the lea then he seen no men. grimcell was in the treow he had a bow we had macd from welig and straels and was ready and i was in the hus waitan with my sweord. tofe he was in a hole dug in the ground behind a lyttel treow with scramasax and line and aelfgar and godric was behind the stoccs of great acs with scramasaxes also

buccmaster calls siward as he cum in to the lea godric where is all of thu

we saes naht for my men cnawan what they moste do. many times we had done this and none wolde mof nor sae naht until i telt them. from the hus i colde see siward he was locan small and with him was this fuccan preost. the deoful was weran a blaec scirt lic a fuccan wifman and around his necc a cross of wud on a line. he was a thynne man not old no ire in his eages but still a preost

i cums out of the hus then and stands with my sweord in my hand and at this the preost his eages gan big and he locs afeart the wifman

siward i saes thu brings other men here when i has telt thu nefer to do this

buccmaster saes siward i cnawan thy orders but this is

sceolde i not haf opened my mouth i saes sceolde i haf sat here lic a cilde for thu to piss on me siward in my own place. i was walcan to him now with my sweord and him and this preost was goan baec as i cum

men i saes and at this my men cum out from their places and stood by me. well i gan to siward and i strics him hard with the flat of my sweord on his sculder and then his heafod and he gan to the ground

buccmaster saes godric

yes godric i saes yes wolde thu lic sum also. he saes naht then and siward stands slow from the ground

buccmaster he saes i is sorry i cnawan what thu saed but this man is

a preost a fuccan preost

also a bringer of words for thu saes the preost

do not spec preost i saes

well saes the preost locan at siward and at me i wolde not be here but i has a burthen

tac thy burthen to others i saes and thy fuccan crist god also

thy man siward he saes not lystnan not hearan me cum to me on the straet for he had been sent by others to hiere what i has to sae and he ascd me to cum and tell his men for he feart they wolde not belyf the words if they cum from him alone

what words is these saes grimcell who has cum down from the treow but holds the bow still in his hand

words of callan saes the preost

good words saes siward loccan at me lic a beat hund good words for all anglisc

may i spec saes the preost locan at me and in his eages no sign of whether he is yfel or good or where he is from o i is ired

spec then i saes spec

i is cum from northanhymbre saes the preost. i and other men has been sent out by eorl morcar and his brothor edwin who is eorl of mierce what is not under cyngscip of the bastard. two years we has all had of great sorness and war and i need not tell thu men of what we has had at the hands of the frenc. well it will now end for a fyrd has been called by edwin and morcar and all men who feohts for angland is called on to go north to eorfic and there stand agan all frenc in this land

oh a fyrd a fyrd saes tofe an anglisc fyrd. he is in thryll lic sum maeden

eorfic i saes cold

the preost locs at me

eorfic he saes yes men is gathran there now in great numbers

and what then i saes

edwin and morcar will cum to eorfic he saes and so also will malcolm cyng of the scots. the wealsc will send their wilde men and aetheling edgar our triewe anglisc cyng will stand with them

and then

then the bastard will hiere of this and will go north

and then

then he will be strac down by anglisc style

thu will stric down the bastard

an anglisc fyrd will stric him down

anglisc men has not a sweord among them thu has seen what this bastard will do when he is ired

buccmaster saes siward what is this

mens words i saes not cildes

but a fyrd saes aelfgar a fyrd buccmaster

a fyrd with no sweords no cyngs but edgar the cilde and sum scuccas from the scots and wealsc lands. where is our cyngs where is our great men

we can tac the bastard saes tofe cwell him

this is scit i saes scit spoc by men who has naht else to sae. these northern eorls they is half dene they is ingenga who wolde trust them

the preost then he locs at me stiff

i can see thu and thy men is not what i was telt he saes

we is we is saes siward

we is anglisc men feohtan for angland i saes and this is our land here in this place. those who wolde go north may go north but if the bastard gan with thu thy men will die or flee for there is naht to be won that way

well saes the preost i has spac my words

and thu is right to saes siward right to buccmaster this is what we has cum for this is it now this is the time it is time to stand

why not stand saes tofe why not buccmaster stand agan the bastard

we will nefer stand saes grimcell we only runs

well it has been a long time since grimcell spac to me in this way. for sum time he had seemed blithe with us and he spac naht and yet always i cnawan he was locan for other things. sum times around the fyr he wolde spec of hereweard and in his eages there wolde be sum thing what was not here sum thing what wanted to be with others. i has been locan at him long

i tacs my sweord now and i gan to him with all men locan at us and he tacs his bow with its strael and he lifts it and he points it at me

no man saes this to me i saes

he saes naht

put it down grimcell i saes do it now

he saes naht

then what wolde thu do man i cries cwell me. well try then grimcell try and cwell me for i has the gods with me i has great weland of the beorgs with me i has his sweord i can not be cwelled grimcell i can not

grimcell then he smercs wid and this i did not thinc to see. he smercs wid and he puts down his bow

thu can not be cwelled he saes loud and he is laughan. o men did thu hiere these great tidans o preost thu is well cum for thu has found here the first man since the crist who can not be cwelled

scut thy fuccan mouth cottar i saes i has welands sweord

ah thy sweord of wundor he saes and thy bodig what can nefer die o buccmaster tell us why is it that with all this thu sits in a hut in the holt with fife men while angland beorns all ofer

scut thy fuccan mouth i saes or i will do to thu what i done to the fuccan gleoman and the gerefa and the frenc thegn does thu cnaw who thu specs to

a man whose madness is full now lic the mona saes grimcell and he does not smerc. specan to treows muttran to the wind talcan of eald gods wafan sum fuccan eald sweord lic a cilde. o this is my werod i is thy cyng o buccmaster thu is naht naht and nefer has been

i gan at him i had to there was naht else to do. i gan at him with my sweord and he toc his bow and he tried to haf me but i was too near and i fell on him with my sweord and i cut him but i colde not cwell him for other men had me and was tacan me off it was fuccan aelfgar and siward the cunts

do not do this aelfgar saes to me and to grimcell

six anglisc men together saes siward and he is callan loud six only and they tears at eacc other lic hunds they does the worc of the frenc

thu does not spec to me this way i saes thu fuccan does not nefer nefer. o the fuccers the esols the scuccas o this will not be the last it will not

tofe cums and he helps grimcell to stand and he is bledan i sees on the arm where my sweord has stracc and he locs at me lic he is on fyr but i will not stand for this and i mofs hard away from these fuccan thralls who holds me

i is buccmaster of holland i saes does thu hiere this i is buccmaster of holland i is a socman a man of the wapentac i has three oxgangs and this is my werod. this is my werod and this is my sweord and those who wolde leaf with this fuccan preost go now go north go to sec thy eorls and beorn lic the landwaster did in northern fyr

none saes naht only locs at me. the preost all this time has gan baec into the stocc of a treow lic he was part of it but his eages is scearp and always is locan ofer me

go i saes fuccan go all who wolde be weosuls lic that dead gleoman go and if again thu cums to me the next time the gods will not cepe thu. on fyr then i was on fyr and i teorns and gan baec to the hus in the holt and fucc them all fucc them fucc them fucc them

trust none buccmaster i has telt thu

there is none i trust none

all is agan thu i has telt thu

all is agan me

great hereweard rises while thu is sincan

fucc hereweard he is a ghast only

he gathers a fyrd while thu does naht

this is scit

this sweord i gaf thu and what will thu do

tell me

all thy cynn locs on in sceomu

tell me tell me what moste i do

thu moste go

go where

go baec

baec

baec

on the mergen what came after there was four men by the fyr when i had thought there wolde be none. grimcell was gan and i was blithe to see this but i saed naht only sat and ate sum baerlic loaf. tofe and aelfgar and godric and siward saed no words as i cum only ate and dranc slow and loccd at me. tofe though was a yonge man and colde not for long cepe his thoughts to himself

what will we do buccmaster he saes

do i saes

it is odd that grimcell is gan he saes he was the first

he is a hund we will spec of him no mor

for sum time naht is saed but the words is in tofes eages before they is in his mouth and i is sittan waitan for them

the fyrd he starts to sae at last

go if thu wolde i saes go now none will stop thu but as long as thu is with me there will be no mor specan of this fyrd or of eorfic or the eorls of the north

then what saes siward and he saes it bold. buccmaster when thu and thy men cum to our ham on the first daeg of litha we cum to thu cene to feoht with the frenc cene to feoht for angland. we cum to thu with waepens and with strength and with full heortes but what has we seen. we has lost men to the frenc in stan ford and then we has sat here macan walls diggan dicces

waitan saes godric but for what

waitan for what saes aelfgar this is what we wolde cnaw. grimcell he spoc with us when thu was gan he bid us cum to the fyrd and we was thincan hard

we wolde go saes siward but we does not cnaw if we colde trust the northern eorls. they saes the men in the north can be weosuls and we cnawan naht about where to go or what will be when we gan there

it colde be thu is right buccmaster that this fyrd will be weac saes godric. but if we staes with thu what will thu gif us feohtan men for thu moste gif us sum thing

it is not time for talcan now saes siward it is time to feoht

well it seems they is all agan me now they has bene talcan without me here it seems they wolde be cyngs all. well i had nefer thought to stae here we was gathran our strength that is all gathran our strength waitan for our time

men i saes now lysten to me. in all things this werod has been triewe always and we has cwelled many frenc folcs since we cum together. we has lost men in stan ford when we was sold by a gleoman for gold but i cwelled him triewe and we is still here. now lysten to me of what we is. we is grene men we is men of the holt of the fenns we cums from a grene place we cums from the ground none can see us if we does not asc them. we cum up in the night and in the grene light and we cuts out the deorcness that has cum to our land and we gan baec again in to holt and fenn before the frenc efen cnawan what we is

this is what we is i saes it is what we do. we hears all ofer of others lic us all ofer angland in efry ham in efry tun in efry wud and feld there is men who will rise with the sunne and cut the throta of the frenc in stillness and then becum the treows again. we is not fyrdsmen we does not feoht on hors on hylls in lines with cyngs and huscarls. we is men of the hidden places of our own places and our worc is to stand for the lands we cnawan and cum from to cepe our own folc free. and when there is enough of us angland will not be ham for no ingenga and none will stand to be here for none can lif if the treows the ground the hylls them selfs is waepened agan all comers