"Harry Harrison - Hammer Cross 1 - The Hammer and the Cross" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

exhausted. A rare old
night they must have had of it. And a shock in the morning when they saw where
they
were." The reeve shook his head with a kind of professional sympathy.
"They are not such great sailors," pronounced Godwin with satisfaction. "And
God is
against them, foul, heathen Church-defilers."
A stir of excitement behind them cut off the reply the reeve might have been
incautious enough to make. The two men turned.
On the path that ran along behind high-water mark, a dozen men were
dismounting.
The levy? thought Godwin. The thanes from Beverley? No, they could not
possibly have
arrived in this time. They must only now be saddling up. Yet the man in front
was a
nobleman. Big, burly, fair hair, bright blue eyes, with the upright stance of
a man who had
never had to plough or hoe for a living. Gold shone beneath his expensive
scarlet cape, on
buckles and sword-pommel. Behind him strode a smaller, younger version of
himself,
surely his son. And on the other side of him another youth, tall, straight-
backed like a
warrior. But dark in complexion, poorly dressed in tunic and wool breeches.
Grooms held
the horses for half a dozen more armed, competent-looking menтАФa retinue,
surely, a rich
thane's hearth-troop.
The leading stranger held his empty hand up. "You do not know me," he said. "I
am
Wulfgar. I am a thane from King Edmund's country, from the East Angles."
A stir of interest from the crowd, the dawnings his message might be of
hostility.
"You wonder what I am doing here. I will tell you." He gestured out at the
shore. "I
hate Vikings. I know more of them than most men. And, like most men, to my
sorrow. In
my own country, among the North- folk beyond the Wash, I am the coast-guard,
set by King
Edmund. But long ago I saw that we would never get rid of these vermin while
we English fought only our own battles. I persuaded my king of this, and he
sent messages to yours.
They agreed that I should come north, to talk with the wise men in Beverley
and in
Eoforwich about what we might do. I took a wrong road last night, met your
messengers
riding to Beverley this morning. I have come to help." He paused. "Have I your
leave?"
Godwin nodded slowly. Never mind what the lowborn fish-churl of a reeve said.
Some of the bastards might come ashore. And if they did, this lot might well