"Would I come hither in this wise for that?" the man answered.
He was a sturdy franklin from the Quantock side of the river--one
whose father had been set there by Kenwalch.
"I can deal, and have dealt, with the like of them, but this is
war. They are on us in their thousands, and I have even been burnt
out for being a Saxon, by a raiding party."
"Whence?"
"From Norton," answered another of the men. "Gerent, their king, is
there with a host beyond counting. One fled from across the hills
and told us, and we believed him not till the raiders came."
With that I took the men straightway to the king, bidding the
house-carles hold their peace awhile. And even as we talked with
this party, another man rode in from the Tone fenlands, and he had
seen the march of the West Welsh men, and knew that Gerent's force
was halted at Norton. A swift and sudden gathering, and a swift
march that was worthy of a good leader, else had we heard thereof
before this.
After that man came another, and yet another, till all the
courtyard was full of reeking horses and white-faced men, and the
ealdorman was sent for and Nunna; and in an hour or less the war
arrow was out, and the news was flying north and south and east,
with word that all Somerset was to be here on the morrow to hold
the land their forebears had won from those who came.
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