by Felix Dahn
CHAPTER XV.
Outside Teja held the old man back by his mantle.
"Thou torturest the King in vain," he said. "He will never consent. Nowleast of all!"
"How dost thou know?" interrupted the old man.
"Peace; I guess it. As I guess all misfortune."
"Then thou wilt also acknowledge that he _must_ consent."
"He--_he_ will not do it."
"But--thou meanest her?"
"Perhaps!"
"She will!" cried Hildebrand.
"Yes, she is a wonder of a woman," answered Teja.
While, during the next few days, the now childless pair lived in quietseclusion, and Witichis scarcely ever left his tent, it happened thatthe outposts of the royal besiegers and the sentries of the Gothicgarrison of Ravenna--taking advantage of the armistice which, as amatter of fact, had ensued--entered into frequent communication.
Scolding and disputing, they reproached each other with being the causeof the civil war.
The besiegers complained that the garrison had closed the gates of hisroyal fortress upon the King during the greatest distress of thenation. The Ravennese blamed Witichis for depriving the daughter of theAmelungs of her rights.
As old Earl Grippa was making the round of the walls, he listened,unobserved, to one of these conversations.
He suddenly came forward, and called to Witichis's soldiers who werestanding below, praising their King.
"Indeed?" he cried; "is it acting nobly and rightly to attack us like amadman, instead of giving an answer to our moderate demand? And hecould so easily spare the blood of the Goths! We only want Mataswinthafor our Queen! Well, can he not remain King? Is it so hard to sharethrone and couch with the most beautiful woman in the world, with thePrincess Beautiful-hair,' of whose charms the singers sing in thestreets? Must so many thousand brave Goths die, rather than that? Wellthen, let him continue to attack. We will see which breaks down first;his obstinacy or these walls!"
These words of the old commander made an immense impression on all theGoths before the walls. They knew of nothing to say in defence of theirKing. They also knew as little of his marriage as the rest of the army.In this the presence of Rauthgundis in the camp had altered little, fortruly she had not come like a queen.
They hastened back to the camp in great excitement, and told what theyhad heard; how that the obstinacy of the King had sacrificed theirbrethren.
"'Twas for this reason he kept the object of the embassy a secret!"they cried.
Soon groups were formed in every lane of the camp, all much excited,speaking of the affair, and blaming the King in tones which grew everlouder.
The Germans of those times treated their kings with a freedom of speechwhich horrified the Byzantines.
In this case, vexation at the retreat from Rome; the shame of thedefeat before Ravenna; regret for their sacrificed comrades, and angerat this secrecy; all worked together to excite the Goths to a storm ofindignation against the King, which was not the less violent, becauseit was still restrained.
This temper of the army did not escape the notice of the leaders. Asthey passed through the camp, the words of blame were scarcelyrestrained. But they would only have let loose the mischief if they hadangrily rebuked it.
And often, when Earl Teja or Hildebad would have interposed a word inmitigation, old Hildebrand kept them back.
"Let the tide swell a little more," he said; "when it is high enough Iwill control it. The only danger would be--" he added, half to himself.
"If those in the rebel camp opposite were beforehand with us," saidTeja.
"Right, thou guesser of riddles! But things go well for us there.Deserters relate that the princess steadfastly refuses. She threatensto kill herself rather than give her hand to Arahad."
"Bah!" said Hildebad; "I would risk that!"
"Because thou knowest not that passionate creature, that child of theAmelungs! She inherits the fiery blood of Theodoric, and will, afterall, play us, too, a bad trick."
"Witichis is another kind of wooer than that boy of Asta," whisperedTeja.
"I trust to that also," answered Hildebrand. "Leave him in peace a fewdays longer," added the old man; "his grief must have its way. Till itis assuaged he can be brought to do nothing. Do not disturb him. Lethim remain quietly in his tent with his wife. I shall be obliged todisturb him soon enough."
But the old man was compelled to rouse the King from his grief soonerand in a different way from what he had intended.
The Assembly at Regeta had made a law against all Goths who deserted tothe Byzantines, condemning [them] to an ignominious death.
On the whole, such desertions occurred very rarely, but still, in partsof the country where a few Goths lived among a crowded Italianpopulation, and many intermarriages had taken place, they were morefrequent.
The old master-at-arms was especially wroth with these renegades, whodishonoured themselves and their nation. It was he who had introducedthis law against deserters from the army and the national flag.
Its application had not yet been necessary, and its intention wasalmost forgotten.
Suddenly it was brought to mind gravely enough.
Belisarius had not yet left Rome with his main army. For more than onereason he wished at present to make that city the principal support ofall his movements in Italy; But he had sent numerous parties ofskirmishers after the retreating Goths, to tease and disquiet them, andparticularly to take possession of the many castles, strongholds andtowns from which the barbarian garrison had been driven out and beatenby the Italians, or, hindered by no garrison, had simply gone over tothe Emperor of the "Romani," as he called himself in Greek.
Such occurrences took place--particularly as, since the Gothic King wasin full retreat, and, after the outbreak of the rebellion, the Gothiccause seemed half lost--almost daily.
Partly under the influence of the appearance of Belisarius's troopsbefore the gates, partly without such pressure, many towns and castlessurrendered.
As, however, most of them preferred to wait until they could plead theexcuse of necessity, in case of an unhoped-for victory of the Goths,Belisarius had all the more reason to send forth against them smalltroops of skirmishers, under the command of the deserters, who werewell acquainted with the country and the condition of things.
And these troops, encouraged by the continued retreat of the Goths,ventured far into the land; every newly-taken castle became a point ofdeparture for further operations.
Such a party of skirmishers had lately won Castellum Marcianum, whichcrowned a rocky height above an extensive pine-wood near Caesena, closeto the royal camp.
Old Hildebrand, into whose hands Witichis had given the supreme commandsince receiving his wound, observed with indignation this dangeroussuccess of the enemy and the treachery of the Italians.
And as he did not wish to occupy his troops against Duke Guntharis orRavenna--always hoping for a peaceable solution of the difficulty--hedecided to play these bold skirmishers a famous trick.
Spies had related that, on the day after Rauthgundis's arrival in thecamp, the new Byzantine garrison of Castellum Marcianum had dared tothreaten Caesena itself, the important town in the rear of the Gothiccamp.
The old master-at-arms furiously swore destruction to the insolentenemy. He put himself at the head of a thousand horsemen, and startedin the stillness of the night, with straw twisted round the hoofs ofthe horses, in the direction of Caesena.
The surprise succeeded perfectly. Unobserved they entered the wood atthe foot of the rock upon which the castle was situated.
Hildebrand divided his men into two parties, one of which he ordered tosurround the wood on all sides; the other to dismount and follow himsilently up to the castle.
The sentinels at the gate were taken by surprise, and the Byzantines,finding that they were attacked by superior numbers, fled on all sidesinto the wood, where the greater part of those on horseback were takenprisoners.
&
nbsp; The flames from the burning castle illuminated the scene.
But a small group retreated, fighting, over the little river at thefoot of the rock, which was crossed by a narrow bridge.
Here Hildebrand's pursuing horsemen were checked by a single man--aleader, as it seemed from the splendour of his armour.
This tall, slender, and seemingly young man--his visor wasdown--fought as if in desperation, covered the retreat of his men, andhad already overthrown four Goths.
Then up came the old master-at-arms, and looked on for a while at theunequal combat.
"Yield, brave man!" he cried to the lonely combatant. "I will guaranteethy life."
At this call the Byzantine started; for an instant he lowered hissword, and looked at the old man.
But the next moment he had leaped forward and back again; he had cutoff the arm of his nearest adversary at one powerful stroke.
The Goths fell back a little.
Hildebrand became furious.
"Forward!" he cried. "No more pity! Aim at him with your spears!"
"He is proof against iron!" cried one of the Goths, a cousin of Teja."I hit him three times; he cannot be wounded."
"Thinkest thou so, Aligern?" laughed the old man grimly. "Let me see ifhe be proof against stone."
And he hurled his stone battle-axe--he was almost the only one whostill carried this ancient heathen weapon--at the Byzantine.
The heavy axe crashed upon the glittering helmet of the brave defenderof the bridge, who fell as if struck by lightning.
Two men sprang towards him and raised his visor.
"Master Hildebrand," cried Aligern in astonishment, "it is noByzantine!"
"And no Italian!" added Gunthamund.
"Look at his golden locks--it is a Goth!" observed Hunibad.
Hildebrand came forward--and started violently.
"Torches!" he cried; "light! Yes," he added gloomily, taking up hisstone axe, "it is a Goth! And I--I have slain him," he concluded, withicy calmness.
But his hand trembled on the shaft of his axe.
"No, master," cried Aligern, "he lives. He was only stunned; he openshis eyes."
"He lives?" asked the old man, shuddering. "May the gods forbid!"
"Yes, he lives!" repeated the Goths, raising their prisoner.
"Then woe to him, and to me! But no! The gods of the Goths havedelivered him into my power. Bind him upon thy horse, Gunthamund; butfirmly. If he escape, it is at the peril of _thy_ head, not his.Forward! To horse, and home!"
When they arrived at the camp, the escort asked the master-at-arms whatthey should prepare for their prisoner.
"A bundle of straw for to-night," he answered, "and for to-morrowearly--a gallows."
With these words he entered the King's tent, and reported the result ofhis excursion.
"We have a Gothic deserter among our prisoners," he concluded grimly."He must hang before sunset to-morrow."
"That is very sad," said Witichis, sighing.
"Yes; but necessary. I shall summon the court-martial for to-morrow.Wilt thou preside?"
"No," said Witichis, "exempt me from that. I will appoint Hildebad inmy place."
"No," cried the old man, "that will not do. I am commander-in-chief aslong as thou keepest thy tent. I demand the presidency as my right."
Witichis looked at him.
"Thou art so grim and cold! Is it an enemy of thy kindred?"
"No," said Hildebrand.
"What is the name of the prisoner?"
"Hildebrand--like mine."
"Meseems thou hatest him--this Hildebrand. Thou mayst judge; but bewareof exaggerated severity. Do not forget that I pardon gladly."
"The well-being of the Goths demands his death," said Hildebrandquietly; "and he will die!"
