Beowulf's Return (Tales of Beowulf) (4 page)

A similar sound came
from the doorway and the Queen turned to see the undead attackers smashing
their way in, their swords and axes breaking the doors to pieces. A huge foot
smashed the remnants of the door frame in then the lumbering corpse of
Beowulf's father lurched through the smashed portal. The huge black dog, its
tongue lolling and torn, bleeding fore paw held before it, limped in after him.
The Queen gave an involuntary cry of fear and horror.

Beowulf turned again,
put his shoulder against the pillar and pushed with every last reserve of
strength he had. Sweat coated his face and stung his eyes as he gasped for
breath, veins protruding on his forehead.

There was a loud
splintering crack and the pillar toppled over. As it crashed to the ground a
startled cry came from the top of it as from someone rudely awakened from
sleep. As it fell into the firelight, a square platform on the top of the
pillar came into view.

It smashed down into
the tiered benches and Beowulf ran along the length of the pillar to reach the
top. A dishevelled figure in white robes tumbled off the platform at the top of
the pillar and fell into the benches with a cry of pain. The man rolled up onto
his feet, a look of confusion and anguish on his face, cradling his right arm
in his left. There was no visible sign of a wound, but he held it as though it
was injured.

It was Ingeld the
priest of Frey. 

Beowulf was on him in
an instant. He grabbed the man by the throat and trailed him up. Ingeld's eyes
widened and he tried to speak but Beowulf had no time to argue. He grasped the
man's neck in both hands and squeezed with everything that was left of his
enormous might. Ingeld's neck bones popped then cracked, his face constricted
in a silent rictus of agony as his throat and windpipe were mashed to pulp by
Beowulf's massive grip.

The Queen blinked,
unsure if her eyes were playing tricks on her or not. One moment the huge
shaggy dog had been limping into the temple and the next it simply was not
there. It had vanished like a flame being blown out by the wind. The huge
corpse of Egctheow gave a gasp, dropped to its knees, then collapsed face
forwards onto the ground. The other undead warriors who crowded through the
broken door also tumbled into heaps of bones and rusting armour, some giving
off great clouds of grey dust as they hit the ground.

Beowulf let go of the
priest whose still-warm corpse, its neck broken and ruined, slithered onto the
floor like a half full sack of grain.

"I think we can
safely say his spell is broken," Beowulf said.

The cold grey light of dawn gave a
perspective to the damage that had been done to Hygelac's Royal burgh. The
settlement outside the rampart was devastated. Nearly a quarter of its
buildings had been burned. Some still smouldered, sending clouds of smoke up
into the chilly morning sky. Dead bodies littered the ground. The gate of the
breached rampart remained open and the enclosure within was scattered with the
now inanimate corpses of the attackers beside those of the King's thanes who
had died defending it. The hall remained un-breached.

"They hit us hard.
They have done much damage," Hygelac said. He stood with Beowulf, Weohstan
and the Queen on the rampart, taking stock of the carnage.

"Yes, but who were
'they'?" Weohstan sighed, pulling his helmet off to unleash a tangle sweat
matted bond hair. The fighting had finished some time before but only now were
men beginning to relax.

"I believe my
kinsmen were behind this," the Queen said quietly. "The
Wulfings."

"Why do you say
that?" Hygelac asked, his eyes hard and questioning.

"The dog,"
Hygd said. "It is dark
seithr
, evil magic of my people. An adept
witch can project their spirit from their body when they sleep. It can take the
form of a wolf of big dog and roam abroad causing harm. Ingeld must have been
very advanced in the lore of the Wulfings."

"I was a fool to
trust him," Hygelac shook his head. "But he was born of our people and
served for years in the great temple of Frey in Gotaland. He had the personal
backing of Dag, the former chief priest of Frey."

"Do not blame
yourself," Hygd said. "Dissembling is the chief virtue of an adept of
the God Woden. He fooled everyone."

"He was a
dissembler, alright," Beowulf said. "Ingeld made that phantom dog
appear in your chamber, my Lady, so as to put suspicion on you."

"Lucky for me no
one fell for his evil plan," the Queen responded with a hint of a smile.

Beowulf blushed and
looked down. "I apologise for my earlier suspicions," he said.
"Somehow the Wulfings must have converted Ingeld to their faith, then used
him to weaken our kingdom so they can attack us and finish us when they want
to." Beowulf said. "They probably offered him wealth or power."

"More likely
access to forbidden knowledge," Hygd said. "For a man like Ingeld,
that is more valuable than gold. He learnt the darkest secrets of my
people." 

"Where does this
leave you, my Lady?" Beowulf asked.

"I forsake the
Wulfings," Hygd said through gritted teeth. "Since coming here I have
seen the true virtues of the Geats and that the peace of Frey is better than
the war of Woden."

"What was that
weird column Ingeld was up on anyway?" Weohstan asked.

"It was a
seithr
post," Beowulf said. "It's a pole with a platform at the top used in
magic. The witch climbs to the top and lies on the platform. He or she then
goes into a trance and the magic flows from there. Ingeld's also had the added
advantage of hiding him from view up in the rafters of the temple."

"We must bury our
dead and prepare for whatever is coming next from the Wulfings," Hygelac
said. "Beowulf I am sorry you have lost your father, my brother, for a
second time. We will bury all the bodies with honour, even those of the
dreag.
They were our kin. Once they fought bravely for us. We shall bury them back
in the grave mounds they should have been allowed to rest in."

All nodded their
agreement.

Hygelac turned and
looked Beowulf and Weohstan directly in the eye. "You realise, of course,
that this means war?" he said.

Beowulf returned his
gaze and nodded again. He looked to the east where the land of the Wulfings
lay.

"Good," he
said.