We tried to cut our way to Alsi, for we could see him as he sat on his horse—­the only mounted man in all the hosts; but we could not reach him.  And presently the time came when we who were foremost must let fresh men take our places.  Sigurd stepped to my side, and Withelm fell back, and another took the place of Arngeir, and then my turn came, and we went slowly from the front to where the hollow centre of the wedge gave us rest.  Only a few arrows fell there now and then; but the time for using bows was past, seeing that we were hand to hand with all the Lindsey host.  And then I saw that Sigurd had done what we had failed in, for he had reached the shield wall that was round the king himself.  And for a moment I was savage that the chance came to him so soon after I had left the fighting line; but then I minded that Eglaf, my friend, would be there, and I was glad that I need not cross swords with him after all.  I had thought of that happening before the fight began, but in the turmoil of hottest struggle I had forgotten it.

Now Sigurd was before the thick mass of the housecarls, and hand to hand with them; and then he was among them, and he leapt at the bridle of Alsi’s horse and grasped it.  I saw the king’s sword flash down on his helm, and he reeled under the stroke, but without letting go of the rein.  Then the housecarls made a rush, and bore back our men, and the horse reared suddenly.  There was a wild shout, and the war saddle was empty; and again our men surged forward, so that I could not see what had happened.

But now our Welshmen had been beaten back from the wings—­not easily, but for want of training—­and they were forced back across the brook, and there held our bank well, giving way no step further.  The water kept them in an even front, against their will, as it were; and Alsi’s men charged them in vain, knee deep in the stream that ran red.  But that let loose the men who had been held back from us; and now we were overborne by numbers, and we began to go back.  That was the worst part of the whole fight, and the hardest hour of all the battle, as may be supposed, for the wedge grew closer, as it was forced together by sheer weight.  None ever broke into it.

Presently our rear was on the water’s edge, and it seemed likely that in crossing there might be a breaking of the line; and when he saw that, Havelok called to me, and he went to the front with the courtmen round him.  It was good to hear the cheers of our men as they saw the dancing banner above the fight, and beneath it, in the bright sun, the gold-circled helm of their king.  The Lindseymen drew back a foot’s pace as they saw the giant who came on them, and I heard some call that this was Curan of Grimsby, as if in wonder.  Then we had to fight hard, and Sigurd fell back past me, with a wound on his shoulder where Alsi’s sword had glanced from the helm.  No life had been left to Sigurd had a better hand wielded the weapon; but he was not badly hurt.  I could not see Alsi anywhere, nor Eglaf.