"Still cold with dew in the morning the Shielding Roof-ridge stands, Nor yet hath grey Hell bounden the Shielding warriors' hands; But lo, the swords, O War-duke, how thick in the wind they shake, Because we bear the message that the battle-road ye take, Nor tarry for the thunder or the coming on of rain, Or the windy cloudy night-tide, lest your battle be but vain. And this is the word that Otter yestre'en hath set in my mouth; Seek thou the trail of the Aliens of the Cities of the South, And thou shalt find it leading o'er the heaths to the beechen-wood, And thence to the stony places where the foxes find their food; And thence to the tangled thicket where the folkway cleaves it through, To the eastern edge of Mid-mark where the Bearings deal and do." Then said Thiodolf in a cold voice, "What then hath befallen Otter?" Said Geirbald: "When last I looked upon Otter, all armed he rode the plain, With his whole host clattering round him like the rush of the summer rain; To the right or the left they looked not but they rode through the dusk and the dark Beholding nought before them but the dream of the foes in the Mark. So he went; but his word fled from him and on my horse it rode, And again it saith, O War-duke seek thou the Bear's abode, And tarry never a moment for ought that seems of worth, For there shall ye find the sword-edge and the flame of the foes of the earth. "Tarry not, Thiodolf, nor turn aback though a new foe followeth on thine heels. No need to question me more; I have no more to tell, save that a woman brought these tidings to us, whom the Hall-Sun had sent with others to watch the ways: and some of them had seen the Romans, who are a great host and no band stealing forth to lift the herds." Now all those round about him heard his words, for he spake with a loud voice; and they knew what the bidding of the War-duke would be; so they loitered not, but each man went about his business of looking to his war- gear and gathering to the appointed place of his kindred. And even while Geirbald had been speaking, had Hiarandi brought up the man who bore the great horn, who when Thiodolf leapt to his feet to find him, was close at hand. So he bade him blow the war-blast, and all men knew the meaning of that voice of the horn, and every man armed him in haste, and they who had horses (and these were but the Bearings and the Warnings), saddled them, and mounted, and from mouth to mouth went the word that the Romans were gotten into Mid-mark, and were burning the Bearing abodes. So speedily was the whole host ready for the way, the Wolfings at the head of all. Then came forth Thiodolf from the midst of his kindred, and they raised him upon a great war-shield upheld by many men, and he stood thereon and spake: