Now, this is how Wulnoth saw the burying of King Edmund, and this is how he looked upon the image of Him Whom he had called a nithing. CHAPTER XIII _Of How Wulnoth met with Edgiva again_ The man held the curtain aside and invited them to follow him. "The Atheling bids you come," he said. "And he says to him called the Wanderer that not yet has he received that reward which was promised to him." "Come, Wanderer," laughed Wahrmund, "we may as well go through with it now. By Thor! 't is strange that I, a Dane, should be amongst these Saxons, but I feel inclined to see this to the end. How sayest thou?" Little need to ask Wulnoth such a question, for the one desire of his heart was to see his Princess. Therefore the two followed their guide, and were ushered into an apartment where sat the two men whom they had seen watching in the church. And the younger, he who did not wear the crown, came to welcome them and said-- "Greeting, friends, and again thanks for the aid you rendered me in securing honor for King Edmund's body." Then he turned to the other, and went on-- "Ethelred, my royal and dear brother, these are the two of whom I told you, and to their help are we indebted, for otherwise it would have been a hard matter to gain the body of the martyr." "We thank you from our hearts, strangers," said the one called Ethelred. And Wahrmund whispered to his friend-- "By Thor! 'T is Ethelred, the King of the West Saxons. He is son of the noble Ethelwulf the Bretwalda, and the other must be his brother, the Atheling Alfred." Then did the King continue, looking hard at Wulnoth, and he said-- "But what is this? We have no Dane here, brother! This hair and those blue eyes are surely of the land of our fathers!" "That is so, royal brother," answered Alfred. "According to all I have heard from the wise Wyborga, this man is of the noble house of Cerdic, he from whom our own house also traces its descent." "Is that so?" the King cried. "It is good in one way, and yet 't is strange to think of one of such royal blood joining our foes." "Strange is this man's story, my brother," Alfred replied. "I have it as it was told to me," and he told the King how Wulnoth came to Lethra with his father and of all that had happened since. But the King shook his head as he listened, and said that this did not explain how Wulnoth came to be in Hungwar's army, seeing that it was Hungwar who gave Lethra to fire and sword. So Wulnoth spoke, and told how he had two tasks to do--one to find Guthred the Prince, and the other to find the mightiest and the strongest. And at that Alfred the Atheling smiled gently.