[Undómë]

Bregoware

Rædwald


While Sythric made soup for the companions, some of the others of the group had ridden north a little ways along the river to where the river was shallower and the current a little slower. The others of the group had found several large stacked coils of rope in one of the small storerooms at the headman’s stable. And they transported them in a small cart they’d found to the place where Rædwald had decided he could best cross.

They spent a while securing the ends of the lines to each other with sailor’s knots, being careful to have far more than twice the river’s width of rope for the pulleys. Rædwald secured the middle of the loop to the back of his saddle and instructed the others to make sure the ropes played out smoothly behind him.

He stripped down to his breeches. ‘Now you just take these and stuff them into that oilskin sack there, Meghan. And bind it tight against the water.’ Rædwald handed her his boots, his thick woolen socks and his heavy woolen shirt. He watched as she tucked them in the sack and secured it to the front of his saddle.

Liss balked at first as she neared the river’s edge, but under his gentle encouragement she stepped into the slow moving currents and urged her to swim straight across the water. Her efforts pulled her forward just as the currents drifted her south toward the ferry landing. About midway, she almost floundered, but her rider guided her through the problem.

As Rædwald moved down the river, the others on the shore he had started from had now secured the two ends to a horse each, and their riders kept pace with his progress as he drifted southward. The rope, held between these two poles - Rædwald and the other two riders – floated in a large bend just on the surface of the river.

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Meghan


Meghan’s hands were clutched hard around the reins of her horse as she watched Rædwald’s slow progress across the river. And she had gasped when she saw Liss falter in the current. She held her breath, eyes wide as he and his horse were carried a little ways south of the ferry landing. But soon she could see Liss gaining her footing on the little shoal that led down from the western bank to the water’s edge.

The rope now was quite sodden and heavy. And it was with great effort that Liss pulled it up a ways onto the bank and then headed back toward the ferry landing. An equal effort was made as Rædwald took the looped rope and finagled it onto the pulley. He waved and shouted at those across the river, indicating they should finish the job at their end. He opened his oilskin

Meghan waved back to him and rode quickly to where the pot of soup was simmering. A quick cup of it would be welcome in the chilly breezes. As she ate, she watched the taller of her companions work on securing the rope through the pulley guide at this side of the river. She shaded here eyes with her hand and looked to where Rædwald stood. He had put on his shirt and boots and stood near Liss, feeding her some of the dried apple slices Meghan had placed in his waterproof sack.

‘Well,’ she thought to herself, ‘All he’s got to do now he said is to pole the barge back while the others work the pulley.’ She looked to the landing near her, and saw they were almost ready . . .