When another rider from the Mead Hall came to the farm in autumn, again I was the first to see him, as I was sitting on the roof of the barn, whittling the shape of a sheep out of a block of wood with my boot-knife. I ought to have been working; the oats were nearly ready to be harvested and looked to be a bountiful crop, thanks to the draught horses that the Thane had loaned the family earlier in the year. And one of those draught horses was being led by the rider, as well as a princely steed, a great black war-horse that seemed like the Thane himself should be riding him.
I called for ma, as it seemed sure that the Thane wished for another tapestry, but the rider spotted me and rode straight to before the barn. "Leoffrith, son of Leoffler," he said in a very formal tone. "The Thane summons you. Pack for a long journey, and make ready right away. The Thane expects you by nightfall. And send out one of your brothers to take these horses." He gestured to the draught-horse, and the mighty black steed, who was watching me with intelligent eyes, as if he were sizing me up. "The draught horse is a gift to your family, that they might manage their harvest without you. And you will ride Kestrel yourself."
He actually started to ride away, as if his business was done, before I had managed to work my way through what he'd said. "Wait," I called out. "A journey? How long? You mean I'm to bring my ma to the Mead Hall again?"
The rider simply repeated what he'd said, only putting more emphasis on a few key words, particularly my name, and that it was me that the Thane summoned. "This got to be some mistake, what would the Thane need with me?" I asked, beginning to worry there was some trouble. By this time pa and a few of my brothers had come out of the house and were demanding explanation, so the rider repeated the instructions a third time.
"The horse is an awful generous gift," pa told the rider, "but you can't go takin' away one of my sons without reason." He'd come up to stand beside me where I'd jumped down from the barn roof. It was almost as if he were preparing to stand between me and the black horse, Kestrel, who had stepped closer and was now waiting in front of me as if he could wait a hundred years if necessary. It was clear that pa wasn't referring to him, but to the draught horse that one of my brothers was leading into the barn.
"The Thane requires Leoffrith's service. The journey may be long. He will be provided with supplies and provisions, but he should bring his own necessary possessions. These orders come from Meduseld. He must come." The rider then turned and started to ride off, ignoring my and pa's further protestations.
Everyone was silent for a few moments. Then Kestrel stepped closer, gently nudged pa aside, and then bumped his nose against my chest. I don't know if he was saying hello, urging me to action, or threatening me. But the nudge set off a flurry of comments from me and pa and everyone else. It was a jumble of words like leaves tossed in an autumn storm, and no one could make sense of any of it. I don't even know what was said, not even what I myself said.
The storm ended when pa gave a holler. "Quiet down," he insisted until everyone heeded him. "The rider's right. If the Thane says he got to go, he got to go. And soon. The sun's already low. There's no time for goodbyes. Boy, go get some clothes and anything as you think you'll need. The sooner you get started on this journey the sooner you come back home." His tone had a finality in it that put a stop to any further talk.
I had never been on a journey and didn't even know what to bring. I started stuffing a few tunics in a bag, and ma came in and pulled them all back out and replaced them. "You wear this one now," she said, setting out my finest tunic, "and any time you're to see any important folk. It's not proper noble, but it's closer'n anything else you got." She put some work clothes into the bag along with a comb and scissors for my beard. "Wait," she said, and scurried to the kitchen. She came back with a block of salt the size of a stone and tucked that, wrapped in a bit of linen, into the bag. "If you got to travel, you might got to hunt and will need a way to make the hunt keep. Bring the hunting bow your brother left, and arrows." She held a hand up to override my objection before I could speak it. "We'll get another. There's no time."
She was pushing me out the door, where Kestrel was waiting patiently for me. "You keep yourself safe and come back soon as you can," she told me. "And whatever service the Thane requires of you, you do it so to make us proud of you. You're a good boy. A bit lost sometimes, but I always figured as there were somethin' you'd find one day and then you'd be found, and you just ain't seen it yet. Maybe you'll find it in this." She embraced me, but only for a few seconds. "No time for proper goodbyes. I'll tell ever'one you said something sweet and proper but there weren't time to tell it to them direct. Go, and ride swift as spring wind. Go!"
I was so dumbfounded I didn't even manage to say a single word. Kestrel nudged me again, so I climbed onto his saddle, the bag and bow slung over my shoulder, and he didn't wait a moment. He knew where we were going and how urgent it was, and off we went, swifter than anything I'd ever seen, hastening into the growing darkness of sunset.
