And the end of that council was that Eanulf should take his Somerset men
up Parret valley, and so drive down the Danes, while Ealhstan should
fall on them by Bridgwater as they came down, and so scatter them.
Therefore would the Somerset levy march very early, before light; while
we should wait till the next night, unless word should come beforehand.
So we went to sleep. And as I slept in my place, with the standard
flapping above me, and my comrades on either side and behind, it seemed
to me that one came and waked me. And when I sat up and looked, thinking
it was a messenger from the bishop, I saw that it was Matelgar.
Now this time I had no fear of him, and I waited for him to speak, just
as though he had been before me in the flesh, for there seemed naught
uncanny about the matter to me. And yet even at the moment that seemed
strange, though it was so.
But for a while he looked not at me, but out over the low lands towards
Parret mouth and Stert, shading his eyes with his hand as though it were
broad noonday. And then he turned back to me and spoke.
"Heregar; I promised to stand by you again when the time came. Now I bid
you go to Combwich hill, there to wait what betides. So, if you will do
the bidding of the dead who has wronged you, but would now make amends,
shall you thank me for this hereafter--aye, and not you only.
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