And these prayed me to return soon and lead them again.

That I promised them, and so the darkness closed between us as they rode away, and I was left sad at heart enough, for Olaf was as a brother to me, and I knew not when I should meet with him again.
There was no talk of Danes at this quiet place over which the wave of war had gone already, leaving it poorer, but in peace; and it was not until the next afternoon that we rode out again, our party being that which must see the long road over together.
Twelve of us there were.

The queen and her two maidens and the three nuns, Elfric the abbot and his chaplain, Eadward and Alfred the athelings, and Alfred's tutor--who was a churchman of Elfric's own monastery--and myself.
Then there were the servants, ten in all, who rode each leading a lightly-laden pack horse.

It was such a party as an abbot might well travel with, and that is all that would be said of us if the Danish riders asked aught of the roadside folk.

I and Eadward alone were armed as the abbot's housecarles.