And I thought of Halfden, and what he should think when he heard the tale that was likely to be told him, and even as I thought this there was a rushing of light wings, and Lodbrok's gray falcon--which I had cast from my wrist as I fell on Beorn--came back to me, and perched on my saddle, for my hands were bound behind me.

She had become unhooded in some way.
Then Beorn cried out to the men to take the falcon, for it was his, and that he would not have her lost; and that angered me so that I cried out on him, giving him the lie, and he turned pale as if I were free and could smite him.

Whereon the men bade us roughly to hold our peace, and the leader whistled to the falcon and held out his hand to take her.

But she struck at him and soared away, and I watched her go towards Reedham, and was glad she did so with a sort of dull gladness.
For I would have no man pass through a time of thoughts such as mine were as they took me to Caistor--rage and grief and fear of shame all at once, and one chasing the other through my mind till I knew not where I was, and would start as from a troubled dream when one spoke, and then go back to the same again as will a sick man.
But by the time we reached Caistor I had, as it seemed to me, thought every thought that might be possible, and one thing only was plain and clear.

I would ask for judgment by Eadmund the King, and if that might not be, then for trial by battle, which the earl would surely grant.