The guards had surrounded Beowulf. They had searched him for weapons and tied his hands behind his back.
‘Now we have caught you!’ shouted Heinrich, who was too excited to realise that he was merely stating the obvious, ‘You are captured. We have captured you. You are our prisoner!’
‘Yes,’ agreed Beowulf, ‘I am captured, you have captured me and I am your captive. I am in your power; you hold my life in your hands. You have succeeded where all others have failed. I am at your mercy. I am your prisoner; do we need to go on?’
‘I do not understand why you seem indifferent. You are our prisoner. We will kill you. I hope in some vile and painful way. You should be afraid!’
‘Oh, I am. I’m terribly afraid,’ said Beowulf. This greatly angered Heinrich who shouted,
‘He thinks he can laugh at us, but he cannot laugh at us, we will show him.’ He struck Beowulf hard across the face.
‘Now you will fear me.’
Beowulf recoiled from the blow and took his time to reply.
‘Yes, that made me very afraid.’
Heinrich felt as if he were losing face in front of the guards.
Take him to the Cardinal,’ he shouted, ‘take him to Bull!’
The guards, none too gently, led Beowulf down the hallway towards the Gambling Room.