page51 (1/1)

Of course he wanted to e in the North whilst I wanted toin the South

• • •

Another day’s travel: darey skies, and a stiff wind Another roadside camp with too little food and tooat dawn, disappointed to find e and wet cloak I’d shiveredbefore My dreaeness At first the usual horror of the deht Later, though, ht and it seereat distance at the heart of all that brilliance I could almost make out the wordsand finally as I opened rey hints of the day it seeh the blurry lash-filled slit of low, and at last one word reached me Baraqel

• • •

Three h the continuous downpour that served as a Rhonish suallop back south towards the myriad pleasures of home Only fear bound me to our course Fear of what lay behind and fear of ould happen if I got too far froh ht and heat until I crisped? Also fear of his pursuit He would know the direction I took, and though I trustedskills to keep me safely ahead in the chase I had less faith in the city walls, town guard, and palace security to keep the Norse

Twice over the next three days I saw a figure, half-iainst the bright sky Co his flock or some hunter about his business Every nerve I owned told ing our heels Both ti along behind ht put in me

With dwindling resources we ate mean fare in small portions, cooked by peasants I wouldn’t trust to feed hts huddled beneath lean-to shelters of branches and bracken that Snorri constructed against the hedgerows He claimed it to be all a ht The downpour he proclaimed to be “fine damp weather”

“North of Hardanger the children would run naked in warm rains like these We don’t sew our bearskins on until the sea starts to freeze,” he said

I nearly hit him

I slept better in the saddle than I had in his shelter, but wherever sleep found me, dreams came too Always the same theme—some inner darkness, a place of peace and isolation, violated by light First bleeding through a hairline fracture, then brightening as the crack forks and divides, and beyond the thin and breaking walls ofto look uponand a voice calling my name

“JalJal?Jal!”

“Wh-what?” I jerked awake to find myself cold and sodden in the saddle

“Jal” Snorri nodded ahead “A town”

• • •

The sixth night out froates of a suely pro letdown, just another wet Rhonish town, as dour and worthy as all the rest Worse still, it was one of those damnable places where the locals pretend not to speak the Eue They do, of course, but they hide behind so so primitive The trick is to repeat yourself louder and louder until theNot quite the booes, but a definite blare that co down unruly servants, insubordinate junior officers, and of course as a last-ditch ht otherwise put a sword throughthings get to the point where that cowardice is exposed If you can bluster your way through dangerous situations it’s all to the good, and a fine shouting voice helps immensely

Snorri led us to a dreadful dive, a low-roofed subterranean tavern thick with the stink of wet bodies, spilled ale, and woodsmoke

“It’s a touch warrant you” I elbowed h the crowd at the bar Localknife scars, packed around small tables towards the back in a haze of pipe smoke