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“He was alive? He told you?” I asked

“He had a breath left in him He didn’t use it to tell me how he escaped, but I could see the iron marks on him and his hands were broken You can’t escape slave shackles without breaking bones He only had four words for h I saw it through tears, biting down on my curses so I could hear him I could have been there quicker, I could have run, found his,on a hunt I should have run theave up its hold I—” Snorri’s voice had grown thick with eround his jaw, face twitching He lowered his head, defeated

“What did Karl say?” I couldn’t tell you where along the way I’d started to care about the Norse suit Perhaps it was the weeks together on the road that had done it, or ether, but I foundwith him, and I didn’t like it one bit

“They want the key” Spoken to the ground

“What?”

“That’s what he said He used his last breath to tell me that I sat with him but he hadn’t any more words He lasted another hour, less than that maybe He waited for me and then he died”

“A key? What key? That’s madness—ould do all that for a key?”

Snorri shook his head and held up a hand as if begging quarter “Not tonight, Jal”

I pursed my lips, looked at hi on ue Snorri would tell me or he wouldn’t Perhaps he didn’t even know Either way, it was of no great consequence for me The North sounded more terrible by the minute, and whilst I was sorry for Snorri’s losses I had no intention of chasing dead il to the Bitter Ice And Snorri seemed to think his wife and son were still alive there now—and perhaps they were Either way, that was a matter between Snorri and the Broke-Oar Somewhere between us and the northern ice would be a means to unlock the two of us, at which point I’d be off before the G of Good-bye had cleared the Norseman’s beard

We sat in silence Or almost silence, for it seee of hearing, gentle and full of music After a time I lay down and set ht hold the voice ca washed over bothabout honour, about being brave, about helping Snorri find his peace

“Bugger that,” I replied Words muttered half-asleep over slack lips—but heartfelt nonetheless

SIXTEEN

We ca the border roads between Rhone and Gelleth Snorri travelled with a native caution that kept us safe on several occasions, holding us back a us into the corn when brigands rode by in search of wickedness I was keener to avoid such encounters than Snorri, butthe approach of trouble across a crowded feast hall or through the smokes of an opium parlour than on horseback across open country

In the town of Oppen, just a fewclothes I made sure to buy sufficient quality to h of course norarh treat a Rhonishman fit me for cloak and hat but decided I could suffer the attentions of an Ancrath tailor Snorri snorted and sta that I had to send him out to find an axe more suited to his tastes

Theto do with the slight stretching of theto do with the certainty that the necroht our deaths in Chamy-Nix would still be hard upon our trail Her or that creature that had watched me from behind its mask at the opera The Silent Sister’s trap had been set for that one I was certain of it now She’d been prepared to sacrifice the lives of two hundred, including so me, damn it—to burn that one monster I could only pray the crack I’d put in her spell whilst escaping hadn’t let it free And of course other servants of the Dead King iven corner Even in a tailor’s shop!

In the end I left Oppen with a sense of relief Being on the move had become a habit, and I wasn’t sure I would ever feel entirely coain