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I leaned back against the wall for ato convince ination Perhaps it was, or perhaps the pursuit had been as close as I feared, but either way the locking of that door was a good thing A very good thing indeed Snorri shot home heavy bolts, top and bottom Better still

“Keep ” He waved me on, careful not to touch ot too close and ht the way Four doors stood between the hall and the strong-roo them too in case the enemy held additional copies of the keys

With the last door sealed behind us we collapsed upon the sacks heaped around the walls The lanterns revealed a small cubic room without s or any exit but the one we entered by

“What’s in the sacks?” Tuttugu asked, patting one that protruded from beneath him

“Black corn, wheat flour, soestured at two barrels in the opposite corner “Crushed ice, and in the other one, whiskey”

“We could survive a ine it

“Daylight That’s all we’re waiting for In the rim

As ue, it made sense No relief would come, no reinforcements were inbound Either they would break in eventually, or ould starve in our own filth Even so, I knehen it ca ourselves in the hands of the unborn, they would have to drag me I’d rather slit my wrists and be done with it

“What’s out there, Snorri?” I lay back and watched the shadows dance on the ceiling “Did Aslaug tell you that? Did she say what she’d seen in the darkness?”

“Unborn Maybe a dozen of the’s hand in the North All digging out troops for whatever war he’s planning The troops are just a bonus What they’re really after is Rikeson’s key Not that Rikeson fashioned it Aslaug says he tricked Loki out of it Or Loki let it seem that way, but really it was Loki who tricked Olaaf Rikeson into taking it”

Tuttugu stretched out his leg, sniffing and pulling his furs about hi of the air