Sky in the Deep(65)
“I told him to stay.” I looked to my feet. “I was afraid of what may happen to him if I brought him back. I wanted to tell you first.”
My father paced before me.
“Fiske’s family has become his family.” I didn’t need to see him to know what that did to him, because I remembered it too well. But I couldn’t look away. His body responded to it, going rigid from head to toe. “I don’t understand it,” I said. “But he’s become one of them.”
The sounds of the forest came up around us in the night and he looked at me for a long time before he finally looked at Myra. And that same look passed between them, but this time Myra’s jaw clenched, her arms tightening around the wood. The question on her face transformed into anger and she gathered up the rest of the wood, starting back toward the camp and leaving my father and me alone. I stood, waiting. I couldn’t guess what he might do.
But when his eyes looked up to me again, half hidden beneath his thick eyebrows, they glistened, his nose turning red.
“We left him.” The whisper was smothered. Suffocated.
I nodded, the tears in my eyes reflecting his. “But he’s alive.”
FORTY-ONE
I dreamed of the bear.
I stood in the path that snaked through Fela with my feet buried in the snow. The flakes came down clinging to one another in big clumps landing on the golden-brown fur that framed its face and it looked up at me, with the same wide, black eyes. They were like a starless night sky. There was no end to them.
The prickling of his stare ran over my body, making me shake as I lifted my hand and spread my fingers, reaching out to him. He looked at it, taking a small step toward me until I could feel his breath on the palm of my hand.
But then he was gone.
I turned in a circle, looking around the empty village, but the bear had vanished. His footprints were still punched into the snow before me.
I sucked in a breath, my eyes opening, and that same smell of cold that had been in my dream was all around me. I blinked, pulling my numb hands back into the furs. Fiske was lying on the other side of the fire with one arm tucked beneath his head and the tautness of his face smoothed with sleep.
The rustling of soft, slow footfalls sounded nearby and my hand reached for my knife. I stilled, opening my eyes wider so they could adjust to the dark as a shadow slid over me, onto the ground before the fire. By the time I saw it, it was too late.
Myra was standing over Fiske’s body, her axe pulled up over her head.
“No!” I screamed, throwing the furs off of me and launching forward.
The flames licked my legs as I jumped over the fire. Fiske was already rolling out of the way. Myra’s axe hit the ground where his head had been seconds earlier and my father came up onto his feet, his sword drawn. I threw myself between Myra and Fiske, my knife in my hand.
Myra’s furious stare was pinned on him. “Get out of the way!” She lifted her axe.
“Myra.” My father’s voice was a warning behind her.
But she couldn’t hear it. It couldn’t touch her. I stepped forward and she swung the axe at me, nearly catching my chest.
Fiske rushed past me, snatching her wrist up with his hand and taking her by the throat.
I wrapped my arms around him, yanking him back. “Let her go!”
He threw her down and she landed on her back. In the next breath, she was back on her feet, coming after him. I grabbed her by the vest, shoving her toward the tree line. “What are you doing?”
She spoke through her teeth, looking over me to my father. “I’m going to kill him, like we were supposed to!”
“What?” I looked back to my father and his face answered my question. “You were going to betray us?”
“Us?” Myra’s voice strained.
“We made a deal with him, Myra.” I pushed her back.
Myra turned back to my father. “You heard what Espen said.”
Fiske stood on the other side of the fire, listening with his sword readied in his hand.
“That was before I knew about Iri.” My father slid his axe back into its sheath.
“What is wrong with the two of you?” she screamed, looking from me to my father. “They are Riki. They will kill us all the first chance they get!”
“No, they won’t.” I forced the words. I wanted desperately to believe them.
“If we stay in Virki, the Herja won’t find us. We’ll be safe there. We find the Riki village, kill Fiske so he can’t lead them back to us, and go back for the others so we can finish them off,” she sputtered between angry breaths. “That’s what we agreed. And I don’t care if Iri’s alive. He’s betrayed us all!”
She took another step toward Fiske, raising her axe, and I lifted my knife. “Don’t,” I growled. I would never hurt her. I’d die before I ever let anything happen to Myra. But I couldn’t let her kill Fiske.
Her eyes widened, boring into mine. “What is this about?” Her voice dropped lower.
“Surviving!” I answered. But it was only half true. It was about so much more.
I watched her think. I knew Myra too well. I knew what she was going to do before she did it. She pivoted on her heel, spinning around me and going for Fiske. I dove into her and we hit the ground hard, rolling toward the trees. Her axe scraped against my leg, tearing into my pants, and she pinned me down.