Yarlav made my attempts at resistance seem pitiful.His arm strained, and his fingers dug into my wrist as he ran, dragging me behind him, over Halbjern’s body—his skull smashed against the rock he had been leaning on.My legs caught beneath us, and I tumbled, taking Yarlav down with me because he wouldn’t let go.We skidded on the rocks, my face scraping against scalding stone.
Another beat.
I screamed and bit Yarlav’s hand as he dragged me back to my feet.“He has my son!”And then, “I cannot leave without him!We have to wait for Fell!”
Yarlav didn’t stop, didn’t even turn back to make it easier for me to hear his words over the din that I was only beginning to comprehend.“He is with us!”
I strained my neck, and sure enough, Fell was behind us.Several of King Arik’s raiders gaining speed behind him.Where had they come from?
“Arik has Halvar!”I tugged with all my might, and Yarlav changed his hold, my elbow twisting the wrong way unless I kept pace with him.
I moved my legs as quickly as I could, but each step still felt like I was on the brink of falling, on the brink of my elbow breaking because no step was wide enough to keep up with Yarlav’s long stride.
Onto the dock, leaping over bodies—some I did not know, others I knew well: Rowan, his insides spread outside, his face gone, I knew him by the stains on his hands.Fara—even dead, she looked beautiful.
A croak came out of my throat as the wood groaned beneath us.
Yarlav pushed me into a docked rowboat, my chin slamming on the bench, the sound of the world coming back in full force, everything suddenly happening too fast for me to comprehend.
Yarlav had managed to untie the boat by the time I righted myself, my heart pumping, the world so loud it hurt.Yarlav pushed off and was in the boat himself, scrambling over me to grab the oars, just as Fell caught up, crashing through the water and gripping the boat’s edge, pushing as the waves tried to keep us docked.
He still looked deranged to me, not at all like himself as he screamed at Yarlav, “ROW!”
Several raiders were charging into the sea, their approach slowed by the water, but only just.
Fell turned his head as he pushed, looking behind him once before returning his gaze to me.
His eyes widened.
The corners of his mouth twitched in a way that let me know he knew something I didn’t.
And then the brazen fool pushed once more, letting go of the boat and turning with his axe raised.
“CAST!”Yarlav shouted from behind me.“CAST FOR HIM!”
My mouth hung open in the sickliest of nightmare horrors.Fell bested one of his attackers, but the second woman took time he did not have, and then the third came and steel slammed into Fell’s back.His hands changed—they were stillhishands, but they moved wrong, rested wrong.When he swung his arms next, they moved half the speed that seemed right.He grasped the throat of one of his attackers, and they both plummeted into the sea.
There was maybe a heartbeat more of Yarlav groaning as he rowed, putting as much distance as he could between us and the fray, before one body stood again.
It was not Fell.
The spit and blood mixture in my mouth curdled.I knew with my heart before I did with my eyes what I saw next.Fell’s back, torn half open.His limp body floating beside the two he’d killed, as those he’d fought rushed out of the water onto the dock, climbing into another rowboat on the far side.But it was too late.We were far enough away that they wouldn’t catch us.Fell had stalled them just long enough.
I was mindless.I was the motion of wailing without the sound.I was suffocating, oppressive silence, screaming without my voice.Dead for a few moments maybe, since so much of myself was Fell.I saw Arik’s form emerge from his tent.I saw him running for the shore.
I only woke up from the slow-fast nightmare when Yarlav slammed me onto the deck ofThe Fearsome Beast.The oars were already moving, thrusting the ship away from shore at a reckless pace.Raiders were shouting, pulling ropes, the drums beating fervently in the background.
“He has Halvar!”I screamed as I clambered to my feet, slapping Yarlav with four times my own strength, as pure hatred flooded my bones.
“Halvar is here.”
I took in a breath so sharp it hurt my lungs, turning to where Flojer’s voice had come from.Halvarwasthere, just as the captain said, appearing well.Flojer, however, was wounded; his tunic was black with blood, and his limbs rested at the wrong angles.Five bodies lay on the deck around him—Ivar and Eydis, along with others from Flojer’s crew.
I let out a breath that was half-cry, half-laugh.Laugh because I was seeing my child after fearing I wouldn’t.Cry because… well…
I scrambled to Halvar, pulling him so tight against my chest that he coughed, the deck rising and falling aggressively beneath us as the ship raced out of the bay.
Yarlav collapsed onto his knees and crawled to his father, lifting the man’s head to rest it in his lap, hunching over so his forehead touched his captain’s.He made a sound that was like the mew of a cat.
