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What came after was worse yet.
The warlord had died upon Eril’s axe, yes, but a third of his warriors had been sent to slay the women and children huddling in Imil Steading. Such a thing is simply not done, and every last survivor of that accursed man’s horde had been hunted down.
Found, but not killed. A brand was laid to their faces instead, and their right hands mutilated before they were driven into the wilderness with whips. Such signs speak plainly to any in the south, even past the Barrowhills, and those so marked would find neither food nor shelter in any hall, farm, or even thrall-hut.
A great gripping pang seized me, scalp to toes. I longed for home, and even Flokin’s greybeard dourness. The wish to see Ulfrica shook me, and I wondered for a moment why I should suddenly miss her, and not Astrid or my mother.
The homesick heart fastens upon strange things.
“Merely a lich,” the Elder continued, and urged his horse almost close enough to touch mine as Soren’s moved aside. Aeredh studied me closely, traces of that cold blue radiance cloaking him.
I was seeing too much. I inhaled sharply, and almost heard Idra’s snort.Do not wander half out of yourself, girl. What you do, do at once, and wholly.
“Merely, he says.” Leather creaked as Soren’s horse stamped; the Northerner did not roll his eyes only by an effort of will, it seemed. “I like this not. Too small a band, yet with a lich holding the leash?”
“Peace, my lady. The battle is over.” Aeredh leaned from his saddle, brushing two fingers against my mantle-clad shoulder. The brief touch sent a bolt of heat through me, strength shared throughseidhr. I was too dazed to wonder if he would teach me the trick, for Idra had known how to perform only a slow seeping exchange of vitality. “Are all southron women so brave?”
What bravery?I could not produce the words. Was he mocking me?There is nowhere to flee, even if I could drag Arn away.I blinked several times, the world flickering. The thing’s cry still lingered in my memory, spreading its oozing black frost.
“Solveig.” Arn crowded closer. “Look at me.”
It took a great effort to turn my head. She thrust the meadskin at me again; I took it more out of exhaustion than obedience. I knewfrom long experience she would badger me until I did what she considered healthful.
My stubbornness is deep, but hers approaches the truly legendary.
I would rather not have even smelled the mead, for my stomach did not wish to seat itself properly. But I took a fiery mouthful and our surroundings roared back into life around me. The black thing’s voice fled entirely, and the shivers gripping me eased all at once.
Lady Hajithe might have noseidhr, but there is a weirding in any act of creation, no matter how small. How much more, then, in distilling? I shelved the thought for later examination.
Had I the lee to do so, it would mean we had survived.
The skin sloshed as I handed it back. “I am well enough.” My throat was raw, words husky like the morning an illness takes hold. “I… I cannot clear the road again, though.” In fact, I doubted I could use anyseidhrat all, at the moment. “I am sorry.”
For a long moment they were silent, and Arn’s gaze kindled afresh. The stripe upon her face glowed; she had pleased the Wingéd Ones mightily this day. “Of course you cannot,” she said, loudly. “They should not expect it of you, either.”
“Of course not,” Aeredh hurried to agree. “’Twas a mighty enough feat as it is, and then to render aid against a lich? Not many of your kind are capable of such things, even among the Faithful. The wonder is you are still conscious enough to speak.”
“I can ride.”Do not ask me to sing, though. Or to dance.I forced my shoulders back, my chin to rise. My arms ached, and my legs were full of strange fluttering. But Farsight was steady underneath me, and if I watched her ears and nothing else, I would not embarrass myself. “How much farther?”
“We have only to reach the Ford. The waystones grow stronger with each step.” The Elder twisted to look at Eol as the Northerner mounted, his cream-colored steed sidling uneasily, but too well-trained to protest more. “Some few leagues, easy riding.”
“Unless the lich returns with the rest of the war-band. They cannot be far, and ’tis well past noon.” Eol’s boots were crusted with snow, and he looked as if he had been rolled in it. Blood, bright crimson but drying, striped his roughened cheek—they did not growbeards, but now the black-clad Northerners all bore some evidence of stubble. His dark hair was wildly tousled, and he shook his head irritably. Everyone bore some sign of hard activity; even Arn’s horn-braids were mussed. “Soren, take thealkuine’s reins. Shieldmaid, keep close watch, and should she swoon call out so we may halt. Efain, take the rearguard; should you sense them…”
Scarred, solemn Efain nodded, dropping back. Elak followed suit. Arn did not bother to protest; the command was what she would have done anyway, and Eol of the house of Naras was after all their captain. In a few short moments we were moving away from a ring of shatteredorukharcorpses twisted amid bloodstained snow. Oddly, the stains seeping from their dead were not bright scarlet.
The attackers’ blood looked old, and dark. I could not even shudder at the wrongness. The fearsome thought that the terrible thing—lich, the Elder called it—could return made my heart pound so hard my vision turned dark at the edges. Tales and songs mentioned such things in bloodcurdling detail that did not even remotely begin to describe the true horror.
And Aeredh had met it in battle; he had, burning with that strange inner radiance, driven it away.
“Brave indeed, my lady Solveig.” The Elder touched my shoulder again. There was no burning jolt this time, but he nodded. “You are upon the edge of foolhardy. Should the dark thing return, do not attempt to aid me again.”
I do not think I did too badly.But of course, what I thought of my own performance did not matter. I managed a nod, and turned my gaze to Farsight’s ears. Even the familiar sting of disappointment from the teaching after a failed test did not bother me overmuch.
Besides, if the lich returned, I could not follow his advice. Strictly speaking, I had not attempted to aid him. I had simply been thrash-mad with fear, like a bolting horse, and striking out with every weapon I had.
There was, I knew, no bravery in that.
Across the Ford
