The Hills of Home (The Song of the Ash Tree Book 2) (28 page)

TWENTY-SIX

T
he sun, newly
risen, shone in Raef’s eyes as he surveyed the bloody scene outside the armory, crimson stark against snow. Finnolf had found the warriors at dawn. One was slumped against the armory wall, the other was face down in the snow. Raef used the toe of his boot to lift the corpse by the shoulder and turn the dead face to the sun.

“Brogund, lord,” Finnolf said, identifying the Vannheim warrior. “He was Thorald’s brother.” Raef frowned. Thorald had been a good captain, his father’s right arm and Raef’s, too, before falling to Fengar’s army in Solheim. Thorald deserved a brother who might carry on their family name with honor and pride, not one who would bleed to death after a drunken quarrel.

“And the other?” Brogund’s opponent in the fight had the badge of Silfravall worked into his belt, a silver stag. He had been stabbed in the gut.

“Lingorm has named him Freyvind.”

“Do we know what they fought about?”

Finnolf shrugged. “They argued when leaving the hall. Yorkell heard something about a wager. Perhaps one refused to honor it.”

Raef squinted into the sun to look at his young captain. “Be on your guard, Finnolf. These deaths may spark something greater. See that there is no further violence. And get this mess cleaned up.” Finnolf nodded and left just as Vakre and Siv arrived.

“A sour way to begin with Lingorm’s men,” Vakre said.

Siv knelt and pried open Brogund’s stiff fingers, withdrawing a gold ring from his grasp. “Perhaps this was the cause.” She handed it to Raef.

It was a fine piece. If either man had been foolish enough to offer it up in a wager, he was right to lose it. But not so fine to be worth dying for. Raef tossed it to the waiting guard, who snatched it from the air, a grin on his face.

Raef looked to Vakre and Siv. “I do not wish to loiter in my own hall today. Will you hunt with me?”

They rode east, taking to the hills until they reached a tiny lake, a blue gem set among the trees, the shore home to a long, low barn and a single snow-capped house where Finnolf had spent his childhood. The captain’s father and mother still lived there with their youngest child, an eager girl of ten with a fondness for brushing horsetails and tying flowers in manes. Her father, who bred hunting dogs and horses, was accustomed to Raef’s visits and waved from the barn door as the three of them wound through the trees to reach the lake.

“Any good game today, Kolbrand?” Raef called as he dismounted.

Finnolf’s father shook his head. “Nothing, lord.” He strode through the snow to meet them. “A large herd of deer came through yesterday, though. Set the dogs off. Might not have gone far. But with the fresh snow,” Kolbrand shrugged, “could be hard to track.”

Raef nodded and then grinned as Finnolf’s sister burst out of the house. She dashed into the snow, stopping only when she was close enough to press her face to Raef’s horse’s nose.

“Am I to watch the horses, father?” she asked, breathless.

Kolbrand smiled at his daughter. “He has not asked yet.”

The girl turned her large brown eyes up to Raef, who laughed. “What would I do without you, Tolla?” He leaned in close and whispered in her ear. “This one thinks he can fly, so keep a close eye.”

Tolla nodded, her solemn face betrayed by a twinkling in her eye.

Raef ruffled her hair and then went through his hunting gear to be certain he had what he needed before they left the horses under Tolla’s care. Vakre and Siv did the same, securing knives and bows and a bit of food to sustain them through the day.

“You should visit in the spring, lord,” Kolbrand said as Raef checked the bowstring coiled in a pouch at his belt. “The foals will be good this year. I can feel it.”

“You know I cannot resist your horses, Kolbrand,” Raef said, the words out of his mouth before he remembered that there would not be a spring, that there would not be foals to birth and raise. He kept his smile fixed to his face. “We will return before dark.”

Kolbrand nodded and Raef turned to go as father and daughter led the horses to the barn, a song on Tolla’s lips and her fingers twisting a hunk of mane into a braid even as she walked.

On foot now, Raef turned north and they trekked up higher into the hills, looking for signs of the deer Kolbrand spoke of. They found snow, broken only by the tiny footprints of birds, and heard squirrels chastising them from the safety of tall pines, but nothing worthy of the hunt and so they rested in a grove of bare birch trees and ate the cheese, dried apples, and carefully wrapped bread that had still been warm from the oven when Darri, the old kitchen woman, had handed it to Raef that morning.

“Was there snow in the other realms, Raef?” It was Siv who asked the question. She was perched on a fallen log, her legs crossed under her. She took a drink of water from her skin and handed it to Vakre.

Raef had not spoken of his journey to Alfheim or Jötunheim since the day he had learned of Svanja’s death. Siv and Vakre knew only what they had heard in that telling but Raef found his reluctance to speak of it had faded.

“No. Alfheim was in early summer. Everything was lush and green, flowers everywhere. Except for the barren place. There the earth was dry and hard, a wound wrought by giants in a nearly forgotten war.”

“And Jötunheim?”

Raef did not have to reach far to dredge up the sights and smells of Jötunheim. “A dead place,” he said, his voice quiet. “But not winter’s death. True death. The very air was poison and the sun was dull, as though all the brightness had been sucked from it.”

Siv nodded and was still for a moment, the cheese forgotten in her hand. “What was the Allfather like?”

Raef opened his mouth and found the words he was about to speak to be a lie. He hesitated, his eyes on Siv, then spoke. “Old. Weary.” The words were heavy on his tongue. Raef shifted his gaze to Vakre. “Sad. There was power in him, yes, and terrible strength, of will, of mind. He was just as he is in the stories we learned as children. And yet so much more.” Raef took a drink from his own skin. “At least, that is what I saw. It may have been nothing more than a dream. I was not,” Raef paused, “my mind was not well.”

Vakre stirred. “You do not believe it was a dream.”

“No.”

“Nor do you wish you had accepted the Allfather’s offer.” This from Siv.

Raef smiled a little. “No. But I do wish I might understand why. Why I landed on Alfheim’s shores. Why, then, did I go on to Jötunheim? And how? The giants may have a way into Midgard, but only the gods can traverse the nine realms at will.” Raef shook his head. “None of it should have happened. I should have died at sea, swept overboard by tall winter waves, or dashed against the rocks of an unfriendly coast. Or better yet, I should have died in Axsellund. None of it makes sense.”

“Might the Allfather be mistaken? He told you no god had led you on your journey,” Siv said, her gaze flickering to Vakre, “but Loki breathes deception as we do air.”

“Odin knew Loki was the Deepminded. I must believe he would know the truth of this as well.”

Vakre broke in. “Perhaps you were not meant to die.” He frowned. “Perhaps you were meant to disappear, just as you did. Death is final. A body is final. But absence is something altogether different. It breeds confusion, disorder, uncertainty.”

Siv asked the question on Raef’s tongue. “To what end?”

“Rudrak Red-beard and Snorren Thoken might have wished for my absence, but they would have killed me and made the world know it.”

“And Greyshield?” Vakre asked. “Would he have done the same?”

Raef could not say with any certainty. “He might have understood the power to be found in disorder, but I cannot even prove he killed those five men and he has made no overt action against me.”

“Whoever cast you off in that boat may not have wanted your body found, but surely they expected you to die. Perhaps he thought he had more time.”

“And then there was Isolf. No one who wanted the Vestrhall could have anticipated his arrival.” Raef found his appetite had diminished and he tucked the uneaten bread back into his pack.

“And still there are others who might have desired your death but never with an eye on the Vestrhall as a prize,” Siv said. She, too, was no longer eating and her gaze, when it met Raef’s, was troubled. The names were left unspoken but they were loud and clear in Raef’s mind. The Hammerling. Fengar.

Vakre got to his feet. “I do not think we will find answers here.”

They abandoned the birches and pushed onward. Siv soon spotted recent deer tracks that led further east, and not long after they crested a rise to find a herd meandering down a bald slope. The open ground was a challenge, but the herd was not yet alert to their presence, giving them an advantage. Raef exchanged looks with Vakre and Siv, and they separated. Raef crept to the right, taking the steep descent head on, while Siv held the middle ground and Vakre followed the shoulder of the hill to the left so he might get ahead of the herd.

As he watched Vakre drop out of sight, Raef slid down through the snow until he reached a knob in the slope that provided some cover. Peeking over, Raef saw the herd tense, heads up, tails flicking. Their attention seemed to be on something further down the hill. Raef watched, his breath even and slow. At last the herd began to move again, but now they traversed across the hill, rather than angling down into the valley. Raef crawled forward, trying to close the distance to the herd. When he came within easy bowshot, Raef stopped and drew the bow over his shoulder, staying pressed to the hill, and knocked an arrow on the string.

Raef took a deep breath of cold air and let it out, then in one swift motion, he got to one knee, drew, and loosed. His aim was true. The arrow sailed, struck home, and then he heard the snarl behind him.

Scrambling to his feet, Raef spun just in time to knock away the leaping lynx with his bow. The large cat landed, digging into the snow with its claws to keep its balance, and came at Raef again. He dodged and drew the axe from his belt as the cat crouched for another attack, but then an arrow pierced its neck and it slumped to the ground, one last snarl escaping from between its teeth. Raef looked up to see Siv, still far away, lowering her bow.

The herd was long gone, racing down into the valley and the safety of the trees, but Raef’s kill remained along with another deer that had fallen to Vakre in the moment the herd fled. Raef approached the lynx, ready to end its dying if it yet clung to life. There was no need. Siv’s arrow had severed a large artery, killing it instantly.

Siv approached and knelt beside the cat, placing a hand on its head. “Her den must be close, or she would not have attacked you.”

They followed the lynx’s tracks through the snow, Vakre catching up to them as they went, and came to a ledge protruding out of the hillside. In its shelter were slabs of broken rock that formed a half moon, shielding a pair of lynx cubs wrestling in the dirt. They skittered away to the far corner of the den at the sight of Raef, but peered out at him with wide eyes, curiosity mixing with fear.

“They are smaller than they should be,” Vakre said. “She birthed late.” The cubs were lanky and long-limbed, but lacked the muscles and strength they would need to hunt and survive on their own.

Siv looked at Raef and then Vakre, then drew a knife from her belt. “I will do it. It was my arrow that took their mother.” She stepped forward and prepared to crouch down under the ledge when Raef laid a hand on her shoulder.

“Wait.”

“I will not leave them here to die of starvation.”

“Perhaps they need not die.” Raef returned to his deer and slung it over his shoulder. When he reached the den again, he dropped it in the snow and started skinning it. At first, the cubs remained hunched in their corner, but the smell of fresh meat made their noses twitch and one, then the other, crept to the edge of the den and watched Raef with hungry eyes. The skin removed, Raef carved a hunk of flesh from the doe’s shoulder and tossed it at the cubs’ feet. They jumped back and then stretched their necks out, ears quivering. The larger of the two pounced on the meat, sunk her teeth in, and dragged it back to safety. The cubs tore into the flesh with eager growls.

“One meal is good, Raef, but what of tomorrow? And the day after? Will you butcher a deer for them every day?” Vakre leaned on his bow and watched the cubs fight over the final bite.

Raef rose. “No, you are right.” He heaved the rest of the deer carcass onto his shoulder and began to climb the hill. He did not look back, but at length he could hear Siv and Vakre follow. They had begun the descent on the other side of the hill, retracing the path that would take them back to the lake, when Raef saw the cubs dash into the closest trees on his left. He stopped. The cubs did the same and crouched low, only their eyes and ears visible above the snow that came halfway up Raef’s calf. Keeping his gaze on the black-tufted ears, Raef continued on. The cubs mirrored him, the larger female leading the way, the smaller male on her heels. They kept their distance, careful never to come closer than twenty paces, but their first true hesitation came when they reached the lake and caught sight and scent of the horses and dogs on Kolbrand’s land.

The cubs hunkered down behind a berry bush and watched as Raef and Vakre loaded the deer onto the backs of their horses. Tolla was delighted and insisted that Raef take the cubs home to the Vestrhall.

“They are already farther from home than they have ever been,” Raef said, plucking a twig from her honey-colored hair. “But then, they have followed us this far. We will see.” She grinned and climbed onto her pony. She would accompany them back to the Vestrhall and spend a few days with her older sister in the village.

The cubs did not move as Raef and the others rode away from the lake. He looked once over his shoulder and saw the female watching them, but then he lost her in the trees. They might die, or they might survive. Perhaps Freyja would be kind to them, for all men knew the lynx was dear to her.

They had made the final descent out of the hills and the Vestrhall was in sight when Finnolf’s sister let out a shriek. Raef spun his horse, reaching for his bow, but froze when he saw the female cub bound out of the trees. She slid to a halt when she saw them watching her, but then, to Raef’s astonishment, she trotted forward until she was far closer to them than she had been before. Raef scanned the trees for her brother and the cub seemed to do the same.