Page 40 of Sky in the Deep
“Looking for you.” He pulled a blanket from the trunk and moved me closer to the fire. “Find him.” Fiske pushed Halvard toward the door and shoved him out. When he came back, he crouched down in front of me. “Who did this?”
I pulled the blanket tighter around me, searching his face. He looked different. There was something shining in his eyes that wasn’t there before. Or maybe it was. I had never seen them so closely.
“Who?” he asked again.
But all I could think was that he was still too close to me. That I wanted him to move away. “It was the man fromAdalgildi,” I whispered.
“What did he do?”
I closed my eyes. I tried to disappear.
“Did he…?” The question broke off and his eyes dropped from mine.
I shook my head in answer, coiling my arms around my bare body.
Fiske stood, his boots pounding against the stone as he walked to the wall. He lifted an axe from the hook and opened the door. “Don’t tell them where I’m going.” And then he was gone.
***
Iopened my eyes when the door opened and the weight of more blankets pressed down on top of me. Iri was asleep next to the fire, his head propped up on his saddlebags.
Fiske came through the door quietly, and I opened my eyes enough to watch him hang the axe back on the wall. He pulled his armor vest and tunic off and went to the basin of water to wash his face, raking his fingers through his hair. The cuts and bruises from the fighting season were healing, leaving smooth skin over the form of him, broad on top and narrow in the middle, like Iri. He set his hands on the table and leaned into it, looking into the basin as a single drop of water trailed to the end of his nose and fell into the water.
I stared at the blood-spotted tunic crumpled on the floor.
“Fiske?” Inge came down the ladder with her hair long and unbraided over her shoulders. “Where have you been?” she whispered.
When he didn’t answer, she took his arm and pulled him to face her.
“Thorpe.” He didn’t look at her.
Her voice dropped lower. “What did you do?”
He tied his hair back, coming to the fire and sitting to take off his boots. “Reminded him not to touch what doesn’t belong to him.”
Inge watched him for a moment before she gave a small nod, but worry hung heavy on her face. “I’ll speak to the Tala tomorrow.”
“I’llspeak to the Tala.” The room fell silent.
“Fiske…”
He stilled, looking up at her.
But she didn’t speak. She only looked at him, her eyes falling from his head down to his feet and meeting his eyes again. Like she was trying to uncover something.
He stood, walking past her to the ladder. She watched him until he was out of sight and then turned back toward the fire. She didn’t move for a long time and when she finally closed her eyes, her mouth was moving, a silent prayer on her lips.
I sunk lower into the blankets. Because Inge didn’t know that I was the past Iri had left behind. I was what she should be praying against.
And it was only a matter of time before she did.
***
Ilay in the loft as the others went about their day.
No one talked to me.
No one asked me to do anything.
