Page 71 of Sky in the Deep
“I hope not.” If something happened and Fiske killed an Aska, it would be my responsibility. And it would be the end of any hope to join together.
He stepped toward me but instead of reaching for the knife, his hand landed on my wrist. His fingers wrapped around my arm and my pulse quickened. “You need to be careful.” The fever building under my skin burned where he was touching me. “If the Aska think you’re protecting me, they won’t trust you.” His fingers pressed deeper. “You need them to trust you, Eelyn. We both do.”
I looked down at his hand on me and then up to his face. It brought that moment in Aurvanger back so vividly. The moment I first saw him, standing in the fog, his sword drawn.
“Why did you come?” I whispered, asking again.
“The same reason you just told your father that you were sleeping here.” He took another step closer and every muscle in my body tightened, waiting. “You don’t really want to know why.” His hand slid down my arm to the knife and he took it, reaching behind him to tuck it into his belt. “And right now, it doesn’t matter.”
He was right. I wasn’t ready to hear him say it. I wasn’t even ready to let myself think it. I didn’t have the room in my thoughts for trying to figure out what it meant and all that it would bring. Because we could all be dead in the next few days.
“You didn’t tell them about Iri.” He looked back out at the water as I settled onto my mat.
“I couldn’t.”
“You’ll have to.”
“I know,” I whispered.
***
Little faces peered over the rock at me asIturned over, waking. When I looked up, they hopped down, running down the bank and kicking up sand around them.
Fiske crouched down, splashing water onto his face and looking up and down the shore. The water was calmer this morning and now I could see that the river was wide. Wider than any I had ever seen. On each side, tall cliff faces rose up above small sandy banks.
I sat up and leaned forward to see that the stretch ofoverhang was actually longer than I’d thought it was and every inch of the sand beneath it was in use. Shelters, nets, fires, worktables. A large rectangle had been chiseled out of the wall and bows, arrows, swords, and knives hung side by side in orderly rows. Farther down, small wooden boats were suspended from the ceiling by rope systems that ran back to the wall and were staked into the ground. It was hard to find, and anyone trying to attack would either have to cross the river or come down over the cliff. It was a perfect hiding place.
And that thought was painful. The Aska werehiding.A strong and fierce people, now reduced to the shadows.
“It’s impressive, what they’ve done here.” Fiske wiped the water from his face, looking up at the overhang. He stood, holding a hand out to pull me to my feet.
Down the bank, a group of women walked up the shore dragging lines of fish behind them with their eyes on us.
“We should go,” I said, my voice still hoarse with sleep.
My father and Mýra walked down the edge of the water toward us with Hagen and two others when we came around the outcropping. A man with long hair braided away from his face smiled, holding out a small loaf of bread. I took it when Fiske didn’t, breaking it in half and giving a piece to him. He hesitated before he took it from me.
“How long?” my father said.
“Two days. Maybe three, depending on the snow,” Fiske answered.
Behind us, Espen and Hagen were already pulling a boat down from the riggings on the rock ceiling.
“You’ll meet us in Aurvanger.” My father met my eyes before he turned toward the boats.
Fiske bristled.
I fell into step beside my father, speaking lowly. “I’m going with you.”
He peered down at me, his forehead wrinkling. “Why? You just came from there. You just got home.”
“This isn’t home.”
“Mýra will go. You will stay.”
“I know the leaders. I know the village. You need me there.” I held his gaze, trying not to let him see too much. But he could. He always could. And whatever he caught a glimpse of, he didn’t like. “Please.”
He looked out at the water, thinking. And then over his shoulder, to Espen. “Alright.” He chose to trust me. I wondered if it would be the last time.
