Page 40 of The Girl the Sea Gave Back
“Naðr.”
The voices suddenly vanished, like a lit torch dropped in water, and the Kyrr man I’d seen at the glade appeared behind the Nadhir, his wide eyes set on mine.
“Stop, Halvard.”
The Nadhir dropped me and I fell to the ground, choking. The burn raced down my throat as I gasped in the cold air, the feeling returning to my hands as I reached up, pulling the neck of my tunic closed.
The Kyrr man looked down at me, his breath fogging out between us. The mark of a fish wrapped around his throat, the tail disappearing into his tunic. He was older than me by many years, but the way he looked at me was familiar. It felt close.
“You know me,” I whispered, studying his face. Trying to place it. Some part of me knew him, too.
“I didn’t think it could be true.” His voice was only a breath.
I tried to speak, but I couldn’t find words. I couldn’t reach the memories that were hovering above my thoughts, just out of reach. As shouting came from the forest, both men looked up, over my head.
“What couldn’t be true?” I got to my feet, my fingers still cradling my aching throat.
The Kyrr man didn’t answer. His eyes changed then, the sharp point of his stare softening. He looked almost… sad.
Voices called out in the night and I turned back to wherethe Svell were coming from the trees on the other side of the village.
“Give me your axe,” I said, looking to the man he’d called Halvard.
He stared at my hand outstretched before him. “What?”
“Give me your axe!” I reached up, pulling it from his grip. “You have to run.”
The Kyrr man looked at me for another silent moment before he disappeared, but Halvard didn’t move. The light in his eyes changed, the pulse at his neck jumping beneath the skin. “Why are you helping us?”
I looked up into his face, realizing that was what I was doing. I was helping him. Because it was one life I could save. I was suddenly overcome with a desperate need to be sure he didn’t die. “Go,” I whispered.
He looked at me for a long moment, swallowing hard. And in the next breath, he turned, disappearing into the trees.
I faced the village, stilling the shaking of my hands as I marched back through the gate, to the path. I searched the bodies on the ground until I found a man in a Nadhir armor vest lying facedown with long, dark hair. I took a deep breath before I rolled him over, looking down into his face. He was older than Halvard, but he’d have to do. I was out of choices. I was out of time.
I planted my feet before him, pushing every thought from my mind, the weight of the cool axe blade heavy in my open hand. The careful rendering of a yew tree branchwas engraved into the shining steel and it glimmered in the faint light of the fires still burning. I pulled in a breath, my eyes fixed on the night sky. And when I lifted the axe over my head, I conjured every dark shadow within me. Every withered thing within my perishing soul. I gave myself over to that darkness. And with the cold, unbeating heart of the dead heavy in my chest, I brought the blade down.
2YEARS AGO
Village of Liera, Svell Territory
Tova made it to Bekan’s home on the hill only moments before the sun rose over the village of Liera. Her cloak was heavy and damp with the mist that whirled through the air as she’d walked the paths of the forest. But it was the uneasy ache in her stomach that made her steps falter. It had been six days since Bekan’s daughter, Vera, had been bedridden with fever. And if Jorrund had summoned Tova, she must have taken a turn for the worse in the night.
She stopped before the door and drew a steadying breath before she lifted her hand to knock. Footsteps hit the floorboards inside as shadows reached across the ground in the amber light. The latch lifted and Jorrund’s face appeared as the door opened, but the look on his face already held the answer she’d been called to give.
Tova lifted up onto her toes to peer over his shoulder, where Vera was tucked onto a cot beside the fire. Her gauntface left her eyes looking hollow, one small hand set on top of the furs. Tova couldn’t help but think of the tiny baby girl who’d spent her days cradled in Bekan’s arms and the memory brought the sting of hot tears to her eyes.
She wound a finger around the string beneath the tunic and pulled, feeling the bite at the back of her neck. Bekan stood over his daughter, his armor gone and his clothes wrinkled. Even his braids were unraveling down his back, the darkness clinging beneath his eyes. He hadn’t slept in days.
Jorrund took hold of Tova’s arm and pulled her inside without a word, clearing the table and unrolling the pelt. Bekan didn’t look up at her as she took the rune stones from around her neck and opened the purse. Vera’s eyes weren’t quite closed, only slits of reflection lighting in them. But her mouth hung open, her chest rising and falling with a slow but labored breath.
Tova didn’t need to cast the stones to know what fate was carved into the Tree of Urðr for her. And she couldn’t help but think again that the Spinners were cruel. Bekan had already lost his wife and now he would lose his only child.
Jorrund set a bundle of herbs into the fire pit and the smoke billowed as the healer sank down beside the cot, wiping at Vera’s face. Her blond, straight hair was slicked back, falling over the edge of the cot like a curtain.
Tova clenched her hands to keep them from shaking before she poured the stones into her palm. Vera had been one of the only souls in Liera to be kind to her. One of the only Svell to not mutter threats as she passed or leavecursed charms at her door. And now, the Spinners would take even that from her.
She whispered the words on a hoarse breath, the pain in her stomach sharpening.
