“Stiff,” he said. After hours of sleep, his temples no longer throbbed as when first he regained awareness. Blood clotted his hair, though, thirst his mouth. “You, my sister?”
Her chuckle came hoarse. “Well, that Jonas lout crawled by ere dawn to fumble at me, then dared not untie my legs. I could have made do, but it was a sort of fun to pretend I couldn’t. Shall I tell the rest?” They were using their father’s language.
“Not unless you do want him upon you, and belike more than him. We’re soulless-animals-to be used however men see fit-remember?”
Haakon had come near saying as much when he had them secured: “Never would I have laid hand on any human whom I’d declared a guest, not even a Skraeling. But you aren’t. Does a man break faith when he butchers a sheep he’s kept? My sin would be not to force you, for tpe saving of my people.” He added:
“Tomorrow you’ll help us fight the tupilak, Tauno. Eyjan stays behind, hostage. If you win, you both go free. That oath I will give you upon the Cross.”
“Can we nonetheless believe a traitor?” she snarled.
His mouth twisted upward. “What choice have you?”
This morning he had men stand around, clad in shirt and breeks,
weapons bared, while he released Tauno. The halfling rose, flexed the cramp out of his limbs, went to Eyjan and kissed her. Jonas shifted from foot to foot. “Well,” the youth said around a mouthful of cheese and hardtack, “well, let’s away and get the thing done.”
Tauno shook his head. “First, food and water for my sister and me. As much as we need, too.”
Haakon frowned. “Best to eat lightly, or not at all, bef~” battle.”
“Not for beings like us.”
A middle-aged, brown-haired man, who hight Steinkil, guf-
fawed. “Right. Haakon, you know how seals gorge.”
The leader shrugged. He must struggle to hold back dismay when he saw what pounds of meat his captives put down. At the end, he snapped. “Now will you come?” and stalked for the door.
“A little span yet,” Tauno said.
Haakon wheeled about. “Have you forgotten what you are,
here?”
Tauno gave him stare for stare. “Have you forgotten what captaincy is . . . even here?”
Then the Liri prince knelt by his sister, took her in his arms, and murmured into the fresh fragrances of her hair and flesh, “Eyjan, mine is the better luck. If I die, it will be cleanly. You-they’re women, brats, and oldsters who’ll guard you. Can’t you play on their fears, or trick them somehow, and-?”
“I’ll try,” she answered. “But oh, Tauno, I’ll think of you the whole while! If only we went together this day!”
They looked into each other’s eyes as they voiced the “Song of Farewells”:
Hard is the heartbeat when loves must take leave, Dreary the dreeing, sundered in sorrow, Unless they part lively, unweighted by weeping, Gallantly going and boldly abiding, Lightened by laughter, as oftentimes erstwhile. Help me to hope that I’ll see you right soon!
I’ll lend you my luck, but back must you bring it-
He kissed her again, and she him. He got up and went outside.
Eleven ablebodied men and lads came along. They could handle
two of the three skiffs that Haakon had from of old. Jonas had wanted to send for more from neighboring farms. “If we fail and perish,” he said, “this house is stripped of strength.”
Haakon denied him: “If we fail, everybody will perish. A fleet of boats could not overcome the tupilak. That was tried, you know. Three got away while it was wrecking the rest. Our main hope this time is our merman, and he’s single. Also”-for an instant, glory flickered through his starkness-“I bear the name of king’s reeve for this shire, not to risk lives but to ward them. Let us win as we are, and we will live in sagas as long as men live in Greenland.”
While the hulls were launched, Tauno stripped and bathed. He would not get weapons until the onslaught came. Most of the crew dreaded him too much, nearly as much as they did the monster. Well had they struck him down and bound him, but he stayed eldritch, and maybe no will less unbendable than Haakon’s could have made them venture forth in his company.