“There was movement in the night.”
It was the last thing he’d wanted to hear that morning, but made him sure, at least, that the feelings he’d had weren’t simple imaginings.
“What sort of movement? People? Animals? Valkyries?”
She kept her eyes moving around the trees as Tove dressed by the fire. “They didn’t come close enough for me to be sure of anything.”
Erik worked his arms in a circle, trying to get the cold to stay out of them at least until he’d eaten something. “We’ll eat and get walking.”
He expected she’d say nothing, so Erik turned away from Göll to see Tove readying some meat, finding it hardened not quite to freezing.
“This place is terrible, Erik. The air is cold, the ground is cold, the meat’s gone frozen. What are we even meant to do with frozen meat?”
Erik walked to the pan Tove had prepared and picked it up, holding it out to her. He shook it when she didn’t put the meat in, prompting her to do so. Erik then held out his hand for the knife she was holding and retreated to the far side of the fire. He sat and cut the meat into the thinnest strips he could manage and put it on the fire.
“Pour some of that ale in there.”
Tove did as he requested and the pan let off a massive plume of steam. He leaned back away from it instinctively, but kept the knife in the pan working things around.
“We had this thing back home that was sort of like this. They called it barbecue, but I don’t see how pushing stuff around on a big rock is any kind of barbecue.”
All he received for his attempt at sharing a detail from his life was a blank stare from Tove. He had her cut some carrots thin as well and throw them in and they ate when it was done a few minutes later.
“It’s not awful,” she said, chewing the meat.
“Yeah, well, we don’t have soy sauce or anything.”
“Soy sauce?”
“It’s a thing made from fermented soy beans. Really salty, great with meat.”
“Sounds disgusting.”
“That’s the correct reaction to about ninety percent of the things I eat when you just describe them. It’s all in the taste.”
“Well, it sounds as though it tastes disgusting.”
Erik shrugged off her entirely uninformed thoughts on soy sauce and they finished eating, packing afterward. There was a log in the still-burning pile that had barely been scorched and they stood in front of it considering what to do.
“Well, we can’t just pour the ale on it. We need that,” Erik said. “And I’m not going to look for a stream. So… leave it?”
Tove was quick to nod. “I agree. But,” she hesitated, “what if the trees catch?”
Erik looked up above the fire and around them. “Well the snow didn’t stick. Maybe it’s fine.”
“And if it is not?”
“We can out-walk a forest fire, probably.”
“Do you have experience doing something like that?”
“No, why would I?”
Tove’s sigh was decidedly annoyed. She picked up her pack. “We should begin walking. There is only so much light in a day up here.”
Erik grabbed his pack as well and they returned to the road with Göll keeping a short distance in front of them. The grips were surprisingly comfortable in spite of sleeping in them and his arms didn’t seem concerned with having leather next to the skin for so long. There wasn’t much chance of sweating in Winter and having to find the grips in a situation where a fight might come from nowhere would just end him up dead. It was likely something Völundr had considered when he’d made them.
They had been walking for only fifteen minutes at the most when Göll came to a stop, looking into the woods. A few seconds later, Erik heard the footsteps that had brought her to a halt in the road.
“Wait! Wait, you in the road! Stop, I beg of you!”
A thin-haired man came stumbling out of the woods in heavy furs, carrying a small pack. He nearly lost his footing but caught himself and stayed there catching his breath for a moment. He stood himself up, looking Göll over before looking around her.
“I am called Jari. I have been lost in this wood for weeks. Tell me—”
“You look well-fed to me, Jari.” Tove spoke up before the man could continue.
Jari’s expression soured for a moment. “I said lost, girl, not without provisions.” He turned to Erik, his face returning to the pleading look it had been before, but he kept his distance. “I know how it must seem, but I was separated from my party. I don’t know where they have gone, nor where I am and—”
Göll charged the man, pulling her blade across his stomach. The guts spilled out, Jari screaming and falling to his knees. His hands went wet and red as he tried to gather them up in a mindless panic.
“No! No! Not again, not again! Get… get back in…”
The blood was draining quickly and his strength faded along with it. He fell over, clawing toward Göll’s feet as he hit the ground. Tove ran to the man, pulling open his pack.
“Stones!” She shouted the word, kicking the man in the ribs before turning to Erik. “There must be more!”
Jari still croaked slow breaths on the ground as Tove and Erik went over him, gathering around Göll. The valkyrie scanned the woods slowly with intense focus. Erik could hear the breath behind him grow staggered and fail. He turned his eyes back, seeing all but the pack dissipate into the ground. He’d been wearing only a single layer of clothing
