“There is nothing. No one comes to avenge him, if they were near enough to do it.”
There was no screaming, so whatever camp he’d been a part of wasn’t nearby. It wasn’t worth sitting and waiting for someone else to come for them, so they returned to their trek along the road north.
As the hills grew more aggressive the road came to an abrupt end, giving way to only a dense forest of evergreens and steep walks up hills. The climb began and Erik became increasingly concerned about how near the trees were to one another in some places. There were plenty of places to hide any number of people, or valkyries for that matter. As hard as it was to see from behind the clouds, the sun was past the halfway point in the sky. It was when flakes began falling that Erik moved up beside Göll, putting a hand on her shoulder to stop her walking.
“We’ve got to eat now. And then we can’t stop walking until the edge of this forest. Is it clear?”
Tove came up to join them and Göll scanned the woods.
“I cannot see anyone. If they move quietly enough, the snow will cover them at a distance.”
Erik pulled his pack. “That’s good enough.” He pulled a single piece of wood and sat it on the ground. “Someone light that up. We’re doing this fast.”
The pan came out as did the venison and Göll lit the fire. Tove watched him slice it thin again as she prepared potatoes in the same way she’d prepared the carrots that morning.
“We could eat dried meat if you mean to keep us moving.”
Erik looked around. “No, I want to save that for when we’re out of other things. And I want them to get less if they manage to kill us. These are the things they’ll be after, most likely.”
Erik cooked the food as quickly as he could manage. The potatoes may have gone a bit better with the food, but he could hardly bring himself to enjoy the meal. His nerves were beginning to get to him and having to gut a man who meant to trick them was doing very little to calm them.
They returned to their walk, Erik urging Göll to move a bit faster than the pace she normally kept. Tove kept pace, though not without some effort, but she didn’t offer any complaint as they worked northward through the woods. It was late afternoon, or at least late for Winter, when the clouds gave way and the world was bathed in orange light. It made checking the woods to the west nearly impossible and, worse, the shadows moving across his face made for a constant distraction.
It was the least he’d spoken to Tove since they’d met, but neither of them could bring themselves to carry on casually after Jari had showed himself. The heavy air made Erik hate the forest even though it was truly a beautiful place to be. The sun was nearly down and the world had dimmed, but ahead of them was a clearing. He could not see how wide it was from behind Göll, but it appeared to be at least wide enough to keep them safe.
As they came to the edge of the trees, Erik could see what it was. A wide, flat valley stretching out for several miles below them. There were mountains to the north side of it and all of it was devoid of trees. It was all stone and snow.
“Perfect.”
Tove came up beside him. “Perfect? Won’t we be exposed?”
Erik shook his head. “If there are more of them, we want them to have to come to us. And we want as much warning as we can get.”
“And if they have bows and arrows?”
He tapped Göll. “Hey, could you stop an arrow?”
“An arrow could not pierce this armor.”
“There you go. Besides, it’s pretty much our only option.” Erik was satisfied, though Tove didn’t seem to share his confidence.
They started down the treeless hill into the valley and walked across it. The sun disappeared and the light of the moon took its place. The stark white of the snow did its job reflecting the light above them, making it easy to see off in all directions well enough to be sure that any movement was not simply shadow shifting on shadow.
Erik figured they’d come close enough to the center of the featureless valley when he decided they would set up camp. Göll saw to the fire again, making quick work of it as the bedrolls came out. There were occasional freezing gusts of wind from the north. Not wanting to spend the night dealing with wind destroying his nose, Erik made a small arched covering out of some spare clothes and a few sticks from his firewood bundle. Tove did the same and pulled out the food. They could spend a bit more time preparing it so Erik took the pan, gathering up some snow. The divots he made started filling themselves in slowly from the bottom up.
He put the pan over the fire, watching the snow idly replace itself as the minutes passed. It had just barely started to steam when he put cubes of meat into it to thaw before relaxing, letting the fire warm him.
“This is at least less nerve wracking than the forest.”
Tove looked around. “The view’s better. I would still gladly trade the weather for any warmer sort.”
“Even in Summer? Ugh, sweat. I don’t need it. I mean, this is too much, sure, but I’m not one for sweating. These furs won’t be soaked and disgusting tomorrow morning.”
“You like convenience, is your problem.” She waved a dismissive hand. “Sweat is good for you. The cold is no good for anyone.”
“And how could you enjoy a good fire if it’s hot all the time?”
“A Spring night is plenty cool enough,” Tove scoffed.
“No way, not for
