Page 28 of The Girl the Sea Gave Back

Bekan looked out over his people, waiting for the last ofthe murmuring to quiet. “If they do, we’ll be ready. I want every village guarded through the night. Every warrior ready to fight.”

“And Holkn?” another voice shouted.

The leader of the nearest Svell village had died only weeks before. If war was coming, they wanted to know who would lead them.

Bekan’s eyes went to his brother. His hair was pulled back into one long, tightly woven braid, his arms wrapped protectively around his niece. “Vigdis will take leadership of Holkn.”

Tova sighed in relief, and Vigdis’ eyes flickered up to the rafters, where Tova was perched. She pulled her knees up into her chest, wrapping her arms around them tightly. Though she was hidden in the shadows, his frightening gaze seemed to find her, peering up through the darkness.

She pressed her lips together, the feeling of his stare crawling over her skin. The chieftain’s brother hadn’t taken his attention from her since she’d arrived in Liera, but now, he would take leadership of Holkn, the Svell village to the north. And from there, maybe his blade wouldn’t be able to find her.

Forest on the Mountain, Riki Territory

Halvard could still hear the screaming.

His numb feet dragged through the snow behind the Herja’s cart as the horses walked, pulling him behind it. Therope cut into the skin around his wrists and his arms ached, the blood trailing up into the sleeves of his torn tunic. The woman tied beside him had fallen before the moon had even risen above the treetops and her lifeless body dragged over the ground beside him.

It had taken only minutes for the village of Fela to fall to the Herja in the dead of night. They’d appeared in the dark without warning, and he hadn’t seen the man coming as he ran for the house across the path, where his mother was. He’d only felt wide arms wrap around his body as he was lifted up from the ground and then he was in the black forest. The sound of Eelyn’s screams still rang in his ears, his name bent and broken on her cracked voice.

He pinched his eyes closed, breathing through the throbbing pain in his face. The bones in his nose were broken, the taste of his own blood still sharp on his tongue. He’d searched the ground for his brothers’ bodies as the Herja pulled him into the trees, but he’d seen no sign of them. Now, he could only hope that wherever they were, they were alive. He could only hope that they weren’t in the forest looking for him.

A voice called out at the back of the line and a tall Herja woman with black furs hung over her shoulders appeared, pulling another Riki woman on a rope behind her. She stepped into the moonlight and Halvard sucked in a breath when he saw the wood-beaded necklaces draped around her neck. The village Tala’s face lit as she looked up to the sky, her hair falling down her back.

The Herja jerked her forward and whistled, signaling the horses to slow, and Halvard tried to meet her eyes as she was tied up beside him. But the Tala only looked up, to the stars gleaming overhead.

He opened his mouth, but before he could speak, her sharp gaze came down to meet his, silencing him. Her eyes cut to the Herja walking beside them and Halvard looked back to see more of them pouring in from the forest behind them. He wiped the tears from his cheeks with his shoulders as they lurched forward.

She waited for the last of them to pass before she finally leaned in to whisper, “It’s alright.”

The cart’s wheels cracked over the stones buried in the snow and he tried to keep his balance, picking up each frozen foot and setting it down again as they pushed farther from Fela. He’d only ever left their village to check the nets at the river or to hunt with his brothers. Now, he wasn’t sure there was even a village left to go back to. Behind them, the smoke from the fires lifted above the tallest pines and drifted into the sky. His foot caught the roots of a tree and he fell forward, crashing into the cart and losing his footing.

He tried to pull his feet back beneath him, but it was no use. The feeling had left them in the cold and the cart was moving too quickly. The Tala looked behind them before she took hold of his rope, pulling it toward her until the slack was shortened and Halvard could stand. She braced his arm as he balanced himself, a small cry slipping fromhis chest as he wound the length of it around his fists and tried to keep his steps in the narrow tracks of the wheels.

“Are they going to kill us?” he whispered, keeping his eyes on the ground before him.

The Tala took a few more steps before she answered, “No.”

“How do you know?” He blinked, looking up to her face.

A smile pulled at the corner of her mouth and she tilted her chin up until the moonlight reflected in her eyes again. Halvard followed her gaze to the black sky, where the outline of a bird was circling far above.

“What is it?”

“The All Seer,” she said.

“Is it a god?”

Her smile pulled wider. “No.”

“Then what is it?”

“He’s the eye of the Spinners,” she said, simply.

“He’s come to protect you?”

A Herja ran past them, his bloodied sword swinging at his side, and Halvard fell quiet, watching him disappear ahead.

“He’s come to protectyou,” the Tala said, looking to the trees.

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