Page 14 of The Source of Storms

“He was guarding you when I found you.” Byrgir’s deep voice was quiet as he took a bowl of bread, cheese, and dried apples from Eilith. “He was in rough shape himself, but he tried to bite me when I went to pick you up.”

I smiled and felt tears well in my eyes. I looked down again and adjusted my blankets so they wouldn’t see them.

“Thank you, Byrgir. We’d both be dead if you hadn’t come along.”

“I’m just happy I picked today to restock Eilith’s firewood,” he smiled, and the earthy, sweet smell of tobacco drifted to me as he lit a pipe.

After they had eaten, Byrgir and Eilith moved the table back against the far wall of shelves so they could pile sheepskins on the floor in front of the fireplace for Byrgir. The wolfdog sprawled out against him. I drew the curtain around my little bed in the alcove, and my headache soon dragged me under again.

I slept much later into the day than usual. I finally stumbled out into the snow to find somewhere to pee as there was no indoor plumbing in the small cottage, just a large tub and sink in the washroom in the back. It was still snowing, but much more lightly than it had been last night; the sounds of the steading were muffled under its blanket. I found the outhouse, then made my way to the small stable.

Anam was lying on his side in clean straw, his wound covered beneath a layer of clean linen. A tightness cinched inside my chest at the sight of him injured and exhausted on the floor. I slipped into the stall and sat with him a while, cradling his big head in my lap and stroking his silky cheeks and ears. He closed his eyes, sighing heavy breaths.

Eventually, the cold and my rumbling stomach motivated me to venture back inside, and I left Anam to rest. In the cottage, Eilith packed some salves and food for Byrgir as he readied his mare for the journey home. We walked to the road with him where Eilith gave him a hug goodbye. She looked particularly small in his bearlike embrace.

“Come back any time, as always. And let me know if Ruby needs more of that tincture. I’ll make her another batch.”

“I will,” he said. “Thank you for the salve, I always go through it faster than I think I will.” Byrgir turned to me. “Feel better, Halja. I hope it’s a speedy recovery for you both.”

“I really can’t thank you enough.” I said, feeling out of place watching the parting ritual of two people who knew each other well. “I owe you a huge debt.”

“Nah,” Byrgir said, swinging into the saddle. “Anybody would have done that. You owe me nothing.”

I tried to respond but found that I couldn’t make the words come out, so I just nodded, feeling like an idiot.

Snow swirled around Byrgir and his black Friesian as they disappeared down the road into the forest.

CHAPTER FOUR

The second night at Eilith’s, I had a vivid dream. I was walking through rings of ancient, weather-worn standing stones, arranged in two circles, one within the other. The inner ring was shorter, most stones coming up only to my knees or waist. These were surrounded by an outer circle of much taller, wider stones, dug into the ground and standing on their narrower sides, reaching high above me. Their tops were shrouded in fog.

I moved through them, drawn toward something, although I did not know what. I reached the center and paced a lap around the inner circle, searching. Yet it wasn’t my own human feet I walked with. When I looked down, I saw the great paws of a wolf. As I paced, trickles of viscous red liquid oozed from the stones around me, running down the faces of the rocks. More and more rivulets of deep red sprang from the stones, flowing faster until the ground was soaked and my paws were stained dark red, almost black in the low light.

There was something there I needed to find, something I needed to see, but it was hidden. I began digging into the blood-soaked mud but could not find what I was looking for. Faster, more frantically I dug, but all I found was more blood pooling thick around my paws. I awoke suddenly, soaked in sweat, my head pounding.

I made my way to the stable and was relieved to see Anam had drunk a large bucket of water. He still hadn’t eaten, but his wounds did not seem to have worsened overnight.

“How are you feeling this morning?” Eilith called from the milking stand where she sat milking one of her goats, whose head was wedged obediently between two adjustable planks, chewing oats contentedly.

“My head still hurts, but much better than yesterday, thanks to you and Byrgir,” I said.

“Glad to hear it. Here, help me get this cleaned up.”

She released the goat and ushered her outside, then carried over a bucket of hot water that was already waiting in the stable. I held Anam’s head while Eilith peeled off his bandage and washed his wound. Black, coagulated chunks of blood and necrotic filth came off on the clean rag. She smeared a generous amount of the salve over the gashes.

“It’s looking better,” she said. “I think we’ll leave the bandage off now. It’s healing up well on its own. As long as he starts eating and maintains his energy, he’ll probably beat this necrosis.”

I exhaled a long breath of relief at her words. “Thank you for helping him. When he’s healed enough to walk, we’ll be on our way.”

“Nonsense.” Eilith waved a dismissive hand at me. “You’ll stay as long as you need to. No sense in running back out into those woods just to get gutted by a ghoul that smelled your horse’s wound. No, you’ll stay as long as you need, however long that may be.

"But, if you do choose to stay, there are rules. Firstly, you are to respect all living creatures here and treat them with dignity, including myself. Secondly, you are to respect my steading and my systems, and follow instructions. And thirdly, you are to send a letter to any family members you may have to inform them thatyou’re safe and healthy. Where you came from and where you are headed are none of my business, but if you do have a mother out there worrying about you, I insist you put her mind at ease before you spend another day here. Do you understand?” Her words were direct, but her tone was not unfriendly.

“Yes, Eilith. I understand.”

“Good. Come now, I’ll show you around.”

Eilith led me about the steading, most of it covered and winterized for the season. Not much was visible beneath the snow, except for a spring that bubbled from the earth and ran in a small, clear creek. Where the groundwater surfaced and for fifteen or so paces downstream, it was still free of ice. Eventually the creek entered a small gully that led off in the direction of the river I had crossed the day I arrived.

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