"You are a good boy, Kati. Thank you for chasing Muli away."
She stood and faced Ari once more. The humor had fled, replaced with an intensity she found both alarming and intriguing.
"You know him?" Ari asked.
She nodded. "He is from my village. He hates my father, though I've only heard the stories secondhand. But if he's been searching for me, then so have others."
She turned away and began to pace. Time and again, her gaze fell to Kata. While the wolf healed nicely, she was still unable to travel any great distances. But there was no choice. She spun about to pierce Ari with a determined stare.
"We have to leave."
"But your wolf –"
"I know. But I can't take the chance he will bring others back here. At the very least, we must leave the immediate vicinity."
He gave her a brief nod. "I've caught more fish, I think we have time to eat before we find a new place to settle."
At the mention of eating, Thora's stomach reminded her of her hunger. Ari chuckled, the lines in his face once again softening. Why did she find all of his expressions so enticing? A different hunger rose, and she clenched her fists in annoyance.
After easing Kata back to her resting spot, she helped Ari prepare the fish and stirred the fire before placing the skewered portions over the flames. The fish would cook quickly. She dug the last of her flatbread from her sack and returned to sit beside Ari. Breaking the bread, she handed him a piece and accepted a portion of the savory perch. Silence hung heavily between them.
"Tell me more of this Muli. He intends you harm."
It wasn't a question, but Thora nodded anyway. "I don't know all of it. My father told me Muli has resented him for a very long time. Something happened during the raid when my father… met his new wife."
How would Ari react to know that her stepmother had come into her life as a lowly slave? She eyed him cautiously then decided to share some of her past. She sat up straight, a deep breath lifting her shoulders.
"My father took his wife as a slave at first, in revenge against the man who murdered my mother."
"I see." He bit into the fish in his hand, seemingly uninterested.
"I would have been his next victim if my uncle hadn't saved me. I was barely twelve summers yet."
She dared a glance at him. After his unconcerned manner of moments ago, the fury tightening his face surprised her. Why? He'd proven himself capable of cruelty, yet knowing he possessed anger for what she suffered oddly eased some of the concern she held about his honor.
"I assume he is now dead."
"Yes." Thora held his stare. "My father killed him. Not only to avenge my mother and me, but also to ensure my stepmother, Geira, didn't fall into his clutches again. In taking her as his slave, he saved her."
"And Muli was involved in this somehow?"
"Only as one of the warriors who went on the raid. My father never told me directly, but I learned Geira punched Muli during the journey."
Ari chuckled. "It seems Muli is not a very strong warrior."
Thora smiled. "No, he's a coward who preys on those weaker than him. Muli bought a slave from my uncle, then ended up beating her to death."
She shuddered as she recalled the sight of the badly disfigured body of the woman who had betrayed Geira when they'd both been taken during the raid all those years ago. Muli had battered her beyond recognition.
"Only a coward beats a woman."
Thora nodded. "Yes, though I've heard at one time he was quite a fierce warrior in battle."
"I find that difficult to believe."
Thora shrugged. "I only know what I've heard. But whatever happened on that journey left Muli and my father enemies. He's lucky he hasn't been cast out."
"Your stepmother must be an impressive woman."
