Did he not want to come with her?
‘It won’t take me long to bake them, I promise...’
‘You won’t be seeing them tonight.’ He watched her carefully as if measuring the impact his next words would have on her, and she wanted to scream at him in frustration,I am not a child!
‘But you said we would be out of here before the end of the day.’
‘Yes, but not anywhere near Gudvangen... We will come out on the other side of the mountain. You won’t be able to go back home until at least the spring.’
‘The spring!’ yelled Embla, and she could have sworn she heard the ice shiver in protest.
‘Shh! You don’t want any more to come crumbling down on us!’ hissed Runar, taking a step forward and glaring over his shoulder at the wall of ice only a few feet away, as if his scowl would be enough to hold it still. She did not miss the way he had shifted his body into a protective stance between her and the ice, and it cooled some of her anger.
Lowering her voice, she whispered, ‘Until thespring?I will never survive it! I am not built to live out in the wilderness! I don’t even know how to hunt!’
‘I have a cabin. It is small, but you will be comfortable there.’
That was only slightly reassuring. ‘Surely, there is another way though? Could we walk around the mountain, perhaps? Or sail around the fjord?’
‘I do not have a boat, and walking the mountain path would be incredibly dangerous. In winter it could take several weeks, and we would probably die trying. The drop is steep in certain parts...requiring ropes, if we had anywhere to anchor them, which I doubt. This cave route is the only path I take during the winter, and I would not risk taking you any other way. Best to wait for this—’ he gestured at the ice filling the cave’s mouth ‘—to thaw.’
‘You said you were used to living out here alone. Surely the journey can’t be so hard!’ she hissed, not quite believing him.
‘I suppose I could manage it...alone.’ He gave her a hard look. ‘But as you have already said, you would not survive out in the wild on your own, and I refuse to risk my life trying to keep you safe on an unnecessary journey.’
‘Unnecessary?’ she snapped, not liking his tone one bit. ‘Taking me home is unnecessary? You would be dead if it were not for me!’
‘How so?’ he asked, appearing genuinely confused.
‘I warned you aboutit.’ She stabbed her finger at the entrance. ‘And I stopped you from going back out there like a madman when you wanted to look for Sten. The dog has more sense than you do!’
‘You wouldn’t even have made it into the cave without me!’ he growled back, and she glared bad-temperedly when she realised the truth of his words.
‘Possibly, and that might have been for thebest!’ She did not mean it; she was simply furious, with him, with herself, with the whole situation. ‘I cannot spend all winter with a strange man in the middle of the forest. What will people think?’
A muscle jumped in his jaw, and she realised he was angry with her. She hadn’t meant to offend him. She knew what people would think of her spending the winter with Runar: they would think it the greatest jest. They would tease and laugh at her, about how useless she was, and how embarrassing it must have been, that even the wild man of the woods had been forced to look after her like an unwanted child.
‘Why are you so desperate to go back to Gudvangen, anyway?’ he asked coldly, and for the first time she felt apprehensive in his presence. ‘You have no family there. Unless... Do you have a man waiting for you? He cannot be a good hunter or warrior, if he is too cowardly to come searching for you.’
Embla looked away from him, unable to meet his eyes or admit the pathetic truth, that no one wanted her. ‘I have not accepted anyone...as yet...and many of the men have gone raiding and are wintering in Danelaw. So, they probably could not be spared for the search.’
The lie felt ridiculous on her tongue. It did not matter that many of the men were away; not one of them was interested in her anyway. Runar was right: she had no family, no husband or lover... Why would anyone risk their lives to search for her, and why was she so desperate to go back?
Because I have nowhere else to go. What if they forget about me? Learn to live without me and then no longer care when I return?
‘The boys will be worried for me,’ she eventually answered. ‘I am like a second mother to them, and Gertrud relies on me.’ It was the only honest thing she had said since their petty argument began.
Runar shrugged dismissively. ‘Then accept my offer, for at least then you will live long enough to see them again. But not until thespring!’ He turned away, gathering up wood and supplies as he did so. ‘We will eat and thenIwill leave... Come with me if you wish. Or stay and hope someone else comes to dig you out. I do not care either way.’
Embla stared at his back as he went to work, and acknowledged quickly that she had no option but to go with him. She could not hunt, could not even keep herself warm without his help, and would anyone come searching for her?
She was afraid to know the answer.
Runar walked quickly through the darkness while Embla held the torch. The light was for her benefit only. He could easily find his way through the tunnels without it. He had walked this path back and forth since he was a child. It was as familiar to him as the lines of his mother’s face or the soothing shape of Sten’s head beneath his palm.
His dog also knew the way, and had cheered up considerably at the prospect of going home. Boredom had driven Runar to this side of the mountain, and meeting Embla had been anything but dull.
However, now he was beginning to wish he had stayed home, and not ventured out to only court misery instead.
