They hadn’t gone far when he let her go and turned her to face him. “We should get away from here quickly, in case anyone heard your scream. Unless you are planning to meet someone?”
She nodded at him.
“Are you?” His expression had turned angry.
“What?”
“Meeting someone? Did those fishermen pass on a message?”
“No, no one.” What was he talking about? He knew she hadn’t spoken to the fishermen. And who would she be meeting?
“Then why are you out here and where did you think you were going?”
“I thought we would reach Tairmbert tonight.”
“Tairmbert?” Arne raised his eyebrows. “All the way to the isthmus? Walking? With a child?”
His disbelief shamed her. “I did not realise it was so far. I have only ever gone by boat before and I—”
“You left Kirkjaster with nowhere to shelter tonight?”
She shrugged and looked at the ground.
“You might have ended up dead. You might still. Come. It is too far to go back. It took me longer to find you than I expected. We need shelter. Give me the boy to carry.”
“I can carry my own son.”
Gemma hugged Caelin more tightly, but Caelin squirmed in her arms and twisted so he could reach over towards Arne.
“I know you can, but it’s dark and getting colder and you have been walking for a long time now. I have not had anyone or anything else to carry so far. Let me take him. You know I will not harm him. Or you.” Arne reached for Caelin but paused, waiting for her to hand him over, his eyes not leaving hers.
“Won’t you?”
“No,” he said.
She was surprised by his vehemence, but instead of anger, there was sympathy in his eyes. She passed Caelin to him, more relieved by the loss of his weight in her arms than she would ever admit.
“Elisedd says you are much nicer than his real father was,” Caelin said. “And you are much nicer to his mother.”
“He says that, does he? Elisedd is a good foster son. He does what he is told as soon as he is told to do it. And he pays attention when he is training to fight. Can you do both of those things?”
Caelin leaned back in Arne’s arms and nodded. “I can.”
Arne strode forward with the boy held tightly against him and wrapped in his cloak. “Follow me.”
“He is too young to learn to fight,” said Gemma as she set off after them, hurrying to keep up with the length of Arne’s strides. When they reached the edge of the trees, she blinked. Ahead of them, the empty moorlands were already covered in snow.
“We can discuss this later,” Arne said. “Once we have found shelter.”
“Where are we going?” Gemma asked as she followed him out onto the moorland. “Is it not more sheltered in the woods?”
“There is a shieling close to here.”
“How do you know?”
“Ulf and I have used it before in the winter when we were hunting. There will be no shepherds there now, of course.”
She glanced around them, but aside from the steadily growing snow, there was no sign of anything else.
