And also, what about that other woman, the one in the portrait? Raye had nearly forgotten about her amidst all the rest of it, but now that Kalfr was here, alive, walking upright before them, the thought of that woman curdled even worse than before. Would she be at Kalfr’s home? What would she do when they all showed up at her door? What would she say to Raye? To Svein?
Raye was still irrationally grateful for Gaelfr’s solid, stubborn presence beside her, still offering her his support, his safety, just as he’d promised. Even if he didn’t want to, even if his loyalties were still to Kalfr. And though Raye knew she couldn’t trust him,either, it still… meant something. It was sone small whisper of consolation, in all this mess.
But the fear only grew as they walked. As Kalfr and Svein kept chattering together, Svein’s hand now firmly clasped in Kalfr’s grip. And as the ominous spectre of Orc Mountain slowly rose higher and higher above the trees, streaming multiple plumes of black smoke into the late afternoon sky.
“Are we yet near to your home, Kalfr?” Gaelfr’s voice finally asked, cutting into Kalfr and Svein’s chatter. “If not, we ought to stop and rest for a spell, so our mate and son may eat.”
Our mate and son. The words coiled oddly in Raye’s gut, while Kalfr’s steps briefly faltered up ahead, his eyes darting narrow and disbelieving back toward them. As if he was about to contest that ridiculous claim of Gaelfr’s, or even claim that Raye wasn’t his own mate anymore, either — but then he spun away again, his shoulders stiff and straight.
“No, it is only a short walk further,” he said, without looking toward them. “There is much to eat there, and I shall gladly cook us a meal, should you wish.”
Beside Raye, Gaelfr’s shoulders stiffened too, but he nodded. “Shall it be only us?” he asked. “Or do you live with any others, also?”
So he’d been wondering about the woman too, then. And Kalfr’s steps stayed steady this time, though he aimed another look backwards over his shoulder. “No,” he replied, flat. “I live alone.”
He lived alone. Raye’s breath escaped in a rush, and she exchanged a glance with Gaelfr beside her. So the woman in the portrait wouldn’t be there? Would she still show up at some point? Perhaps she lived elsewhere? Or at Orc Mountain?
But Gaelfr didn’t ask him to elaborate, and the jagged tension in the air only kept growing as they walked. Further and further through the trees, closer and closer…
“Here it is,” came Kalfr’s voice up ahead, as he waved toward something in the trees. And when Gaelfr nudged Raye forward, she found herself blinking at a sturdy stone cottage, tucked up beside a long, jagged rock wall. The cottage was surrounded by tall pines and firs, almost fully hiding it from view, but to the south there was a more cultivated area, comprised of what appeared to be a garden, and maybe even a small orchard.
Svein squealed with excitement, while beside Raye, Gaelfr frowned at the garden and orchard, and then back at the stone cottage, which blended into the surrounding forest to an astonishing degree. As if it was meant to be concealed, a quiet, long-lost secret hiding here in the woods.
“Why is this here?” Gaelfr asked, abrupt and curt. “And why areyouhere, and not at the mountain?”
His narrow eyes flicked to the west, to the huge mountain still streaming smoke beyond the trees. While Kalfr shrugged, and his mouth drew into a cool smile that didn’t meet his eyes. “A few reasons,” he said, dropping his gaze toward Svein beside him. “Now, son, should you like to see the tree house first?”
Svein excitedly nodded, and Kalfr’s smile warmed as he nodded back, and waved him beyond the cottage, toward the jagged rock wall. Which had a path winding up around it, and once Gaelfr and Raye shrugged off their heavy packs, they followed Kalfr and Svein up the path to the top of the stone wall, where they found a flat, grassy bluff, and a cluster of tall pine trees.
“Here,” Kalfr said to Svein, nodding toward the tallest, straightest pine, rising over the bluff like a tower. “Can you see the tree house up there?”
Svein’s eyes eagerly followed Kalfr’s up the tree, and widened at the unmistakable sight of a small wooden shelter, tucked close against the tree trunk. It was surrounded by dense branches, andmore branches were woven all around it, so it blended almost seamlessly into the tree.
“I see it!” Svein excitedly replied. “Can we climb up to it?”
Kalfr chuckled and nodded, but then darted an unreadable glance toward Raye and Gaelfr. “But I ken it shall not hold all of us at once,” he said, too lightly. “Mayhap Gaelfr and your mother can wait, and see it together after.”
Svein enthusiastically agreed, already tugging Kalfr toward the tree, while Raye’s heartbeat thudded, and something swerved in the pit of her stomach.Gaelfr and your mother. Sounding strained, accusatory, with a distinct implication in it, too. That Raye and Gaelfr would want to climb a tree together, be alone together…
Gaelfr hadn’t bothered countering this, and instead he was frowning back down over the edge of the bluff, to where the cottage and the large garden sprawled out below. And here, at the closest edge of the garden, there stood a large flat rock. A rock that looked natural, at first, but the longer Raye studied it, the more it looked… purposeful. It was far wider across than her kitchen table back home, and just as flat, and surrounded by a dense ring of trees and shrubs, likely enough to conceal it entirely from anyone standing on the ground. And most disconcerting of all, were those dark stains spreading over the stone…blood?
Raye grimaced and glanced away — surely Kalfr just used it for dressing any meat he hunted, right? But an uneasy chill swept up her spine, even as she glanced back to where Svein was now excitedly scrambling up the tall pine, climbing from branch to branch, while Kalfr’s lean body moved gracefully behind him, gesturing to where Svein should climb next.
“Do you think it’s safe?” Raye asked Gaelfr, perhaps a foolish question, because clearly this was something Kalfr himself didoften. But maybe she just wanted Gaelfr to look at her, wanted to see the familiar glint of his stubborn dark eyes.
“Ach, Kalfr will keep him safe,” he said firmly. “Naught to fear thus.”
It slightly settled Raye’s shoulders, even as she kept blinking up at the tree.Naught to fear thus, he’d said.Thus, as if there might be something else to fear, instead…
“Is that… another shelter?” Raye asked, as she studied what appeared to be another cleverly concealed platform, higher up in the tree Kalfr and Svein were climbing. “And… another?”
The last one was almost at the treetop, a mass of wood that, at first glance, might have been an eagle’s nest. But again, the longer Raye looked at it, the more it also looked… intentional. Planned.
“Ach,” came Gaelfr’s grim reply. “This place is not only a cabin. This is an outpost. A defense. And it is… new.”
He frowned down toward the flat rock again, toward the mass of dark stains spread across it. And did he mean… the blood was new, too? Not just old stains from hunting, built over years or decades?
Raye’s throat convulsed, and she blinked back up the tree, to where Svein was now inside the little shelter, and waving out the edge of it. “Mama!” he called. “Look at me! I’m inside the tree house!”
