21

Outside, a gentle snow had begun to fall. Mirisa's feet were far too small for the huge pair of boots, but she stuffed some scraps of fur inside to fill up the space. Stag-Horn's bloody parka was also too big, but she put it on anyway and also wrapped a tattered fur cloak over her shoulders. It wasn't perfect, but it would keep her warm long enough to make it back to the fort.

I took her hand and led her away from the mead hall, back up to the top of the nearby ridge where Reinhardt should be waiting for me. Mirisa said nothing, her slim hand shaking slightly, her eyes fixed on the snow-covered ground in front of her. She had been so grateful to me when I first rescued her, but now it seemed she was afraid of me. I didn't blame her.

We followed my footprints in the snow back up the hill that overlooked the village, but we when got there, Reinhardt was nowhere in sight. The entire area was covered in new tracks and footprints from at least half a dozen people, but I didn't have time to worry about it.

"Reinhardt?" I called out. "Are you there?"

There was no response, and I gritted my teeth in frustration. "Red-Spear! Dammit, where are you?"

Mirisa looked at me helplessly, clutching the front of the oversized parka, and I turned around indecisively, hoping that Reinhardt would show up. He must have run off when the other people arrived, but I wasn't about to go looking for him, and I didn't have time to wait.

I took Mirisa's hand. "Come on, we have to get out of here."

"Why?" she asked wearily.

"They might come after us."

"But I thought that their Chief promised ..."

"He didn't promise me anything," I said. "The man I killed back there probably has friends, and they might try to come after us and get their revenge."

We hurried along the edge of the ridge, following the footprints in the snow that Reinhardt and I had left barely an hour before. Mirisa stumbled a bit in her oversize boots and was breathing heavily with the exertion, but she didn't complain or ask me to stop. She was as anxious as I was to get out of Thirsk and back to the fort.

"Do you ..." she panted for breath, "Do you know the way back?"

"I have a map in my pack," I said. "We can follow the tracks for now. I know the fort is basically south of here, it can't be that hard to find."

"You're a Nord, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Are you from one of the northern villages?"

"No, I'm not from Solstheim at all."

We descended the next ridge and hurried along a patch of open dirt in between some trees. I glanced back over my shoulder to see if anyone was following, but there was no one else. I didn't fully expect that anyone would come after us, but I knew it was a possibility, and I wasn't about to take any chances. I wouldn't feel entirely safe until we were far away from the village.

The sun was already on its way down to the horizon. It had taken Reinhardt and I more than half the day to travel to Thirsk, and now I reckoned we had only an hour or two of daylight left. We would have to find shelter before then, or else we'd probably freeze to death before morning.

We made pretty good time along the top of the rolling ridges, following the tracks as we made our way south. We didn't run into any problems, and after a little while, I decided to slow down and allow Mirisa to catch her breath, confident that we were in no immediate danger.

"Thank you," Mirisa said. She leaned over, setting her hands on her knees, and took in deep breaths. "Thank you again, I mean. For what you did."

"Don't mention it," I muttered. "It was foolish of me. And dangerous."

"But it was right," Mirisa insisted. "That man was evil, he was a monster. He got nothing less than what he deserved."

I looked around the quiet mountain range and clear, blue sky, my breath turning into white clouds. I drew my sword from its sheath and examined the blade. It was still smeared with blood, now dried and flaking. I knelt down and laid the sword in the snow, brushing snow over it and rubbing it to try to wipe off the dried blood. Letting blood dry on the blade would slowly rust the edge and corrode the metal.

I cleaned off as much as I could and then wiped the blade on my pants to dry it off. Sliding it back into its sheath, I said, "Yes, he got what he deserved. But we're lucky that he chose to fight me. Even if he had turned down my challenge, I was going to kill him anyway. And then neither of us would have gotten out of that village alive."

Mirisa shivered a bit and studied me. "I was so scared when you went down there to face him," she said quietly. "I was sure that he was going to kill you. I had no idea that you could fight like that. I've never seen a woman like you wield a sword so perfectly."

"Yeah," I said. "Well, neither did he."

"It's a good thing that they sent you to find me," she added.

"They didn't send me to look for you," I said. "I was in the village for a different reason."

When Mirisa expressed confusion, I explained to her everything that had happened at the fort. I told her of the attack and how most of the guards had been killed, and how so few had survived. I told her about the attackers, the mysterious Nords in wolf skins, and how I had come north to Thirsk to learn for myself if the Nords there had been involved.

"Before I left, your fiance Jeleen told me about you, that's how I knew who you were. I certainly never expected to find you there."

"Jeleen?" she asked hesitantly. "Then he … he survived the attack?"

"Yes," I said. "He's alive and waiting for you."

"Oh, thank the Gods!" she cried out, awash with relief. She clasped her hands and then frowned, shaking her head. "Oh, that's so selfish of me to say that. So many have died, and now I thank the Gods that someone I care about survived."

"Go ahead and be thankful," I said. "It's only natural."

"But the others?" Mirisa asked nervously. "What about Rosnan and Antonius?"

"I'm sorry," I said as gently as I could. "But I think they were all killed. Very few people escaped with their lives."

"And the Nords were responsible? Or some of them were? I can't believe it," she said, shaking her head. "I've traveled among them, doing my missionary work. I would never believe them capable of such an act of war."

"I don't think it was Nords," I explained. "I think they were just dressed up like Nords. They want the Legion to think the Nords were responsible. I can't prove it though."

I rubbed my hands together. The sun was starting to set, and I could already feel it getting colder outside. It would be dark soon, and we had to find shelter before that.

"Come on," I said. "We're not too far from the river. We have to find somewhere to spend the night, and we have to build a fire."

"Yes," Mirisa agreed. "Of course, let's hurry."

We headed downhill and found the Iggnir River right away. Along the shore were boulders and chunks of rock jutting from the frozen ground. On the way to Thirsk, Reinhardt had mentioned that there were numerous rocky outcrops along the shore that could serve as shelters during the night. He had probably expected to use one himself, but I was glad he had mentioned it.

We found a large sheet of rock jutting up out of the ground at a steep angle about fifty feet from the river, with another large boulder beside it. I would have rather found a cave to spend the night in, but this would have to do. I told Mirisa to sweep out as much loose snow as possible while I ran back to the trees to gather up some sticks for firewood.

By the time I got back, the sun was almost below the mountains, and the sky was growing dark. We piled the sticks in front of the slab of rock, just out from underneath the outermost edge, and I used my flint sparker to light a fire. I stuffed my pack into the tight space between the sheet of rock and the other boulder, to prevent any curious animals from trying to sneak in that way.

When the fire was burning nicely, Mirisa and I spent a few minutes warming ourselves before we both went back out to find more wood. It was pitch dark by the time we made it back to our rocky shelter, and we piled the wood inside. Keeping the fire burning would keep any animals at bay, hopefully, and the outcropping of rock contained the heat rather well, making our little shelter cozy and warm despite the freezing temperature.

All we had to do now was keep the fire going and hope that nothing bothered us, and we could move on early the next morning.