Tova dreamt of the sea.
Cold water burned her skin, and somewhere high, on the surface of the surface of the water, solar rays danced. They slowly dissolved in the distance, and Tova gradually sank into the depths of the sea, and darkness surrounded her from all sides. But suddenly a song came to her, a quiet and melodic female voice broke through me through the void.
Tova, wake up.
Tova followed the gentle stream of a woman's voice to the fire, born of scraps of memories, always returning to her in a dream. The flame lit up her naked skin, and she sat motionless on a stool, feeling the hands of someone drawing deer antlers on her forearm. The shadow shifted, preventing Tova from focusing on her, but Tova struggled to make her out and put together all the elusive pieces of this puzzle.
Tova, wake up.
Tova opened her eyes sharply and inhaled eagerly, feeling the air that filled her lungs, as if they were filled with silvery sea water from the dream. But she no longer drowned in black emptiness and did not sit by the fire. Tova curled up under the bear's skin in her tent, and from far away she heard the sounds of a storm beginning.
She heard the scream of a goat, which was repeated immediately, and, with a start, she sat on the bed. Silence reigned in the camp, except for the loud rustling of the wind in the empty corners of the tents. A fresh night wind blew through the cracks, and Tova lifted the edge of the tent, seeing a disk of the moon above her, hidden by floating thin clouds.
And there, in the night sky, the All-Seeing spirit circled.
Tova sighed, listening to the beating of her heart, which sounded in unison with the soft noise of bird wings. She knew that the Spinners sent him. It has always been so.
But this time the spirit came for her. Runes do not lie.
Tova hurriedly pulled on her shoes, looking at the glare of light pouring into the tent. The runes were not mistaken, but the future was not predetermined. It resembled a thread that changed color at the moment when the past turned into the present. The wave rising above the surface of the vast sea. And if Tova wanted to make sure that the future would be exactly as she saw it, she should be there. She have to go to Hailey and wait for her prediction to come true.
The Swell camp was quiet. Time to go. Tova carefully looked out of the tent to see where Gunther was. He sat on an inverted box, holding a dagger in one hand and a whetstone in the other, slowly sliding a brilliant blade over its surface. His sword hung in a sheath on his belt, an ax lying in a casing behind his back. But she understood that she had no choice and she should try to talk to him.
Tova stepped into a strip of moonlight, and he froze, hearing her approach, his dagger flashed in the dark. He gripped the stone firmly in his big palm, looking at her bloodied hands, and then looked into her eyes.
- What are you doing?
"I'm leaving," Tova answered, raising her head to the sky, where the All-Seeing was still circling.
- What? - He stood up, covering Tova with his shadow, suddenly reminding her of a giant from old legends about the gods. Her heart sank in her chest as she stared at his dagger, expecting it to come down on her. But the seconds melted, and he hesitated.
"I can stop all this," she whispered, "all this."
He did not move, only gripped his dagger harder.
"I saw the future. You have to go back to Halkn. Back to your family."
He squinted.
"I will not hide at home when my fellow tribesmen are fighting."
And Tova knew that he was telling the truth. But she didn't want to see him dead on the battlefield. She didn't want to betray him or see him defeated. He was a good man.
Raising her sleeve, Tova took off a bracelet.
"Then take this," she held out a copper disk to him.
"What is it?"
"This is a talisman. It will protect you." - she did not begin to tell him that there was no talisman that could protect a person from the wrath of the Spinners.
Gunther looked at her for a while, and then hid the dagger in his belt. Taking the bracelet, he began to examine it in the rays of moonlight.
"Why did you do this?" - Tova asked.
"What?"
"Why did you help me?"
"Because you were a child," - he answered simply.
He was not an affectionate person. There was not a drop of tenderness in him. But he had a kind heart, and he did what he considered right, although he understood that no one would approve of his action. Gunter was probably the only person Tova could trust on this seashore.
"I have no family," he said unexpectedly, "my son Aro died in the attack on Llyos."
"I'm sorry," Tova whispered.
"I did not know that he would go there. I did not know what they were up to. I no longer have a family, " - he said again.
"Then stay alive to find a new one."
He squeezed the talisman in his wide palm and headed for the edge of the forest, where his horse was tied to the trunk of a huge tree. Stroking her face, he unfastened Tova's bow and quiver with arrows from the saddle.
Tova smiled when he handed it to her, but he looked down at the ground, and at that moment the shadow of a bird crossed in front of him.
The bird screached again, and Tova looked up, watching him spread his wings and fly away. He flew over the forest, heading east, and Tova understood everything. She already experienced similar feelings when she heard in a dream a female voice humming a song. It was a sign. Spinners heard her pleas. And now they led her.
Without looking back, Tova headed through the forest towards Hailey, until the camp disappeared behind her, looking now and then at the All-Seeing spirit flying in the sky. He disappeared from view, hiding behind thick branches, and then reappeared against the background of a luminous, cloudy sky.
The lunar path streamed in the sky, the time flew by quickly, and the darkness of the valley swallowed her, and for the first time since the priest of the Swell clan found a little girl on the seashore, Tova felt that she was completely alone. Without Jorrund whispering quiet words in her ear, and without the prying eyes of his fellow tribesmen staring at her skin decorated with the symbols of the Kirr tribe.
Waking up, the priest of the Swell will immediately understand that Tova was gone. He will be horrified. And although Tova no longer wanted to worry about him, some part of her continued to pity him. He was a weak man, although he had no idea about it, and gained his strength and power on the very day he found a new seer. But now this force slipped through his fingers with every breath, turning him into a man who constantly lied to keep everything under control.
How stupid she was, thinking that herplace was next to Jorrund. In fact, deep down Tova always knew that this was not so. But she had nowhere else to go. Today is gone for all of Swell.
This time I really left. Having found the twine under the shirt, on which the bag with runes hung, she wrapped it around her finger, feeling their weight. Tova wanted to believe that the fate of the Swell clan was carved on the trunk of the Urdra tree and it will remain unchanged. That they will find their death in Hailey. But suddenly she heard confirmation of this in a sudden silence that enveloped everything around. In the frozen stillness of the village of Nadir, shining in the distance. And it didn't matter what the runes said.
One cannot be sure of anything but death.
Tova was rapidly moving forward. She walked until she stopped feeling at all. Her skin was numb from the freezing rain, her hair and clothes were wet through. The forest fell silent, and my footsteps echoed from the trunks of the trees. Soon, I no longer felt her legs tired. Her hands trembled, unable to hold the wet folds of the skirt. Eyes were sticking together, and the silhouette of the All-Seeing against the background of the night sky blurred, turning into a blurry spot. But in her imagination, the image of Halvard continually appeared, leading me forward like a guiding star. And now he was the only person who was important to me. The only fate that mattered.
Vigdis was right. Tova was supposed to die in the open sea, but the Spinners tied her fate with the young warrior from Nadir. For some unknown reason, the Spinners merged their paths. The pattern of their destinies was carved on the trunk of the Urdra tree. Imprinted in Tova soul. And now for the first time in her life Tova was going to do the right thing, following her destiny.
And suddenly, Tova desperately wanted to see him. And, before Tova had time to raise her eyes, she already knew that she would see him. This sensation became as familiar as the heaviness of the runes on her neck.
Tova squinted, looking down, noticing a man in a white shirt in the ghostly moonlight. She fluttered like a sail in the wind, the wind ruffled his hair, throwing it on his forehead. Shev looked at Halvard. Their eyes met