"I want to see that man from the Kirr tribe who was with you in Utana," Tova said, taking a quick step to catch up with him.

- He is not here.

She stopped at the gate.

- What?

- He left. - Halvard finally turned to her: - How do you know him?

"I don't know him," Tova answered. She noticed human bones hanging from a beam attached to two pillars. They swayed softly in the wind.

- Who is it?

Halvard stopped in the middle of the path, glancing briefly at the bones, and then staring at me again.

- The last people who wanted to take our house away.

Herge.

He entered the fog spread ahead, and Tova followed him. To the left and right of me the outlines of the houses were visible, and Halvard stopped in front of the plank door of one of them, which was gray with moist winds. Without looking back at her, he opened the door and disappeared inside, and the voices in the room suddenly fell silent.

The flame that burned in the hearth lit up Tova's face, and the scent of herbs spread in the night air. She carefully stepped over the threshold, looking around the big house. Two men worked on a pile of leather vests, and Halvard picked up his armor from the chest and put on it over his shirt.

In the next instant, one of the men looked up from work, and his hands froze. Flames cast glare on his face. He glanced at the bow that hung on my shoulder.

- Who is it? - the look of his blue eyes fell on my tattoos, and then looked into my face.

- This is Tova.

"You're from ..." His gaze was more curious than fear.

"She's from the Kirr tribe," said Halvard, tightening his vest.

The men looked at each other, and then the fair-haired smiled, and I suddenly thought that Halvard had not told them anything about me. About what I did. Should he do this, they would draw their swords right away.

There was a knock on the door, and Tova pressed against the wall when Halvard took up the latch.

- Do you want to help us? This is your chance.

The door swung open and a tall, broad-shouldered man with a thick black beard appeared in the predawn fog. There were other soldiers with him.

- Ready? - but his eyes widened in surprise when he saw me.

"She came from Swell's camp." - Halvard nodded to Tova, and she went to him. We quietly moved along the dark path, accompanied by several soldiers, and Halvard, on the move, gathered his hair in a bun. "Gather everyone, Latham."

The black-bearded warrior gave a sign to one of the men accompanying us, and he disappeared in the dark, and we entered the ritual house. The doors slammed shut and the warmth emanating from the sacred fire at the altar seized me, but I froze so badly that I hardly felt it.

They gathered around the table on which the detailed map lay, their voices, merging into one continuous rumble, blocked the crackle of flame. Tova hid in a dark corner, clenching her numb palms.

"Tova," Halvard's gaze found her in the twilight, and swallowing nervously, She stepped forward. "How many Swell warriors are now in the eastern valley?" - The others fell silent, and she froze. They parted, making room for her near the table.

"Seven hundred and sixty people," Tova answered.

- Here? - Halvard pointed to a point on the map at the edge of the forest.

"A little further from the water," Tova covered his palm with her palm and felt how he tensed at her touch when she ran his finger northward, "but they will come from the south."

He drew back his hand, clenching it into a fist.

The warrior, whom he called Latham, leaned on the table.

"If we lure them to the lowlands, it will be more difficult for them to break forward."

"But it will also be difficult for us," said Halvard.

Tova raised an eyebrow, noting that all the village leaders were carefully looking at Halvard, listening to his every word. As if to an equal.

"You were there when they attacked Utan." His attention turned back toTova.

- I was.

- How did they behave?

- I ... - Tova stopped short, not knowing what to say. Fearing that they will think badly of her.

"This is your chance."

Halvard's words came to my mind.

- Suddenly burst into the village. Their warriors killed all the inhabitants, and then set fire to houses.

I noticed how Halvard winced at these words, although I tried my best to control myself.

"And how did they set them on fire?"

- Burning arrows. "I still heard their whistle in the dark."

He glanced at the map again and thought.

Latham nodded.

"And what do you want to do?"

Having heard this question, Tova looked at them intently. Letam looked at Halvard, patiently waiting for his answer.

He was not just one of them. He was their leader.

"Here," Halvard pointed to a section of impassable thicket between the fjord and the valley, "if we can keep them here until half of their soldiers die, then we will have a chance." From here their arrows will not reach the village. His palm slid toward the clearing on the map in front of Hailey

What? - Tova grabbed his vest, preventing him from leaving. "I will go with you."

- Will you come with us?

"I said I want to help."

"You already helped." Now come back home.

Tova released the bronze clasps of his vest.

"I don't have a home."

Squinting, he took a deep breath.

- Do you know how to fight?

"I can shoot," I smiled, squeezing the bow thrown over my shoulder with my fingers.

His gaze darted across my face.

"But you understand that, most likely, we all will perish?"

I went behind him and pulled a dagger from his belt.

"I already said you won't die today."

Crossing his arms over his chest, he watched her cut the hem of my long skirt. The bell sounded again, and Tova threw a piece of cloth on the floor. She held out a dagger to him and his lips curved slightly, but he turned away before she could see his smile.

He rushed forward, and Tova rushed after the crowd of soldiers heading for the gate. They reached the end of the line, and She tightened the straps on het quiver, running up the hill after Halvard. Ahead, someone raised his hand, and, running up to the forest, I saw a fair-haired man from the house of Halvard, who waved to him, standing at the head of the line. Halvard grabbed his hand and grabbed my wrist, dragging me through a dense mishmash of human bodies.

Breaking forward, they were on top of a hill, standing shoulder to shoulder with the rest. Tova saw two women - fair-haired and red-haired, looking at her rather displeased

"And what is she doing here?" - with a crooked grin asked a man with short hair. I remembered seeing him with Halvard in Utah.

"It's a long story," Halvard muttered, drawing his sword.

"They are not afraid of me," Tova said slowly.

"Who?"

"All of them. Why aren't they afraid of me?"

He looked at me with ice-colored eyes on a frosty sunny morning.

"Why should they be afraid of you?"

"Halvard! " - Letam walked at the head of a line of soldiers heading for the forest, and Halvard whistled for him. Approaching him, Letam laid his hand on Halvard's shoulder: - "At your signal."

Halvard let him go, and Letam took his place at the head of the line. We looked forward, and behind us an army of several hundred people was spread. The Halvard brothers went up to him, hugged and kissed, and then a blonde woman examined his armor, straightening his vest.

Looking around, Tova saw that everyone was looking at Halvard, frozen in anticipation. Taking a deep breath, he pulled out his ax and whistled loudly, his piercing whistle rushing through the forest. The warriors fell silent, and the only sound that broke the silence was the roar of the surging waves breaking on the seashore. Tova tried not to think about what she was doing, walking side by side with people completely alien to me in order to fight the Swell clan. But suddenly a feeling pierced Tova that fate had been leading her here all the time, wriggling and dodging to the side, from the very day that Jorrund found me on the seashore. Until finally brought to Halvard.

The ranks of the soldiers suddenly rushed forward, moving in unison, and Tova tightened her grip on the bowstring thrown over her shoulder, feeling how her heart beat excitedly. The warriors looped between the trees, like streams of water, rushing through the forest, and a dawn flared up dispersed a dense veil of fog in front.

Halvard ran beside Tova, every muscle of his body stretched like a bowstring, a sword and an ax in a sheath on his back and on his belt. Behind them, Hailey was sleeping serenely in the arms of a calm sea, but a storm was about to break out. His harsh taste was felt in the air.

Tova clung so tightly to her bow that the skin on her fingers almost burst from tension, and when Halvard whistled again, the line stopped abruptly and everyone calmed down. He pulled a small, flat stone from under his shirt and rubbed its surface, and then kissed it and whispered soundlessly. Behind her, quiet voices were heard, it was the Nadir warriors who prayed to their gods.

Tova raised her head to the thickening clouds, and the first cold drop of rain fell on her cheek. She did not know the gods whom she could turn to for help. But even if she knew, they would hardly have come to her aid. She knew only Spinners, but they would not protect her. They did not care about a spider roaming the web of fate, but they still gave her a second chance. A chance to fix it.

And so Tova turned in her prayers to the woman from her visions. She closed her eyes and conjured up her image. Graceful hands, lit by the flame of fire in the hearth, and a quiet song tearing from her lips. Silvery sea water and gigantic cliffs of capes towering in the fog.

The prayers around subsided, and Tova opened her eyes, noting the shadows that appeared in front. The storm that erupted over them, suddenly thunder and lightning echoed in her heart. Her breath caught and a painful burn seared me from the inside, as if someone were trying to cut her heart with a sharp dagger.