Mercedes Lackey - Anthology Read Online Free PDF Page A

marks of their butchering.
                 Bui
had frightened the ravens, whose voracious beaks had always obliterated all
other evidence, away.
                 "They're
thralls," said Bui when Hogni finished. "They will go back now to the
farm to report what they have seen."
                 "Then
we have a little time—enough to get away." Torstein began to bundle up his
things.
                 Bui
shook his head. This must be why he had dreamed. Images, half-understood and
half-remembered, surged in memory.
                 "But
we can't stay!" exclaimed Hogni. "Now they know someone is up here,
they will be combing the fells for us by tomorrow!"
                 "That's
so," answered Bui. "But they don't know that we've been warned—we
must attack the farm!"
                 He
straightened, watching the color come and go in their faces, willing them to
agree now, before they had time to think about it too much and grow afraid;
before he himself lost his nerve. They had all known this moment must come. No
doubt they could survive another year living like beasts on the fell, but at
the end of it would their hearts still be those of men?
                 Just
when he thought the silence must become unendurable, Hogni gave a little laugh.
                 "I'm
tired of sleeping on a pile of moss and birdskins anyway. Whether I lie
tomorrow night in a farmhouse bed or in Odin's hall, it will be an improvement
over here."
                 Torstein
grinned back at him. "No doubt Bui will want to carry that sword he's been
sharpening, and you're best with the ax, so I guess that leaves me the
spear!"
                 Bui
wondered if they could hear his heart pounding in his chest. Wordlessly, he got
up and went to the rock-built cupboard where he kept the sword. But Torstein
had been right—it was already sharp, fitted with a new hilt of seal-bone and
well oiled. With it he kept the framework of the helmet.
                 Thoughtfully,
he considered it, then cut pieces from the still raw hide of the cow and began
to piece them together over the frame.
                 But
it was not enough. The image of the white-spotted raven strutting beside the
cow carcass teased at his memory. During the winter he had found a dead raven
and saved the wings. Now he bound one to each side of the helm so that they
stood up like ears. Then he tried it on. Torstein raised one eyebrow and Hogni
laughed, but Bui ignored them.
                 Now Lam the king-raven, he thought grimly, and I will
claim my own!
                 When
the last light had left the sky Hrafn-Bui led his little war-band down the
vale. By the time they came to the wall of the garth, it was near midnight . But it was as well that Bui led
cautiously, for as they started to climb over, the door of the long-house swung
open and firelight spilled across the ground. A man's figure stood silhouetted
against it. Bui's heart fluttered in his breast as he recognized his uncle's
heavy shoulders and the foreward thrust of his head.
                 He
reached out to push the others back and found them already crouched behind the
wall.
                 "I
thought you said everyone would be asleep by now," whispered Torstein as
Harek trudged across the yard to the privy.
                 "They
should be. They're nervous, too—"
                 "They've
been sitting up, planning how to catch you!" Hogni's laugh was stifled as
the door to the privy banged open and Harek went back to the hall.
                 The
dog stood up as he neared, but Harek kicked it aside and closed the door.
                 They
waited, shivering a little as their bodies began to cool and the stars wheeled
overhead through the slow hours of the outtide . When
they looked again, the glow around the door had dimmed, and the squat shape