The Buried Giant Read Online Free PDF Page A

He’ll protect us and see no one treats us ill. Will your heart not change on it, Axl, and all these years now passed? Do you still say we can’t go to him?”
    As she said this, softly into his chest, many fragments of memory tugged at Axl’s mind, so much so that he felt almost faint. He loosened his hold on her and stepped back, fearing he might sway and cause her to lose her own balance.
    “What’s this you’re saying, princess? Was I ever the one to stop us journeying to our son’s village?”
    “But surely you were, Axl. Surely you were.”
    “When did I speak against such a journey, princess?”
    “I always thought you did, husband. But oh, Axl, I don’t remember clearly now you question it. And why do we stand out here, fine day though it is?”
    Beatrice appeared confused again. She looked into his face, then all around her, at the pleasant sunshine, their neighbours once more giving attention to their activities.
    “Let’s go and sit in our chamber,” she said after a while. “Let it be just the two of us for a while. A fine day, right enough, but I’m all tired out. Let’s go inside.”
    “That’s right, princess. Sit down and rest a while, out of this sun. You’ll soon feel better.”
    There were others awake now all around the warren. The shepherds must have gone out some time ago though he had been so lost in thought he had not even heard them. At the other end of the room Beatrice made a murmuring sound, as though she were preparing to sing, then turned over under the blankets. Recognising these signals, Axl made his way across to the bed in silence, sat carefully on its edge and waited.
    Beatrice shifted onto her back, opened her eyes partially and gazed at Axl.
    “Good morning, husband,” she said eventually. “I’m glad to see the spirits chose not to take you away as I slept.”
    “Princess, there’s something I want to talk about.”
    Beatrice went on gazing up at him, her eyes still only half open. Then she brought herself up to a sitting posture, her face crossing the beam of light that earlier had illuminated the spider. Her grey mane, untied and matted, hung stiffly down past her shoulders, but Axl still felt happiness stir within him at this sight of her in the morning light.
    “What is it you have to say, Axl, and before I’ve had time to rub the sleep from my eyes?”
    “We talked before, princess, about a journey we might make. Well, here’s the spring upon us, and perhaps it’s time we set off.”
    “Set off, Axl? Set off when?”
    “As soon as we’re able. We need only be gone a few days. The village can spare us. We’ll talk to the pastor.”
    “And will we go to see our son, Axl?”
    “That’s where we’ll go. To see our son.”
    Outside the birds were now in chorus. Beatrice turned her gaze towards the window and the sun leaking past the cloth hung over it.
    “Some days I remember him clear enough,” she said. “Then thenext day it’s as if a veil’s fallen over his memory. But our son’s a fine and good man, I know that for sure.”
    “Why is he not with us here now, princess?”
    “I don’t know, Axl. It could be he quarrelled with the elders and had to leave. I’ve asked around and there’s no one here remembers him. But he wouldn’t have done anything to bring shame on himself, I know for sure. Can you remember nothing of it yourself, Axl?”
    “When I was outside just now, doing my best to remember all I could in the stillness, many things came back to me. But I can’t remember our son, neither his face nor his voice, though sometimes I think I can see him when he was a small boy, and I’m leading him by the hand beside the riverbank, or when he was weeping one time and I was reaching out to comfort him. But what he looks like today, where he’s living, if he has a son of his own, I don’t remember at all. I was hoping you’d remember more, princess.”
    “He’s our son,” Beatrice said. “So I can feel things about him, even if