Wolfskin Read Online Free PDF Page B

flush with pride. But three years, three whole years before he got the chance to prove himself? How could he bear to wait so long? How could he endure such an endless time and not go crazy with frustration?
    The weather had eased long enough for Ulf and his companions to be away, and both Eirik and Hakon went with them. As if only waiting for their departure, the snow set in again, and Eyvind found his days full of digging, clearing paths to wood store and barn, endlessly shovelling the thick blanket from the thatch. Somerled followed him out, watching gravely as he swung up onto a barrel and clambered to the rooftop. From up there, the boy looked like a little shadow in the white.
    â€œGo back inside!” Eyvind called down to him. “This is not a job for you!”
    But Somerled began to climb up, slipped, cursed, climbed again; on tiptoes, balanced precariously on the barrel, he could just reach the eaves with his upstretched arms.
    â€œYou can’t—” Eyvind began, looking over, and then stopped at the look in Somerled’s eyes. He reached down and hauled the other boy up bodily by the arms. “Didn’t bring a shovel, did you?” he observed mildly. “Watch me first, then you can take a turn. Next time bring your own; they’re in the back near the stock pens. You need to keep moving or you’ll freeze up and be no use to anyone.”
    He didn’t expect Somerled to last long. It was bitterly cold, the shovel was large and heavy and the task backbreaking, even when you were as strong as Eyvind was. He worked a while, and then Somerled tried it, sliding about, losing his balance, teetering, and recovering. He managed to clear a small patch. His face grew white with cold, his eyes narrow and fierce.
    â€œAll right, my turn,” Eyvind told him, finding it hard to stand idle when he knew he could do the job in half the time.
    â€œI haven’t d–done my share. I c–can go on.”
    â€œRest first, then have another try,” said Eyvind, taking the shovel out ofSomerled’s hands. “You’ll get blisters. If I’m supposed to be teaching you, then you’d better learn to listen.”
    They did the job in turns. It took a while. He glanced at Somerled from time to time. The lad looked fit to drop, but something in his face suggested it would not be a good idea to tell him to go indoors and let Eyvind finish. So he endured Somerled’s assistance, and at length the roof was cleared. When they went back inside, Ingi exclaimed over Somerled’s chattering teeth, and his poor hands where lines of livid blisters were forming across the palms, and she chided Eyvind for pushing the boy so. Didn’t he know Somerled was not used to such hard work? He should be easier on the lad. Eyvind muttered an apology, glancing sideways at his companion. Somerled shivered, and drank his broth, and said not a word. Maybe both of them were learning.
    Several boys lived at Hammarsby. Some were the sons of housecarls, folk who had worked for Ingi so long they were almost family. Somerled did not exactly go out of his way to make friends, and in the confines of the snowbound longhouse it did not take long for others to notice this, and to set him small trials as befitted any newcomer. Someone slipped a dead rat between his blankets, to be discovered suddenly when he went weary to bed in the darkness. The next day, Eyvind spoke to the lads of the household, saying Somerled was not used to such pranks, having grown up without brothers or sisters, and that it was not to happen again. Nobody actually confessed. The morning after that, Ingi inquired what was wrong with the porridge, to make all the boys look so green in the face? Good food should never be wasted, especially in the cold season. But the only two eating were Eyvind and Somerled, and Somerled wore a little smile.
    Later, Eyvind discovered the lads’ gift had been returned to them in kind. Since