BooksBarbecue
Back Den of Wolves Save as PDF
Chapters (58)
  1. Cover
  2. About Den of Wolves
  3. Title page
  4. Contents
  5. Dedication
  6. Character List
  7. Chapter One: Bardán
  8. Chapter Two: Cara
  9. Chapter Three: Blackthorn
  10. Chapter Four: Bardán
  11. Chapter Five: Grim
  12. Chapter Six: Cara
  13. Chapter Seven: Blackthorn
  14. Chapter Eight: Bardán
  15. Chapter Nine: Grim
  16. Chapter Ten: Blackthorn
  17. Chapter Eleven: Bardán
  18. Chapter Twelve: Grim
  19. Chapter Thirteen: Cara
  20. Chapter Fourteen: Bardán
  21. Chapter Fifteen: Blackthorn
  22. Chapter Sixteen: Grim
  23. Chapter Seventeen: Blackthorn
  24. Chapter Eighteen: Cara
  25. Chapter Nineteen: Grim
  26. Chapter Nineteen: Grim
  27. Chapter Twenty-one: Grim
  28. Chapter Twenty-two: Bardán
  29. Chapter Twenty-three: Grim
  30. Chapter Twenty-four: Blackthorn
  31. Twenty-five: Cara
  32. Chapter Twenty-six: Grim
  33. Chapter Twenty-seven: Blackthorn
  34. Chapter Twenty-eight: Grim
  35. Chapter Twenty-nine: Blackthorn
  36. Chapter Thirty: Cara
  37. Chapter Thirty-one: Bardán
  38. Chapter Thirty-two: Blackthorn
  39. Chapter Thirty-three: Cara
  40. Chapter Thirty-four: Grim
  41. Chapter Thirty-five: Blackthorn
  42. Chapter Thirty-six: Cara
  43. Chapter Thirty-seven: Blackthorn
  44. Chapter Thirty-eight: Grim
  45. Chapter Thirty-nine: Blackthorn
  46. Chapter Forty: Cara
  47. Chapter Forty-one: Blackthorn
  48. Chapter Forty-two: Grim
  49. Chapter Forty-three: Cara
  50. Chapter Forty-four: Blackthorn
  51. Chapter Forty-five: Bardán
  52. Chapter Forty-six: Grim
  53. Chapter Forty-seven: Blackthorn
  54. Chapter Forty-eight: Blackthorn
  55. Acknowledgments
  56. About Juliet Marillier
  57. Also by Juliet Marillier
  58. Copyright page

Bardán nods. ‘Wanted to show you.’

‘I’m sorry. Hard for you. Very hard.’ Explains a lot. Though not everything. ‘Bardán, I have to go back to Longwater. I have to go right now. But I’ll come up later, when Blackthorn’s finished down there. Walk you over to Tóla’s, if you want. The master won’t be happy you’ve left the place and neither will Gormán. Be easier for you if I come too.’ Soon as I’ve said it I have second thoughts. If he headed off now, he’d be back there much sooner. Rain still coming down on and off. Could be nobody’s noticed he’s not there. Might all be indoors, keeping dry. He could slip back in, no trouble. And it could take a long time for this child to be born. Even if it’s quick, there’s things that could go wrong. Badly wrong. Blackthorn might need me for a while. Most of the day, even. ‘If you don’t want to wait for me, just go,’ I tell him. ‘I can’t tell you how long I’ll be. Will you be all right here?’ Stupid question. This man will never be all right again. Lost too much. Doesn’t mean I should stop helping him, though. Poor sod.

‘Go,’ Bardán says. ‘Go quick. Save them.’

Chapter Seventeen: Blackthorn

17

~Blackthorn~

Women came in and out of the cottage, bringing food and drink, making sure there was firewood and fresh water and anything else I asked for. Men wandered up to the door from time to time, wanting to ask questions but not quite prepared to put them into words. In the end I told them to go next door and stay there or I’d be tempted to turn the lot of them into newts. It had been a long, long time since I had said such a thing.

Grim gave the men jobs to keep them occupied. Both Osgar and Fann’s husband Ross were among those gathered in the next-door house. I sent one of the women over to let them know we’d given Fann the draught and were anticipating that things might speed up now, and she reported back that on Grim’s instructions the men were busy stacking firewood under cover, drawing water from the well, and cooking batches of flat-cakes. Grim and I knew from experience the disastrous results that might come from drinking mead on an empty stomach, especially if a person was already upset or tired. Once or twice we heard them singing over there.

‘How can they do that at a time like this?’ said one of the women. ‘When Fann’s in here . . .?’