The Thunderhead squatted down beside him. 'Sometimes I find my own name's a heavy weight to carry. Dread to think how a name like yours must drag at a man.'

'It can seem a burden.'

'I bet it can.' Tul watched the men moving past, single file, down on the dusty track. 'Don't mind 'em. They'll get used to you. And if things get low, well, you've always got Black Dow's smile to fall back on, eh?'

Logen grinned. 'That's true. It's quite the smile he has, that man. It seems to light up the whole world, don't it?'

'Like sunshine on a cloudy day.' Tul sat down on the rock next to him, pulled the stopper from his canteen and held it out. 'I'm sorry.'

'You're sorry? For what?'

'That we didn't look for you, after you went over that cliff. Thought you were dead.'

'Can't say I hold much of a grudge for that. I was pretty damn sure I was dead myself. I'm the one should have gone looking for you lot, I reckon.'

'Well. Should've looked for each other, maybe. But I guess you learn to stop hoping, after a while. Life teaches you to expect the worst, eh?'

'You have to be realistic, I reckon.'

'That you do. Still, it came out alright. Back with us now, aren't you?'

'Aye.' Logen sighed. 'Back to warring, and bad food, and creeping through woods.'

'Woods,' grunted Tul, and he split a big grin. 'Will I ever get tired of em?

Logen took a drink from the canteen, then handed it back, and Tul took a swig himself. They sat there, silent, for a minute.

'I didn't want this, you know, Tul.'

'Course not. None of us wanted this. Don't mean we don't deserve it, though, eh?' Tul slapped his big hand down on Logen's shoulder. 'You need to talk it over, I'm around.'

Logen watched him go. He was a good man, the Thunderhead. A man that could be trusted. There were still a few left. Tul, and Grim, and the Dogman. Black Dow too, in his own way. It almost gave Logen some hope, that did. Almost made him glad that he chose to come back to the North. Then he looked back at the file of men and he saw Shivers in there, watching him. Logen would have liked to look away, but looking away wasn't something the Bloody-Nine could do. So he sat there on his rock, and they stared at each other, and Logen felt the hatred digging at him until Shivers was lost through the trees. He shook his head again, and sucked his teeth again, and spat.

You can never have too many knives, his father had told him. Unless they're pointed at you, and by people who don't like you much.

Best of Enemies

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