‘Why are we in here?’ said Lena.

‘It’s the strongest part of the house,’ said the cabinet maker.

They heard a roar as if the mountain had found its voice.

‘It’s started,’ said the cabinet maker. ‘It’s the sleeping dragon. Or perhaps the devil’s scholar who lives at the heart of the mountain. Or perhaps, daughter,’ he put the bottle to his lips, ‘perhaps it’s your wedding dress that’s the cause. I’m right, aren’t I?’

The answer was furious. It vibrated through the house, rolled over the rooftops, shattering windows with a wave of snow and all the debris it had gathered in its path. Stones, trees, everything and anything came upon them with the speed of revenge. Then just as fast came the silence, a terrifying quiet.

As Misha had predicted, the avalanche had come from the eastern slope. A sea of snow thundered down the mountain with ferocious momentum, uprooting trees as if they were kindling, rocks stripping the side of the mountain of its thick winter coat. The sheer force and speed had exploded through the house of the miller’s son, burying what remained in deep, churned snow, and still it rolled onwards in a wave of majestic fury down the mountain towards the town. The farms below that had taken a generation to establish were destroyed in an instant. Only the wide-eyed penned animals knew what was coming. As for Edith’s village, the debris from the avalanche cascaded over the rooftops, shattered windows, and peppered the buildings with small rocks. It not only shook the earth, it shook everything and everybody, and nothing would feel safe again.

Chapter Eighteen

Three Coffins

Lena’s mother, hearing her daughter was alive, rushed to the cabinet maker’s house, tears streaming down her cheeks.

‘Oh, your face,’ she said to Lena, seeing the marks. ‘You’ve been injured.’

‘Yes, Mother. This is what my husband did to me after Misha came to tell us to leave.’

‘Why?’ asked her mother.

‘Because he didn’t believe Misha when he said there would be an avalanche.’

‘You can understand that,’ said Lena’s mother.

‘What can you understand?’ asked Lena. ‘Misha coming to the house or my husband giving me a black eye?’

‘There, there,’ said her mother. ‘It’s shock, that’s all.’

‘No,’ said Lena. ‘Even if my husband is alive, I am not going back to live with him again. Never.’

She undid her blouse.

‘What are you doing?’ said her mother. ‘Don’t take your blouse off.’ Embarrassed, she looked to Edith for support. ‘Thank you, Edith, for bringing…’ She stopped when she saw the bruises on her daughter’s arms and back. ‘I’m sure he only did that because he cares for you.’

‘Do you really believe that, Mother?’ said Lena. ‘He didn’t care for me at all.’

‘Calm yourself, Lena. Let me take you home.’