“Shh,” Nessa said, putting her fingers up to touch his lips to silence. “You are here, that’s all that matters now. How is it you are here, Eyvi? I saw you fall, I saw you clubbed down and trampled…I thought I had lost you, too, that day…” Her voice was shaking; in the lamplight, he could see the tracks of tears on her cheeks, he could see the deep weariness in her eyes, the pallor of her skin.

“You must sit down. Here,” Eyvind said, drawing her over to the place where the wolfskin was laid on the ground. “You look exhausted. You should eat and drink, you must rest. I have some water here, but no food; I made a rapid departure and brought only what I could snatch before I ran. Nessa—”

She sat; she looked up at him and he was instantly lost for words. In silence, he fetched his stolen water skin, and offered it for her to drink.

“I have some food,” she told him. “Bread, cheese, it’s in my pack. We may as well share it now; who knows what tomorrow may bring? No, not that bag,” she said sharply as he moved to open the larger bundle she had carried. “The other, the small one; that’s it.”

It was another night like that first one, when they had sat together by soft light under the earth, and spoken as if there were no barriers between them. Eyvind saw the recognition of that in Nessa’s eyes. Yet, it was different as well. That first time, they had sat side by side, hand in hand, as if that were quite natural. Tonight, after that first fierce embrace of recognition, a sudden constraint had fallen between them; they sat close, but each was careful, now, not to touch. Their eyes met, and looked away, and met again, as if unable to deny what was as yet unspoken. Eyvind fetched the small store of food, Nessa divided it, giving the dog an equal share, and they made pretense of eating.

“How did you escape?” she ventured. “I cannot understand how you survived so harsh a blow.”

“Grim’s an expert; he did not intend to kill me. And I’ve a hard head, and a will to go on. That much has brought me here. And you—Somerled told me you had perished. He told me you were in the hall with King Engus. With your uncle.”