East of the Sun

Chapter 20

Bryn turned at the sound of a dark chuckle behind her, the shadows in the alley shifted, revealing a set of robes she was coming to dread. The priest that wore them was familiar too, the one who had given the orders back at the house.

The bastards had followed her. She should have known the escape was too easy. Now they skulked in the alley behind her, waiting for their opportunity.

"Your brother told us you were brighter than that," the man said, but she had little time to send him her death glare; Skuld stepped into line beside him, earning the bulk of her wrath. Her brother tensed.

"This doesn't look good," Nkemdilim whispered, diving into the alley and away up the nearest brick building.

"Get back out here you little coward," she demanded, but there was no answer.

She battled away the urgent fear that told her she had just ruined everything. "Rute!" she called a warning, just as Skuld's body slammed into her, driving her to the ground.

"Come and get her, Sorcerer," the priest invited.

"Skuld!" Bryn's shout sounded muffled stuck beneath her brother's protective weight. "So help me...let me go," she demanded.

"Hold still Bryn," he ordered, "the priests will not hesitate to strike you to get at him."

"Right," she struggled, trying to loosen her arms from his hold, but Skuld was far stronger than her. "Some friends you have."

Skuld pulled her to standing gently and pressed both of them against the alley wall. "They are not friends, they are means to an end. I will see you safe."

"Don't you have bigger things to worry about?" she pulled against him once more. "If you die running around with this lot, who will provide for your child? In fact, you are helping to kill the man who gave you means to do so..." she broke off. Even in the dim light she could see that Skuld's face had gone ashen as the surrounding snow.

"The child passed," he whispered. "Died in its mother's womb, Maeja died. When she discovered I had abandoned her she dove into the sea, it was too cold that night for her to recover from the shock. By the time I returned to Skrattafell they had both been buried." There was a long heartbreaking pause. "Why would she do that Bryn?"

Guilt, and sympathy for the deep pain her brother must be feeling settled into her heart, and despite the danger of the situation she felt the need to comfort him. She had never even known the woman's name, and now that life was gone, like the ash that rises too far from the flame. Skuld must have loved her, at least a little. This was a tragedy indeed.

But it did not change her situation.

Gently she took her brother's face in her hands, the darkness made it difficult, but she forced his eyes to meet hers.

Grief weighed heavy in their depths.

"Skuld, I don't know why Maeja chose death. Perhaps her inner flame was weak before you even met her. Her choices are not your fault, they were solely her own. As mine must be."

He shook his head, breaking the contact between them. "I will not let you go Bryn. I have to keep you safe," Skuld repeated, taking her hand instead.

Bryn sighed internally. At least his behavior of late began to make sense.

Something pressed into her palm, she looked downward, Skuld had given her a single candle and a flint.

"This is all that would prove my claims to you, to see him once without his beast form. All that keeps you from trusting me, who has always tried to keep you safe."