Ch. 50 Eski pt. 2

Chapter 50: Eski pt 2

The woman with the scar sat beside a small wooden chest.

Her wrists were bound in front of her.

Blood marked two fingers.

A young man lay against the opposite wall, one ankle chained to a ring in the floor. He was awake, watching Io with terrified concentration.

The chest rested across the woman’s knees.

Its lid stood open by the width of a fingernail.

Light shone through the gap.

Thin.

White.

Painfully bright.

The woman looked at Io.

“I didn’t mean to.”

“What’s your name?”

“Runa.”

Io climbed inside.

Behind her, Lexander heard Mara order the escorts away from the wagon.

Fenrir had not moved.

Loki remained in front of him.

Io knelt.

“Runa. Take your hands away.”

“I can’t.”

The woman’s fingers were pressed against the clasp.

Not holding it.

Held by it.

Io felt anger rise so quickly it almost stole her breath.

They had made her open the chest.

Then left her attached to whatever answered.

“All right,” Io whispered. “Then I’ll help you.”

She laid her hand over Runa’s.

The chest warmed.

For an instant, the wagon smelled of cedar and winter fires.

Io remembered kneeling on a carpet while someone knocked impatiently at a distant door.

She had been packing in a hurry.

Outside, bells were ringing.

Fulla’s voice.

My lady. We have to go.

Io shut her eyes.

“Not now.”

The memory receded.

Beneath her palm, the clasp shifted.

A click.

Runa collapsed against her.

The light vanished.

Outside, Fenrir heard the click.

His head turned toward the wagon.

Loki saw him decide.

“Don’t.”

Fenrir moved anyway.

Loki caught his arm.

The next instant, Loki struck the side of the tollhouse hard enough to crack the plaster.

Lexander drew his spear from its saddle loops.

Fenrir reached the wagon.

Lexander put the point between him and the step.

The movement was familiar now.

Hands apart.

Weight settled.

Give ground without surrendering the line.

Fenrir looked at the spear.

Then at him.

“You think wood will stop me?”

“No.”

Lexander struck the ground beside the wheel with the butt.

The horse startled.

The wagon lurched half a pace.

It was enough.

Baldr reached the rear and pulled Runa into his arms while Io caught the chest.

Mara seized the chained young man and shouted for a cutter.

Fenrir’s hand closed around Lexander’s spear.

The shaft cracked.

Lexander let it go before the force could pull him forward.

A dark blade flashed between them.

Loki was back on his feet.

Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.

“Look at me,” he said.

Fenrir did.

For a heartbeat, the whole yard seemed to narrow around them.

“You’re guarding prisoners now?” Loki asked.

“I’m finishing something.”

“With frightened people in chains?”

Fenrir’s expression changed.

“Careful.”

“Why? Because chains are a subject on which you prefer sympathy?”

The words struck harder than the dagger would have.

Fenrir caught Loki by the throat.

Lexander moved.

Baldr shouted.

Then Io spoke from the wagon.

“Let him go.”

She held Eski against her hip.

One hand rested on the open lid.

A length of pale ribbon lay across her fingers.

Fenrir saw it.

His grip faltered.

Io looked at the ribbon, then back at him.

She did not remember its name.

She remembered fear being measured by what it took to bind it.

Slowly, she lowered her hand.

“I won’t use this on you if you leave.”

Loki’s boots barely touched the ground.

Fenrir stared at Io.

“Your husband made promises once.”

“I’m making this one.”

The yard remained still.

Then Fenrir released Loki.

Loki stumbled, coughing.

Fenrir stepped backward.

His eyes never left the chest.

“Surtr will come for that.”

“He has already come for enough,” Io said.

For a moment, Lexander thought Fenrir might answer.

Instead, he turned.

The captain’s men shifted to block the gate.

Lexander raised a hand.

“Let him pass.”

Fenrir walked out of the yard.

Nobody followed.

They freed the young man’s ankle with a cold chisel and an increasingly furious blacksmith.

His name was Halven.

He had been a traveling singer before the dreams began.

That was all he wanted to say.

Mara told him it was enough.

The six escorts surrendered after Fenrir left. Two seemed more relieved than frightened.

Loki sat on the tollhouse step while Io examined his neck.

“I’m fine.”

“You hit a building.”

“It was poorly made.”

“Stop talking.”

“That seems unrelated to treatment.”

Lexander crouched beside him.

Loki glanced at the broken spear in his hand.

“Thor will be delighted.”

“She’ll make me pay for it.”

“She’ll make you practice.”

Lexander looked toward the road Fenrir had taken.

“Did you know he’d stop?”

Loki was quiet.

“No.”

Io’s fingers stilled against his throat.

Then she resumed checking the bruises.

Lexander did not ask the next question.

Not here.

Not while Loki was still swallowing around the marks of his son’s hand.

Before leaving, Lexander went back to the captain.

The waiting travelers were beginning to cross.

The woman with the sleeping child gave the royal party a tired glance and hurried past.

Lexander watched the toll collector stop her cart on the far bank.

“Is she paying again?”

The captain looked uncomfortable.

“Different jurisdiction, Your Majesty.”

Io joined them with Eski wrapped in a blanket.

“Not after today.”

The captain blinked.

Lexander looked at her.

She looked back.

There would be accounts to settle. Officials to consult. A proper agreement to write.

There was also a bridge on which ordinary people were paying twice to pass between the lands of a married king and queen.

Lexander took the captain’s writing board.

“Draft an interim order. A receipt from either station satisfies the crossing toll at both.”

“For how long?”

“Until we replace it with a permanent arrangement.”

Io handed over her signet.

“Both seals.”

The captain began writing.

Lexander glanced at his wife.

“Our first joint reform.”

She adjusted the chest beneath her arm.

“I’d have preferred to arrive at it without the strangling.”

“Room for improvement.”

“Considerable room.”

Thor was waiting when they returned.

She inspected Lexander.

Then Io.

Then Loki.

Her eyes settled on his bruised throat.

No joke came.

“Who?”

“Fenrir,” Loki said.

She stood very still.

Then she stepped aside so the healers could bring Runa and Halven through.

“We’ll talk later.”

Loki nodded.

Fulla was waiting in the infirmary.

Runa began crying when she saw her.

Halven sat down on the nearest bed and covered his face.

Four prisoners.

All four now inside Concordia.

Lexander stood in the doorway long enough to count them for himself: Oren asleep near the window, Davin sitting beside him, Runa gripping Fulla’s hands, Halven bent over his knees.

Then he went to find his children.

They opened Eski after supper.

Io insisted on doing it in their sitting room.

No council table.

No armed guard staring over her shoulder.

Fulla sat beside her. Lexander occupied the carpet with Ignatius in his lap while Seraphina slept in her cradle.

Loki had been ordered to rest.

For once, he had obeyed.

Io placed the chest on a low table.

The pale ribbon lay inside, folded beneath a cloth.

She did not touch it.

“Was that what I thought it was?” Lexander asked.

Fulla shook her head.

“A piece of the work that came before the binding. Kept as a sample.”

“Would it have held him?”

“I don’t know.”

Io let out a slow breath.

Neither did she.

Carefully, Fulla covered it again.

Beneath a second partition lay a packet of letters tied with faded blue thread.

Io lifted one.

Lexander recognized the handwriting before he remembered writing it.

Crooked.

Hurried.

Far too much pressure on the downward strokes.

Fulla smiled.

“There they are.”

Io read silently.

Her mouth softened.

“What does it say?” Lexander asked.

She looked at him.

“You promised to come home before the first snow.”

“Did I?”

“You did.”

“Was I late?”

“Very.”

Fulla made a small sound of agreement.

Io turned the page.

“But you brought flowers.”

“In winter?”

“They were dreadful. Half frozen. You were very proud of them.”

Something stirred in him.

Cold hands.

A doorway opening.

Her face changing when she saw him standing there.

He smiled before he could stop himself.

“I remember.”

Io lowered the letter.

For a moment, the years between them seemed less cruel.

Then Ignatius grabbed Lexander’s finger and attempted to put it in his mouth.

The present returned with great determination.

Io laughed.

She folded the letter along its old creases and put it back.

There were other things inside Eski.

Sealed packets. A silver key. Work that might help them protect the palace. Things they would need to understand before Surtr came looking.

Tonight, Io took a clean sheet of paper from her desk.

She wrote their children’s names.

The date of their birth.

Concordia.

Then she placed it beside the old letters.

Fulla watched her close the lid.

This time, when the clasp caught, the sound was small and ordinary.

Lexander held out his free hand.

Io took it and sat beside him on the carpet.

Upstairs, the ravens were demanding their evening meal.

Somewhere outside, Pip whickered.

Seraphina slept.

For once, neither of them got up to answer the next knock immediately.