Page 18 of Dragonbound

‘Come on,’ he stated flatly. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

He strode out through the squat tunnel entrance, shifting the backpack into position only when he could stand upright once more, Arrow at his heels. Feeling as though she moved too slowly, Sereh hurried after them.

Sereh swallowed. She wouldn’t be caught by Rankil’s men. She wouldn’t return to him. She’d remain free, even if that meant exposing herself to the wildness of her lands. Again.

11

SEREH

Arrow loped along happily behind Erann as he resolutely strode ahead, in the direction Sereh was convinced would take them back towards Vatna Jokull. The Library was located centrally on their land. She was far from convinced of the need to return to Vatna Jokull, but perhaps Erann, as she had before, had decided speed was of the essence. It would cut some travel time if they went across the glacier, as opposed to around it. It would also, she realised, ensure they didn’t go anywhere near Rankil’s steading.

Sereh couldn’t quite bring herself to pick up enough speed to walk by his side, not now. They’d watched Rankil’s men approach his family’s steading from a hiding place, then hurried on their way. Neither had wanted to be seen, if for different reasons.

But they hadn’t gone far from his steading, when Erann suddenly stopped.

‘Erann?’ His gaze fixed on what seemed to Sereh to be nothing at all. ‘Erann, are you well?’

He gave a shake of his head and started walking again.

‘What was that about?’

‘What? Oh…’ He laughed. ‘I… It was nothing.’

Sereh had pressed him again and again, but eventually he shrugged and she couldn’t get anything else out of him. Even now, she was unsettled by what had happened. Or hadn’t happened.

Still, she was grateful to have some company and a destination in mind which, she hoped, wouldn’t be abandoned, or filled with nothing but corpses. Shaking her head, she decided to banish her worries. They needed to trust each other. She needed to trust him. They had a long way to go to reach the Library. Admittedly, she also had nowhere else to go.

Sereh didn’t run to catch him as he stalked on ahead, caught up in watching him. For all the tragedies he’d endured, he walked with an easy confidence over the treacherous snow and ice. She found herself fascinated by the view of his back as he strode in front of her. She only just managed to avert her eyes when he turned to look back at her.

‘Are you walking with me or behind me?’ he demanded, although without any ice in his voice.

She felt herself starting to blush. ‘Well, if you’d slow down a bit, I could catch you up,’ she countered, quickly, embarrassed to be caught out.

Erann stopped and stood to wait for her to catch him. She felt flustered at being captured in the act of watching him and then even more flustered because her eyes were drawn to his face now they were next to each other. She couldn’t read his expression. She looked away, and was purposefully watching Arrow digging in the snow, when she heard a muffled thud.

Turning back, she glanced to where Erann had been standing, and found him sprawled in an undignified heap, snow almost covering him.

‘What by the Gods,’ Erann huffed in shock.

‘Falling over your own feet now?’ She offered him her hand, smiling. He gratefully took hold of her gloved hand to pull himself up, and although she should have been thinking of something else, she was disappointed by the lack of heat between them.

‘What was that?’ he demanded, brushing snow from his shoulders. He walked back a few steps, kicking as he went. Only when there was a gentle thud did he bend. Intrigued, Sereh went to his side. He cleared snow away from whatever he’d kicked, revealing a piece of stone.

‘Is that a marker?’ Sereh queried, surprised.

‘It certainly looks like it. But who had land so close to Vatna Jokull that marker stones were needed to show who claimed it? Nobody could farm here. I imagine there’s thick snow and then it’ll undoubtedly be frozen all rotation long.’

Erann brushed off enough snow from the marker to reveal the glassy layer of permafrost, a good three hands lower down. Sereh imagined the snow lay as tall as Arrow. The unmistakable marker shone inky in the pale sunlight, the pattern on it drawing in her gaze as she followed the curving shapes.

A memory sparked, and the words rushed from her mouth before she could consider the wisdom of them.

‘I’ve seen something like this before,’ she blurted, brows furrowed. The marker was carved from the same impenetrable black stone comprising the cave Arrow had found her that first night. Once more, it was as though the stone absorbed the sun’s light.

Erann’s voice was filled with awe. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’ He traced a finger over the inscription. ‘It’s intriguing. It’s not writing as I know it. Have you seen this before, Sereh? It’s not like the marker stones that show we own the land bordering our steading.’

‘Yes, that’s what I just said.’ Sereh shook her head, warring with herself. She wondered how much to reveal. Despite their tentative alliance, she still felt uncertain about how much she could trust him.

She opened her mouth, but his attention had already moved on. He was staring off at nothing again, with another perplexed expression on his face, one hand resting on top of the marker. She huffed with irritation and, ignoring him, bent lower to examine the stone.