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‘What do you think, Sereh? That’s what we eat, almost all the time. Jon goes hunting sometimes, but it’s not as often. The hares are easy to care for. They don’t take much feeding. What they do eat, seems to regrow, almost overnight. And we never run out of furs for clothes, blankets or cloaks. Jon mostly looks after them. He comes down here about once a week, and sets a few traps to catch the big ones. The little ones can run right through the traps. Then he brings them to the common room for skinning and cooking. It’s much easier than hunting.’

Hunting, Sereh thought to herself, he’d used the word twice, and she desperately wanted more information about exactly where and how Jon hunted. She hoped it meant he descended from the mountain eyrie. She’d like to find the way down without having to rely on Skaldi. As she stepped towards the wooden door, she glanced around the cavern again, finally examining it in some detail. It was completely enclosed, there was no means of escape. The exposed walls were too high for her to climb. They were also as high up as where Skaldi had originally brought her. They’d not stepped down from where the ledge was situated. She wouldn’t be able to scramble down to the ground, not without killing herself, which would defeat the object of leaving to find Erann.

She resolved to finding out when Jon was next going hunting so she could follow him to wherever he hunted.

She was quiet and thoughtful as she followed Finn back to the common room.

‘Aren’t they the best?’ Finn called over his shoulder, his tone still exuberant. ‘I often go and watch them. I’d like one as a companion, but Jon says I can’t. They’re not pets, Finn,’ and he tried to sound like Jon, making Sereh laugh, although her thoughts were filled with finding Erann and following Jon when he left the caves.

Arrow greeted them happily, tail wagging, meaty breath hot blowing in her face.

‘Hello, girl,’ she said to Arrow, allowing the wolf-dog to lick her face. ‘You’d think we’d been gone for three days.’ Sereh chuckled, while Finn was busy regaling everyone with what had happened in the warren and how shocked Sereh had been.

‘I’ve not seen live hares for many rotations,’ she commented.

‘Really?’ Elen stood up, from where she was hastily stuffing something into a wooden chest, behind a curtain Sereh hadn’t noticed before. It seemed to be a storage compartment. Sereh idly wondered why Elen looked so disgruntled as she returned to the stool rapidly becoming ‘hers.’ Finn handed her a tea, and she sipped it gratefully, aware of her raging thirst. They’d stayed for the entire afternoon in the cavern. She’d also spent much of the morning on the icy ledge. Fatigue from her early start slowly leadened her body.

‘I don’t believe the hunters find them often either. Or the wolf-dogs,’ Sereh added, even while Elen’s forehead furrowed.

‘Fancy that,’ Elen mumbled, settling on a stool as well. ‘They’re usually so abundant,’ she added, and again, Sereh couldn’t help wondering just where Jon went hunting.

Glancing around the room, Sereh noticed one of the dead hares hanging by its feet near the fire. Jon was busily stripping another carcass on a small table near the back of the room. She watched his back as he worked methodically, before bringing the bowl of bloody meat over to Elen. Elen began chopping the meat before standing to add it to the cook pot. Emma was nowhere to be seen. A sense of calm pervaded the room although Sereh felt there was an edge to it, perhaps caused by her presence.

Sereh pondered what she’d learnt from Finn about Jon’s hunting as she drank her tea. She didn’t know how to bring it up in conversation without making her intentions obvious. Elen saved her the necessity.

‘I think you might need to go hunting tomorrow, Jon.’ Elen’s voice broke the silence. ‘The amount that wolf-dog eats is staggering. It’s either that or you’ll need to trap some more hares, but supplies are indeed running low. There’s only the one hare left now. I imagine it’ll be gone by the end of tomorrow. I, for one, don’t fancy going hungry for the sake of the wolf-dog.’ Elen’s words weren’t filled with malice towards Arrow, but they carried an edge. Sereh ignored it, for now, her eyes snapping towards Jon. She watched, almost holding her breath in anticipation of his response. Eventually, he spoke. Sereh was beginning to think Jon did very little without due consideration.

‘I suppose you might be right. We’ve more mouths to feed than normal. Perhaps, if I leave early enough, I’ll get away with it. It’d be good to eat something different for a change.’

Sereh didn’t understand the meaning of his words, but her heart leapt with the hope she might be able to get away from the caverns, tomorrow, if she followed Jon.

She’d wanted to seek out Skaldi the next morning but hastily reconsidered her options. Now she decided it would be much better to leave the caves. She could search for Erann without relying on the dragon and without feeling so damn useless. It wasn’t far to where she’d last seen him. With the right supplies, she could make it there quickly. She had to find him.

In her short time in the caverns, she already missed the openness of the land far below. She’d rather deal with the unpredictable weather than the strange atmosphere in the caverns.

She needed to escape.

She needed to find Erann.

6

SEREH

As Sereh silently plotted her means of escape, she didn’t notice Jon leave the common room until he’d walked through one of the curtains, leaving them swaying as the only indication of where he’d gone. She stayed where she was. She could hardly shadow his every move. Holding her frustration in place, she ate and then went to the chamber she shared with Finn being careful not to attract Emma’s attention. Or the baby’s. Both had returned to the common room for another meal and an evening of talking about the hares. All of which Jon missed. No one else commented on it, which was frustrating.

She prepared for bed and lay there waiting for Finn to fall deeply asleep.

‘I need to remain awake,’ she spoke softly, as though saying the words would make it easier to accomplish. ‘Or I’ll miss Jon’s departure to wherever he goes hunting. But what about Arrow?’ Arrow slept in her bed, again made with too many furs for her by Finn. Now, in the dim glow, she looked at her friend. ‘I can’t take her with me.’ The realisation bit deep. ‘She won’t be able to stay hidden from Jon. And if he sees me, he’ll send me back, and then I won’t be able to hunt for Erann, down on the glacier.’ Fighting her own fatigue in her too warm and comfy bed, the painful resolution came to her. She’d have to leave Arrow behind, even though the wolf-dog was her one true friend and had been so helpful since their escape from Rankil’s steading.

Despite her resolution, it seemed to take Finn a lot longer to settle to sleep than the night before. Every time he yawned, she did the same.

‘It’s been a tiring day,’ he called around another yawn. ‘See you in the morning, Arrow, Sereh,’ and finally, he grew still, and then started to snore softly. Her bed was so warm and inviting after an early start and a day of activity. It would be so easy to stay where she was and hope Skaldi summoned her with news of Erann tomorrow. Surely the mighty dragon had found Erann by now? Or at least knew where to look for him.

‘No,’ she chastised herself, beneath her breath. ‘I need to reach Erann. Wherever he is, he won’t be warm, comfortable and well-cared for. I need to start the hunt because Skaldi evidently isn’t doing anything, or he’d have summoned Emma, and she’d have told me.’

Still, time passed slowly in the darkened room, most of her thoughts troubling. At some point, she gasped awake.

‘By the Gods, I fell asleep.’ She berated herself, peeling her eyes open where they laboured to shut once more. They burned, and felt like they were ingrained with dirt. It was such an effort to climb from her bed and clamber into her clothing, including her cloak. ‘I need to do this for Erann,’ she whispered. ‘He’ll be cold, shivering and hungry somewhere.’ She slipped from the room as quietly as she could with a guilty look and a gentle caress for her loving wolf-dog who snored loudly, her paws moving in her sleep, as though she chased one of the hares. Then she resolutely turned away. She needed to reach her intended hiding place.