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.When I went upstairs, I found Maara in Eramet's room.She had put Sparrow into Eramet's bed and was standing in the doorway looking like she didn't quite know what to do.Sparrow lay on her side facing the wall, with both arms over her head as if to ward off a blow.She was making a soft keening sound.Maara said in a low voice close to my ear, "I'll go see to Eramet," and left the room.I didn't know what to do for Sparrow.I sat with her a while.Then I took off my boots and trousers and slipped into the bed beside her.I put my arms around her, to warm and comfort her.Soon her keening stopped, and she fell asleep.12.GriefWhen I woke in the morning, Sparrow was still asleep.She was hot with fever.I got up and dressed myself, and still she didn't wake.Before I went downstairs, I stopped by my warrior's room.There was no sign she had been there.I found her in the kitchen, sitting at a table with Namet.She looked like she'd been up all night.I had forgotten about Namet."I'm sorry for your grief, Mother," I told her."Thank you, child," she said.She too looked as if she had not yet been to bed."Can I get you something?" I asked her.She shook her head.I turned to Maara."Sparrow has a fever.""I can fend for myself today," she said."Do what you can for her."I made Sparrow a bowl of soft porridge and milk, something she could swallow easily, and brewed her a tea of willow bark and rose hips.When I returned to her room, she was awake.She lay in the bed staring up at the ceiling."She died," she said."I know.""She died."This time it was a whisper.It was as if, by saying so, she might convince herself that it was true.I sat down beside her and handed her the bowl of tea.It seemed such a small thing to offer her.I looked in on Sparrow as often as I could that day.When I found her sleeping, I didn't wake her.To let her sleep was the kindest thing I could do for her.Whenever I found her awake, I brought her soft food and tea and sat with her a while.Although she didn't want to talk, she seemed to take some comfort from my presence.I stroked her hair and rubbed her back until she slept again.Maara slept for several hours that morning.She had been up all night with Namet, listening to her stories of her only child.She would say no more to me than that about it.While Maara was sleeping, I went to the companions' loft.I hoped I hadn't missed hearing about the battle, but I shouldn't have worried.The companions who had been there were delighted to tell the story over and over again to anyone who cared to listen."The snow began three days ago.""I thought it was two," I said."No.Three.""It began day before yesterday here.""Well, it began three days ago at the ravine," said Taia.Taia was an apprentice.In another year, she would be a warrior.Her green eyes and copper hair set her apart from the others even more than her height, although she was the tallest woman in Merin's house."Vintel had our warriors strung out up and down the riverbank for over a mile," she said, "but we waited all day for nothing.They never came.""You should have heard the fights that night around the campfires," said Bec with glee.Bec loved a fight."Some said there was no need to freeze there by the river for another night," said Taia, "that the northerners weren't coming.Others said we should wait and see.""If the strange one had been there," said Bec, "they would have had the truth out of her one way or the other."It was the first time I had heard my warrior called 'the strange one.' I was indignant."They had the truth out of her already."Bec brushed a shock of thick, black hair out of her eyes and gave me a scornful look."Well, we know that now, but how were we to know it then?""At any rate," Taia said, "the next morning Vintel sent everyone back to their places to wait.We couldn't see a thing.The mist was so thick you could have walked off a cliff before you knew it.My warrior and I were hidden in a copse not ten paces from the river, and we couldn't see where the water met the shore.""We heard the sound of the oars long before we saw the boats," said Bec."And someone almost made a bad mistake."Taia glared at her, and Bec's face turned red, whether from embarrassment or anger I couldn't tell."We thought they'd seen us," she said."The first boat landed next to us.We heard them talking to one another, though we couldn't make out a word of what they said.They walked right past us.I was sure they'd seen us, and my warrior gave the curlew's call.That was our signal.The northerners must have heard it, but they went by us in the mist.""Vintel thought they would send just one boat at first," Taia said, "to scout our side of the river and let the others know it was safe to cross.Vintel was right.After they'd been ashore a while, we heard them call to their friends across the river.By the time the next boat arrived, Vintel and Eramet had taken everyone in the first boat prisoner.""We captured six of them," Gnata boasted."There were only four of us, two warriors and two companions, and we captured six of them."Gnata was younger than I and had always seemed to me to be rather frail.It surprised me that her warrior had taken her along."How were they to know there were only four of you?" said Taia."The mist was so thick that a score of warriors could have been right behind you.""But there weren't.We captured six of them all by ourselves.""How did you take them without a fight?" I asked Taia."We waited for them to get out of their boats," she replied."Before they could send the boats back across the river, we walked out of the mist and told them to surrender their swords.""They did too," said Bec smugly."They had no stomach for a fight.""They had our swords at their necks before they knew what was happening," Taia said."What else could they do?""They were too cowardly to fight," said Bec.Taia turned on her."Give them an even chance and see for yourself how cowardly they are.I doubt you'd stand long against any of them."Bec scowled.If Taia had been smaller, Bec might have challenged her, but she thought better of it and held her tongue.Little by little they pieced together the story for me.I couldn't imagine how the northerners had carried boats with them.I was thinking of the boats made from hollowed logs used by the fisher folk who fished with nets on the calmer stretches of the river.Taia explained that the boats were made of oxhide stretched over a framework of willow branches [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]