Chapter 29
SKALD DREKKI
He woke abruptly the next morning, just as the sun began to crest the horizon.
A voice – or were they thoughts – pushed into his mind.
Something or someone close by. He lifted his head quickly from under his wing, a stab of pain accompanying the movement.
He wasn’t covered in snow, but he could feel where the chill had sunk deep into his tough hide.
It would take time for the heat from the sun to work its way back into his body.
He glanced around, his keen eyes searching the glacier for the creature whose thoughts were mingling with his. It was happening too frequently. He needed to find a way to control how easily other beings seemed to be able to infiltrate his mind without consent.
There was no one in sight, so he concentrated for a moment and then felt the animal presence coalesce.
He jumped to his feet in distress. Another wolf.
It had to be. It felt like before, the insatiable need to hunt and a desire for food intermingling.
It was on the trail of something – what was it?
And then he realised. The creature could smell the Other who lay asleep at his giant, clawed feet.
He scanned the iridescent glacier once more, squinting against the early morning glare. Finally, he focused on the wolf and realised it wasn’t alone. An Other accompanied it.
Unsure what to do, Skaldi checked the wolf’s thoughts, surprised to find it more interested in him than the Other. Its focus had changed from questing for the Other to seeking for him – or rather for the unknown thing it could smell but couldn’t see.
Without further thought, Skaldi took to the sky, working hard to gain height quickly from ground level, feeling the cool air beating downwards with each wing stroke.
He didn’t want the wolf to discover him.
How did it even know of his presence? The other wolves had been entirely unaware of him. Before the flames.
Soon he was high above the heads of the wolf and the Other.
Only when he was certain they’d not detect him did he glance back to where his Other lay.
What would they do with him if they discovered him?
He felt a pang of regret for abandoning the Other he’d protected on the glacier and when he’d driven the wolves from the dwelling.
Well, most of them. He probed the creature and the Other, striding towards where he’d slept all night long. He could sense no malice in the Other.
Still, he hung in the air, moving his wings just to keep his height, not wanting to go any closer for fear the wolf would do something to reveal his presence.
He watched as the wolf ran ahead and stopped to nose around his Other. The wolf’s Other hurried to catch up. Skaldi pushed back against the surge of conflicting emotions that flooded into his mind, as she – he was certain it was a she – dropped next to his Other and looked for signs of life.
As quickly as she’d arrived, the woman and the wolf disappeared into a sheltered cave and the stream of emotions dimmed.
What was happening? Were they going to abandon his Other?
Skaldi hesitated, wondering if he should try to carry the Other back to rún-ketill.
But then the wolf appeared again and dragged his Other after her, using her mouth.
Why hadn’t he thought to do that? It would have been much more comfortable within a cave than lying out in the open.
Admittedly, it might not have been as easy to accomplish as for the wolf.
He’d carried the small Other to his home. But one of this size?
He turned towards rún-ketill, acutely aware his behaviour was completely at odds with his role as Speaker.
And yet he was unable to condemn himself for his actions.
He’d saved the lives of two separate Others in as many days.
Surely that was more honourable than leaving them to perish on this cold and unforgiving land.
He wondered how the hatchling was faring. Perhaps he could search for its mind when he returned home. His claws touched the ground of his ledge and he was soon inside his cavern, the green glow from the stone at its heart seeming to pulse brighter.
He reached out with his thoughts in search of the hatchling.
Almost at once, he received a rush of impressions from the young Other.
A confusion of half-formed memories, the sound of light, the press of need.
There was no clear sense of where the hatchling ended and the world began.
He nudged its thoughts, trying to train them into a pattern he could follow.
It was full.
It was warm.
It gazed in wonder at a face, kind, worried. A blond-haired woman. The hatchling nestled into her arms, nuzzling at her breast, but there was no milk there.
Skaldi encouraged the hatchling to concentrate on the face. It was the Other who’d taken the baby from him on his ledge.
He wondered if she had other hatchlings to keep safe as well.
No sooner had he thought it than her mind opened up to him.
A cascade of snapshots of small Others as they grew to full size.
Then a curiosity, turning towards him. He shook his head in frustration.
He needed to guard his thoughts. He didn’t want to infiltrate the minds of Others, any more than he wanted them to seek out his.
He needed his thoughts and not everyone else’s.
Still, he was relieved to find the tiny one well and healthy.
Skaldi shut himself off to the thoughts of the Others.
He paced around his cavern. He hoped being back in the safe refuge of his cave would calm him, but it had the opposite effect.
The moment his mind stilled, he’d find himself returning to his Other.
All day, he attempted to distract himself by immersing himself in the deep, warm pools of his cave and watching the old images of the ancestors anew, which had returned to the sleek surface of the cave.
Whenever there was a view of the Others, he found himself involuntarily thinking of his Other.
Was he well? Had he survived? Would he live?
Eventually, Skaldi jumped from his pool in frustration, and once dry enough he need not fear his scales freezing, took to the sky again, even though the night winds were slowly gaining in intensity.
The flight back to the glacier was arduous, as the wind drove at him, draining the last of his strength.
He needed to feed. He needed to rest. However, when he felt its presence – no, his presence – he relaxed for the first time all day.
He remained in the cave, resting. The woman seemed to be preparing something for them to eat.
He didn’t understand this connection that existed between him and the man, but he knew it must mean something.
All of a sudden, he knew what to do.
He’d follow him. He would keep him safe.
Knowing the man would not leave the cave until the morning, now full darkness had fallen, Skaldi returned home, finding it somewhat easier now, despite the wind, and slept.
He woke early the next morning to hunger pangs not dissimilar to those the wolves had sent him.
He visited the hot feeding grounds with their ribbons of flowing lava, and, having eaten his fill, returned to the glacier.
He found his Other already up and striding briskly across the glacier thrust into shadow by the height of the surrounding mountains.
The Other’s thoughts didn’t mingle with his.
Skaldi was pleased to feel only himself within his mind.
He didn’t know why but welcomed the silence.
The Other seemed determined as he moved purposefully across the snowy landscape. Eventually, the sun dipped and the winds sprang up afresh, and the Other was forced to seek shelter. Skaldi spent the night protecting him from the worst of the storm, covering the cave entrance where he sought refuge.
Only as the Other approached one of his kind’s dwellings early the next morning, did any hint of his thoughts reach him.
Skaldi couldn’t fathom what he was thinking, and was further frustrated when he entered the squat building and disappeared from his view, if not from sending out his apprehensive thoughts.
Skaldi was unsure what to do. The building didn’t seem to belong to the Other, it certainly wasn’t his home – he felt too much resentment and unease for that to be possible – but it seemed the man planned to remain within the dwelling for some time.
He waited throughout the long day for the Other to leave the dwelling.
Only as the sun began to wane did he return to his home, before the winds sprang up once more.
He’d find him again. He wasn’t going anywhere overnight.
Skaldi found the Other quickly the next day, leaving the dwelling and striding purposefully back towards the coastline. Where was he going now? The thoughts shouting to him were confused and angry. What had happened within the building?
Skaldi could make no sense of it, and he warred with himself all day long.
Why was he following the Other? When the Other again sought shelter under a small overhang of rock, he resigned himself to another cold night under the stars protecting him.
He considered returning to his home, but feared it would be more difficult to find his Other come the daylight.
The dwelling had been easy to locate. The overhang would be more challenging.
It was with relief he saw him reach another dwelling early the next day, having moved aside from the shelter as soon as there was enough daylight to see properly, shaking snow from his back.
As his Other entered the heavily shuttered entrance way, feelings of pleasure emanated from him.
Here, the Other seemed to be easier, more at peace.
With a shake of his head, Skaldi flew home, feeling relieved and guilty.
He’d spent many days watching the man and had no idea why he was so drawn to him.