There were footsteps behind her; Alynn turned to see Lukas with a book tucked under his arm. “Are ye in here, Alynn?” Lukas asked.
“I’m here.”
Lukas felt his way through the dark and eventually set a hand on Alynn’s shoulder before pressing the book into her hands. “It’s mostly Bible stories, wi’ a bit of yer mother’s poetry thrown in,” he said. “It isn’t quite finished, though. We thought we’d have a bit more time afore Elspeth got her first tooth. And to be fair, I don’t understand why the occasion calls for a gift. I’d have put in more resources, had I known Leif was going to give her that bracelet.”
“Don’t compare yerself,” Alynn said. “Leif’s rich. He’s probably had that bracelet since his family was still in the slave trading business. And I know you worked hard on this. Elspeth will love it, assumin’ she doesn’t eat it first.” Alynn opened the book; she couldn’t see much in the dim light, but lines of text broken up by imaginative illustrations caught her eye.
“Did you draw the pictures?” Alynn asked.
“Yer father did most of them. Brett and Tarin did a few of the more—ah—creative ones.”
Alynn brought the book into the hallway, where there was a bit more light. The picture she thought was a unicorn was actually a soldier riding into battle on a…what the devil—
“Lukas, is that a snail the soldier’s riding on?”
“Aye. Brett drew that. Long story.”
“And is this soldier wearin’ trousers?”
“He’d better be.” Lukas took the book, brought it to the hearth to see it in the firelight, and snapped it shut before striding into the kitchen. “Brett Oddson!”
Brett looked up, and his eyes went wide. Knowing him, Alynn figured his mind was going down the list of things he might be in trouble for. Lukas grabbed him by the ear and pulled him out of his chair at the kitchen table. It took some doing, as Brett was a good half foot taller than his teacher.
“Ow—ow—Lukas, I just got stabbed, could you please—”
“I told ye to put trousers on the snail soldier.”
“I’ll do it—you had me conjugating irregular verbs, I didn’t get the chance—”
Lukas thrust the book into Brett’s arms. “Ye’re not allowed dinner ‘til ye’re finished. Off wi’ ye.”
Brett scampered off, rubbing his ear. Lukas looked rather pleased with himself as he sat down to dinner, stealing a piece of bread as he did so. Caitriona set a plate of fish in front of him with something like sympathy in her eyes. “Lukas, the lad was just attacked by a phantom in the woods. You might have been gentler with him.”
“I was gentle. I was whipped fer less as a lad.” Lukas swallowed his mouthful of bread. “Och, Brother Eamonn—my first Latin teacher, God rest his soul—actually, I take that back. I doubt he’s anywhere pleasant right now. Anyway, when I was ten, I was given the opportunity to write an entry in the monastic annals. I chose to include the fact that I’d stepped in a cat’s hairball first thing that morning, and Brother Eamonn yelled at me fer the better part of an hour. I’d have preferred a whipping, frankly.”
“Do we still have those annals?” Tarin asked.
Lukas looked at Tarin over the top of his mug of small ale. “Don’t ye dare go looking fer them, laddie.”
Caitriona was unusually slow in setting the table, but she refused any help—even from Valdis, who stood rather awkwardly and lost-looking near the table. Caitriona kept glancing towards the hallway Brett had disappeared down. It wasn’t until he reappeared that dinner was officially served, although Lukas and Tarin had been sneaking bites for quite a while.
The merry meal was halfway through when Leif returned. It had apparently started raining; Leif was dripping wet and shivering even though it was summer. His eyes were unusually grave. Alynn’s first worry was that he had been injured. Drostan, from the way he stood from his chair and ran to his father, was thinking the same thing.
“I’m alright,” Leif said as soon as the door was bolted behind him. “Just damp, it’s raining now.”
“Did you see it?” Tarin asked.
“I didn’t see anything. No man, beast, or ghost. There’s a sign of a struggle in the woods, but the footprints leading away from it stop after a dozen yards. It’s as if whatever attacked Brett just vanished into thin air.”
Alynn had a sudden desire to hold Elspeth, and Tarin’s face turned white.
“Is it safe fer ye to go home, then?” Lukas asked.
“Thor, no. Not with the baby, anyway. If you’d be so kind as to put us up for the night—”
“Ye’re more than welcome here. Ye know that, Leif.” Lukas stood from the table, disappeared down a hallway, and returned with a blanket. Leif wrapped himself in it gratefully.
Drostan returned to his seat with a sigh of disappointment. “I’ll be late to work again,” he said.
“You’re the chief of the village, love. You can be late to work whenever you need to be,” Alynn said quietly.
“I know—technically. I still like to set a good example. And besides, I don’t like Father setting up in the mornings. His back’s been hurting him.”
“Well, lucky for both of ye, ye’ll be equally late to work.” Alynn heard Elspeth crying and lost no time in fetching her. The babe had soiled herself. Alynn cleaned her up quickly—she was an expert at such things at this point, although Elspeth was getting increasingly wiggly—and returned to her meal. Everyone was eating more slowly now, as if they’d collectively lost their appetites.
“I think I saw a whale washed up on the beach,” said Leif. “Rowan, if you’ll join me and Drostan in the morning, we ought to get a few months’ worth of lamp oil.”
“Will ye need our help?” Lukas asked, looking at Brett and Tarin.
“It’s a small whale. I think we can manage.”
“I don’t want the lads out there anyway,” Caitriona said, wiping fish out of Mercy’s hair. “We don’t know if that knife-wielder is still out there, and Mercy, my heart, did you get any of yer fish in yer mouth? Or are you just wearin’ it?”
“Let’s have Elspeth try some fish,” said Tarin.
“She’s got half a tooth,” Alynn said. “She’ll choke on it.”
“What about a bannock?” Caitriona suggested.
“Alright. Everyone watch. Elspie’s first bite of solid food.” Alynn sat her daughter up on the table and set the smallest crumb of bannock bread in Elspeth’s mouth. Almost immediately, Elspeth’s invisible red brows furrowed into a confused frown. She stuck out her tongue and spat out the bread.
Everyone laughed, and everyone forgot about the knife-wielder until the next morning, when Leif, Drostan, and Rowan returned early and empty-handed from their trip to the beach. Apparently, Leif had not seen a whale at all. Alynn’s heart flew into her throat when Drostan told her that they had found an overturned landing boat.
A landing boat that was smeared with blood, cracked by rocks, and made from wood that did not grow on St. Anne’s Cleft.