Soul Seeker

25: Raoul's House

The closer they got to Blackwolf, the grumpier and more reserved the Midgarsons became. Often Fell would be completely closed-off, unreadable, while Isa swung between vain and violent.

They travelled through stretches of bare, cracked earth peppered with pools and gullies where musk oxen grazed. Snow-dusted fields of jumbled rocks were green with lichen and moss, and surprising patches of colour broke the white monotony, plants not yet killed by the looming winter: buttery wildflowers and red gorse against tough grasses. In summer when the snow turned to slush, more would grow. Eider ducks, auks, guillemots and skuas flocked along the sheer cliffs near the northern coast, screaming, heckled by foxes and large gulls. Walruses and bull seals, huge and thick with blubber, lounged on pebble beaches. They gave them a wide berth, not wishing to invoke the wrath of the huge, dangerous creatures with their tusks and teeth, but Ciara's beloved bolas came in handy and they brought down bird after bird.

One morning, Ciara emerged from a snow shelter to see the land sloping up to form one solitary peak. It split the world in two, dominating half the sky, its steely flanks splashed with white. Cold air softened by nothing but ice and rock rolled from its flanks: the breath of the mountain. Ice was already forming on her lashes, sticking them together.

Isa ducked outside and immediately went pale.

Fell, by her side, placed a hand on her shoulder.

Ciara and Tonraq shot Sebastian quizzical looks. He gave a dramatic shrug, looking as nonplussed as they felt.

They trudged through snow until they finally reached a town nestled at the bottom of the mountain. Fell and Isa increased their pace until they were hurrying to catch up.

"Where are we going? Your houses?"

"No, Raoul's."

"Are they always this cryptic?" Ciara muttered.

"Who is Raoul?" Tonraq asked, but he didn't get a reply.

"We haven't been here for fifteen years." Isa was gazing around with unmasked longing. "We grew up here."

Ciara tried to imagine Fell and Isa playing in these streets as children, but found she couldn't conjure an image. She knew too little about their lives. How had they ended up roaming, scarred, alone, yet they were still as fiercely loyal to each other as any siblings? How had they concealed their pasts from their own nephew for this long?

What lurked in the shadowy history of this place?

The Midgarsons led them to a lovely hunter's home set a little apart from the rest. Fell knocked, and a gruff-looking man with shaggy copper hair and brown eyes opened the door. He grinned when he saw Fell and Isa, and suddenly all three were embracing.

"I didn't think I'd see you two back here any time soon. You made it across Skar with everything intact, then?" Raoul's voice wasn't quite as deep as Fell's, but it held a similarly arresting, gravelly tone that demanded attention. He gave Sebastian a nod.

"Only just." Isa flung a wry glance at Ciara over her shoulder. "Meet Embla, Darius's part-time assassin."

Raoul's spine straightened.

"I'm not an assassin and I'm not Embla. My name is Ciara." Ciara glared at Isa.

Raoul practically pushed Fell and Isa across the doorstep. She had never seen anyone shove Fell so unceremoniously – she hadn't thought it was possible for Fell to be shoved. He was like a mountain of muscle, but maybe Raoul was stronger.

He clapped Sebastian on the shoulder as he followed his aunt and uncle, but blocked the doorway when Ciara and Tonraq tried to follow.

"I'm not an assassin," she repeated testily.