Outsider by Klaire de Lys

Author:Klaire de Lys [de Lys, Klaire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-07-06T19:00:00+00:00

Danger

‘Get up!’ Astrid whispered.

Jarl awoke with a start, instinctively turning to check that Knud was alright, then breathed a sigh of relief as he saw his flame-red hair sticking out from under the blanket that was curled around him like a cocoon. Astrid crouched down on the ground close to him, the veil still over her face and the wolf-skin still wrapped around her.

‘Wake the others,’ she said, before getting up and packing together their supplies and leaving them in a heap by the ponies. She stood silently as Jarl woke the others, watching him.

Jarl took a moment to check Knud’s foot. There wasn’t a single trace of the skin having been crushed in the Angu’s jaws and Knud stood on it as if nothing had ever happened. Jarl turned to Astrid, the question crossing his face, but neither of them spoke. When Astrid moved away, he strolled over to the ponies and began packing the supplies onto their backs.

‘Why on earth couldn’t you do that?’ Halvard grumbled at Astrid as he walked past her. She ignored him and ran ahead, the wolf-skin cloak bouncing on her shoulders.

Normally Jarl would have ignored any comments Halvard made first thing in the morning; the dwarf did not like to be woken this early and sleeping on the ground always made him rude and snappy. But it was crossing a line even for Halvard to make such a petty comment when she had saved Knud’s life barely twelve hours earlier.

‘Don’t talk to her if you’re going to be like that,’ Jarl snapped. Halvard looked up at him, surprised. ‘She saved Knud’s life!’

‘And I’ll wager she’ll end up killing all of us before this journey is over,’ he said, riding ahead.

‘Hey! Outlander! How long till we leave this canyon?’ he called over to her, his tone condescending.

‘A few hours,’ Astrid replied.

Jarl rode beside Knud, determined to keep him in his sights for the rest of the journey. Knud flashed him a cheeky grin before looking ahead, his eyes fixed on Astrid.

‘Did you see her face?’ Knud whispered. ‘I wonder how she got so many scars?’

‘She saved your life, Knud. You should thank her. Don’t mention the scars.’

Knud jumped down from his pony and ran alongside Astrid, who slowed down to a brisk walk to enable him to keep up. Her eyes flitted between him and the pony and Jarl watched them from a distance.

‘Thank you,’ Knud said quickly, unsure of how to apologise and so saying the words as quickly as he could, not realising it made him sound like he didn’t mean it.

Astrid grinned under her veil, her eyes lighting up as she did so. Something about the little dwarf made her laugh.

‘Did your uncle make you say that?’

‘Yes, but I wanted to say it,’ Knud clarified. ‘And he’s not my real uncle. I just call him that because he was my father’s best friend.’

Nodding, Astrid moved to start running ahead again and Knud said the first thing that came to mind in the hope it would make her stay and talk for a while.

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