Little by little, he coaxed her into the unsteady thing, until she was perched, terrified, on the board across the middle, afraid it would turn over at any moment, and even more afraid that he was going to let go of it.
But he didn’t, and Jonaton went to work again.
Doesn’t he know I don’t know how to swim? she thought frantically.
But the stranger held the wretched thing tightly against the bank, and she squeezed her eyes shut and endured. She’d never been so panicked and frightened in her entire life. Her stomach was certain that at any moment she was going to find herself in the water, being sucked down to her death.
But eventually, she’d been scared for so long that fatigue set in, and she opened her eyes. Kristoff—if that was his name—gave her a reassuring nod. Her hands hurt. She glanced down at them to see that she was holding on to the board she sat on so tightly that her knuckles were white.
“Heerd ye got a Gold foal,” the man said, matter-of-factly. “Tell me ’bout her.”
He’s trying to get my mind off this, she thought. He sees how scared I am. Well, maybe it would work.
So she told him all about Daystar, how old she was, how Delia had helped with the foaling, how she was getting the filly used to being handled, and what steps would be next. And when she was done, he nodded.
“Well,” he said, tilting his head to one side. “Sounds like that there Fetchin’ Gift be right handy. Why, I c’n think of a mort’o ways it’ll be useful out here. Like—well, ain’t jest horses what hez trouble birthin’. Cattle, sheep, hooman wimmin—reckon yer gonna be right popular with Healer Alberdina. An’—well, they’s one good way o’ makin’ a big shelter, an’ thet’s ter bend down a bendy tree, like a birch, stake ’er down, and throw canvas over ’er. Ye c’n bring thet top right down, aye? An’ what if a barge breaks loose an’ floats out inter a lake? Ye c’n Fetch her up t’ th’ bank wi’out nobody hevin’ ter go arter ’er.”
He continued at some length, with great enthusiasm, until after a moment, she realized that not only was he right about some of that, she might very well be so busy that she would never have time to do all the hard labor she’d envisaged herself doing.
He glanced over at the men setting up more shelters in the ruins. “Ain’t lookin’ for’erd ter sleepin’ on ground,” he said with distaste. “Be glad when th’ livin’ barges start a-comin’ over.”
“What are living barges?” she asked.
“Barges fixed up as housen,” he said. “Cozy, they is. Live in one m’self, what with bein’ a fishin’ man.” And he began to describe what sounded to her like something that was every bit as comfortable as a little cottage, if nothing near as spacious.
“But how do you keep it warm in the winter?” she asked.
“Leetle stove. I’d show ye how big, but I reckon ye don’t want me t’ turn loose of this coracle,” he said with a chuckle. “It ain’t no manor, but it ain’t no tent, neither. Wust thin’ come winter’s gonna be gettin’ bored, I reckon. We ain’t a-gonna be able ter move in winter, gonna be plenty idle hands ter take care of the stock an’ all. Reckon come fall, we’ll pick a good place, make stockades fer th’ critters, an’ stretch oursel’s along the river all th’ way ter this here lake. We’ll be like a long, skinny town. Then come spring, oncet th’ stock’s done birthin’, we’ll move agin.”
She could even see it in her mind’s eye: the “town” of living barges along the shore, the animals in their pens ashore, maybe some people (hardier than her!) living on shore in something that gave more shelter than just a mere tent—
“Thet there tower’ll be a fine shelter oncet a good roof’s on ’er,” Kristoff said cheerfully, jerking his head at the tower ruins. “An’ thet there Ivar, he’s seed people up north what make winter housen outa sod. All right and tight they be, too. We’ll do. We’ll do. An’ when we finds a new place ter set up ferever, like, it’ll be a home in no time. Jest wait an’ see.”
“Kristoff!” Alberdina shouted from the other side of the water-Gate. “Get yourselves out of the way! Barges are coming through!”
“Jump, milady!” Kristoff told her, and she jumped, and somehow he caught her, and they both scrambled out of the way just before the prow of a barge and a spill of water appeared on her side of the Gate. It slid rapidly into the lake with an enormous splash, sending the round boat-thing spinning away.
“Well now,” said Kristoff, staring after his coracle. “I don’ s’ppose ye c’ld Fetch ’er back, c’ld ye?”
Delia was more in the spirit of things now, though, and flashed a genuine smile back to him. “What, and deprive you of the great honor of being the First Swimmer in the Lake?”
* * *
—
Kordas could tell that Isla was still furious with him. And she had a point. He was being reckless. He was promising things he had no right to promise.
He was going to steal the Emporer’s entire Palace workforce.
He was proposing to kidnap fifty children in the name of “saving” them, which was morally dubious.
And when the Emperor discovered he had done this—he’d have to make sure everyone who was going to remain in Valdemar went into hiding, or find some other way to deflect the Emperor’s wrath. He could only hope that those who stayed behind would be so insignificant in the Emperor’s eyes that he wouldn’t bother with them.
Of course Merrin would be left behind. And Merrin was certainly significant enough to make a good target for wrath.
And the Emperor will surely be furious that Merrin didn’t see any of this coming.
And yet, the conviction remained that he was doing the right things, promising the right things, no matter how it seemed now.
So he ignored the smoldering anger in Isla’s eyes, and asked, “Have you got Gate talismans for the two new Gates yet? And can Delia Fetch them to me?”
“Yes to both,” she said, though it was clear she was doing so around gritted teeth. She moved aside, and Delia took her place in the limited view in the scrying mirror.
“Can you tilt your mirror so I can see the table?” the girl asked, holding two metal disks in her open hand.
Rather than saying anything, he did so. And there was a long and uncomfortable silence, as she stared straight ahead of her, while beads of sweat began to run down her forehead and she grew paler and paler with effort.
And then, just as he was about to tell her to stop trying for the moment, there was a clink, and two metal disks appeared on the table in front of him and skidded to the floor.