Dawnlark Plains ι

---

why did she address them so? skorpa had not been faced with feminine grief; the danes did not stay behind to see what became of ransacked villages. he judged her actions, and then judged himself for having such thought.

to skorpa, however, there was a clear hierarchy. the man blackfell had challenged and what came next was only the expected cutthroat nature of a leader. one did not gather power without ruthlessness.

he steeled an inner sigh; had he an hand-axe, he might have twirled it in irritation. he did not like blackfell and if the man had been exiled, skorpa had gotten the brunt of his tongue. it was understandable, though he knew enough than to say it. "where is husbondi?" he asked, glancing once to the slight pale girl there with the chieftain's wife. "he is wounding?" he had spoken through his woman once. why could he not use his own words this time? to see reason and to see the folly of a foolish war. "hvis han vil lytte, vil jeg tale."

his mind again ran through what he knew, and ayovi there in the snow attempting to soothe tempered the bearman.

blackfell had been exiled. the reindeer man had come for his wife. protection from what? he did not like it, any of it, and so close to his own mate. things unsaid, and he watched the women for a dire moment.

---