LEONA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several days had passed since she’d pleaded with her husband not to leave.

“Old and stubborn, though he is, Greyson is right. You are a wise and practical man. Do not let your loyalty to your friend force you to seek what you know is not there.”

“Leave it to you, my wife, to insult me with compliments,” Tallos snapped back at her. He was on edge. Though she did not believe him to think of Erik’s boys as sons—troublesome nephews perhaps at best—she knew they saw him as a father, a thing that must weigh heavy on his conscience. More than that, Tallos would not want to let down Erik. Erik was a silly oaf of a man, but in a village small as theirs, one was lucky to have such an honest friend. It was in vain that she attempted to sway Tallos to reason, but she was unable to stop herself from trying.

“Tallos, the boys are dead. Northmen do not take prisoners, you have said so yourself. They steal goats, rape girls, and slaughter all that lives, be it man, woman, child, or pup. They are savages, and our home could be in their path. Would you leave us unprotected?”

“The Three be damned, Leona, you try my patience. You call me wise yet think me fool enough to leave you vulnerable?” Tallos finished tying off his bundle of dried meats with a violent tug on the bindings. “The cliffs protect you east and west. To the south is Rivervale in all its lawful glory. I am headed north through the narrow canyon between the cliffs. Should the Northmen be headed south they’ll not escape my eyes nor my ears. I am not one to leave my wife in danger.” With that he gathered his remaining supplies from the kitchen table and left with Lia quick at his heels.

Leona knew his words to be spoken in truth, but the truth was twisted in a way in which to justify foolishness. It was not like them to fight. Though they had been frustrated with their inability to forge a family of their own, it had only served to strengthen their bond. They had eventually grown content with their fate, and she secretly wondered if it had not been a blessing that they should have only each other and Lia. She would never speak as such to Tallos, for she knew he wanted sons. His lack of a father made him wish to have children who he could give the strength and guidance to that he had gone without. But what Leona saw in other households did not convince her that children were the root of happiness. Too often she saw couples united in love transform into bickering adversaries as they fought over the methods and responsibilities required to rear their children. They competed against each other for their children’s affections and lived in constant fear for their safety. Worse still, they wore their greater love for their children over that of their spouse like a badge of honor—a thing Leona saw no more honor in than proudly proclaiming to have a favored child. It did not seem a joyful life, and Erik’s missing children only solidified her belief.

By contrast, their beloved dog, in all of the twelve years they’d had her, had brought them nothing but joy. Leona watched as Lia’s tail disappeared out of the door, a sinking feeling in her stomach that it would be the last time she would see it. Though it was not right to think such things. Tallos hunted alone in the Northluns every month without incident.

Leona picked up a broom and began sweeping the floor that needed no cleaning, a task that failed to distract her from her worry. She hurried out the door to see if Tallos was still in view, but his long woodsman’s strides had already put him beyond a point where she could quickly catch up to him. She did not wish to be seen slowing their departure and have others think of her to blame when their mission failed as she knew it would. She just hoped they would return safe—she hoped specifically that Tallos and Lia returned safe. The others be damned for this whole mess. Those boys had no business being in the Northluns in the first place.

In spite of her thoughts, she resolved to speak with Greyson the next day. She would beg him to send more men to help the few that went with Tallos. She might be able to convince him, as they both thought it was a foolish task, but sometimes a foolish task can be that which unites a village.

With each passing day, Leona felt worse for the way she had argued with Tallos before he’d left, wishing she could go back and simply support him in his decision. She pictured him walking along the steep scree-covered slopes of the Northluns. It was no place to be when your mind was elsewhere, concerned over petty squabbles. Forgive me and return home and unharmed, she thought, willing to endure her discomfort for as many days as necessary so long as he returned.

The Dawnstar bathed her with late-morning rays as she sat at the table in their home’s main room, storing the meats she had smoked to dry perfection. This batch would have to last them through the winter that was already threatening to take hold, so it was essential she take every precaution with its preservation. In each of the open jars, she placed a tea sock filled with iron shavings tied off with cotton twine. With clean hands, she then placed as much meat as she could inside, without disturbing the sock or breaking the meat apart. “I prefer venison jerky,” Tallos had teased her the previous year, “to venison flakes.” It had easily been their best winter together, and they had both been in good spirits. The iron sock idea Tallos had come up with had kept their meat free of mold and fungus far longer than either expected, and Leona looked forward to another winter where they would have plenty to both eat and barter.

As she secured the lid on one of the jars, she thought she saw movement out the window. Her heart raced with excitement and anxiety. He had heard her thoughts and returned. She cupped her hands to the hazy glass, peering out and straining to see. Much to her amazement, several hilltops away in the far distance, she saw the unmistakable figures of men returning home—more than had originally set out. Tallos, you brave fool, you even found Erik’s boys. I should have never doubted you.