‘We’re only two Stormriders now.’
Oddo and Thora fell silent, not looking at each other.
‘At least we got him home,’ muttered Thora. ‘That’s what he wanted.’
‘In the beginning,’ said Oddo,‘I didn’t even like him. But now . . . I’m going to miss him every day.’ His words ended in a squeak and he rubbed his eyes with the back of his sleeve.
The ship grazed the bank.
‘Watch where you’re steering!’ said Thora. ‘We don’t want to wreck this ship before we get home!’
‘We don’t want to wreck it before we get to the Land of Fire!’ said Oddo. He straightened his back and frowned fiercely. They were nearing the river mouth. He steered carefully as Stormrider bucked and rolled in the rough water, and then they were out in the open sea.
‘Right. Now, a nice strong breeze. And . . . home,’ he said. He tied the steering oar in place, leaned back against the mast, and crossed his arms.
Thora grinned and joined him. ‘So, are we still going to Gyda’s on the way?’
‘What for?’
‘You know. To fetch my silver, and . . .’
Oddo let out a muffled snort. ‘I don’t think we need the silver any more!’
They both looked at the booty piled in the hold.
‘Well, what about, you know, asking about the night we were born?’
Oddo made a face. ‘I don’t think we should.’
‘Why not?’
‘If you found out that your family wasn’t really your family, what would you do?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, would you tell your parents? Would you swap houses – and families? Go and live in the right one?’
‘I . . .’
An image of Oddo’s neat, clean house flashed into Thora’s mind. Sigrid doing the cooking, peace and quiet, no more embarrassing moments because she couldn’t do magic . . . But, what about Ketil and Harald and Sissa and . . .?
‘No, of course I wouldn’t go. I couldn’t leave my family. They need me!’ And then she stopped, startled by her own words.
‘Exactly! They don’t need another spellworker in the house messing around with magic – they want you.’
Thora grinned. ‘Last year, when they had to pay the taxes, they would have got thrown out of the house if it hadn’t been for me.’
‘And I’d never leave my family,’ said Oddo. ‘What would Father do without me? I use magic to help with the animals and make the crops grow and everything.’
‘Well, forget Gyda then. Let’s just hurry up and go home.’
‘So, you don’t want to know what happened the night we were born?’
Thora shook her head. ‘Who cares? Where we are now is where we belong.’ She grinned. ‘I guess that’s why Dúngal wanted to stay in Ériu. With his family. Do you think we’ll ever see him again?’
‘Why not? We’ve got Stormrider. And I’m the Wind Master. We can go anywhere we want.’
‘We might see the Sídaigi again,’ chuckled Thora.
‘We’ll take our families to the Land of Fire. We’ll show them the boiling lake and the burning ice.’
‘And we’ll build new houses, where there’s no king and no taxes!’
‘We could visit other lands, too.’
They turned to gaze across the sea. Somewhere, out of sight, there were more strange lakes, and mountains, and people. And magic . . .
