his grimy fingernails. ‘But Fannar wouldn’t let me do it. He said he knew the land better, could show the priest a pass over the mountains that’s hidden from view. I think he only wanted to protect me, though, in case the priest is caught. But I don’t need protecting! I know ravens are everywhere watching us, but I’m not afraid.’ He thrusts his chin out as if defying the Lutherans to come and take him.
Fannar is wise not to entrust the task to him. The boy is desperate for a chance to show he is no coward and might deliberately take risks to prove himself, which will put not only him but the priest too in danger, for the ravens are indeed watching everyone. Although every man, woman and child is officially a Lutheran now by order of the Danish king, still many like Fannar practise the old Catholic faith in secret. And the black-clad Lutherans have eyes everywhere, trying to catch those hidden priests still celebrating the forbidden Mass, as well as the ordinary men and women who shield them.
Fannar is taking a huge risk by inviting others to come to confession. How is he to know for certain which of his friends or neighbours is not simply pretending to be Lutheran as he is, but has in his heart really converted to the Protestant faith and might betray him? Even those who have no love for the Lutherans might be persuaded to spy for them, if they are offered enough gold.
‘Fannar must trust you, Ari.’
The lad looks startled. ‘Did Fannar tell you my name?’
‘Fannar trusts you,’ I repeat, ‘and yet you did not tell him the truth about this man.’
Ari’s cheeks flush, but he mutinously thrusts out his lower lip. ‘I told him what I saw.’
‘That some Danes beat him.’
‘It was the truth.’ He scowls as if challenging me to dispute it.
‘But you let Fannar believe you didn’t know the man, that he was a stranger to you. And Fannar is a good soul. No matter if it was a friend or stranger, human or beast, if Fannar saw any living creature hurt or hungry he would try to help, even if it meant sharing his last loaf of bread or cutting his only blanket in two. You, I think, are much like him, and if that man had been a stranger, you would have helped him just as Fannar would. But there is something more here. Something I think you will not admit even to yourself.’
I pause to watch him. Although I am veiled, still he refuses to look at me, but stares sullenly at the pool of hot water bubbling up through the rocks. He is not going to admit anything without a deal of persuasion.
‘If this man really was a stranger to you, Ari, you would have looked at his face with curiosity that first day you brought him here, but you didn’t. I thought then that you were sickened by the sight of blood, but that wasn’t what was upsetting you, was it? Then again tonight when you came in, any other man’s gaze would have been drawn at once to him as soon as they entered, to see if his wounds were healing and if his eyes had opened, but yours was not. You know this man and you are afraid of him. Why?’
Ari scrambles to his feet. ‘I have to go. Fannar will have need of me to keep watch.’
‘Ari, tell me. We need to know. There is danger, grave danger, hovering around this man, that we can sense, but we cannot yet see the shape of it.’
The boy hesitates. He stares into the clear waters of the pool, the flames of the burning torch rippling over his face so that he dissolves and re-forms in a hundred different masks.
‘I should have left him to die on the track, I know I should. But I couldn’t just walk away. What if I’d been mistaken? Do you think it’s better to let an innocent man die rather than risk saving a man who should not live? I didn’t know what to do, Eydis, and I still don’t.’
‘Tell us the truth, Ari. We have to understand what we are dealing with. You must help us. If you don’t, you could be putting everyone in danger.’
But he stubbornly shakes his head. ‘No, I must be sure first. When he wakes then I will know.’
‘And what will you do then, Ari?’
He covers his head with