removed—a braid that had been allowed to grow for the entire reign of the king—to signify the end of one era and the beginning of another. In Saylok, one could ascertain the longevity of a king by the length of his warriors’ hair.
“King Banruud has been the king for five years, but he is young; he will be king for decades more,” Lykan said, and Lothgar grunted in displeasure.
“Easy brother,” Lykan warned. Ghisla got the impression that Lothgar did not care for the king.
“The Keepers of Saylok never grow their hair at all,” Lothgar said, throwing the words over his shoulder so she knew they were intended for her. “They keep their heads smooth. To grow a braid would be to show fealty to the king. Their duty is to remain separate. The daughters will be kept separate as well. In the temple.”
They traveled three days, sleeping beneath stars, and each night the men formed a perimeter around her while she slept, not so different from Hody’s stones.
“No one will hurt you while you are among my men. Not a hair on your head,” Lothgar promised. It was a comfort, and she believed him. He was kind and boisterous, and his men seemed to like him. She liked him; he made sure she was fed and watched over, and he didn’t insist that she speak.
Her appetite was returning, and she ate whatever she was given, but she’d stopped talking, ignoring the questions that everyone wanted answered. She was now Liis of Leok, and it had become her standard response when peppered with questions. She was certain that, just like the old women, Lothgar and his men thought her simple or suffering from something terrible. She supposed she was, but silence was her best response. If she did not speak, she need not lie, and she could not tell the truth. They all wanted a girl of Leok. They would not want a girl who had left plague in her wake.
Lykan seemed intent on instructing her, as though he knew she was not who they wanted her to be. He spoke of the chieftains at length—their clans, their colors, the beasts from which they all took their names. Leok the lion, Adyar the eagle, Berne the bear, Dolphys the wolf, Ebba the boar, and Joran the horse. Ghisla pictured the star Hod had sculpted in the sand as he spoke.
“Do you know the story of Hod?” she asked Lykan when he had finished. Lothgar looked back at her in surprise.
“She speaks,” he grunted.
She immediately regretted it.
“Hod the blind god?” Lykan asked.
Ghisla nodded, just a jerk of her head, but it was enough to set Lykan off again. “Aye. I know of Hod. I know of all the gods.”
“Some believe the Temple Boy is a god,” one of Lothgar’s men said, inserting himself into the discussion. “Some say he is the son of Thor. Many thought the keepers would make him king instead of Banruud.”
“I’ve seen him battle several men at once,” another man said.
“It is not battle if it happens in the yard,” Lothgar grumbled.
“But, Chief Lothgar, he killed a man—several men—when he was still a child,” another warrior argued.
“He is yet a child. Still a boy, though he is the size of a man,” Lykan said. He looked at Ghisla, explaining as he was wont to do. “His name is Bayr. He has no clan. He’s been raised by the keepers; everyone calls him the Temple Boy.”
“His strength is not that of a regular man. His strength is beyond that of the natural world,” Lothgar admitted.
“He can hardly speak, brother. He stutters like a mindless idiot,” Lykan said.
“The gods are not perfect, Lykan. Odin’s sons are as flawed as they are gifted.”
“Hod was blind,” she reminded softly, and for a moment the men were silent, thoughtful.
“Bayr is not a god. He is a boy,” Lykan insisted after a while.
“Aye. A boy the king fears,” Lothgar said, and he laughed as though it pleased him greatly.
Temple Hill rose up out of the ground, so tall and green that the top was ringed in clouds, making it look as though the mount skewered the twilight sky. But Ghisla was the only one who gaped. The men of Leok had seen it before, though they seemed glad to see it again.
“That is the temple mount,” Lothgar said. “On the left, you can see the spires and the dome above the wall. On the right, the king’s keep, Castle Saylok. From the mount you