Heroes of the Valley by Jonathan Stroud Read Free Book Online Page A

as he should have ignored yours. Now you have both shamed me! It will take time to repair this destruction before our guests arrive. Yet it must be done; all must put down their beer cups and set to. Tonight's feast will be delayed.' A murmur of discontent ran round the crowd. 'But first, to your punishments. Leif – your appearance and behaviour are a disgrace. I would bar you from the Gathering, but you are Arnkel's heir: you must attend. Let this public shame be sufficient: go now and wash in the horse trough.'
    Leif slunk away. 'Now,' Astrid said, 'Halli . . .'
    'He is just a boy!' Uncle Brodir cried out. 'With a boy's exuberance! This mess can easily be cleared—'
    Astrid spoke in a cold, high voice. 'We all know of your youthful exuberance, Brodir, and what you did. The House paid dearly for it.'
    She stared at him. Brodir flushed dark, his lips white and drawn. He opened his mouth, then closed it. A sudden movement – he was gone into the crowd.
    Then Astrid addressed Halli. 'In two days,' she said, 'the Gathering begins. It will be an occasion of great festivity, when even Gudrun the goat-girl may make merry from dawn till dusk. Everyone here shall enjoy it, except for you. You are banned for the duration of the Gathering from the festival meadows, and shall take no part in formal feasting in this hall. You may not drink from the kegs, nor eat from the roasting pits; the cooks will serve you scraps in the kitchens. For four days it will be as if you are gone up to your cairn. Perhaps this will inspire you to restrain your behaviour.'
    Halli said nothing. He looked at his mother with hot eyes.
    As he left the yard, Halli succeeded in maintaining a stiff, proud posture and a defiant expression. Once he got to the family apartments, his defences slackened and his pace slowed. He lay quietly on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Up and down the corridor he heard the footsteps of his family and the servants. Each time he tensed in expectation of a visitor; he even hoped for it, however angry they might be. But whether out of rage, embarrassment, or plain indifference, no one came to see him.
    He was on the point of attempting sleep when Katla opened the door and entered, carrying a plate of chicken, turnip and purple sprouting. Without ceremony she set it down upon Halli's bed and blinked at him.
    'Thought you'd be hungry, dear,' Katla said.
    'Yes.'
    'Eat, then.'
    Halli sat up and did so. While he ate, Katla bustled quietly about the room.
    When he had finished, Halli set down his knife and said in a small voice: 'That was very good. It tasted all the better because it's the last proper meal I shall have for a while, at least until after the Gathering.' As he said this, he faltered; he put his hand over his eyes and kept them there.
    Katla did not appear to have noticed. 'There will be other Gatherings, dear,' she said. 'Next summer's is not far away. That is at Orm's House, I believe.'
    Halli said savagely, 'All my life I've known nothing of the world. Now, when the world has finally come to me – I'm banned from seeing it! I've a good mind to run away, Katla. I'll not stay here.'
    'Yes, dear. Your legs are somewhat short. You will not get far. Do you want to put on your nightshirt now?'
    'No. Katla?'
    'Yes?'
    'Are there roads beyond the cairns?'
    The old woman blinked. 'Roads? Whatever do you mean?'
    'Old ones that the settlers took. To get to this valley in the days before Svein. To other valleys, other people.'
    Slowly, bemusedly, she shook her head. 'If there were trails they will be lost. The settlement was long ago. Besides, there are no other valleys, no other people.'
    'How do you know that?'
    'How can there be roads where the Trows are? They devour all who go there.'
    Halli hunched his shoulders, thinking of the ewe. 'What if we made swords again and went up to fight them? Maybe we could cross the moors, and—'
    With a click of knees Katla sat upon the bed. 'Halli, Halli. There was a boy once, like you in a lot