No, Freya thought, people really don’t change. She recognised a crazy look in his eyes. He’d caught the scent of the quest again. He wanted to do something heroic. This is getting out of hand. .
“Daniel.” She hesitated. “Both of you-there’s something I need to tell you. You aren’t going to think. . You’re not going to be too thrilled.”
“Well? What is it?”
“Daniel. . Gad’s not dead. When you killed that. . thing, he didn’t die.”
Daniel frowned in confusion. “What? No. . What-what do you mean?”
“He’s not dead-you didn’t kill him. Daniel, you failed; we all did. Gad’s alive.”
Daniel’s mouth opened and closed wordlessly.
“Why didn’t you speak of this before?” Vivienne said in a grave voice.
“Because-I’m not sure I disagree with him. He said things that made a lot of sense.”
“But he killed Swi?gar, Freya,” Daniel said, staring at her in disbelief.
“I know, but. . well, Swi?gar attacked him. We all did. What right did we have to go out and try to kill him?”
“Are you working with Gad? Is that it?” Daniel asked.
“No, of course not. Of course I’m not saying that. It’s just-I think we should reevaluate what we think we’re doing down here and why.”
Daniel goggled at her. “Reevaluate?”
Frithfroth stood there, motionless except for very small swaying movements. If he had been following their conversation, if anything that Freya had revealed had made any impact on him at all, he did not give any sign.
“Freya, why didn’t you bring this up before?” Vivienne sighed, putting a hand to her temple. “Ecgbryt and Alex have just charged off completely unprepared! You’ve endangered their lives by sending them off without adequate knowledge or preparation.”
“‘I. . I. .”
Flushed and furious, Daniel glared angrily at Freya. He suddenly rushed at her, drawing his sword.
“Daniel! No!” Vivienne threw herself forward, knocking into Daniel and holding him back. Daniel struggled, and either his heart was not in it, or Vivienne was stronger than she looked.
“What are you going to do? Kill me?” Freya shouted. “You psychopath!”
“You’re a traitor!”
“A traitor to what?” Freya said, spreading her arms. “Look around. To this? A moldy old building? An old man who trapped and manipulated us?”
“Yeah, that seems to happen a lot to you. You keep harping on about it, but what makes Ealdstan any worse than Gad or Professor Stowe?”
“Honestly? Neither of them asked me to kill anyone.”
Daniel sneered at her.
Freya raised a finger accusingly. “Do you really hate me now or what? What is this anger? Where does it come from? It’s not just good and bad out there, Daniel-as much as you’d like it to be! This is real life, and it’s messy.”
“Then why are you the one who’s least willing to get dirty?” He relaxed and Vivienne released him. Daniel turned away.
“Freya,” Vivienne said in a low voice. “This is catastrophic. Gad makes everything worse. If we’d known he was still running around-there’s no telling what he could be up to. He’s had eight years. Running amok. Plotting. Planning.”
“Better him than Ealdstan,” Freya said hotly. It was all starting to pour out now. “This city. . this city is an occupying force-stockpiling warriors, against what? What’s it all for? All the lies, using us-Daniel and me-to kill an old man. That’s not the side I want to be on.”
“But Swi?gar and Ecgbryt. What about them? Modwyn? Your friends?”
“They’re not my friends. I don’t trust them, I don’t know them; they don’t know me.”
“What about me?” Daniel asked.
“You? You who just pulled a sword on me?”
“Quiet, both of you, quiet!” Vivienne said. “Let’s think about this.”
Freya and Daniel silently retreated to opposite sides of the room.
“It actually changes nothing,” she said.
“What?” Daniel said as Freya turned back to Vivienne.
“It changes nothing,” Vivienne repeated.
“It changes everything,” Daniel said.
“We carry on as before. Same plan. It’s just-the stakes are higher now. The potential danger greater. But our goals are the same.”
“Right,” Daniel said. “Which makes it all the more important that I kill Kelm. Or Gad, if I can find him.”
“No, don’t do that.”
“What? Vivienne. .”
“Daniel, we don’t have a strategy for that. Be reasonable. Our first priority is to investigate this tower, try to see if there’s anything in Ealdstan’s writings that would indicate where he’s gone or if he’s prepared any fail-safes for such a situation. Then we’re to look into finding the Carnyx-to see if it will summon the knights. Then we should find Godmund and Modwyn-they will no doubt have information vital to tactics and the lay of the land.”
“Sounds fascinating. I tell you what. . you two can do that, I’ll do my thing. And don’t worry, I won’t just charge off. I’ll study the yfelgopes here in the city. I’ll observe them from the windows, get their movements and rhythms, all with a view to taking down Kelm and his boss as soon as possible.” He turned his open gaze from Freya to Vivienne.
“Why don’t you go looking for the Carnyx?” Vivienne asked.
“We’ll have plenty of time for scavenger hunts if we can deal with the single greatest threat to our safety and that of the overworld-namely Gad and Kelm. Come on, you know it makes sense!”
“Well. . look into it, but come see me first if you decide on leaving the Langtorr,” Vivienne said haltingly.
Daniel hesitated for just the briefest of moments. “Of course. Of course I will.”
“If any of you do leave the threshold of the tower forecourt. .” Frithfroth said abruptly, making them all start. “I would not risk coming back. All who pass the threshold die.”
“Except for you,” Daniel said. “I’m going up. Don’t bother me.” With another long look back at Freya, he resettled his backpack on his shoulders and started trudging up the stairs.
Vivienne turned to Freya. “We’ll talk more about this later,” she said. “For now, let’s hear Frithfroth out on what happened here.”
IV
Ecgbryt and Alex stood over the corpses of six black bears. That was good. Alex was worried that the bodies would turn back into men when they died-which would have been more troublesome for them. People would want to find them very quickly in order to ask some very urgent questions if six people were found dead. But as it was, half a dozen slaughtered bears were more of a strange puzzle than an act of mass murder.
They were shaking as they took stock. Neither of them had so much as a scratch, although there were some bruises. When Alex ran out of bullets, he had dropped the gun and drawn his sword, which was strapped to his back. Alloyed steel and custom craftsmanship made it sharp and deadly. Even if he wasn’t as practised with it as Ecgbryt was with his axe, he was still very capable.
They retreated past the standing stones and toward the trees, their backs almost edging up along the black metal rail fence that surrounded the Rollright Stones. Getting backed into a corner was not ideal in most circumstances, but in this instance it was preferable to being surrounded.
Alex’s arms ached; swinging that sword through fur, muscle, and bone was hard work. He was buzzing from adrenaline, panting, his arms and shoulders on fire; it was a good feeling.
Ecgbryt cleaned his blade and was sliding it back into the holster he wore on his back, underneath his coat.
“Shall we try to hide them?” Alex asked. “Half a dozen fivehundred-pound bears are quite the handful.”
Ecgbryt considered and then shook his head. “Leave them here. We should be away.”