THE FIRST RULE
for survival outside the safe areas
If you come across
a Beast, a Troll or a Giant
do not run or call for help
but stand still and stay silent.
It might go away.
The poster was old, ragged and weathered, but still legible. Apart from that, it looked like any number of posters just like it that Sigrun had seen since her childhood.
But it had been over six weeks--forty-five full interminable days of fighting and hiding and fighting again--since their Exile, and the relative abundance of forage showed they were almost certainly farther from the Safe Areas than any had been for decades, so whence had this poster come?
The “safe haven” of the lighthouse had been an obvious trap, but there were no such claims on this poster, and certainly no specific location mentioned.
Was this just another trap, albeit a far more subtle trap than any they’d chanced upon so far? Or was this a sign that others had passed this way before--and survived?
*
Sometimes, Benders (of whatever sort) start believing themselves invulnerable. The more powerful the Bender, the more likely this is to happen.
The Reaving likes showing those who think themselves invulnerable just how wrong they are.
Sigrun had found this out on more than one occasion, both directly and by observation. However, Emil, her right-hand warrior and burning battle buddy, would probably never learn this particular lesson except by observation, if Sigrun was right in how she’d sized him up.
While Emil was a very, VERY powerful Fire-Bender, his power incontinence frightened him, which led to more awkwardness, stress, and uncontrolled outbursts. Sigrun had seen not a few cases like his back in her hometown, though Emil’s was about the worst, and most maltreated. Those Svensk who’d tried to take him in hand must have just been idiots; simply being in company with her and Lalli for these forty-five days had already brought Emil’s outbursts down substantially. He’d almost stopped flinching like he expected to be hit each time he involuntarily lit something ablaze, too.
On the other hand, there was Lalli. Tuuri had been helping him (and Reynir) to learn some basic Svensk so that he could talk to the others without having to have her around, and as Sigrun watched and listened to him, she thought she could see the kind of pride in him that would invariably lead to the Reaving making him fall. Sigrun knew that she’d have to keep an eye out to try to minimize the damage when it happened.
Sigrun wasn’t quite aware that Lalli had already had his fall.
*
Lalli knew the Death-Shades were still tracking their little group, but he was still at a loss as to how to protect the others. Even the Braided Fool had been of more use in that regard than Lalli had at their first encounter, and only Onni’s intervention had kept all of them from dying.
Onni, being an Air-Bender rather than a Water-Bender, had naturally been unable to provide Lalli with any means or methods to combat the Death-Shades, but he had given Lalli a piece of advice that Lalli had taken to heart: “Seek out the Spirits of the old Mark of Denn. If any can aid you in combating the Death-Shades, they can.” But where to start?
Sigrun’s unsettling find marked the first hint Lalli had had of where they should look. If they went in the direction hinted at by where the sign was posted, and found other signs hinting the same, they might maybe possibly find where the Original Spirits of the old Mark had hidden themselves away. Then, Lalli would humbly come before them, prostrate himself, and beg their aid and tutelage. Only thus could he keep the others safe, and it might well cost him his life.
*
Sigrun had had to speak very carefully to avoid crushing Emil when she’d assigned him guard duty at the camp, but it was unavoidable. Mikkel claimed he could read a secret message in an old Dennish code hidden on the sign she’d found, so he had to come along, and Lalli was needed to suss out anything sinister lying in wait along their path, so Emil had to stay behind and watch over the “helpless babies”.
The three of them hadn’t been gone for more than ten minutes when the first of the Giant Horrors passed by the camp...
