Finding Sigrun took quite a bit longer than the others had expected, as she had squirreled herself away in a tiny little hidey-hole near where she’d washed ashore, but they did find her in the end. Of course, Emil had had to risk life and limb in order to wake her so that they could get her back to their rather pitiful little camp, but he got through it more or less unscathed.
Once all of them were safely ensconced back in camp, Mikkel drew Emil aside, as the big Dane had something he wished to show the young Swede. Mikkel had worked up a burning-glass as a rude fire-starting device, and he wanted Emil well away from the camp when the firebug saw it, lest his reaction bring the local grosslings down on them.
Surprisingly enough, though, Emil’s reaction, though sufficiently appreciative, was muted; perhaps the young Swede had been thinking along the same lines as Mikkel in this instance.
What was even more surprising over the following days was that they had been on the big island for quite some time now, but they had yet to find any trace of the Illness at all; in fact, they had spotted a number of mammals that yet bore no sign of either infection or fear of humans. Could this island actually be a naturally occurring Safe area?
The geography of the island was intriguing on a number of other points as well: above the beach to which they’d initially crossed over from the islet, there rose stark granite cliffs that formed the edge of a high plateau bounded on all sides by fairly formidable water obstacles. Once they had explored the plateau, Sigrun had firmly declared that “This was sculpted into a redoubt, probably even before Year Zero”, and the others could not help but concur.
With that in mind, Sigrun began a close examination of the cliff face, and was soon rewarded by the discovery of what she excitedly claimed must be an artificial cavern high above the sands. “See how they used the vines and such as camo for the doors and windows?” she asked Mikkel, pointing at the relevant places.
Before Mikkel could answer, Sigrun was climbing the vines and calling for the others to join her.
*
Emil was always impressed by how utterly competent (to say the very least) Sigrun was in matters related to physical combat; it was obviously far and away her favorite pastime. Now, her expertise was on full display as her little band silently explored the seemingly long-abandoned habitation she’d discovered for them. She was almost as excited as Tuuri was at exploring this place, though still worlds more cautious.
“I have a great feeling about all this, Fuzzy-Head,” she confessed to the skald as they probed yet another chamber hewn from the living rock. “When we get this story back to the Known World, we’re going to be remembered forever! It’s going to be another Edda!”
*
Within the room that had obviously served as the bunk-room, they found a skeleton and a book that was just as obviously a diary. The writing was in English, but fortunately, Tuuri could read that long-dead tongue.
Riffling quickly through the aged tome, Tuuri stopped at one particular point. “OK, here’s the last entry.” She cleared her throat. “So, the Great Winnowing has come at last. All my stratagems have been put into place; I can only hope they will outlive me, and hold the plateau of Prospect Heights against what is to come. As for myself, I choose to die with the world that birthed me; the alkaloid I have chosen is bitter, but not unpleasantly so.” Tuuri looked at the others. “It ends there.”
“Kind of him to leave us such suitable lodgings,” Mikkel rumbled.
Lalli, who had been silent hitherto, spoke now, using the fragments of Swedish he’d picked up along their long journeys thus far. “I don’t like this.”
Sigrun snorted. “Join the club. Rather than ‘kind’, I’d call this just a little too ‘convenient’ for my tastes.”
“Are you trying to replace Kissu now, sniffing out a Rat-Beast?” Emil essayed in a somewhat hollow attempt at humor.
Sigrun smiled at him tightly. “Don’t you worry, Little Viking; whatever the secret of this place is, we’ll suss it out, and beat it to death with a blunt instrument if need be.” She yawned elaborately, possibly fooling Reynir, but none of the others. “On that note, why not secure the place and get some shut-eye?”
The others agreed, and so the band settled down in their new quarters for the night…
