Page 38 of North Is the Night
I don’t wait for him to sit before I’m shoveling the food into my mouth, desperate for the strength it will give me. The porridge is so hot it burns, but I don’t care. I tear into my trout, crunching the tiny bones, swallowing the white, tender meat.
“Easy,” the tall man says with a laugh. “Slow down before you choke, girl. We’re not going to take it from you.”
On the other side of the fire, Paavo watches me, spitting out his larger fish bones. “Tell us more about this man of yours. What’s his name? Josti?”
“Joki,” I correct, taking a sip of cool stream water. It soothes the burning roof of my mouth. “And he’s a hunter,” I go on. “We’re both hunters. We travel south for the winter. We have family living along Lake Päijänne.”
“You hunt too?” the tall man asks, a bemused smile on his face.
“I do,” I reply. I can tell they don’t believe me. Squaring my shoulders at the tall man, I give a nod to my bow resting behind him. “I can fell a deer at thirty yards.”
Paavo snorts again. “You lie.”
I glare at him before turning back to the tall man. “That’s the second time your friend has called me a liar. If he does it a third time, I’ll begin to think he means it.”
Paavo smirks, spitting out another bone. “Youarea liar, little girl. Know how I know?”
I turn my glare back on him. “How?”
“Because I just looked inside your pack,” he replies, his gaze triumphant. “You’re packed for one, not two.”
“Then you didn’t check both my packs,” I counter. “Joki will come. And if I tell him you’ve been anything less than kind to me, he’ll put an arrow through your eye faster than you can blink.”
Lies.Joki couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn at twenty paces. I can see it on their faces: they don’t believe me. The tall one did, but now he doesn’t.
“I think we all know what happens next here,” says Paavo, spitting another bone into the fire.
“I wash the bowls for you?” I say, playing ignorant.
“You can do that after,” he replies.
His words sink in my belly like a stone.
“We don’t want to hurt you,” says the tall man.
I scramble to my feet. “Then finish your meal and be on your way.”
“Times are hard,” he replies, rising to his feet as well. “It’s been a long summer.”
“And men have needs,” Paavo adds, leering at me with those dark, beady eyes.
“Summers are never long in this wilderness,” I counter. “Go south to a village and find a willing woman you can pay. Leave me in peace, as any man of honor would.”
The tall man almost looks like he’s considering it. But then Paavo laughs, tossing the carcass of his fish into the flames, making them crackle and hiss. “Why would I waste precious coin on a tip in the hay, when I can tip you now for free?”
Iron resolve hardens in my gut. I’m telling my own story now. I escaped the clutches of a goddess. I stared into the eyes of Surma, and death stared back. I am on a mission to walk into the very depths of Tuonela to rescue my dearest friend from the clutches of the death gods.
I am Siiri, and I am no man’s prey.
I am the hunter.
“We’ll let you choose the order,” the tall man offers.
The thought of either of these men touching me makes me sick. But I can’t fight them both at once. “You first,” I say, pointing to the tall man. “But I don’t want him to watch,” I add, jabbing my thumb over my shoulder at Paavo.
Paavo laughs again. “You don’t get to dictate terms here, little girl.”
“Shut up,” the tall man snaps. He looks at me with hungry eyes. Something else is there too, just a flicker before he hides it away. Loneliness. Life truly is harsh in this vast wilderness. If he weren’t about to attempt to rape me, I might almost feel sorry for him.
