Page 52 of Tears of the Wolf
“Yes,” Cenric answered. “I have completed your errand and dealt with Nettles.”
“I have holes in the thatch that need to be fixed,” Aegifu said. “You might as well take care of it while you are here.”
Cenric gritted his teeth. “The time to mention that was this morning. Before we spend the whole of it chopping wood.”
“So, you will not do it?” Aegifu asked, a challenge in her voice.
“No.”
“Morgi told me last night that if you leave now, you will meet with a rockslide on the way home.”
Cenric cast the old woman a sardonic smile. “Well, she didn’t tell me.” Nettles’ body wasn’t stinking yet, thanks to the autumn chill, but it wouldn’t be long. They needed to get home, and Cenric needed to get back to his people. Not to mention his wife.
Morgi did also speak to his aunt, but Cenric doubted that the goddess would share something like that with Aegifu and not him. Aegifu could lie, after all.
Cenric and Kalen had to move slowly down the mountain paths. The pup went back to whining, but after the first hour, it finally quieted.
Cenric pulled his mantle closer around his shoulders against the chill autumn breeze. It was getting cold. That was yet another reminder of the coming snows.
They came into sight of the longhouse a few hours after noon. It made Cenric’s teeth grind to think of all the work he’d missed. Not to mention that his new wife had spent most her first day in Ombra without him.
He should have been there to introduce her and show her the village and surrounding farmland. He might still get to do that, but Gaitha and Edric had probably already started.
They reached the longhouse as the midday meal was being served to the household servants. They were just approaching the stables when the dogs began to bark and howl.
Ash, Thorn, and the rest came flocking around their horses, dog bodies wiggling and tails thrashing madly. Their thoughts were a chorus of excitement. Cenric and Kalen dismounted, a few of the stable boys coming to take their horses.
The older female, Ash, came close to the basket with the pup, sniffing with interest. Inside, the pup began whining again. One of the dogs barked and then all the animals were howling and barking in a rancorous chorus.
Cenric scooped up the basket with the pup while Kalen saw to their horses with the other boys.
“Lord!” someone shouted from the longhouse. “Lord, you’re back!”
Edric appeared at the doorway of the longhouse a moment later. “Cenric!” He greeted his lord and old friend with a hearty embrace, though the red-haired man was a full head shorter. “I was going to take a group of men to fetch you right after this meal.”
“There was no need to worry,” Cenric scoffed.
“That’s what I told Brynn, but she was worried.”
Cenric noticed Edric called her Brynn, with no title attached. Maybe he had grown more familiar with the new lady of Ombra. “Where is she?”
As if summoned, Brynn appeared in the doorway. Flour smeared the front of her dress, and her hair was drawn back in a kerchief, but those same stubborn strands of hair flew loose about her neck. From the look of her, she had been hard at work.
Cenric’s face broke into a smile before he thought about it. “Wife!”
Brynn came outside, followed by several of the house girls and Gaitha. “Cenric.” She kept her hands in front of her, neutral. Was that relief in her face? “I’m glad you’re back, lord.”
“Edric says you were concerned for me.”
Brynn glanced to the smaller man. “I was, lord. I’m glad you’re back safely.” She looked at the basket. “What’s in the basket?”
“Let me show you.” Cenric set the basket on the ground. He had to shoo back dogs as they crowded around. He reached inside and picked up the dyrehund pup by the scruff of the neck.
He held it toward Brynn, supporting its back legs. “The pup and its mother were eating goats in my aunt’s barn.”
Brynn’s eyes widened. “What happened to the mother?”
Cenric grimaced. “Nettles never recovered after my brother died.”
