I stayed awake long after Maddox made his bed on the cave floor, watching his painted chest rise and fall in sleep. I knew now why the tattooed warrior barely spoke to me at first. When the beast had hold of them, it was difficult for them to remember human speech. Now that we could talk freely, one question begat seven more.
Movement from the back of the cave made me jump, but it was only Ragnvald, ambling towards the fire as if he were a lord in his hall, not barefoot in the wild. He looked heartier.
“Can’t sleep?” he asked.
I shrugged.
“Moon’s out. Tomorrow it will be full.”
I hugged my knees tighter to my chest.
Ragnvald paused at the end of my bed and he brushed a hand over the pelts. “May I?”
I nodded. The bed was large enough to fit five men; it wouldn’t hurt to share a corne
