But there was no resistance from Harald. Indeed, she didn’t know if the young man cared if he lived or died. The bread and cheese she took out to the forge usually was only half-eaten, and he spent most of the three days sitting on the cot, staring off into space. In fact, she might have taken his vacant expression as a sign that he wasn’t quite right in the wits, if she hadn’t had the luck to engage him in conversation when they first met.
Bad luck for him, she thought, as she stumped along the muddy path that led from her cottage to the forge. The morning sun was bright, and puffy clouds dotted the sky, which was a deep, rich blue. She took a deep breath, fresh salt air from the bay filling her lungs.
Arriving at the smithy, she knocked twice, paused for the count of five, then opened
