11
Fern
I woke just after dark. After breaking bread with us, the warriors had gathered outside the lodge. They built a fire large enough to withstand the snow and stood under the eaves sharing a jug of mead. The rest of the lodge was quiet. Juliet wasn’t abed, but that was just as well. Of all the girls, she would guess why I’d gone. Better she not see me leave, so she knew nothing if the Berserkers questioned her.
Carrying only a sack of food and a few possessions, I snuck out the back. My boots were new and tied up my calves, oiled leather that would keep out the wet, but I still felt the cold when I stepped into the knee-high bank of snow. I hurried along the back path, making my way to the place where I left the bread for the banished warriors. For days now, I’d been tossing loaves
