Jack's Viking Sky 3

Shadow

by Mitch H 

Chapter 10 - Betrayal

Five months ago Daniel and Jack had been marooned on Nortvegr, and for the past two months Jack healed in the comfort of the Ram's Head Inn of Brooksmeet. Brynvold Halfdain and his Sky left Brooksmeet a week ago and that visit had left Jack and Daniel in a hopeful mood. They were determined to find the stargate and get home.

Daniel smiled to himself as he took the stairs up to the second floor two at a time. Jack was ensconced by the smaller fireplace downstairs in the great hall of the inn, listening to another tall tale. This was the third day in a row Jack felt strong enough to be carried down to the great hall for a short respite from his bedroom. He was rapidly getting to know the villagers of Brooksmeet, getting to like them too.

The cheerful sounds of the people drifted up the stairwell behind Daniel. Yes, definitely getting to like the people, and they liked Jack immensely. Daniel turned left, away from the smaller rooms at the rear of the inn toward the shadowy front hallway.

Jack looked so healthy today! There was a definite fullness to his cheeks now, and Daniel was so grateful to see it. They'd even taken a stroll outside this morning. About ten yards to the corner of the Ram's Head Inn where a small open-air market was held during the mornings when the wind died down. They'd had something approximating coffee at one of the stalls there, then Daniel and Tal had carried Jack back to the inn for a mid-day meal and for Jack to watch Daniel do a little scribing work.

Daniel tucked his veil back into the side of his bucca and pushed the front hem of the head covering back up his forehead as he hurried along the dark hall. The hall--with no windows in it--was dark day and night. Drafty always; it chilled his ears, so he hugged the bucca to his skin. This chill felt different though, more biting than usual. Could someone in one of the upper rooms have left a window open? But it wouldn't matter that much. Jack was healing so well that the curtains trapping moisture in their room had been removed last week, and Jarngerd had finally found a buyer for the cloth. The room would be warm enough for Jack tonight.

He let the thought go and hurried along past the two rooms that had stayed empty since he and Jack arrived; Odamari and Brynvold had never left Jack's bed, had never used the front room on this end of the hall that Brynvold had rented.

The extra quills Daniel needed were in a bundle on the table in Jack's room. He pulled the latch on the door, and hurried into the room. He hadn't locked the door. In fact they'd never used the key since arriving at the inn. No one would steal from a Highborn.

One step into the room Daniel came to an abrupt halt. He felt someone in the room with him, someone who'd been standing in the room behind the door. Before he could turn he felt a huge arm encircle his chest, squeezing him like a vice back against the body of the intruder. A hand pushed his head forward, knocking the bucca back over his face. The hand came down further and wrapped around his mouth. He heard the door being kicked shut, blocking out all but an occasional shout from the happy revelers in the great hall below.

Daniel yelled into the muffled hold, kicking and trying to wriggle free. The hold the big man had on him shifted. A rope was being wrapped around his throat. Daniel got his right hand free and grabbed at the rope, while delivering another sharp kick to the shins of the man struggling with him.

With ease, the man trapped Daniel's freed hand against his own throat, wrapping the rope around that wrist too. Daniel's own wrist aided in the choking hold on him. The rope was looped around his hand and pulled into a knot.

His air was half cut off by the tension, and adrenalin surged through Daniel, helping him redouble his frantic efforts to kick backward at the behemoth towering behind him. He stomped as hard as he could on the man's instep and felt his foot slide ineffectively off a heavy boot. Daniel tried to bang his head back, hoping to hit the man in the face but his attacker was tall. Even among the working caste men of Nortvegr, this man would stand out. The top of Daniel's head came to the lower part of the man's chest. With his right hand trapped against his own throat, Daniel jerked hard in a failed attempt to free his left.

Feeling rage at his helplessness, Daniel kept kicking. The man pushed him away, grabbing him by his left, untied wrist. The rope was wrapped around it and Daniel was pulled toward the bed.

"Have ye now, high. Have ye," Thaid's slurred voice hissed. "He wouldn't take Thaid's impart, wouldn't bless Thaid, the Sky one. So ye take it. Sleep with him, they say ye do. Then he'll get Thaid's seed and Thaid'll get the blessing."

A cold chill enveloped Daniel, flushing away his rage and replacing it with the clammy feel of fear. Thaid, the brain damaged giant of a man was his attacker. Feeling like his esophagus was being crushed, Daniel tried to sink to his knees to escape Thaid's grasp.

"Jack. They call ye, right?" Thaid asked. "Ye get to sleep with the Sky all nights. Not fair, Master Gunnlaug says."

Thaid thought he was Jack? Couldn't he tell the difference? Oh God! What if he did, and then went after Jack? His rough handling would kill Jack easily. A burst of laughter from the great hall below caught Daniel's attention. Jack was safe for the moment.

The rope around Daniel's neck jerked as Thaid dragged him by his left wrist to the bed. He gasped through the bruising crush of the rope, trying to form any sounds at all. He had to get Thaid to stop this attack. Thaid might kill him by accident.

With a powerful jerk, Thaid sent Daniel sprawling face-down on the middle of the tall bed he shared with Jack. The rope was then looped around the corner post and tied with a hitch knot. Daniel tried to get up, but Thaid knocked him flat with one cuff to the back of his head. Daniel's vision, already obscured by the bucca, danced and grew fuzzy.

The bedding shifted as Thaid knelt on it. He jerked Daniel's legs apart and tore at his robes, ripping the rough cloth easily. Thaid pushed the ripped material up around Daniel's shoulders.

"This one gives ye what the Sky refused," Thaid said, louder this time. He grabbed the linen trousers and jerked at the waistband, hurting Daniel's stomach as the material resisted, before it finally tore away. The underwear came away in tatters.

A strangled scream escaped Daniel's throat past the terrible pressure of the rope. He struggled, trying to crawl up the bed.

"Stay, high. Stay with Thaid." He jerked at Daniel's hips, easily lifting him half off the bed.

Face down, Daniel was stretched between the rope around his neck and wrists and the giant's hands digging into his hip bones. His right wrist was trapped against his throat and Daniel clenched that hand, trying to take the tension off his esophagus, trying to take the strain off his neck. He got a lung-full of air.

A bubble of panic burst in Daniel's throat as he felt the giant's cock push against him. Thaid was hard and slick with oil. He'd been prepared for this. He'd planned it. Daniel had not thought Thaid capable of this, the vile act, or the planning of it. But he thought he had captured Jack. If Daniel could knock the bucca off his hair, if Thaid saw he was preparing to rape a Sky caste, would he stop? Surely he would.

Thaid pushed forward, pushed the blunt tip of his cock harder against Daniel's opening.

"Ssss," the giant hissed. "Let Thaid in, bad high. Open. Open for Thaid."

The giant swatted him on the back of the head again and stars of pain circled Daniel's consciousness. He felt bile rise into his constricted throat. Thaid's casual swat felt like the blow from a sledge hammer.

Daniel bucked and felt the giant's fingers dig into his hips deeper. Despite the pain, he twisted to the left, feeling the bucca slip to the side a little. It was off his face now, but Thaid had him face-down. He wouldn't see Daniel's blue eyes. If he could get the bucca off further, Thaid would see the white veil, see his light hair. The room was well lit; the shutters were open.

"Take Thaid's offer. Nirrti says it," the big man insisted.

Suddenly the door opened. From under the draping edge of his bucca Daniel caught a fleeting glimpse of Gunnlaug entering. Gunnlaug, the dirty-minded bastard reminded Daniel too much of Kinsey.

"Got him, did ye? Tied up nice and tight, I see," Gunnlaug said, keeping his voice low as he closed the door firmly behind him. "And the blindfold too? Don't need him pointing me out later."

Gunnlaug knew! Gunnlaug knew what Thaid was doing in here? Daniel writhed under the giant.

"Thaid gives his seed to the high," the giant said to the new arrival.

"Fine, fine," Gunnlaug said gleefully. "But let me loosen him up for ye first. Ye be so big ye'll rip the Highborn. He'll not be able to take ye imparting then." Gunnlaug came to the bed and began unbuttoning his jerkin.

"Nay. Thaid imparts to the high," the giant insisted as he pushed forward, his cock missing the opening to Daniel's body and sliding down to plunge against the soft sack of his balls. Daniel gasped at the wracking pain.

"Fool. Say no names. He'll know ye then," the master miner exclaimed, too enthralled to notice Thaid had already said his name earlier.

Gunnlaug thought he was Jack. Jack wouldn't know the master miner's voice. Daniel's vision faded for a bit, but then he was able to focus and he saw Gunnlaug's crotch as the man leaned over him. Daniel tugged at the rope binding his left wrist.

"Off, Thaid. Get off him and let me fuck him."

"Nay. Imparting the high," Thaid insisted, his voice thickened with sexual arousal. He was humping against Daniel now, his slick cock still pressing into Daniel's nuts.

"Get off him, ye daft moron," Gunnlaug swore as he pushed at the giant. "I want to fuck him before his Sky caste comes up here looking for--"

The bed rocked violently as Thaid lurched forward, crushing Daniel beneath him. Thaid struck Gunnlaug. The room echoed with a sickeningly wet crunch.

As Thaid shifted again, rising off him and pulling his hips up again, Daniel saw Gunnlaug lying against the far wall, his neck at a terrible angle. Gunnlaug was dead. Fear blasted through him stealing away his last bit of breath. Daniel stopped struggling. Thaid had killed Gunnlaug with one quick blow.

He had to stop struggling. He had to or Thaid would kill him. Daniel was certain of that one fact. He fought his panic.

He felt the bulbous head of Thaid's cock at his opening again. Daniel clenched his teeth and tried to prepare himself for the invasion. All the times on Nortvegr that he'd taken the invasion of these huge men had not prepared him for this. On his back, facing them, there had been that human connection. He'd seen their reverence, their lust yes, but at the same time their iron control, their all-consuming desire to do the act with as little pain to Daniel as possible.

No such restrictions seemed to be working in Thaid. And he was huge. The head at Daniel's ass felt as big and hard as a balled fist, trying to punch into his guts. Thaid made another stab at it and managed to breach Daniel's opening. Even this fraction of an entry was overwhelmingly painful. Daniel's throat burned as he screamed.

Thaid hunched over him, wrapping a hand across his mouth, now only supporting Daniel by one hand digging into his hip. He pushed his hips forward, driving more of that fist-sized cock head into Daniel's body.

Daniel cried out against the hand muffling his anguish. His heart felt like it was going to burst from the pain. Thaid invaded him more. The huge man's cock head was half in him. Then he heard Thaid groan out in lust. The man's body tensed against Daniel.

Pain, sharp and jagged burst up Daniel's spine. He felt the giant flex, then thrust, and the entire cock head was shoved in him.

Daniel hung from the rope around his wrists and neck, from Thaid's grip on his hip, and now, from the head of the cock impaled in his body. He convulsed with pain, his eyes briefly rolling back in his head.

A high pitched scream shattered across Daniel's awareness. It sounded like a child. He realized the door was open again and Daniel saw a tilted image, a surreal flash of Asny standing there. She screamed again, then ran down the hall leaving the door open.

The man on him thrust deeper and Daniel's eyes rolled back into his head again.

Asny burst into the great hall of the inn, her high pitched, wordless scream shattering across the boisterous tone of the story teller, and the merry laughter of the men gathered. A sea of faces turned toward her.

"S-sky! H-help!" she screamed, pointing back up the stairs. "Thaid ... hurting him!"

Her hysteria, her naked fear, shot through the souls of the men and women in the room.

"Daniel?" Jack shouted as he pushed himself from his chair.

Steins fell to the floor as men clambered past the screaming girl and up the stairs. The Sky caste was in need.

Adrenaline flooded through Jack as he crossed the room. At the base of the stairs he hit the floor before he realized his legs were giving way. He looked up, seeing three men ahead of him turn from the top step and run down the hall.

Jack was scooped up, an arm under each of his and carried up the steps.

Upstairs in the room Daniel felt Thaid rock into him, the giant's cock getting no deeper than the head. Daniel heard more screams from Asny, then shouts of male voices from downstairs in the pub. Thaid fucked forward hard, and Daniel lost focus on anything but the all-consuming pain the giant was causing him.

Men. The shouts of men filled his head. Daniel tried to open his eyes again.

"Odin!" the shout rang out repeatedly, echoed and built on by one after the other of the men who poured into the room where Thaid held Daniel on the bed. The shocked cry became a crescendo of horror as more men saw the blasphemy before them.

Hands pulled at Thaid, fists smashed into him and arms encircled his neck, pulling him from the body he was defiling. He was jerked away so hard and fast that his grip on his prisoner snapped free, jerking Daniel hard against the rope around his neck.

Consciousness left Daniel and he fell bonelessly to the bed.

Nortvegr men, brawny, strong and muscular, battled the brain damaged giant to the floor. Thaid screeched at them, swinging his meaty fists, striking, breaking bones with his adrenaline fueled blows.

"Mine to impart!" Thaid shouted. "Before his Sky comes for him, Thaid must finish!"

Across the room, Ulfrik knelt by the bed. His eyes were wide with horror. "He be without air! The rope!" Ulfrik glanced around for a woman, but saw only the brawling men. He wasted no more time and pulled out his prized knife, the one his beloved wife had given him with coin she'd earned from Daniel. Ulfrik sliced the rope between Daniel's left wrist and the bed. With his bare hand, he touched Daniel's cheek and pushed his head to the right. He slipped his knifepoint under the rope. He cut it quickly, nicking Daniel's skin as he did so. Then he tugged the rope away and straightened out Daniel's neck. Ulfrik sank back on his haunches, staring at the drops of Sky caste blood on his fingers. He looked up at Daniel, assuring himself the Sky was breathing clearly now.

The battle with the giant raged as two more people shoved their way into the room.

Tal squeezed through the knot of new arrivals at the door and jumped into the fray. Standing with one foot on Thaid's chest, and another on one of his attacker's stomachs, she swung an iron skillet high, then smashed it into Thaid's right temple. Instantly, his body went limp. It took a moment for the men on him to realize he'd ceased struggling against them.

The room fell into deadly silence. The men carrying Jack arrived at the doorway and all eyes turned to Daniel's still form with Ulfrik hunched in shock by him.

"Daniel!" Jack called, frantic to get to him. He struggled, trying to escape the help of the men who supported him, but his feet weren't even on the ground. They carried him, stepping over two who'd been injured in the battle with Thaid, and they seated Jack on the bed by Daniel's hip.

"Daniel?" Jack said, just as frantic as he had been the moment Asny had burst into the pub screaming for help. He touched Daniel's chest and felt him breathing. Gently Jack pushed Daniel over the rest of the way onto his back. The bucca and the thin, white veil under it fell away, revealing his face, more pale than ever, and revealing his sun-bleached hair that neither Thaid nor Gunnlaug had seen.

"Danny?" Jack felt for his pulse, found it, strong and steady, but kept the fingers of his left hand there. He smoothed Daniel's robe down over his half-naked body, too aware that some behind him had seen Daniel completely naked before. There was blood on the bed by Daniel's hip, and blood on a cut on Daniel's reddening neck. The rope, now severed and laying on the bed, had left horrible purpling marks on him.

Jack scooted up the bed and pushed one of Daniel's eyelids open. The pupil contracted. He checked the other eye and got the same response. His pulse was steady.

"Tal," Jack called. "Water. Wet a cloth with cold water and bring it to me," he said, not bothering to look and see if she was obeying.

Tal dropped the skillet to clang on the floor by the knot of men and fetched what Jack asked for. As she moved to the bed, injured men rose slowly to their feet. It took several of them to lift Thaid's unconscious body and carry him out.

Ulfrik rose and, holding his blood-stained hands before him, walked silently from the room. His prized knife lay on the floor behind him. Ulfrik walked as if he felt the weight of death on his chest.

Gunnlaug's lifeless body was hoisted over the shoulder of one of those who'd battled Thaid and carried out of the room where the master miner had died so unceremoniously.

"Water, now," Jack said as Tal handed him the wet cloth. "A cup," he clarified. The cloth was pressed to Daniel's forehead, then pushed under his neck. "Danny?" Jack called, forcing calmness into his voice.

"Highborn," Tal whispered, her voice shaking and weak. The adrenalin that had given her the strength and bravery to wade into the battle of the big men still coursed through her veins. Her hands shook as she held the ceramic mug out to Jack.

As Jack looked up to take it he caught sight of the innkeeper at the door. He was shoving Asny inside. The little girl was being silently hysterical.

"Here, Highborn. To help," the man explained.

Asny was frozen in terror. Jack turned back to Daniel. "Let Asny go back downstairs. Tal is helping me."

"Another w-woman to ... " Tal started to say, but her voice failed her.

"Jarngerd be downstairs. She'll come up to help," the innkeeper said, and didn't wait for a reply. He pulled the nearly catatonic Asny from the room. The child stumbled and the man picked her up, tucking her under his arm like a sack of grain.

"Highborn," Tal whispered. "There," she said, pointing to the blood that came from where the giant had raped Daniel. "He dies?"

"Let me ... see." Jack gritted his teeth as he began running his hands down Daniel, checking for breaks, checking for any sign of heat or swelling.

"He could have internal injuries. Thaid doesn't know his own strength."

"Thaid knows nothing any more," Tal whispered.

Jack spared her a quick glance, then turned back to Daniel. "He's torn. The blood seems to be stopping on its own, though. I don't think Thaid got in him very far. Danny?" he said, insistently. "Danny?"

"He doesn't die?" Tal asked.

"No. I think he'll be alright."

Somehow the sunlight streaming in through the thick panes of glass seemed wrong to Jack. Daniel lay in their bed, bloody, half stripped and unconscious, and somehow the warm, cheerful sunlight made it seem unreal.

This act was one for darkness, for dank dungeons, or gloomy back alleys in noisy cities. It didn't fit with their comfortable room, their bright place of solitude where Jack had done so much healing.

"Tal, a healer. Surely there's someone around here, someone who sets broken bones? I know you people don't get diseases but there's gotta be someone who stitches the deep cuts? We have coins."

"Aye, Highborn. The old wise woman. Her and the two who apprentice to her. Her daughter, she be not in the village today I don't think. One or the other'll be brought here right quick. I'll go looking, send up Ulfrik's woman if ye can accept her help? Ye be weak, Highborn."

"I don't need reminding of that," he snapped. "I know how weak and useless I am every time I try to draw a deep breath. Go. Just go. Get the old woman."

Tal ducked her head, seeming to shrink some of her tall frame down as she hurried to the door.

"And don't send up Ulfrik's wife," he shouted at her. As the door closed he turned back to Daniel. "I can take care of him myself. I can clean up his blood. Oh, Danny."

Several minutes later, Jack had cleaned Daniel, had inspected what he could and found a tear that was still seeping a little blood. He didn't push anything against it. Nothing in this place would be sterile enough. Better to let the blood dry and seal the wound, what of it there was outside Daniel's body. The tear that went up in him, that would seal on its own. Jack did know what to do, he just didn't have the right medical supplies.

He could have bought exactly what he needed at any corner pharmacy in Colorado, which was a galaxy away, for all he knew. So he did what he could, rolled Daniel onto his side into the recovery position, got him as comfortable as possible.

There was a lump on the back of his head and Jack feared Daniel might have a concussion. He'd been hit hard, and despite using the cold, wet towel and calling his name, he couldn't rouse Daniel. He checked his pupil response again and found both eyes equally responsive to light.

The rope burns around his neck and wrists were nasty. The giant had put a lot of pressure on him. Daniel might not regain consciousness for a long time. Jack pulled Daniel's boots off and checked his reflexes by running his thumbnail up his arches. Daniel's toes curled and Jack sighed heavily in relief.

The small knock at the door startled him. His leg muscles screamed with the strain of making it across the room. "Back with the medicine woman?" he asked as he reached for the door knob.

Tal was on the other side, a small, wrinkled woman at her side. "Wise woman, Highborn. Come to offer what she can."

"You want coins first?" Jack snapped.

"Nay," Tal answered softly for the woman.

"Nay," the old woman said more assertively. "Village pays. Sky be hurt? Truth as she told," the old woman said as she peered past Jack. "Him this one comes to see, not ye, Highborn. Move."

Jack backed away in surprise as the old woman came in. She carried a large satchel clutched to her chest, its sides, a soft carpet. The handles were well-worn leather straps.

"Sky," she said, as if uttering a prayer. She stood at the side of the bed, gazing down.

She was the same height as he was, Jack realized. Stooped with great age, the old woman was barely over six feet tall, short among her people indeed. She was dressed in a long, black skirt and wore a dark shawl over a brown blouse. Her hair hung in long, gray braids that reached past the small of her back.

"He's ... " Jack turned back to Tal and shooed her from the room. She was crying silently when she left. Then he tried to explain again. "He's ... "

"Bad, the girl said. Bad what happened here today. Council be called." The old woman set her bag on the bed and opened it. She removed a parcel and began unwrapping it. "Him, the Sky, he had blood, she said. He had rope on his neck, she said. Rope on his wrist, she said. No air, and blood from his body, she said. Can't happen to a Sky. Never. Except aye, it did once, long ago. Far from here."

She pulled a bag of powder from the parcel and used it to wash her hands in the water basin on the table. "Not so old as I don't remember then. Them, all too young to remember. Sky, they all be human too. Ye know that. I tell ye nothing new."

"Yes. He's human." Jack watched her. "You understand about germs? What's that you're washing your hands with? You folks don't get viruses, I know that, but you know about bacteria? How a wound needs to be cleaned to heal well?"

"The powder to kill the little sprites. Make all Highborn sick. But seldom make us normal size folk feel bad. Still, ye think I'm not knowing about the little sprites? I know well enough. Clean. Boil water. Boil the bandage. Clean the wounds before sewing up. Boil the catgut before sewing. Boil the needle too. Makes for pretty scars that way. Not big. Not angry. Some men, they want 'em angry. Show they be tough."

"Daniel doesn't need scars in order to be tough."

"Skys don't be tough." She nodded her head to assert her point. Then she finished unwrapping the parcel, bringing out bandages, needles and the catgut she'd mentioned earlier.

"I don't think there'll be anything to stitch," Jack said hastily. Maybe bringing her in here was a bad idea. "I wanted to know if you have any antibiotic ointment."

She squinted at him.

"Something to kill the little sprites," he said reluctantly, "until he heals on his own."

"Aye. Mind if I see the injuries, Highborn? Ye grant the right to touch what belongs to ye?"

Jack drew a deep breath, then nodded. He hovered anxiously as she examined Daniel's wrist, throat, chest and then, lower down. She removed the torn remnants of his clothing. Jack went to the other side of the bed and sat, watching her closely, and trying to ignore his exhausted state. He was shaking almost to the point of losing control of his body.

She was silent, and efficient, examining the back of his head, looking closely at the bruises appearing across his chest and hips. She poked and prodded, feeling the bones beneath each darkening patch. There were marks encircling Daniel's upper arms, fingerprints from immense hands that wrapped all the way around, and matching fingerprints bruised into the hollows of his hips. She draped a sterilized cloth over Daniel's abused orifice, then sprinkled the powder on the cloth and poured water from a small glass bottle on it to let it soak down onto his skin. "Clean as we can get him now. Do this again a few times. Three, four. The Sky will wake on his own. When the gods deem it time."

"I think he was choked pretty bad."

"Aye. Rope mark says so here," she said, touching Daniel's throat. "Blood from a knife cut?"

"I don't know. Oh, yes. Someone cut him free of the rope. They might have cut him a little."

"Blood on 'em?" she asked sharply.

"I don't know."

She shook her head, making tisking noises. "Shame. Still, an honor to help the Sky. An honorable way to die." She removed the remnants of Daniel's tattered cloak and shirt.

"Daniel's not going to die," Jack said angrily.

"Not the Sky. Nay, Highborn. Do not be angry at this old one. She means no harm. No harm. The Sky, he'll not die, just as ye say."

"Then what the fuck ... What were you talking about?" he asked, fighting with his own anger and frustration.

"The one who cut the Sky. He be dead by now, most likely."

"Why? Daniel's blood isn't poisonous."

"Fate, Highborn."

"That makes no sense. Just because he might have ... " Suddenly Jack felt very dizzy. He grabbed at the poster at the foot of the bed and tottered around it to the door. "Tal! Tal!" he shouted as he threw the door open.

Asny sat in a miserable heap, her face pressed to the floor. She jumped to her feet, tears streaming continuously down her now-dirty face.

"Go get Tal, Asny. Go!" he shouted, and before he could draw another breath the child was fleeing down the hall.

The inn felt eerily silent. He'd never felt total stillness in this building before, day or night. Jack looked back over his shoulder to check on the old woman. She was draping another, larger sterile cloth over Daniel's hips. She had another around his neck.

"Ice, some from the cold lock under the inn," the old woman muttered as she worked on Daniel.

"Highborn Jack?" Tal called frantically as she raced down the hall to him.

Jack held onto the door and the jamb as he turned back to her. "The man who cut the rope off Daniel, Ulfrik?"

"Ulfrik, Highborn? Him? He says his farewells now."

"Fucking hell! Get him up here. Right now! And alive, damn it!"

He didn't wait to see if she moved fast enough to suit him. Today, nothing was going to suit Jack. Nothing. As he leaned against the door he saw light glint off a knife on the floor by the bed. Ulfrik's knife, probably. Or one someone tried to use on Thaid.

Jack felt his knees buckling. He sank to the floor and winced at the pain in his hips and tailbone.

Ulfrik was being pushed down the hall by Tal. The gentle weaver was weeping audibly.

"High ... " he started as Tal let go of him. Ulfrik dropped to his knees by Jack. "High ... " he tried again.

"You helped save Daniel's life," Jack said. "If you hadn't cut the rope off him when you did, he might be dead now. You know that?"

"Aye," Ulfrik said, ducking his head.

"I wanted to say thanks. I want to make sure you're okay with what you did, not gonna go do something stupid just because Daniel was bleeding when you got through helping him."

"Aye," Ulfrik said, still holding the same posture.

"You aren't really hearing me, are you?" Jack asked, feeling more dizzy by the second. He had to get this man to understand him before he blacked out.

"Aye," Ulfrik answered.

"Ulfrik, when Daniel wakes up he's going to want to talk to you. Understand? You owe him that much. You have to be here, to let him see you and talk to you, understand?"

"Nay, this one doesn't understand, Highborn. None of it."

Jack felt more lightheaded. "Daniel requires-- The Sky caste requires, that you be here, alive and well when he wakes up. You understand that? Tal, you make sure, make sure he's alive and well when Daniel wakes up. Understood?"

Tal interjected, "Highborn Jack, Ulfrik follows the Nortvegr--"

"Daniel-- The Sky caste requires, he ... he has decreed that Ulfrik be alive and well. He's indebted to Ulfrik. It would be charity if Ulfrik were allowed to die, understood? Charity to the Sky caste?"

Tal blinked and looked from Jack seated on the floor to Daniel unconscious on the bed. "Indebted?"

"Yes!" Jack said, his patience gone. "That's his way. You honor him, right? He's the whole damned Nortvegr, isn't he?"

"Aye. If he says there be an indebtedness, then it would be charity for Ulfrik to die before it can be repaid."

"Fine. Then that's settled. Get out. Both of you."

"Aye. But Highborn, there was no indebtedness to him that be already gone, was there?" she asked in a harsh whisper.

"Who?" Jack asked, his vision beginning to black out.

"The one whose name be not spoken again. The one who hurt the Sky."

"The big guy? No. No," Jack said. Then he leaned his head against the wall and blacked out.

The first thing Jack felt when he woke up was the softness of the bed under his ass. He had no padding yet, no muscle mass, and sinking to the hard floor by the door had hurt him. "Daniel?" he called as he opened his eyes.

"Highborn Jack," Asny said, her voice squeaking like a little mouse.

With an effort, Jack pushed himself up onto one elbow. "Daniel's asleep?" he asked, seeing the man curled by his side.

Asny had been seated on the floor by the door. She rose quickly and tiptoed over to Jack's side of the bed. "Sleeps," she whispered, still managing to sound like a mouse-girl. "Cold ice on his neck, old woman says."

"Water. Please," he mumbled.

She was back quickly with one of the fired-clay cups he preferred. They were not glazed, so water seeped through them over time. But they didn't add a metallic taste to the liquid as the steins did. Usually, Jack shook too much to keep a good grip on one of the few real glasses Daniel had managed to scrounge up.

Asny held the cup, helping him support it to his lips. She was a child, he knew that, with the soft, round features and full cheeks of a young girl. But she was easily five feet tall. On Earth she'd be mistaken for a young teenager. By the age reckoning of the working caste, she was barely ten years old.

She supported Jack effortlessly. He felt his back muscles, the scraps and strings he had left, give way. He collapsed into her arms and she laid him down gently.

"Sleep too?" she asked.

"No. I need to tend to Daniel. The old woman left some powder here, right?"

"Aye. Medicine for the Sky."

"Asny, are you all right?" he asked, flat on his back, his eyes closed.

"Aye. Asny be fine, Highborn. Asny be fine." Her voice was trembling, belying the strength of her words.

"You did good today," he assured her. "You did good."

"Aye. Tal, she says so. Master, he says so."

"Okay, can you help me get up?"

"Highborn, the Sky would want ye to rest. He tells me make Highborn Jack rest."

"Did he wake up while I was asleep?"

"Nay. Need ye to touch the Sky?"

"Yes. So help me up," he said, a little impatiently.

"Aye," she replied, putting an end to her very unusual chattering.

The first thing Jack checked was Daniel's pulse. It was still strong and steady. Then he checked his pupils.

"Daniel?" he called softly as he shook the man.

"Mmm," Daniel groaned a painful protest, but didn't open his eyes.

There was a wad of wet toweling on his neck. It was wrapped around a chunk of ice. Jack put it back. Then he rolled Daniel onto his stomach and used the powder, hopefully killing whatever harmful sprites were lurking around. He imagined them, winged, nasty little beings with pointy ears, flitting off Daniel and screeching in fright as they flew up the chimney.

He soaked the toweling the old woman had slid under Daniel. Asny helped exchange it for a clean one, then had to catch Jack as he collapsed by the bed.

"Sorry," he mumbled to the child as she easily hoisted him up and supported him as he got back in bed. "Cover Daniel up."

"Old woman comes back now," Asny said.

"How do you know?" Jack said, flat on his back again, his eyes closed against the throbbing in his temples.

"Hear her. The door needs opening," Asny said, and was gone from his side.

" ... might be soon, child. Sky might wake soon," the old woman said, her voice scratchy but strong.

Jack rolled his head away from the light of the candle she held to examine Daniel. The shutters were closed but he could tell it was night out.

"Don't let the ice melt all gone. Get new when ye see it grow small. Ye master gives all ice the Sky needs. Poor man. Dark deed under his own roof. Nasty, dark deed. He'll pay more'n he can, he will. His roof."

"Ice," Asny said, sniffling as she spoke. "Sore afraid. Don't leave me here alone. The Highborn Jack be angry. He might kill me. Then who'd change the ice? Someone to stay, please old woman. Someone to change the ice should he kill me."

"Child, he'll not. This one, Highborn Jack, he be an honest man. Ye saved his love, ye did--"

"Nay. Just come in when I heard the noise. Better if I'd stayed here in the room to tend the fire all day. No other chores are more important than tending the Sky's love. None. Should have been here."

"Him, he say ye do wrong?" the old woman asked.

"Nay," Asny said reluctantly.

"He say ye do right?"

"Aye," Asny said slowly.

"Then that be all of it, child. He has spoken. The Highborn do things that way. Say it, leave it, they do. And won't let the weaver slit his own throat yet. I wager he'll make the weaver live too. Wants it, wills it. The Highborn find a way to make things happen good. Sky, he done something here awful good. Good for the orphans. Good for the whole of Brooksmeet. Then we repay him this way. Dark, nasty deed." She tisked. "Might be the whole village never survive this curse."

Jack swallowed, feeling a dry pull in his throat. Asny must have been watching him and seen the slight movement.

"Water, Highborn Jack. Please, drink. The Sky tells me, make Highborn Jack drink. Please," she said with a little sobbing hitch to her voice.

"Asny," Jack said, his voice croaking and dry. He sat up and leaned on one elbow. She held the cup for him and he took a sip. "It seems like you do a lot for Daniel. Make Jack rest. Make Jack drink water. Will you promise to do something for me?"

"Aye, of course," she gushed.

"Okay. I want you to stop worrying. I'm not angry with you." He scooted to sit leaning against the headboard, a pillow behind his lower back. Jack ran his hands over Daniel's hair. "I'm angry at what happened to Daniel. I'm angry about him being hurt. But that wasn't your fault. Not at all. Understand?"

"Aye. Say it, leave it." She nodded, but her lower lip was trembling.

Jack put his arms under Daniel and tried to pull him into his lap. He felt an absurdly strong need to hold him and rock him. Asny climbed on the bed and helped him. The old woman helped too, turning Daniel so he was resting between Jack's spread legs, his back slumped against Jack's chest.

Jack kissed Daniel's cheek and smoothed his long hair back. "Asny, where's Tal? Where's the innkeeper? I want to ask him some questions. How did Thaid get in here?" Jack continued to brush fingers through Daniel's hair. Asny ran from the room, probably to get the people he asked about.

Jack studied Daniel's placid face, and watched as the old woman repositioned the ice pack on the purple marks coloring his neck. He looked pale.

"Danny?" he said as he stroked the man's arm lightly.

"Sleeps. Eyes fluttered once," the old woman said. "Good sign. Doesn't sleep too deep."

"Okay. I guess that means he's not in a coma?" Jack asked, his voice flat.

"Coma?" the old woman said as she eyed him hard.

"Never mind."

Tal came through the open door, followed by the innkeeper. The paunchy man dropped his gaze to the floor and only then did Jack realize Daniel was unveiled. He glared at the man, then pulled the sheet up higher over Daniel's naked, bruised chest.

"Tal, I want to find out what happened. How did Thaid get in here?"

"No one knows, Highborn. No one alive. Perhaps the master miner knew. Seems he was in Thaid's way. Got himself killed, he did."

"The master miner? That old bastard, Gunnlap?"

"Gunnlaug, Highborn. Dead. Was using a room down the other end there," she said pointing behind her. "Brought his entertainment for the evening with him. Then he ends up here, dead." She pointed at the corner where Gunnlaug's lifeless body had been found.

"Thaid killed him?" Jack asked as he looked at the spot. There was no sign of violence in the room now, of course.

"Must be. Neck broke."

"All right," Jack said. "Then what do you intend to do about Thaid?" he asked the innkeeper.

"Ye. He speaks to ye." Tal elbowed the man.

"Do? Highborn, here inland we burn the dead that dies honorably. The one whose name will not again be spoken, he--"

"Dead?" Jack interrupted him. "Thaid's dead?"

"Aye," Tal said. She blinked as she stared at Jack.

"I didn't realize," Jack said slowly, as he shifted his hold on Daniel. He really wasn't supporting Daniel's weight, but it felt good to have him in his arms. The old woman leaned over him, checking to make sure the ice hadn't been dislodged.

"And Gunnlaug too. So did anyone see either of them come in here? Anybody hear anything? Anybody besides Asny?"

"Nay. None that we know of, Highborn."

"Okay. Go on. Bury them or whatever you do. Leave us alone."

Tal and the innkeeper backed out of the room, curtseying at the door before they left.

"Me too?" Asny asked.

"Yeah, for a little while," Jack said. "Go get something to eat, or sleep or something. You can come back later."

Asny bowed her head and left. Then the old woman crept into Jack's line of sight. "What do ye need, Highborn? Ye seem at such a loss, not knowing things ye should know."

"Yeah. You got that right. Come back later tonight, okay? I'll pay you then. Coins," Jack said.

"Nay. Village owes the Sky its all."

He didn't bother to puzzle over her words. He didn't care. She shut the door and Jack laid his hand on Daniel's cheek.

"Daniel? I'll call you honey until hell freezes over if you'll just open your eyes. Daniel?"

He got a moan and a slight head shake out of his lover and Jack felt elated. "You gonna wake up for me? I promise not to call you dumpling, even on your birthday. It's honey forever. Daniel?"

"Mm Ja-- Jack?" Daniel said, his voice painful. He was squinting.

"You need some water. Of course. Water." Jack leaned over and got the ceramic cup Asny had left for him. He held it to Daniel's lips, shaking water out of the rim as he did so. "Sorry. Shouldn't have sent the pint-size helper away I guess. Just wanted you all to myself for a while."

Daniel sipped at the water, and winced as he swallowed. "Hurts," he said, his eyes still screwed shut.

"Yeah. Bet it does. You got a hell of a bruise across your throat."

"That big ... Jack, that ... big ... "

"Don't worry about him. He's not here anymore."

"Bastard ... killed ... bastard."

"No need. I think it's already been done." Jack said as he took the empty cup and set it on the bed beside his hip. He brushed Daniel's hair back again.

"Thaid killed ..." Daniel's voice drifted off.

"Thaid killed the bastard?" Jack prompted Daniel, but got no response. Daniel was asleep in his arms. Rapidly Jack's legs fell asleep too and he longed to call out for Asny, or Tal, or the old woman to come back and help him reposition Daniel in the bed. Instead he held himself still and kissed Daniel's temple. As his own head sagged back against the headboard there was a scratching at the door.

"Come in, Asny," Jack called.

Together they got Daniel back on the bed, straightened out and draped with the pack of ice. He slept a very long time.

Jack mused over what Daniel had said. Was he calling Thaid a bastard? It sounded more like he'd said Thaid killed a bastard. The only one Thaid had killed was the miner, Jack thought. Or had one of the men who'd pulled him off also died? Jack realized he hadn't even asked if anyone else was hurt in the fight. He hadn't even asked Tal how she was. She'd just killed a man, killed him with her own hands.

"Go get Tal," Jack said, this time managing to keep his voice soft as he spoke to Asny. "And stay downstairs and have some dinner, then come back up here."

"No food, Highborn Jack. No. Please let me stay here."

"We'll compromise. Get Tal, get yourself a plate of food, and then come eat it out there in the hall where the weavers usually sleep."

"Aye. Share the space with them," Asny said with a nod.

As she left the room Jack leaned forward and peered into the dark hall. He saw people kneeling, their faces pressed to the floor. "Who's out there?" he called.

Asny darted back in the room. "Any that ye wish, Highborn Jack. Weaver servants. Council. Fighters for ye too. Which do ye need?"

"Just Tal. Is she out there?"

"Comes," Asny said and stepped aside for the wench. Then she closed the door.

Jack scooted to the edge of the bed and steadied himself with a grip on the tall poster. "Tal, I'm sorry you had to be the one to kill that man, Thaid. It's never an easy thing to do."

"Not me, Highborn. Brooksmeet. Council did. He never woke. Done it right quick. We follow the Nortvegr."

"The council?"

"Aye. Right quick. Never opened his eyes. Best for him not to know what was coming, or that it was the Sky he touched. Wouldn't have helped no one for him to know."

"My God," Jack swore. "They executed him? How the hell could they do that? For rape? Or ... for killing the master miner. Yeah. I forgot about that."

"For touching the Sky. The rest, what he done ... to force an imparting, there be no punishment. None beyond touching be necessary, ye know this, Highborn."

"I don't understand." Jack felt his frustration growing again.

"How can ye not? For touching the Sky as he did. Force. He loses his life. That was done. The other, the ... . trying to ... an imparting ... for that there be nothing for the man. The village now be cursed for that. His family loses his lineage. If there were sons and daughters, they'd die also. But for the man, nothing beyond his life. Other matters ye'd be seeing the council for. Them that has what the curse done."

"What curse?" His frustration gave way to his anger.

"This one does not understand, Highborn," Tal said, sounding anxious. She dropped to her knees and pressed her face to the floor. "The curse."

"Yeah, that's what I said," he snapped at her.

There was a rapping at the door, not Asny's usual scratching sound.

"Who is it!" Jack demanded. "No men!" He was surprised when Asny stuck her head around the door.

"Old woman comes," she said meekly.

Jack frowned. He'd scared the kid again and felt angry at himself for doing so. Maybe he should have Asny come back in. As hard as she was to talk to, he'd probably get better answers out of her. But he only motioned for her to send the old woman in anyway.

"Go, Tal. Let the medicine woman tend to Daniel. Go on." He shooed her out of the room.

Just as she had the first time she'd come in, the old woman toted her bag, which looked too heavy for her frail figure. She stopped by the bed and stared at Daniel, again, as if to make sure he was real.

"Go ahead," Jack prompted her. "Check him out."

"Will, just so, Highborn. But ye too. This time, ye too. Been powerfully sick, they say. Not knowing things ye should. And now, seems ye are again. Shock, some say. Happens to the Highborn, them being delicate little things and all."

Jack pursed his lips and looked up at her. Then he realized she was squinting suspiciously at him. What would happen now if she began to suspect he wasn't one of their precious Highborn? Or that Daniel was an imposter Sky caste? Things were rapidly going from disastrous to really ... not good.

"I was very sick for a long time. Highborn sickness," Jack said. "Venom that was full of a digestive enzyme, like a type of spider we have back home. Digests a guy's muscles until they're jelly. Later, spider sucks the jelly out, or in my case, I piss the protein from my body out, till the enzyme dissipates. But," he paused and took a breath, "I'm well now."

She shook her head, clearly doubting his word. "Them that don't understand the ways of the Highborn, they get scared easy. Think they know the Highborn. Think they know all because we come from the Highborn. But our goddess Nirrti, she had strange ways, it be written. Glowing eyes that saw all, as a goddess should. And she lay with Highborn men, mortal men, as a goddess should not. Know this, I do. Know that ye don't remember what maybe ye'll never know again."

"I have no idea what you're saying, either. Are you going to look at Daniel?"

"That be one thing ye act as if ye never knew. Them all, they think, fine, he says the name. His Sky allows it. Strange, they know, and forgive ye for it every time, as the Sky seems to think it be ye right, being near to death sick and all. But it be not the Highborn way. Say not his name to such as them. It be as foul as fucking him naked in the street, understand?"

Jack flinched back, shocked at the dirty image she put in his mind.

"And there, ye face now shows another. Fucking a Sky be not as foul as it be for the same to be done to that child, Asny. That would be a wrong. But for a Sky, it be duty. Fucking. And ye see it not that way. Then ye let him be seen, unveiled, by the innkeeper this very night. The Sky asleep and ye let a man see him. Testing, they say. But they be not right, eh, Highborn?"

She stepped closer and whispered, her voice ominous and dark, "Ye know not the Nortvegr. Ye follow not the Nortvegr."

"I just forgot. I was in shock. I was upset over Daniel--"

"Ach!" she interrupted him. "Foul. For this old woman knows ye say his name not out of sickness! Filthy."

Anger burned Jack's cheeks to a deep red. He felt weak and dizzy again and hated himself for it. "Desire. Desire! My desire!"

"Sky," she challenged. "No veil. Sky. Put it on him."

Jack glared at her, then looked around for the scrap of fabric Daniel hated so much. He snatched it up from the shelf by the bed, winding himself with the too rapid movement. He grabbed at the bed and took a slow, deep breath. Then he draped the cloth over Daniel's upper face, just barely down to his eyelids, the beads resting on his pale cheeks and across his nose. He didn't tie it or tuck it in place.

"There," he said, keeping his back to her.

"Aye. Highborn, now. Desire be only for when ye speak to him or others of ye kind. Sky the same, when ye speak to him or other Highborn. To us, ye say only Highborn, unless ye wish to warn us off, have us take note, or the veil be off, then it be Sky, ye say to us.

"Ye've heard how we call him. Listen and go back to the Nortvegr, Highborn Jack."

Jack clamped his lips and studied Daniel's still form. Then he turned back to glare at the woman, but found himself sinking onto the bed. His legs were done for the day. She rushed forward and caught at him, helping him to ease back beside his lover.

"Aye. Done well, Highborn. Much to relearn if ye wish to make the best of the blessing he has given this village, these people. The blessing has been taken from them now, against his will. I know also, he would not want it. Watched him, this old woman has. Sit in the great hall, drink, listen, watch. The people here are blessed. And him, he be like ... " her voice faded softly as she studied Daniel. Then she turned back to Jack.

"I say true. Ye Highborn mate be like a miracle. If there were a prophecy of a god to come walking among us, it would be me thinking that time has come, and him descended from the heavens. Treats men and women as a Highborn's equal. Justice. Fair, not only in trade but in treating men one to the other. He insists. Blessed all the orphan children of the village, and saved starving ones with swollen bellies. Saved a child from ruination. Saved an old man's life, one not long for the world at his own hand. Ye blessed mate, him gifted the man with a will to live. How many? How many souls has ye beautiful mate given new time on this, Odin's world? Yon weaver couple starving to death, eating dirt and maggots until he come. Ye must know these things. Ye must know, where he goes, comes the gentle weather, the flocks grow fatter'n ever before. Wool thicker, coal more a plenty, forest trees fall easier to the woodsman's axe. Folks feel it, Highborn Jack. They feel the blessing of having the Sky among them."

She squinted and peered intently at him. "Count the glory stars, this old woman says, count the glory stars on his crown. More than Nirrti herself. More.

"And the hearing of that, shows again, ye know not the Nortvegr. Ye do not call for my death. I place him, a mortal man above the goddess, Nirrti and ye do not demand my head. Highborn Jack, ye follow not the Nortvegr."

"You're just confusing me. Back off, old woman, or I will call for your death if you endanger Dan-- my desire. I mean, my mate, the Highborn."

She cackled at him, her scraggly line of teeth glinting in the flickering glow of the candles. "The Highborn be safe from me. Be he safe from ye addled head? Best see to it. Leave off calling him naught but Highborn or Sky when my kind are about." Again she leaned close and whispered. "Follow the Nortvegr."

"Okay, you're right. I don't know. Da-- He, my mate, he took care of things like that. He made sure we followed the Nortvegr. He has been doing that for me for years, wherever we go. I rely on him for it. So, sure. I'm at a loss here. But give me time. I'll figure this out."

"The child will help," she said as she began to unwrap a chunk of ice. She broke it into little bits and then made a new cold pack for Daniel's abused neck. "Always, say Highborn, if not sure. Always close ye mouth instead of saying his name. Ye own all, him included if truth be not hidden by the Nortvegr. But by the Nortvegr, all ye own be his as he wishes. All ye Highborn have, all ye possess, come from the Sky caste. As far back as Nirrti herself ye owe all to the Sky caste, so ye must use all ye have for them. Never forget that. The way to the gods, through the Sky caste. Treat him as such. Sacred above all else. Treat him as such. Never forget."

"Okay," he said readily, wanting to end this lecture, but she didn't seem to be winding down.

"In comes the child soon. Best let me tell her. Ye need rest, Highborn Jack. One thing ye keep in mind most, this Highborn be worth all the lives of every man, woman, and child in this village. If he'd died today, all would perish. Understand? All would perish before the sun set. A great responsibility ye took when ye hosted him, understand? Lives. Many."

"You'd all commit suicide? And kill your children if Daniel had been killed today?" he asked with gut-wrenching distaste. He would never tell Daniel that. Never.

"Filthy," she swore under her breath. "Filthy, foul mouth on ye, Highborn Jack."

"Why!" he spat angrily. "I've been saying his name in front of Asny and Tal for weeks now. Why do you react--"

"Because I know! Ye do it not because ye are ill, but because ye do not even now hold him as among the most sacred beings on this world Odin made for us. Girl and wench, even weavers too, done the best they could these past weeks. Knowing ye love him, they forgive, ignore, try not to hear, say what they can back to ye to let ye know. Poor child. Poor wench, ye abuse them so in such sexual depravity. And ye," she paused and curled her lips in a nasty sneer, "filthy!"

He flinched back and shook his head. "Saying his name is filthy? It makes no sense. If he's--"

"Ach! Close ye mouth, Highborn Jack. Close it. This one has seen another glory star in his crown. It be his caring for ye. Pitiful excuse for a Highborn as ye are, it would take one such as him to give ye love."

"That, you've got right," he grumbled.

"This one tells ye again, like ye were a small babe to be told again and again. Say only his name when ye are alone, or with others of ye kind. Never, never when my kind are about. Say Sky to him as ye please. To call him Sky be the right of ye kind at all times. Use it. Honor him with it. Understand?

"Maybe," Jack admitted. "Tell me what the Nortvegr has to say about the punishment for the ... the big guy, I forget his name."

"Well done. Aye, ye are a fast learner. His name be no more. His fate, sealed by his own hand on ye Highborn. Dead now, done by the council of elders here. Me among them. Miner, crafter, fielder, smith and shepherd. Done and carried out swift so that he never woke. Was a mercy we showed him, that. Never woke. No babes, he made. Right glad I was of that. Never one much to see a babe put to death. Never was," she said, shaking her head.

"All right. And tell me what the Nortvegr has to say about this curse on the town."

"As it should be. All here forfeit their lives if he dies, ye love. If he dies, which he won't. The curse owes as a debt to him. Comes to him the inheritance that was owned by the nameless one. His lands, his flock, his hold, hall and everything in it. Comes to him for the harm being done under this roof, all that the innkeeper has, except his life and his future. That the man keeps and can take with him from this place."

"Comes to him? To ... " Jack stopped and squinted, pressing his finger and thumb to the bridge of his nose. Soundlessly, he formed Daniel's name on his lips, then he looked up at her. "To my Highborn?"

The old woman sighed resignedly as she tucked the cold pack firmer around Daniel's bruised skin. "Ye say Highborn, fine. Ye love him, this, we all know. Easy to say after a while, Highborn, and maybe doesn't vex ye as Sky seems to."

"Okay, what I'm asking is, does Daniel--"

She whirled on him and slapped his face. Jack flinched back, shocked at the power behind the old woman's blow. She was old, wrinkled, stooped. She should be in a wheelchair or leaning on a cane. She was ancient! And she probably had a right hook like a longshoreman. He'd forgotten that she was also worker caste. He held his hand to his abused cheek, his eyes watering. Daniel'd be really mad at her he realized, and then chided himself for that absurd thought. He'd fallen into a state of laxness, allowing Daniel to take care of him, defend him, coddle him. And he wasn't pulling his weight even now when Daniel needed him desperately.

With his hand still covering his stinging cheek Jack glared at the old woman. She was glaring back so hard he was surprised his skin wasn't peeling off. "What I'm asking is, does my ... Highborn," he said, stressing the word loudly, "have to do anything to lift this curse?"

"Aye, ye ... Highborn does," she echoed him just as loudly. "He must accept what be owed."

"That's all he has to do?"

"Aye. Now, as to ye, young Highborn Jack, ye need more meat on ye bones. Nigh on to collapsed from that simple little swat. Soup, thick with meat, as the Highborn has been commanding them to feed ye. Then sleep. The child and I will watch ye Highborn as he sleeps too. Some day soon, if he wishes, the curse goes lifted. Till then, all can hold themselves still as they do now."

"Still. You mean everyone is at home resting," he asked for clarification.

"Nay. Here. Still. Out in the hall, the stairs, the great hall below, and the road out yon. Down from here to the market all of the village are gathered, under blankets to keep the wee ones warm enough, on the ground. They wait, faces to the earth, and there they stay until he says die ... or live."

Jack sat up, his mind spinning with the thought of all those people he saw gathered in the hall. There were more on the stairs? And the great hall? She'd said outside. It was damned cold out there. And children too? His back muscles stung as he pulled himself up in bed and clambered awkwardly to the side. This bed was so high and he regretted it now more than ever. His feet would sting as he hit the floor if he didn't ease himself down carefully.

"Help me," he commanded her. "To the door." He held his arm out to her and she put her stooped shoulder under him. For all her seeming advanced age and frailty she hoisted him effortlessly, as if he were a child and she truly that envisioned longshoreman. He shuffled beside her to the door. "Asny!" he called, knowing the child was out there. "Open the door!"

It opened, and yes, there before him, packed wall to wall in the wide hallway were people bowed down. He shuffled out among them. There was a path left through them, and he urged the old woman down the hall. At the top of the stairs Tal stood, holding her hands out as if to catch him.

He looked past her down the long flight of stairs. More people. All the way down. He could even see some in the great hall. They covered the floor from wall to wall.

"Back to the room," he said to the old woman. She turned and Tal took his other arm and lifted him. Jack sagged in their embrace. "The window," he wheezed the words out. "In the room."

Tal held him by the window as the old woman opened the shutters. It was dark outside, but he could see dozens of lanterns glowing below. The dark shapes of people faded in and out of the little pools of light. Everyone was bowed down, facing in the direction of the inn.

"Crap," he whispered. "Crap." He twisted in her embrace, looking back at Daniel unconscious on the bed, the white veil draped over his hair and eyes. "Worth all their lives. He'd hate that so much."

As he tried to turn further his left arm cramped. Jack cried out at the sharp, sudden pain. Tal got him to the bed and the old woman was there rubbing the cramp away.

"Asny," he protested. "She'll do it righ-- That hurts."

"Close the door, child. Ye Highborn Jack needs ye," the old woman said. "And Tal, go. Go, wench. More ice for the Highborn, yon. Time for me to scare the sprites away." She stepped back as Asny took her place at Jack's side.

As Tal left, the old woman locked the door and began cleaning Daniel's wounds.

Jack groaned, but in relief as the girl worked at his arm. She knew what to do. He closed his eyes and laid back on the bed.

"Child, ye Highborn Jack needs ye more than ever now. With his Highborn mate so ill, ye need to help the Highborn Jack remember to follow the Nortvegr. Mustn't tell anyone ye help him thus. Mustn't ever say. Ever. Understand?"

"Aye. He forgets, be all. Asny helps. Help the Highborn Jack, he says. Make him rest. Make him drink water. I can help him remember too. Not say the name be most he forgets. But he doesn't mean to be dirty. Doesn't mean to. Veil, most time he remembers, he does," she said, nodding vigorously as if to defend Jack's inadequacies. "Doesn't mean to be dirty."

The old woman eyed Jack as she worked on Daniel. "Child loves. Not sure which most, though. Ye or him. Forgives much, she does. Do ye deserve it, Highborn Jack?"

"I'll remember," he said through gritted teeth as Asny worked to relieve the cramping.

"Aye. Maybe ye will."

"But ... ouch ... this has to stop. This kneeling stuff. How do we make them get up and go home? Get their kids out of the cold?"

The old woman's eyebrows rose. "They show ye that they honor him," she stressed. "Do ye not want the honor for him? Think he be not deserving of it?" She draped Daniel in the sterile cloths, then pulled the sheet over him.

Jack caught himself before he blurted out Daniel's name. This was going to be painful! He hated not using Daniel's name! Hated it! "He wouldn't like the children to be cold. You know that about him. Think. Would he? He gave all that money to the children's hall to feed them. Do you think then that he'd want to see children freezing in the cold because he was asleep?"

"Hmm. If ye say it, Highborn Jack. Then it be so. But they will not leave until he awakens and decides for himself if the curse might be lifted."

"Then let me try to wake him up." Jack pulled away from the little girl and rolled toward Daniel. "Baby. Honey, wake up. Wake up just for a minute, please honey?" He glared up at the old woman who hovered close. "Go away for a minute. Daniel?" he whispered in his lover's ear.

Daniel moaned and brought a hand up to swat at Jack's face. He flinched back in time to avoid contact with the skin on his cheek that still stung from the old woman's slap. "Daniel?" he said, just a little louder.

"Mm Jack. Throat."

"Yeah. It's pretty bruised on the outside. Bet it hurts on the inside. Asny," he said louder, "bring some water, please."

She held the cup to Daniel's lips spilling liquid down into his ears until the old woman helped her lift Daniel a little. He swallowed and winced, swallowed again, then pushed the cup away.

"Hurt. What? Big ... and that bastard ... " His eyes drifted shut.

"Okay, that's awake," Jack declared. "They can go home now."

"Council must come in. They have it." The old woman patted a clean cloth at the drops of spilled water. "Veil on proper, of course."

"Can Asny do that?" Jack asked. "My arms ... "

"Just so," the child said. "Can touch what be his, Highborn Jack's. Gave the right to me, said, for all time, to touch the Sky."

"Lucky girl," the old woman muttered. "And when council be in the presence of the Highborn, Asny child will help Highborn Jack follow the Nortvegr. Catch him, make it go right, child. Seen a life payment done before? Aye. Good. Ye be his steward now like never before."

The old woman tucked the veil back, hiding all of Daniel's hair. It fit tighter and hid more of Daniel's face, Jack realized, more the way that Odamari had worn his when he was here. It looked okay, so Jack left it alone.

"Okay, now what? Wait. If they're coming in here, help me ... " he insisted as he tried to pull Daniel into his lap again. "Not gonna let him feel alone. Come here ... Come here, honey."

They helped him as they had earlier. Daniel was groggy this time, but still no help as he was slumped in Jack's lap. Again, the veil was adjusted by all three of them, tugged here and there and draped well.

"Council?" Asny asked the old woman and got a nod. The little girl opened the door and held it wide.

The old woman went into the hall, tapping a few select shoulders as she passed among those bowing to the ground. Those she touched rose and followed her back into the chamber.

"Make it quick," Jack muttered under his breath.

Most of those who entered were men, huge seeming to Jack, but when he compared them to the old woman he was forced to reevaluate them. They were each quite elderly like she was. He watched as they got down on their knees again, their stiff joints obvious. The old woman got down with them. One held a sheaf of parchment out over his bowed head. He waited silently.

Jack glanced from the old woman to the silent man, completely at a loss.

"I be steward to the Highborn Jack. Ye come to my master's Highborn?" Asny asked.

"Aye, steward," the elderly man said, his head still bowed.

She took the sheaf and brought it over to Daniel. Jack felt his breathing, deep and steady and realized Daniel had fallen back asleep. With the veil down, no one would know that but him. He cupped his hand under Daniel's and lifted his arm. Daniel woke.

"Wh-- what," he asked, seeming startled. "Don't let him ... Oh ... Hurts."

Asny laid the paper in Daniel's palm, then peered up at Jack. She whispered. "Ye Highborn gives this paper to ye. As he can not own it." She nodded down at the paper, then pointed at it.

Jack stared at the paper, then at the little girl. "Okay."

"Take it," she whispered. "Read it."

"Oh, crap," Jack whispered back to her. "I can't."

"Can. Highborn all read."

Jack gave her a sarcastic glare, but took the paper from Daniel's slack hand and opened it. He scanned the markings on it, symbols that looked like little men, dashes, some scattered little houses. It all looked like doodles. "'Do I thank them?" he asked softly.

"Nay," she said, her eyes wide in dismay. "Ye take it, then after reading, give it to ye steward, or refuse it and cast it on the ground."

"And it says here," he muttered loudly, then mumbled nonsense for a moment. "And down here, I see. Ah. Uh huh." He arched one brow at her and got an inkling of a smile, so he folded it and handed it back to her. "Steward, take this."

Asny took it and turned back to the others. "My master, the Highborn Jack has been given, and accepts the life payment from his Highborn. Go now."

The old woman stood and addressed the little girl. "Has the Highborn Jack any use of us this night?"

"Nay. Except ye, wise woman. Stay. All others, go about his business."

"His business?" Jack whispered. "I hope she means Odin's business."

"Oh, Jack, help me," Daniel murmured in his sleep.

"Daniel," he said, his lips on Daniel's ear. Then he looked up at the slowly shuffling elders and heard many people rising to their feet outside. "Hurry up. Go on. Go home. Shut the door."

Asny and the old woman returned to him.

"Help me lay him down. He's having a nightmare. Daniel, wake up," he said and then quickly raised his hand to block the old woman, but she hadn't raised a hand to him.

"Forgiven, Highborn. It be necessary now. Ice, child. And we'll try a new powder for his head. Hurting, it must be."

"Hurts. Eyes," Daniel murmured as he tried to pull the veil off his face.

Jack slumped to his side, lowering Daniel back to his cushions. He untied the veil and threw it off. "Too bright in here. You got a headache, Daniel?"

Asny snuffed out the candles by the bedside, leaving the room lit only by those on the mantle, and the low burning fire. Shadows danced on the walls and across their worried faces.

"Better, baby?"

"Oh. Don't let him come in here."

"He won't," Jack assured him. "No chance of that ever again. Just relax. Relax."

"Killed that bastard," Daniel whispered. "Broke his ... "

Jack touched Daniel's chest, feeling his heart beat, feeling it steady and strong.

"He's asleep again. Let's leave him alone now. Just the ice, okay? Let him sleep. Getting choked out can cause big headaches."

"Ye too, Highborn. Over tired, ye are and might grow sick again. That would be bad," the old woman said, "bad because ... he loves ye."

"My one redeeming quality," Jack said.

He slept fitfully. Jack slept curled against Daniel's side, waking when he thrashed or moaned. Daniel's sleep was troubled all night. Dawn came, Jack knew, when he saw light appear under the crooked shutter. A seam of light grew across the bottom and his thirst, combined with a need to pee, drove him from the warm bed.

"Asny," he called to the wide-awake girl who was nestled with the sleeping old woman on his divan, "chamber pot. Water. Please." He got his feet on the floor, and gripped the bedpost. "You give Daniel any water? Check his ice pack?"

"Say Sky, please, Highborn Jack," she whispered, trying not to wake the old woman. She crept from under the shared blanket and brought him the chamber pot, then turned her back.

"Just did, for the Sky, him some water. Ice be cold, be fine. Old woman says take it off today. Let the skin warm and see if it doesn't puff up."

Jack was long ago resigned to his loss of privacy and the depletion of his modesty. In military infirmaries all across Earth he'd urinated with female nurse's assistance, with male nurses' hands on his body, with a ward full of wounded around him. He finished, and gave her the pot. "I'm still in my day clothes. Need to change. These are ripe."

The child helped him. He managed a sponge bath by himself, shrugged into a nightshirt and clean socks, then nearly fainted while standing by the bed wiping Daniel's skin. "Too much on my feet. Not enough sleep. Get some of that soft mush stuff, would you? Let's wake Da--"

Asny put her fingers over Jack's lips and shook her head. Her eyes flicking over to the sleeping old woman.

"Okay," he said against her fingers. "Let's wake our Highborn, and get him to eat. Put underwear on him. Then I'm going back to bed."

"Aye," she said, flashing him a pleased smile. "Sky when not veiled, though. Remember?"

Daniel woke and sat groggily in the bed eating the mush that Asny kept spooning at him. Jack lay on his side holding Daniel's hand. Both men were silent. The young girl finished her work, helped Daniel as she had Jack earlier, then woke the old woman to tend his wounds. Jack ate as he watched her work. She pronounced him healing well and left supplies for more treatments to kill the sprites. Then Asny led her from the room, closing the door firmly behind her.

"Got a headache?" Jack asked as Daniel slumped against him.

"Yeah."

Silence stretched between them. There were none of the usual boisterous noises from the inn's great hall either. The fire crackled low. Jack looked at the closed shutters, then back at his lover. "Want to talk about it?"

"No," Daniel answered. "Sleep?"

"Yeah."

Wordlessly Daniel burrowed into Jack's right armpit, his right arm draped over Jack's chest. Jack stroked Daniel's long hair for a moment, then closed his eyes.

"Highborn Jack," Asny shook him awake. "Water. Broth."

He sat up, leaving Daniel curled asleep at his hip and took what the child pressed on him. "What time is it?"

"Time to eat," she answered.

"Ah. Of course," Jack said, feeling foolish. "Going to get Da--" He stopped himself.

"Can say it only to ye steward if ye wish," Asny told him. "Had to ask the old woman that. Some of the ways of the Highborn, I'm not knowing yet. But know how to do life payment, worker caste way. Saw a life payment done once. Worker caste man killed another's child. Accident, though. Life payment was offered, but not accepted. Terrible thing. Hacked the man's head off, the da did."

"You saw that?"

"Aye. Sore afraid. Highborn Jack, will ye hack off the weaver's head?"

"No. I don't want to hack off anyone's head. What happened to Daniel was a terrible thing, but it wasn't ... The man who did it, and I won't say his name, he wasn't really responsible, not like ... I don't think it's right to kill someone who's got problems the way the big guy did. Or children. Never children. It's never, ever right to kill children. Ever."

"But ... we follow the Nortvegr. There was nothing else for it. Council didn't even need to say, it would have been done anyway. Terrible thing, still. He wasn't a bad man most of the time. Some men are bad."

"Like the other guy who died? The miner?"

"Him, aye. Bad through all the way. Does bad things to who he beds. Marks 'em. But he pays well."

"Have you had lunch today? Eaten?"

"Aye. All in the kitchen, whatever the steward wants, cook says. Never had that said to me before. Showed me cakes and pies, she did. Said take whatever, even all! Strange," she said softly, shaking her head. "Take all. Ale, if I want."

"Oh, don't drink ale. You're too young," Jack instructed her sternly.

She grinned at him. "Could take, but then give to Tal. She be sore nice to me all the time. Hid me once, she did. Was nice of her to do. Though, Tal don't care for ale. Maybe a cake?" she asked him.

"If you think she'd like it. But Asny, why is the cook giving you cakes?"

"Whatever the steward wants from her master's kitchen, she gets, cook says."

"Has it always been that way? I mean, the cook giving away food to his steward? And I thought you were my steward."

"Am. And the kitchen being yours, and all in it. All the cakes and pies be yours, Highborn Jack. Ye Sky, he gave the inn to ye. Do ye not want me to have the cakes?"

"Wait. All the stuff? Daniel gave me the inn? I think I must have been asleep for that."

"Nay." She giggled at him. "Took the payment, the village, to use as ye need. The inn. All be Highborn Jack's to use. But the inn, his to own."

"Uh. The village?"

"Brooksmeet, and all here, servants to the Highborn Jack now. Inn, roof under where the deed was done, forfeited to the Sky, who gave it to ye last night."

"Okay, so I own the inn now?" he asked, surprised at how calmly he took that. But of course, he'd sat knee to knee with Daniel while he'd been given a chieftain's daughter as a wife. He should be able to roll with this. No problem. "And all the cakes in the kitchen," he mused to her.

"Aye. Tal likes cake."

"So that's what was on that paper I pretended to read last night?"

"Tal says so. Innkeeper says so. Council says so. Says if Highborn Jack wants, he burns the inn to the ground to mark out where the deed was done. Will ye do that? Burn it down?"

"No. How did you know what to do last night?" he asked her, then handed her his cup to put away.

"Saw it before, I did. Was very young." She returned to his side and handed him a damp cloth to wipe his hands.

"And you remembered it that clearly? It must have been terrible, to stay with you that clearly."

"Aye. Then went to live in the children's hall. My ma, she'd died the winter before. My da dead, I had no one left."

"Your da? Was the man who ... got beheaded ... was that your da?"

"Aye."

Jack reached out and brushed his hand along her dark braid. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Done now," she said quietly. "Done. Ye think a cake for Tal be all right, Highborn Jack? Or a pie?"

He clenched his teeth, working his jaw muscles as he watched the child. She'd seen horrible things in her young life. "Whatever you think she would like, I'm sure will be fine with Tal. And you can have all the cakes in the kitchen that you want."

"Stop!" the word burst from Daniel, startling Jack and Asny. His eyes flew open and he jerked out, pushing at Jack's hip.

"Daniel! It's just me."

"Jack?" Daniel pushed himself up, peering about the room before letting his gaze rest on his lover. "Oh." He scooted up in the bed and leaned against the pillows at Jack's back, resting on one hip, his knees tucked up close.

"Want some water? You've been asleep quite a lot. Don't want you getting dehydrated."

"Mmm." He nodded. "'kay." He rubbed his hands over his face.

"Feel like talking about it?"

"No," he answered crisply, curling tighter to Jack's side and closing his eyes.

That set the tone for their conversations for the next few days. Daniel slept a lot, ate and drank when Asny brought things to him, and stayed curled against Jack's side. Finally Jack had enough of it.

"We're going downstairs for a meal, Daniel. Get dressed."

"No." Daniel closed his eyes and turned his face into the pillow.

"I need the exercise. You need to get up and move around." Jack pulled at his lover's shoulder. "Gotta wear the veil."

Daniel went with Jack's tugging, rising out of the bed. He stood quietly as Jack summoned Asny from the hall.

"Help ... " He stopped and made sure the door was closed. "Help Daniel get dressed, please. We're going downstairs for a meal." Jack struggled into his pants, pretty pleased that he managed to get them on without toppling on his face. Then he tottered over to his divan and slumped onto it. "Good thing we're moving around. I think I've lost a little stamina."

"Cake, Sky," Asny said encouragingly to Daniel. "Never did see the innkeeper make so pretty a one before. But Tal says to put the shine on it from the heated honey. Ever see such a thing before?"

Jack stopped trying to struggle into his boots and looked up, seeing Daniel sitting on the side of the bed, his head down as the child laced his boots for him.

"Pie too, Sky. If ye prefer. Apple, the kind with the sweetener baked in. Ye like that kind? Crunchy."

"Daniel?" Jack spoke softly. "Asny, get his veil."

The child held the fine, beautiful cloth out to Daniel, waiting patiently by the side of the bed. The gold beads Daniel had sewn on the edge glinted in the sunlight streaming through the unshuttered windows.

"Come on, Daniel," Jack spoke a little firmer. "Can you help me up after you get that on?"

Daniel looked up at him for a moment, then nodded. He sat there, staring at Jack's feet.

"Yep. Got my own boots on. Asny, help him with the veil."

The child stretched up on her toes and draped the supple, white cloth over Daniel's head. She pulled the ends around, smoothing them over his hair, then tucked them to the back to be tied in place. Daniel pulled the front beaded edge down lower, and bowed his head.

"Cloak, Highborn," Asny said. "Instead of the robe this eve, it will be warm. To make it easier to move down the stairs, Tal says. No color on it." She fetched a new garment from a hook by the door and draped it over his shoulders. It had a cowling around it, adding warmth for his neck. She fastened it at his neck with a toggle and loop.

"And for the Highborn Jack, his now. Same. No color. Why not, Highborn Jack? Ye did not choose color from the weaver when these were made. Ye household colors are not pretty?"

"My house colors?"

"For the trim," she explained as she laid a cloak about his shoulders and fastened it the same as she had done for Daniel.

"Help me up, Daniel. Please," Jack called to his lover.

Daniel didn't stir, so Asny tried to hoist Jack to his feet. She got him upright, but he felt very unsteady as he moved over to Daniel's side. "Come on," Jack said softly. "I need your arm."

Daniel stood and put an arm around Jack's waist. Together they left the room.

The hall was dark and deserted, the young weaver couple's things mere shadows in their alcove.

"They sleeping there all the time now?" Jack asked.

Asny took a moment to figure out what he was asking. "Oh. Only the woman."

Going downstairs was a bit painful. His tendons protested, and Jack gritted his teeth.

"Bet we get our usual table," he muttered in Daniel's ear. "Though, I didn't make a reservation."

Daniel nodded, then kept his head down, his gaze locked on the floor. Jack shifted, putting his left arm farther around Daniel and took ahold of his right hand. He was leaning a lot of his weight on Daniel, but encircling him protectively at the same time.

The great hall was full of people, as full as it usually was, but all were very subdued, very hushed and Jack stopped for a moment to look around the room. Daniel didn't look up. As Jack watched, one by one the people went slowly to the floor, kneeling, their foreheads to the sawdust-strewn surface.

"Crap. No more of this," Jack muttered.

Daniel turned to him, leaning until his cheek was pressed against Jack's collar bone.

"S'all right, Da--"

Asny prodded Jack in the ribs.

"It's all right. Sorry. Didn't mean to sound upset, Da-- Honey. Let's go sit down before I fall down."

Jack shuffled to the table, his grip tight on Daniel and sat with Asny's help. Daniel stayed glued to his side, his head bowed.

"Okay?" Jack asked him. "You okay?"

Daniel nodded. He was seated with part of his right leg on Jack's chair. Any closer and he'd have been in Jack's lap.

"Then, I'm gonna yell at some people for a minute, okay? I mean, just ... didn't want to startle you." He patted Daniel's hand. "Okay!" he said forcefully as he turned back to the room. "Get up! That's enough of that. I won't put up with any more of it, understood? Get up! Go on. Eat your dinners. And talk, for crying out loud."

His command was followed, if slowly. The people rose and went back to their tables, back to their meals, but the conversation was even more subdued now.

"I said talk!" He glared at them.

Tal came in from the kitchen carrying a platter of food. She led a short line of others also carrying platters. There were a lot of them, more than any other meal he'd had here. There was a variety of foods, he noted. He dismissed the other patrons from his mind and began to examine the food presented to him.

"Send it back," Daniel said softly.

Jack formed the D of his lover's name with his lips, then stopped himself. "It's okay. I can put just a little stuff on your plate for you. What would you like?"

"No. Save the coins."

"This isn't--"

"No, Jack. Don't think I can ... get ... more ..." He twisted away from Jack's hold on him.

"It's not coming out of our stash of coins."

"Charity?" Daniel asked, his head still bowed low enough that the veil hung down far enough to obscure his whole face.

Jack studied Daniel's posture, realizing he should have talked to him about this upstairs, in the privacy of the room. "I made sort of a deal with the elders of Brooksmeet. The food and room isn't costing us anything now. As to getting some horses, I think we'll have the money for that pretty soon. Don't worry about it."

As he waited for any other questions from Daniel, Jack noticed that the patrons were making an effort to talk among themselves.

Daniel sat there silently for a few moments longer before he spoke. "I'm not hungry."

"Okay. I am. Pretty hungry, really. Gonna eat some of this turkey or whatever it is. And Asny says they have great pie. I haven't had any pie here yet. I figure tonight's a good night for me to start eating dessert. You could just have pie if you want."

As he pulled bits of juicy meat from the bird carcass Jack glanced at Daniel's veiled head. "I can't see any of your face."

Daniel nodded, but didn't look up.

"How about we go down to that bathhouse tomorrow? I could get a couple of the guys to help. Carry me maybe, if it's too far."

He took more bites of the fowl and shoved the rest away. "How about it? They have big tubs there? Big enough for these people?"

Daniel shrugged.

"You gonna talk or do I have to yell at you too?"

Daniel looked up at him, but Jack couldn't see his eyes, and realized he had no way to judge what Daniel was feeling. He reached up and touched Daniel's veil, pulling it away from his face on the right side, which was hidden from view of the great hall. Then he leaned over and kissed Daniel's cheek, and peered under the veil at his eye. "Talk to me?"

Almost imperceptibly Daniel shook his head. "Tired."

"Okay. Want some pie?"

"No."

"Okay," Jack said, then pursed his lips tightly. "I don't want to put this veil down."

Daniel stared at him, his expression haunted and grim.

"Okay then. I guess, maybe we should go back to the room."

With a little nod, Daniel let out a quiet sigh, then bowed his head.

"Okay then," Jack repeated as he reluctantly let go of the hem of the veil, watching as the delicate gold beads slid along Daniel's cheek. He took Daniel's hand with his left and used his right to push himself up from the table. "Let's go."

Daniel stood up, scrunching against Jack's side. The walk back to the stairs was hard. Jack really had lost a lot of stamina and flexibility in bed the past few days. Coming on the heels of his overexertion the day of Daniel's attack, he was in bad shape. A soak in a hot bath sounded damned appealing right now.

At the bottom step Jack paused and looked up the long flight of stairs. He never thought about it before. These people were tall. The ceiling was high, which made the flight of stairs damned long, and on top of that, each step was taller than what he was used to climbing on Earth.

How had Daniel handled getting him up these stairs so easily? Jack turned and hugged Daniel. "You don't feel like carrying me up tonight, do you. I can get some help from Tal, or maybe from Ulfrik. He's supposed to be around here somewhere." Jack twisted a bit, looking for the weaver.

"Ulfrik?" he called out, keeping his grip on Daniel, though the man was standing perfectly still.

"There you are," Jack said, stating the obvious just to fill the tense silence around him and Daniel. "I need your help."

Ulfrik had been sitting on the floor by the hall leading to the kitchen. He'd stood up the second Jack called his name, and was at the Highborn's side quickly, curtseying in that absurd manner all the worker caste used. Jack hated that silly move. He needed to teach this guy how to bow instead.

"I need help getting up the stairs. Da--" Jack clenched his lips closed. "The Highborn isn't going to lift me tonight. Can you help?"

"This one be not deserving of that honor," Ulfrik said with conviction.

"Yeah, well, stop dicking around and get on my other side. My legs are killing me. So is my back. Move it. Take my arm. Ouch. Just lift me easy," he said directing Ulfrik to get him in a carry hold. Jack vented at the man, running down a list of sore muscles the higher up the steps Ulfrik took him. On the third step Jack stopped him and had him go back down. Daniel hadn't climbed with them.

At Daniel's side Jack reached out and took his hand and pulled him along back up the stairs.

"Don't put me down, Ulfrik," he said as they reached the top of the stairs. "I'll just end up in a heap on the floor. We're going to have trouble getting in the door of the room, though. I think our number one helper is downstairs pigging out on my pie. I should have brought it up with me. Remind me to tell her the rhyme about Jack Horner, would you?"

Daniel walked along beside Ulfrik as the big man carried Jack effortlessly.

In the room, Ulfrik laid Jack on the bed and Daniel stood by Jack's side.

"Come on, climb in here with me. Honey?"

A quiet rapping at the open door caught Jack's attention, because Daniel startled so sharply. He jerked several steps past the foot of the bed before turning back to the door.

The old woman stood there, stooped, clutching her large bag to her chest. She waited patiently, a placid smile on her face. Jack wasn't convinced that the smile was genuine. Absently he rubbed at the cheek she'd bruised with her little reminder tap. "What?" he said gruffly.

"This old woman means no harm, Highborn Jack. She merely comes to offer services to the Highborn, and ye too, if need."

For a moment Jack couldn't decide if he wanted to send her off or let her come in. She'd been helpful, he was sure of that, but she was also keenly suspicious of him. "Come on," he waved her in, regretting it already. Daniel was probably as physically well as he was going to get, but still, it was important to make sure.

"Ulfrik, you wanna take off, I mean, go now? Uh, things okay with you?" Jack asked the silent man.

"Aye," he answered.

"What? Yeah, you wanna go, or yeah things are good with you?"

"Highborn, this one does not know. This one has no place to go, or things to be okay."

"Hang on, I think maybe I should check with you later. Let me talk to the medicine woman first, okay?"

"This old woman has come to help the Highborn Jack," she said, sounding meek and respectful. "His steward sends her to finish the Highborn's wishes with the young weaver lad. His life was forfeit--"

"Hang on." Jack held his hand out to stop her, then scooted back until he could rest his burning back muscles against the headboard. "Honey," he was careful to call to Daniel. "Come here. Sit with me." The old woman was doing a great impression of meek and respectful, but Jack had a very vivid recollection of just how meekly she could hit.

Daniel had wrapped his arms around himself. Jack peered at him, hating again that his expression was hidden behind that damned veil. "Come on. Climb up here."

The old woman sat her bag on the floor in the doorway and curtseyed low to the floor. "Steward says, help. This one can help the Highborn to the bed."

"Huh?" Jack said in annoyance as he glanced back to the doorway at her, then turned back to Daniel on the far side of the bed. "Come on, honey. Do you need the medicine woman's help?"

Daniel took a halting step toward the bed, glanced up toward the doorway where the woman stood. Ulfrik stood between the door and the bed. Daniel's gaze caught on the big working caste man. Staring at Ulfrik, Daniel got on the bed and crawled over against Jack's side. He curled up, his cloak draping over his body as he huddled against Jack and turned his face from view.

"That's better," Jack said as he put his arm around Daniel's shoulders. "My back is killing me. Damned glad I'm not coughing on top of all this moving around we did today."

"Best young weaver goes to his pallet in the hall, Highborn. Eh? Him not having slept in a few days."

"Okay. Okay. Come on in and let Ulfrik out of the room, will you?"

She stood aside as the weaver stepped out, then she closed the door firmly. "Young steward child didn't want to wait downstairs. Best, though, this old woman thinks. The Highborn has healed well?"

"Yeah, I think he's doing fine," Jack said. "But you should check since you're here. Make sure none of the bad fairies set up housekeeping on his skin. Baby? Honey? Feel like letting her take a look at your wounds?" Jack peered down at Daniel's veil covered head nestled against his shoulder. "Honey?"

"Ye be a smart, nasty man, Highborn Jack. Smart for one so foul mouthed. Make up a new name, ye did. Trick this old woman, eh? Think none of us will realize ye changed it to the sweet drip we use for cooking. Cake, ye'll be naming him next. Ye like to be hit by old women? Feel the sting of my hand again, till ye learn to keep him safe?"

"Not his fault," Daniel whispered. "He didn't know the miner was here."

"The miner?" Jack asked, ignoring the menacing approach of the wrinkled old crone.

"Not Highborn Jack's fault. Leave him alone. Sick."

"Aye," she agreed with Daniel. "Ye love him. Ye love Highborn Jack. Some say the Sky, they don't feel as we, don't love or hate or need as we. But this old woman knows the truth. Love him, ye do."

Daniel pressed his face further against Jack's shoulder. "Leave him alone."

"Aye, as ye wish. None can go against ye wishes, Highborn. None. Even this old woman, who probably could teach him to follow the Nortvegr. Maybe if her arm were stronger."

"Look, I'm being very careful here--"

"Calling him for the sweet drip be not careful. Why, Highborn Jack? Why try to go another way? The Nortvegr be the right path to follow."

"Okay, I didn't realize the rules were that strict. I'll watch it. I didn't know. Is that why you came up here?"

"Aye. Heard it downstairs, as did many others. Bad thing. Nasty. And the weaver, his business brings me up here. Him, he needs to be released. His forefathers call to him to join them, as be honorable. Sky blood on his skin from his knife. Nothing for it but ye allow him to die or ... whatever ye wish of him. Be done. Show mercy. He cannot last much longer, sitting down there, staring off, waiting to end his business. Debt owed to him by a Sky is a terrible thing for a man to have over his head."

"I'm not going to hack off his head. You can tell Asny--"

"Nay. Steward can't clear this debt. None but the Highborn who be master of a House host to the Sky can. Say he be free to die, or what ye have planned. But don't make him sit down there longer, Highborn Jack."

"He cut Daniel by accide--" Jack flinched away from her oncoming hand, half squashing Daniel under his shoulder. But she stopped short of smacking him.

"Ah, ye did not change the name to the sweet drip. Keeping some private. An improvement! This old woman thinks a little better of ye, Highborn Jack."

"Jack?" Daniel asked, as he struggled to push the man off him.

To Jack, it didn't sound like Daniel felt scared to have someone on top of him. He sounded more irritated. He pulled back from Daniel and lifted the veil, giving in to his frustration at not being able to see what Daniel was feeling. "Sorry. I'm just a little twingy. Sorry."

"'kay," Daniel said quietly, his eyes not meeting Jack's.

Jack loosened the knot of Daniel's veil and pulled the cloth back to hang loose around his neck. "I didn't know the miner was here. I'd never seen him. I wouldn't have recognized him even if he'd walked right by me downstairs."

Daniel nodded.

"Miner's son, he be down there since he was summoned. Asks always to see ye. Steward won't let him."

"Good," Jack said. "We don't need to deal with him right now. We're going to get some sleep."

"Another day then for the weaver boy to keep breathing?" she asked.

"What?" Jack turned to her. "He's not going to be killed. I need to find out what to do about him." He turned back to Daniel. "What do we do about Ulfrik? He got a little of your blood on his hands when he cut you free."

"He cut the rope?" Daniel asked, his head bowed low. Though the veil lay about his shoulders, he still didn't turn his face to Jack.

"Yeah."

"Touched me?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Guess he did, got the rope off, and straightened you out so you could breathe."

"Should die," the old woman said.

"No." Daniel shook his head. "No."

"There," Jack said to her. "You've got your answer. The Sky says he doesn't die, he doesn't die. Got it?"

"Aye. Never go against the wishes of a Sky. That way be not the Nortvegr," she muttered, seeming unhappy still.

"Yeah. So, go tell him to chill out. I mean, to relax and get back to his wife. Do what he needs to be doing."

"Highborn Jack, ye do not do ye duty. This weaver boy be nothing. Ye Highborn yon, he spoke. He will be obeyed above all else. The weaver boy may not die. Ye must make him live as ye Sky commanded it."

"Make him live?" Jack asked indignantly. "How the hell am I supposed to do that? Just how the hell--"

"Give him a way to live. Truly, know ye not what the Nortvegr decrees?" She squinted at him, leaning closer.

Jack studied her. One thing Jack was good at was reading the enemy. This old woman had gone from a benefactor, to an enemy, and back to a doctor for a while and now to a threatening menace. He knew she was trouble, possibly deadly trouble. He had to get on the defensive and stay there, then turn the game so that he was on the offensive with her.

"Old woman," he said calmly. "You forget yourself. You are in the presence of ... the Sky. He has decreed that Ulfrik will live. I will make this happen because he has said it must be so. Ulfrik will need certain things to happen, to change, in order for him to live. You, since you have pushed your way into this affair, will now tell me the simplest way that you, with your elder's wisdom," Jack faded for a moment, a bit lost in the web of bullshit he was spinning. He wrinkled his brow and frowned. "You will tell me how this might be done, and I will tell you if you're being wise or not."

For a very long moment, silence reigned in the room. She cocked her head to the side, one of her gray braids falling forward over her shoulder. She squinted one eye almost closed and glared at him. Finally she rolled her lips inward, then opened her mouth. "Aye. Ye'll do." She nodded. "Young weaver has no life now. Gone, all. Gone, marriage. Gone, home. Gone, work. None will treat with him, buy from him, trade with him. He be naught. Waits to die.

"Highborn Jack has what the weaver needs. All Highborn who have in their household a Sky have what Highborn Jack has. The power of belonging to the household with a Sky gives life. Always has. Always will. Take him and wife, as ye bonded servants, not just a trade servant, like the child. Give weaver lad a life. Give him work. Give him back himself so he can make his own home. Give him back his marriage and that sweet young wife. Be the servant in the household of Highborn Jack, him and his wife."

"Ah. Yes. That would be one way," Jack said slowly. "Of course. To be my servant."

"Of ye house," she clarified. "Titled servant."

"Yes, like Asny."

"Nay," she said, shaking her head sadly. "Of ye house. Ye property. Asny child, indentured. Not property. Acts she does, as the steward. But does not belong to ye to do with as ye please. May not kill her without reason, though she fears it so. May not trade her to another house."

"No she doesn't. Doesn't fear me. Not any more. And what other way can you come up with to solve the weaver's problem other than turning me into a slave owner?"

"Not slave. Not slave, stupid Highborn Jack," she sneered at him. "Of ye house. Servant of ye house."

"Yeah. Of my house. Fucking hell." He turned from her and snuggled Daniel closer to him. "Baby, you got any ideas on this?"

Daniel pushed his head into the crook of Jack's neck and stayed silent.

"Fine," Jack murmured. "Just ... fine." He glared over at the old woman, then nodded. "Get the ball rolling on it. Get it done so he can do what he needs to do to take care of himself. I'm busy here. Get out."

"Aye," she said with a satisfied nod. "Tell the steward, this old woman will. Then be back when the Sky feels more like having his wounds tended."

She picked up her bag and left. Jack glared at the door for a long time until he realized Daniel was asleep in his arms.

The next day did not dawn with a bright and cheery sun. The sky was hazy, though the wind took its customary time off. Jack felt very edgy. He sat on the divan, Daniel hunkered on the floor by him, and tried to stretch his leg muscles by himself.

"I'm too stiff. What muscle that has regrown is damned tight," he complained. "I've got to move. Maybe a soak in a hot bathtub like I mentioned yesterday. What do you think, Daniel?"

"They killed him, didn't they?"

"No. Ulfrik's fine. I talked to Asny this morning. There's some paper to sign. I need you to draw the symbols for our names on it, okay? It's over there--"

"They killed him. I want off this planet."

"Daniel, he's alive. I told you--"

"He didn't know it was me. Thought it was you. If it had been, he'd have broken your neck. Crushed you. When he grabbed me so hard ... "

"You talking about the big guy? Thaid?" Jack pushed himself forward and leaned over Daniel's huddled form. "I didn't know what the ... council of elders were going to do. You're right--"

"Wasn't his fault. Wasn't his fault." Daniel pulled his knees up tighter to his chest, and wrapped his arms around them.

"Yeah. I'm sorry this happened." Jack laid a hand on Daniel's shoulder. "He break in here?"

"Behind the door."

"And the miner came in?"

"Bastard."

Jack puzzled over Daniel's anger for a moment. "You called the miner a bastard right after it happened. Was he up here trying for Asny? I've been wondering what was up with him. None of the villagers seem to wonder, but ... "

"Bastard," Daniel swore, shaking his head. "Cost Thaid his life."

"He didn't kill Thaid. It was Tal who hit him with the skillet. He never even woke up--"

"He thought it was you. He didn't know it was me. He ... It wasn't his idea. Thaid died because that bastard ... "

"The miner? It was him? He attacked you? Oh, shit." Jack sat back and braced himself on the back of the divan.

Daniel shook his head. "No."

"Then, I don't understand." Jack really needed clarification on this. He was feeling more confused by the minute.

"Thaid came here because the miner sent him."

"Oh. Hell," Jack swore harshly. "And he's dead because of the miner."

"He's dead because I wouldn't let Gunnlaug ... I wouldn't let him ... "

A heavy sigh rolled out of Jack's tired body. "No. He's dead because Gunnlaug wanted what he didn't get.";

"I was too proud to lift my legs for him, Jack. I should have--"

"That bastard wanted to rape a child and you stopped him. He ... Asny told me Gunnlaug cuts the women he uses. He might have killed that little girl. He caused Thaid's death, and would have killed me too."

Daniel hunched over, hugging himself tightly. "Thaid shouldn't have died!"

"I know that!" Jack tried not to yell, but his nerves were frayed. He clutched the side of the divan and steeled himself. In moments of chaos amid battles where men and women were dying, the one trait Jack counted on in himself was the ability to remain calm. He'd lost that calmness only a few times in his life with Daniel. He'd raised his voice to the man once long ago when Daniel became addicted to the regenerative effects of a sarcophagus. And he'd done it again when Daniel held the lifeless body of a young android woman. When Daniel was in pain Jack seemed to lose something of himself.

To the person he should be most understanding with, be most loving with, Jack lost his rigid, military control. He allowed his anger to best him.

"I know," he tried again, finding that calmness as he had when Daniel sat on the floor of the gate room, crying, and holding Reese's lifeless body. "Thaid shouldn't have died. He should never have been used by Gunnlaug, or put to death by the council of elders. The way these people live is harsh, inhuman compared to the laws and morals of our society. And we can regret it, mourn him, mourn the senselessness of what happened. Daniel?"

"I know," Daniel whispered. "I know."

Jack bent over and put his arms around Daniel's slumped shoulders. He felt tremors in his lover's body. "Daniel." When his lover had held Reese and cried for the lost life, the spark of humanity the android girl had possessed, Jack had felt it was his duty to show Daniel how the world worked, how justification of actions was sometimes never possible. He felt he had to explain to Daniel that sometimes things were done that weren't right, but that humanity had to live with those happenings anyway. And Jack hated taking away Daniel's innocence that way.

"I know. But, Jack ... "

"It hurts," Jack said softly. "It hurts deep inside you, Daniel. Come, sit here. I want my arms around you."

Daniel crawled up onto the divan and sat in Jack's embrace as the morning sun warmed them.

Finally Jack spoke. "It was a terrible thing, but we have to deal with the results, the here and now. We have to do what we can to get through this, and past it."

"I know."

"Yeah," Jack said, brushing his fingertips along Daniel's unveiled face. "You do. You just need a little time to deal with it all. Daniel, you were raped."

"No," he said, shaking his head vigorously.

"Okay, you just need time to set it all straight in your head. You need time."

Chapter 11 - Spa

He gave Daniel time, gave him another day of cuddling on the divan and hiding in their bed until Jack's back and legs were beginning to feel like jelly. Daniel had worked so hard to keep him alive, to nurse him back to heath, so very hard, that his withdrawal now showed how deeply the shock had affected him. Jack was worried like he'd never been about Daniel before.

A little withdrawal was normal for Daniel. He was used to being self-reliant. Having lost his parents, then been abandoned by his grandfather to be thrust into the foster care system, Daniel became self-reliant at an early age. It was his way, and Jack normally accepted and welcomed that about his lover. Jack was a reserved man himself, which made the two of them a good fit. But this, this emotional shut-down wasn't working. Daniel wasn't making progress. He was sleeping almost constantly and shunning all contact except mute, physical cuddling.

"Okay, get out of bed, Daniel. I stink. You stink. We're going down to that bathhouse. Get the soap you bought, that stuff that smells like mint. I'll get Asny to carry that and some clean clothes for us. They have towels there, you know? Huh? Get up and dress warm. I want to get there before the wind picks up this morning."

Jack rolled himself off the high bed, getting to his feet and scrunching his bare toes against the cold floor. Then he tugged at Daniel's bare leg and got the man out of bed. "Get dressed before Asny gets back up here. She went to fetch water."

Daniel got dressed without further prompting, then began to help Jack into his pants and a long, knitted sweater that Jarngerd had sent up to the room yesterday. It was dyed a deep green and was made of very soft wool she'd gotten in a trade recently. The pattern knitted into it was of little raised diamonds.

"I look like a wrinkled pea," Jack complained as he folded the high neck down. He squirmed around on the divan, trying to get the sweater neck to stay low off his chin. "Hey, we should have put on dirty clothes, changed into clean after the bath."

Daniel got Jack's new cloak and held it in his arms as he stood watching out the window, waiting for Jack to finish smoothing down his rumpled hair.

"There. Ready, Danny?" he asked as he twisted around to look at his lover. "Uh. Daniel? Your veil."

Mutely, Daniel nodded, then dropped his gaze from the brightly lit window to the dark, polished wood of the floor. The sunlight glinted off the moisture in the corner of his eyes, then his head was too low for Jack to see that pinprick of light any longer.

"Veil," he prompted softly.

There was a soft knocking at the door, then Asny called out asking for permission to enter.

"Yeah, come on in. Ya know, kiddo, you used to kind of scratch at the door. Now you knock. You notice that, Daniel? I gotta say, Asny, I like the knocking better. We're going down the street to the bathhouse and I want you to bring us a clean change of clothes, okay? Daniel, your veil."

Daniel still hadn't moved. He held Jack's cloak bundled in his arms. The veil had been washed recently by Asny and it was still draped over the back of a chair at the little table in the corner by the fireplace. She brought it to Daniel and held it out.

"Sky?" she asked softly. "Highborn Jack wishes ... " After a moment she draped it over his bowed head, looping the ends under his chin and laid them back over his shoulders. She climbed up on the divan behind him and tied the ends together, and then pulled the fall of the veil out over the knot. The white cloth draped gently down the sides of Daniel's face, and flowed over his shoulders down his back several inches. The beads on the front hem lay gentle on Daniel's cheeks, their gold coloring a muted contrast to his pale skin. Asny smoothed the veil in back, letting it fold over Daniel's cloak. "Ready now, Highborn. Ready."

"Okay then, let's move out. Ulfrik downstairs, Asny? I want him to help if he's not too busy."

"Never busy, Highborn Jack," she said as she helped him to his feet. "Always there when his master needs him. Nothing to do other than serve his master."

"Thanks. That creeps me out really nicely, kiddo. You saying he just sits and twiddles his thumbs when he's not toting me up and down stairs?"

"Nay. No thumb thing. He does his master's work all the time. Spinning, weaving. All of it. Master's work. Yesterday counted the sheep too, like them of the council. All went out again to the holding to count the sheep and take stock of the land, barns and fine cot. Been working at it many days. And the scribe hall did the work on the parchment. Parchment says how many sheep, ram and ewe. Says how many fields, the cot, what be in it. And his wife, Jarngerd? She says much in the cot be useless. Food gone bad. Jars with a seal broke, or chair back broke off. Says much work to do in that place. Cleaning. So, she says Highborn Jack's servants will be a happy lot to have much to do, unless Highborn Jack says torch it all. Best ye do read the parchment this time, though, when Council gives it to the Highborn. So ye know how many sheep there are. Ulfrik, he'll be happy with wool to spin in the spring.

"Council waits on ye, downstairs they all be. Wait until ye wish to grant them a moment, Highborn Jack."

"Whatever," Jack said as he reached out and grabbed Daniel's hand. He tugged him along as Asny got the door open. "Move it, Daniel. I'm going to have to get to the bathhouse quick or my back is going to start burning again."

Daniel came with him and at the top of the stairs they met Ulfrik.

"Master," the weaver greeted Jack. "Ye servant wishes to carry ye down the stairs."

"Yeah, okay. Then we're going to the bathhouse. You got time to come with us? Help me in case I get too tired between here and there?"

"Master, there be no other duty higher for this one."

"And don't curtsey," Jack complained. "That squatting thing. Don't do that. In my ... house, we bow. Bend at the waist just a little and kind of nod your head. That's what we do in my house. Good. That's close enough."

Daniel followed down the steps. Though he did it slowly, he did it without prompting, which delighted Jack. Ulfrik set him on his feet and he held his hand out to Daniel. Asny took his cloak and settled it about Jack's shoulders, fastening the catch for him. Then she went back to the room to get the requested clothing and soap.

"Okay, let's get this show on the road." Jack shuffled across the great hall and was brought up short near the door by the old medicine woman.

"Highborn, ye steward has too many duties. She was to bring ye greetings from the council of elders this morn. Here we be, all," she said as she swept her hand wide to indicate a small group of wizened, old people at her left. "Come we have, to deliver what be due the Highborn." She nodded in Daniel's direction.

"You want to deliver something to ... A paper?" Jack asked, remembering what Asny had said upstairs. "Yes, my steward did mention it. But we're going to the bathhouse now. No time to deal with paperwork."

"Bathhouse," Jarngerd exclaimed in a very loud whisper.

Jack flicked his gaze to the right. He hadn't realized she was there and as he watched, she grabbed up her outer robe and hurried from the inn.

"As ye wish, Highborn. We shall wait for ye return. Here," the old woman said with her usual gap-toothed smile, then leaned closer and dropped her tone to a quiet whisper. "All standing here, waiting on the whim of the Highborn to do his duty to the one we worship," she said, her eyes cutting briefly to Daniel before she continued, "to show decent respect, to follow the Nortvegr."

This brought Jack's full attention to her. She was willing to challenge his adherence to their laws here in a room full of the village leaders who had just days ago ordered the death of a man who hadn't followed the Nortvegr. He studied her intently. Yes, she was deadly, and she was trying her hardest to help him.

"I follow the Nortvegr," he said in a tone so low that only she and Daniel would hear. "What do you need?"

She nodded, then stepped back a respectable distance. "Highborn Jack, as ye steward was to inform ye, the council has the parchment to present to ye Highborn." She again nodded in Daniel's direction.

Asny, caught up with them then, carrying the clothing in a tuc hung over her shoulder. She quietly slipped in between Jack and the old woman, molding herself to Jack's side, she gazed up at the two.

"May this old woman approach?"

Jack leaned in and whispered against Daniel's veiled ear. "Is it okay for her to approach you? I think we need to make a show of doing what they want."

"I don't care," Daniel whispered, his tone flat and listless.

"Yes," Jack said to her, thinking it was best to keep his responses simple.

She smiled anew and then laboriously got down on her knees in front of Daniel. She held a folded parchment up and bowed her head respectfully.

Asny took the offering then held it out to Daniel.

After a long hesitation, Daniel took the parchment. He unfolded it, scanned the contents then laxly held it out toward Jack, keeping his head turned away.

"What is it?" Jack said as he took the paper. It was covered with more little doodles. He turned it left and right, trying to make sure he had it right side up. Daniel took a step toward the front door and Jack grabbed his sleeve. "What is this?"

Daniel turned back to him, his face bowed, so that it was completely obscured by the veil. "Thaid's holdings," he answered weakly, and then turned back to the door, slipping from Jack's grasp easily.

Jack blanched and almost crumpled the parchment in his hand. Daniel was leaving. "Asny," he said sharply. The child was at his elbow instantly. He thrust the parchment at her then tottered after Daniel, ignoring all others in the great hall. Daniel had almost reached the door.

"Wait," Jack called, but Daniel took another step.

"Sky," Jack called.

Daniel jerked to a stop and turned around. He brought his head up and, like he used to do, tilted his head back far enough to let his eyes meet Jack's under the edge of the veil.

Jack froze, his dark eyes locked with Daniel's blue, pain-filled gaze. "I'm sorry ... " Jack stopped, at a loss for the right words to say to his lover. He pressed his lips into a thin line and met Daniel's gaze steadily. He took careful, solid steps to reach his lover and took both of Daniel's hands in his. "I'm sorry."

Silently, Daniel bowed his head again, putting the barrier of the white veil back between them. Jack reached up and lifted it, shielding Daniel's face from the people at their back. He came in closer then, and raised the edge of his cloak to hide them. Then he pushed the veil up a little higher and ran his fingertips across Daniel's face. "I don't know what to say."

With a little shake of his head, Daniel caused Jack's fingers to brush across his cheek lightly. He stared mutely at his lover.

"Yeah, you're right. There's nothing to say that'll make this any easier. I do love you though. Remember when we were sleeping in the pit you dug for us in the sand? I told you then that I loved you. You haven't forgotten, have you?"

His gaze dropped to the floor, then Daniel looked back up, meeting Jack's dark eyes. "Never."

Jack swallowed, then licked his lips. "We should get down to the bathhouse before my back gives out. Feet too, okay?" He tried to soften the grim expression on his face when he got a nod from his lover. They left the inn side by side, slowly inching down the side of the cobblestone street.

The night they'd arrived here Jack had made it from the wagon to the door and almost collapsed inside. Today he managed to get several feet down the roadway before the muscles in his legs protested too greatly to carry him along. He leaned against the stucco front of a shop and Ulfrik was at his side, positioning a chair for Jack to sit on. Gratefully he slid down onto the seat, gripped the chair arms and worked to stay upright.

Daniel stood quietly at his side.

"Not gonna make much progress this way. But the chair saves my dignity. Thanks, Ulfrik."

"Master, ye have no need to thank this servant for performing his duties."

"Yeah. We do things a little differently in our house, right, uh, Highborn?" he said to Daniel.

Daniel stood mutely at Jack's side, his hands resting on the side of the tall chair.

"Master, yonder comes my wife. She and I can carry the chair as ye sit. Will this please ye?"

"To ride through the streets like a sultan in his chair? Not really, no. But let's do it anyway. And ... I appreciate your initiative."

"It be this one's duty to think of his master's comfort."

"My comfort would be greater if you'd speak to me like you used to. I'm just a man, same as you."

"Ah, nay. But a servant may not disagree with his master. What do I think, master? Tell me what to think."

Jack scowled up at the big man. "Think the same thing you did before you became my servant. You'll upset the Sky if you start talking like a slave. He doesn't like that. You ought to know that by now."

He shot a quick glance at Daniel's bowed face, but couldn't read any expression. "We follow the Nortvegr, right ... Highborn?" he said to Daniel. "And our house does things a little differently."

"Aye, and ... nay, master. Ye house alone. It be ye house I am servant to. It be not our house. Ye alone. Or, do ye test me even now?"

This was too much for Jack to contemplate while sitting in a chair in the middle of the roadway. "Let's get our asses down to the bathhouse. My back is killing me. Want to soak in a hot tub of water. Move it, Ulfrik. Let's get this chair taxi going."

Ulfrik and Jarngerd carried him effortlessly, one on each side of the chair gripping it by the seat bottom and back. Asny walked along before him holding Daniel's hand. Jack surveyed the neighborhood, realizing he was reconnoitering as he would any new place. He wished he had Carter and Teal'c here. Someone needed to run a perimeter check, flush out any old medicine women lurking around. They were the dangerous ones on this planet. But the old woman had worked pretty hard, risked a lot to help him get a grip on things. He fumed over that fact as he watched Daniel being led by the child.

They made quite a pair, Daniel and the little girl. She wasn't so little, really, not by human standards. Just young, innocent. Just like Daniel was, a million years ago when Jack had first met him deep under Cheyenne mountain. Daniel had been brought in on the stargate project, knowing nothing, kept in the dark about what he was really working on. And in two weeks he'd bested the whole team, had solved the secrets of the ancients and opened up the galaxy.

Daniel's bravery, his unwavering push to do what he felt was the right thing to do was what captured Jack's heart. He revered life, wasn't ... what had Daniel said to him in Ra's ship so long ago? Why are you so eager to die?

He wasn't. Not any more. Daniel had given him something in that ship, the same thing he gave to many other people since then. It seemed small, just a word, a touch, a piece of hope that always turned out to be the size of the universe. The old woman saw it in Daniel, that ability to give people back what they'd lost, give them back the will to live.

Teal'c saw it in their first meeting, Daniel's willingness to risk himself for Sha'ure. It had shaken Teal'c down to his core, caused him to question, and to risk himself too.

Being led along by the child he'd risked his safety for, Daniel had his head down, and Jack knew he'd have to find a way to give Daniel back some of what he shared so readily with others.

They put his chair on the rough cobble stone street outside of the bathhouse. Jack walked in, arm in arm with Daniel, and found that they were expected. Jarngerd had been here before them, and the proprietor and her family were ready to receive the master of Brooksmeet.

"Master of Brooksmeet?" Jack said, his eyebrows climbing up his forehead. "Great," he sighed the word in disgust. "Just what I needed to hear. Will it get me a hot tub to soak in any quicker?"

"This way, master," Jarngerd said, taking the lead from the proprietor.

These people took their baths pretty seriously. This place was fantastic, with every possible accommodation Jack could think of. Mild heat permeated the stone and wood building. Glowing lanterns lit the hallways well, and every wooden surface was smooth and polished with wax. The ceiling was surprisingly low, and Jarngerd had to duck to get through the doorways, but not Jack or Daniel. There was a central, communal shower area with warm water, and an open communal hot tub, which was now completely empty. Little benches in open areas were intended as scrubbing stations, where a person could sit beside a bucket of warm soapy water and scrub their skin before soaking in the big tubs. But the place was completely empty now. Apparently all the villagers had been rousted by Jarngerd.

She led the party to a short hallway which had a solid door at the end. Private bathing areas, she explained to him, and Jack was carried in by Ulfrik. The room he found himself in had wooden benches lining two walls, hooks for clothing, and towels draped over gratings that had warm air rising from them. The tub was a square, wooden structure, extending a couple of feet above the floor, and a couple of feet sunken down. The heat was supplied from under the tub's metal-clad, wooden bottom, she explained to him, serviced through an unseen passage below. There was a very tall, and narrow bed in one area of the room. He assumed it was a massage table.

Daniel sat on a wooden bench in the private room as Jack, naked now, was lowered by Ulfrik into the hot tub. Jack had sent Asny and Jarngerd out of the room, yelling at them pretty harshly, and wasn't feeling any regret about that.

"Now, you too, Ulfrik, because the Sky is going to strip down and join me. Get out and shut the door. Don't come back until one of us calls you."

Ulfrik obeyed instantly, seeming frightened half to death at the thought of Daniel being naked.

"Okay, babe. Daniel? Get your clothes off and get in here. It's hot and my bones are going to melt pretty fast."

Apathetically, Daniel obeyed him, and Jack studied his lover with trepidation. "Feels good in here, doesn't it? I had no idea this village would have something like this."

"It figures," Daniel muttered as he removed the last of his clothing.

Jack smiled up at Daniel as he stepped into the tub. "How?"

"Their culture. I mean on Earth, Scandinavian spas are the best--" Daniel gasped as the warm water reached his balls and cock. "Kind of hot."

"You'll get used to it. I already am."

"You can't stay in here long. You'll pass out." Daniel sank into the tub up to his chin, then scooted down the low bench to nestle against Jack's side.

"You're right. But this is great. I'll stretch a little after I get out. Just a little. This is loosening everything up."

"Yeah," Daniel said, growing silent again.

"Highborn Jack?" Asny rapped at the door and called softly.

"Go away," Jack shouted back to her, using a cheerful tone. "Go grab a bath yourself, kiddo. Soak up some heat and have a ball."

"Aye, Highborn Jack."

"Tell Jarngerd and Ulfrik to do the same thing."

Daniel began to lightly rub Jack's shoulders. "I don't remember you getting the paper from the village elders, the one that gives you dominion over them."

"You were kind of asleep. I faked it a little, with Asny's help. There was a little ceremony and she walked me through it. The way I understand it we get privileges here but don't own anything outright except the inn, right?"

"And now Thaid's place. That's not ... right. It's wrong." Daniel stopped massaging.

"I know," Jack said with a heavy sigh. "We'll figure out something to do about it before we leave here."

"No other family?"

"No, apparently not. The old medicine woman said there wasn't. By the way, she's really been a big help. Covered several of my blunders in their customs. I've got to stop making those, because I have a feeling it would be deadly to be caught breaking the Nortvegr around here."

"It would have been in the low desert," Daniel said. "We would have frozen to death, starved if I hadn't found a way to work within their customs. If I go against them too much the people start pretending like we're both invisible. They'll forgive a lot when a Highborn is injured or ill but," he paused to shake his head, "I've seen some moments when things got pretty risky, where I couldn't get customers or make trades for food or water. It scares them away. I suppose that will just get worse the farther north we go."

"Yeah. We've got to blend in better. We did all right with Brynvold and Odamari, I think."

Daniel snorted. "If you call blundering into an orgy all right, then ... I guess so." He moved from beside Jack on the bench, sliding behind the man to and started rubbing his shoulders again.

"Blundering?" Jack twisted around and smiled at Daniel. "I seem to recall that I knew perfectly well I was inviting them to have an orgy with us."

"Perfectly well? By saying what?" Daniel challenged him.

"By saying, sure, go ahead. Strip my lover naked and entertain me by doing a sixty-nine with him. Right here, right now, buddy boy. What? You don't recall me saying that?" Jack turned back around and stretched forward as Daniel rubbed on his upper back.

"I recall you saying, yes, you can visit, something along that line. See what I mean? We agree to what we think is a little chatting, and it actually means a full out orgy."

"Well, I'm not complaining. That Odamari is one hot little number."

"You cad," Daniel said.

"Uh huh," Jack said with a satisfied nod.

"And what do you mean, the wise woman has been covering blunders for you?"

"She gave me a lecture while you were sleeping," Jack said, absently rubbing his cheek as he recalled her stinging slap. "Told me I wasn't treating you right, and that I was insulting the village, pissing on their religion."

Daniel bowed his head and rested his forehead against Jack's upper back. "She made you call me that, didn't she," he whispered.

Jack rolled his lips into a thin, tight line.

"She made you call me Sky."

"Yeah. I'm sorry, Daniel. I hate it, hate this barrier between us. The veil. All of it. I can't see your eyes. I can't say your name. It's like ... like being on Earth in a way, because there, I can't reach out and hug you. I can't touch you too much, or kiss you in front of anyone. I can't take you to bed each night and hold you. But here, I can do all those things, but ... I can't even look you in the eye. It's ... "

"Like we can have a little happiness but never enough or the gods will smack us down," Daniel finished for him.

"Gods. Which ones?" Jack hung his head too, feeling Daniel's forehead against his naked flesh. "I love you, Danny."

"I love you too, Jack."

Drying each other was fun. The towels were really lousy, but warm. Jack sat perched on the massage table while Daniel dried his dangling feet.

"We gotta do this again," Jack said.

"Not too often, unless we find a way to make the proprietor keep the rest of the place open for business. Or figure out when her slow time is; come then."

"Yeah, cause she's not getting paid out of our stash of coins. Services, we get free, right? But soap and food and anything not in the inn, we have to pay for. Could we sell the inn and buy horses with the money? Maybe sell it back to the innkeeper?"

"I'd feel like an ass for doing that, Jack." Daniel shook his head as he moved up Jack's legs, drying him more thoroughly with the second pass of the towel. "I can't take anything from these people. Using the bathhouse, that doesn't cut into her profit, because her business will pick up when we leave. Though," he stopped to look at, "it bothers me to think of someone using this hot tub after us. They'll want to ... I had my veil off in here, so they'll want to ... " He clenched his jaw muscles.

Jack saw the muscles along Daniel's jaw jump. "Danny," he said softly as he stroked his lover's face. "Let it go."

Mutely, Daniel shook his head, then closed his eyes.

"I'll ... Let