The others have joined them and crowd around, staring in amazement. There is the woman, the young boy, maybe seven or eight years old, and a little girl, even younger. They all exhibit the early symptoms of exposure and cold. None of them says a word anyone can understand.
It is decided that they will pitch camp, even though it is barely two o’clock. Sammy and Matthew build a shelter behind an uprooted tree and collect wood for a large fire, while Angus Ross prepares hot tea and food. Mackinley walks back into the forest where the woman points and reappears leading a malnourished mare that is now draped in blankets, eating oatmeal. The woman and children huddle by the fire. After they have had a quiet conversation, she stands up and comes to Sturrock. She indicates she wants to talk in private, so they go a little way away from the camp.
‘Where are we?’ she asks, without preamble. He notices her English is almost without accent.
‘We are a day and a half out from Dove River, to the south. Where have you come from?’
She stares at him, and her eyes flick towards the others. ‘Who are you?’
‘My name is Thomas Sturrock, of Toronto. The other men are from Dove River, apart from the man with short brown hair–that is Mackinley, a servant of the Hudson Bay Company, and a guide.’
‘What are you doing here? Where are you going?’ If her questions seem ungrateful, she gives no sign of being aware of it.
‘We are following a trail north. Some people have gone missing.’ No way to explain this complicated scenario simply, so he does not try.
‘And where does this trail lead?’
Sturrock smiles. ‘We will not know that until we come to the end of it.’
The woman breathes out then, and seems to release a little of her pent-up suspicion and fear. ‘We were making for Dove River. We lost our compass and the other horse. There was someone else with us. He went off to …’ Her face changes with hope. ‘Have any of you fired rifles in the last few days?’
‘No.’
She droops again. ‘We became separated, we don’t know where he is now.’
At last her face crumples. ‘There were wolves. They killed one of the horses. They could have killed us. Maybe …’
She gives in to sobbing, but quietly, and without tears. Sturrock pats her on the shoulder.
‘Hush. You are quite all right now. It must have been terrible, but it’s over. There’s no need to be frightened any more.’
The woman lifts her eyes to his, and he notices how fine they are; clear light brown in a smooth oval face.
‘Thank you. I don’t know what we would have done … We owe you our lives.’
Sturrock himself treats the woman’s frost-bitten hands. Mackinley calls an impromptu meeting and decides that Sammy and he will go and look for the missing man–there are clear tracks to follow–while the others stay in the camp. If they have not found him by the following evening, Matthew and Sturrock will escort the woman and her children to Dove River. Sturrock is not entirely happy with this arrangement, but he can see the sense of allowing the two hardened travellers to go on as swiftly as possible. Besides, a part of him is flattered by the woman’s preference for him; she has spoken privately to no one else, and keeps close to him, even favouring him with a particularly sweet smile from time to time. (‘So, you are from Toronto …?’) He tells himself that it is his age that makes him less threatening, but knows that is not the whole reason.
Mackinley and Sammy leave while there is light, gathering from the woman’s rather confused story that her husband may be hurt. They are swallowed up in the gloom beneath the trees and Ross doles out nips of brandy to everyone. The woman cheers up noticeably.
‘So who are the people you are following?’ she asks, when the children have fallen into a fathomless sleep.
Ross sighs and says nothing; Matthew looks from Ross to Sturrock, who takes this as his cue.
‘It is rather peculiar, and not easy to tell. Mr Ross, perhaps … No? Well, a few weeks ago there was an unfortunate incident, you see, and a man died. Mr Ross’s son went missing from Dove River at the same time–possibly he was following someone. Then two Hudson’s Bay men went to look for him as part of their enquiries. They have been gone some time and no one has heard from them.’
‘And …’ Matthew leans forward eagerly, encouraged by the woman’s interest, ‘that’s not all! There was another man, arrested for the murder–a half-breed and an evil-looking fellow–and then he escaped, well, no, actually someone released him, and he went missing with Francis’s mother … and they haven’t been seen since!’
Matthew stops and blushes deeply, realising too late what he has said, and throws a scared glance at Ross.
‘It is not known that they were together, or that either of them came this way,’ Sturrock reminds him, with a wary look at Ross, who seems unmoved. ‘But, that, in short, is why we are here–to find whoever we can, to see that they are … safe.’
The woman leans in to the fire, her eyes very wide and shining; she is quite transformed from the terrified creature in the forest of a few hours before. She takes a breath and puts her head on one side.
‘You have been so kind to us. We owe you our lives. So I feel I must say to you, Mr Ross, that I have seen your son, and your wife, and they are both quite well. They are all quite well.’
Ross turns to her for the first time, and stares at her. Sturrock would never have believed, had he not seen it, how that granite face could melt.
Francis wakes up to brilliant sunshine for the first time in weeks. There is an uncanny silence all around–none of the usual noises from the corridor or the yard. He dresses and goes to the door. It is open; things have got rather lax since Moody left. He wonders what will happen if he goes out on his own; perhaps someone will panic and take a shot at him. Unlikely, since the Elect are people of God and don’t tend to carry arms. There is nowhere he could go anyway, without leaving his distinctive limping print behind him in the snow. He hops out into the corridor, leaning on the crutch. No one comes running, and indeed, there are few sounds of life. Francis thinks quickly–is it Sunday? No, there was one only a few days ago (it is difficult to keep track of the days here). He fantasises that everyone has left. He negotiates the corridor stretching out in front of him. He has no idea where any of the doors lead, as he has not left his room since he was brought here. No sign of his jailer, Jacob. He finds at last a door that leads to the outside, and goes through it.
The shock of the fresh air is as cold as it is sweet. The sun is blinding; the cold makes his face sting, but he sucks great draughts of it into his lungs, savouring the ache. How could he have put up with lying in that room for so long? He is revolted by himself. He practises moving faster, hopping back and forth outside the door, getting used to the crutch. And then he hears a cry. He follows the sound round the corner of the stables, and sees, a hundred yards away, a knot of people. Despite his first impulse to duck back out of sight, they do not seem very interested in him, so he hops nearer. Jacob is one of them; he notices Francis and comes towards him.
‘What is happening? Why is everyone out here?’
Jacob glances over his shoulder. ‘You know I told you Line and the carpenter had left? Well … the man has come back.’
Francis hops slowly towards the gaggle of Norwegians: several of the women are crying; Per is intoning what sounds like a prayer. In the midst of them, he sees the man Jacob must mean–a hollow-eyed, unshaven creature, his nose and cheeks flayed red with frostbite, his beard and moustache white with rime. So this is the carpenter he has never seen, whom Line stole away. Someone seems to be questioning him, but he looks dazed. Francis chastises himself for being slow on the uptake, then staggers towards him, his anger growing.
‘What have you done with her?’ he shouts, not knowing if the man even speaks English. ‘Where is Line? Have you left her out there? And her children?’
The carpenter turns towards him in amazement–understandable, since he has never seen him be
fore.
‘Where is she?’ demands Francis, fierce and afraid.
‘She … I don’t know.’ The man falters. ‘One night … we got to a village, and I couldn’t bear it. I knew I was doing wrong. I wanted to come back. So I left her … at the village.’
There is a sharp-featured woman beside him, clinging to him, in tears. Francis guesses she is the abandoned wife.
‘What village is this? How far away?’
The man’s eyes flicker. ‘I don’t know its name. It was on a river … a small river.’
‘How many days away?’
‘Uh … Three days.’
‘You’re lying. There is no village three days from here, not if you went south.’
The man blanches, even behind his pallor. ‘We lost the compass …’
‘Where did you leave her?’
The carpenter starts to cry. At last, half in Norwegian and half in English, he explains.
‘It was awful … We were lost. I heard a shot, and I thought I could find the hunter and he would show us the way. But I couldn’t find him … There were wolves. When I went back, I found blood, and they were … gone.’
He sobs wretchedly. The thin-featured woman draws away from him, as if in disgust. The others look at Francis with open-mouthed curiosity–half of them have not seen him since he was brought in half dead. Francis feels tears threaten, his throat has closed up, choking him.
Per holds up his hand in a command for attention. ‘I think we all had better go inside. Espen needs treatment, and food. Then we will find out what happened and send men out to look for them.’
He speaks in his own tongue, and gradually, they all turn and walk back to the buildings.
Jacob falls into step with Francis. He doesn’t speak until they are nearly inside.
‘Listen. I don’t know, but … It is strange that wolves attack and kill three people. Maybe that is not what happened.’
Francis looks at him. He wipes his nose on his sleeve.
At the door of his room, Per hails them. ‘Jacob … Francis … you don’t need to go back in there. Come to the dining room with everyone else.’
Surprised, and touched, Francis follows Jacob to the refectory.
They eat bread and cheese and drink coffee. There is a hushed murmur as people speak, but only just above a whisper, awed by the occasion. Francis thinks of Line’s kindnesses to him, her yearning to leave. But she is tough, too. Maybe it didn’t happen like that. He won’t think of it, not yet.
No one in this room seems to look at him with suspicion. He would go with them and search for Line, if he could, but his knee is throbbing with the unaccustomed exercise, and he feels as weak as water. It has been weeks that he has lain up in the white room, his muscles softening and his skin growing pale like rhubarb under a pot. Weeks since …
With a shock, he realises that he has not thought of Laurent for at least an hour, not since he saw the crowd of people bunched on the white field; not even, if he is truthful, since he opened the outside door and tasted the sweet, cold air. He has not thought of Laurent for that long, and he feels as though he has been unfaithful.
From the rise behind the cabin that night, a long time ago, Francis saw a light through the parchment window. He started down the bank, quietly, in case Laurent had visitors. He often does–did–and Francis stayed out of the way if that was the case. He didn’t want another telling-off from that vicious tongue. He heard the door open and saw a man with long black hair come out into the yard. He held something in one hand, Francis couldn’t see what it was, that he tucked carefully into his pouch, looking about him, or rather listening, with the alert stillness of a tracker. Francis stayed still and quiet. It was midnight and quite dark, but he knew it was no one from Dove River–he knows the way they all walk, move, breathe. This one was different. The man spat on the ground, turning towards the open door, and Francis caught a swift impression of dark, reflective skin, greasy hair curling round his shoulders, a stony, closed face. Not young. He moved back into the cabin, disappearing from view. Then the light in the cabin went out. The man left, muttering something under his breath, and moved off towards the river, northward. His tread was silent. Francis breathed a sigh of relief–if a trader was around, he would have to keep out of the way. But this man was not staying.
Francis crept down the bank and padded round to the front of the cabin. He could hear no sound within. At the door he paused before opening it.
‘Laurent?’ he whispered, ashamed of himself for whispering. ‘Laurent?’
There was every chance Laurent would be angry with him–it was only a day and a half since their last argument. Or–a chill strikes his heart at the thought–what if he has already left on his mysterious final journey, giving him the slip? He might have chosen to go earlier than he said, to avoid him, to avoid a scene. That would be like him.
Francis pushed the door open. Inside there was silence and darkness, but also warmth from the stove. Francis felt his way over to where a lamp usually stood, and found it. He opened the stove door and lit a rush, touched it to the lamp wick, and blinked in the sudden light. There was no response to his entrance; Laurent has gone, but for how long? He could be out tracking. He might not have left for good, for surely he would not have left the stove burning? He could be …
There were only seconds of his old life left, and Francis squandered them thoughtlessly, fiddling with the lamp wick. When he turned round, he would see Laurent lying on his bed. Would see instantly the curious red patch in his hair; would then move swiftly to where he would see his face, his neck, the fatal wound.
Would see that his eyes were still moist.
Would feel that he was still warm.
Francis blinks away the tears. Jacob is speaking: he says he is going outside–he doesn’t like sitting for long periods. Jacob puts a hand on his shoulder–everyone is being nice to him today; he can hardly bear it–will Francis be all right here for a while? He no longer needs to threaten him not to run away … ha!
Francis assents, somehow, and his expression is taken for grief at Line’s imagined fate.
After he had seen Laurent’s body, after he had stood in shock for heaven knows how long, Francis decided he must follow the killer. He could not think of anything else to do. He could not go home, knowing what he knew. Did not want to stay in Dove River a moment longer without Laurent to make it bearable. He found Laurent’s satchel and packed it with a blanket, food, a hunting knife–bigger and sharper than his own. He looked round the cabin, seeking a sign, a last message from Laurent to himself. There was no trace of Laurent’s rifle–had the man been carrying one? He tried to picture him; suddenly realised what the man had tucked so carefully into his pouch and felt his gorge rise.
Keeping his eyes from the bed, Francis prised up the loose floorboard and felt for Laurent’s moneybag. There wasn’t much in it, just a small roll of notes and the funny piece of engraved bone Laurent thought was valuable, so he took that as well. After all, Laurent had tried to give it to him, months ago, when he was in a good mood.
Finally he put on Laurent’s wolfskin coat, the one with the fur on the inside. He would need it, at night.
He said goodbye in his mind. And walked away in the same direction the stranger had taken, not knowing what he would do if he ever found him.
I remember a time once, when I set out on a long journey, and I suppose it has stayed in my mind so vividly because it marked the end of one period of my life and the beginning of another. I am sure the same is true of a great many people in the New World, but I am not referring to the voyage across the Atlantic, unspeakable though that was. My journey was from the gates of the public asylum in Edinburgh to a great crumbling house in the Western Highlands. I was accompanied by the man who was to become my husband, but of course I had no idea of that then. And I had no idea of the significance of the journey, but once begun, my whole life began to change absolutely and for ever. I would never have guessed it, but I never return
ed to Edinburgh, and indeed, as the carriage left the asylum behind on its long curved drive, certain ties were severed–from my past, from my parents, from my relatively comfortable background, from my class, even–that would never be reconnected.
I liked to think of that journey, afterwards, imagining the hand of fate at work, snipping the threads behind me, as I sat in stupefied ignorance in that jolting box, wondering whether I was mad (so to speak) to have left the asylum and its relative comforts. And I wondered, how often are we aware of irreversible forces at work while they are in operation? Of course I was not. And conversely, I suppose, how often do we imagine that something is of great significance, only for it to evaporate like morning mist, leaving no trace?
Whatever my musings, we have arrived at last. The end of this journey, which feels so important. But perhaps it is just the fear of violence that makes it seem so.
The country is less monotonous here; it has developed bumps and creases like a rug that needs pulling flat. And there in front of us, I can see through the fiery flashes, a small lake. It is long and crooked like a finger that beckons us, kinked round a hulk of rock that rears up a hundred feet or more, halfway down its length. There are trees on the further shore, but more of a coppice than a forest. Most of the lake is frozen over, smooth and white like a curling rink. But at one end, where a river pours into it down a short fall of rock, steam rises from black water, the turbulence of the falls keeping it free of ice.
We walk across the frozen lake. The sun shines coldly out of the west; the sky is a wash of perfect cerulean blue, the trees a charcoal sketch against the snow. I try to imagine we are here for another reason, a good reason, but the truth is, there could be no other reason for me to be here with Parker. We have nothing in common except the death that ties us together: that and a desire for justice of some sort. And when that is done–whatever is done–there will be nothing tying us together at all. And that is something I cannot bear to think about.