Free Talus and the Frozen King by Graham Edwards Page B

An instant later and would have taken off his head. The rope creaked as the full weight of the stricken boat—not to mention the might of the northern ocean—tried to wrench it loose. Bran held his breath and waited.
    The rope held. Bran and Talus watched together as the boat wallowed. The oarsmen laboured, forcing the boat backwards against the current. At the same time, the rope held the boat like a stone in a slingshot, swinging it on a long, curving trajectory towards the only part of the beach that was clear and open.
    'You have a keen eye for how shapes fit together,' said Talus. He was breathless. 'The boulder makes a ... a joint, like the joint in your arm. The rope holds the boat as it turns around that joint. The oarsmen pull backwards but the boat moves sideways.' His fingers turned his words into an airborne diagram. Bran could sense him struggling to express the thoughts in his head. 'I just did what needed to be done,' said Bran.
    Still illuminated by the fire at its prow, the boat completed its arc and slammed into the shore. A pair of waves smacked its stern in rapid succession, driving it home. Three men leaped out carrying ropes and dragged the boat further up the shingle. They tied the ropes to half-buried boulders that looked heavy enough to keep Mir himself from swimming away.
    Bran watched the activity with an equal balance of exhaustion and elation. It was late, he was tired. He'd been all the way to the land of the dead and back again. No sooner had he returned than he'd found himself saving lives that would otherwise have been lost. The quick and the dead, and no border between.
    He thought again of Talus's giant with the feathered coat.
    'This is a night of life,' he said. For a change, the bard said nothing.

    While the boatmen finished securing their vessel, Talus bent close to Bran.
    'Did you find it?' he said.
    Bran took out the bonespike from the cairn. 'Here. What you wanted.'
    Talus whisked the bonespike out of sight. Bran didn't see where it went; the bard's hands were fast, and there was no telling how many pouches and pockets he was hiding under those motley robes. He was glad to be rid of it.
    'Now!' Talus exclaimed. 'Let us greet these visitors!'
    Talus set off towards the beached boat. Bran lumbered after him, petulant because Talus hadn't congratulated him on finding the murder weapon, cross with himself for being so dependent on the bard's approval.
    More men were spilling out of the boat and on to the shingle. At the same time, the people of Creyak were making their way down the path from the village. Bran wasn't surprised to see they were led by Tharn.
    Last to disembark from the boat was an old man. His hair and beard were united in a single cloud of white fuzz inside which his face glowed a shade of red so vivid it could be only partly attributed to the firelight. Like the faces of his companions, there was something wrong with it.
    The old man landed well, with both feet planted wide. He strode up the shingle with his long arms outstretched. As he approached, Bran saw that what he'd thought a deformity was in fact a network of scars criss-crossing the old man's weathered face. The scars took the form of raised nodules, darkened with indelible dye. They swarmed over his cheekbones, crowded the line of his jaw. Each of the men from the boat bore similar marks, though coloured differently, and arrayed in wildly varying patterns.
    When the old man reached Talus, he embraced him.
    'You are both brave men!' he cried. He crushed Bran with an equally boisterous hug. Bran was only slightly vexed that the old man had chosen to thank Talus first.
    By now Tharn had joined them.
    'Farrum,' he said. He started to drop to one knee, then seemed to think better of it.
    Stiffening his back, he stood tall and proud, defying the gale that was throwing snow and spindrift into his face. 'I welcome you to Creyak.'
    The tone of his voice suggested the newcomer—Farrum—was about as welcome as a wolf