Chapter 21Daylight came reluctantly the following day, shouldering its way through a grey, rain-filled sky. The camp, however, needed little rousing and the men emerged into the morning dampness grim-faced and purposeful as if the spirit of Haral’s vigil by the fire had passed to all of them.
Haral sent three riders back to the castle with the news of what had happened and of the intended hunt. ‘Keep together,’ was his sole injunction. He was going to say, ‘Tell Nilsson to expect this creature’s head for a trophy,’ but a frisson of superstition bubbled up to stop him.
The remainder of the group set off along the trail left by the creature. It was wide and conspicuous for some considerable distance, marked by crushed grass and broken branches, and then also by splashes of blood.
Soon the
