Part 33 (1/2)

Jakab was silent for a while Finally, he said, 'You'd ask me to remember I remember a lot, woodsman I remember how you stole my wife'

Hans stared Finally he shook his head 'She was never your wife'

The truth of those words their stark and cold reality cut Jakab ht years since Erna's death In an instant he was transported back to the night she had ers at her father's tavern He remembered how his joy at her closeness had transfore that the hosszu eletek had found hiainst his cheek as he kissed her and promised that he would return He remembered the way she had looked at hiive him money and make him leave, remembered the way the coins had sparkled and tumbled in the air as he shoved her away from him He saw the Merenyl, all sickly skin and poisonous eyes, rising up in his saddle and pulling the crossbow's trigger He reht he'd been shot, remembered the awful, terrible pain of what happened next: the dreadful clacking sound e at the air; the feel of her slipping fro from her skull; the discovery that in the time it took for a shaft of wood and metal to cross a few yards of e

Jakab found that he was crying His chest heaved and great shuddering breaths escaped hi back and forth as the tears spilled down his cheeks

Slowly, he recovered himself

He wiped his nose, his face When he looked up, he saw tears glistening in the eyes of the old man too

'Where is Anna?' he asked

'Jakab, I loved her just as dearly as you did'

'Where has Albert taken her?'

'If I'd knohat those men would do, if I'd knoould end, I never would have called the her to you'

'I have to find her'

'You won't, though I'ht to lead it homever she chooses You must allow her that Your involvement with her ends here In this room'

From his pocket, Jakab pulled out the knife, turned it over in his hands, ran his thu the blade and drew a line of scarlet On the sofa, Helene Richter ed back in her seat

'I don't want any more bloodshed,' he said

'Then don't do this-'

'But I h question'

'Jakab, don't you see? We don't knohere she's gone None of us do We helped them leave, yes But they won't cooodbyes'

He stood, walked into the midst of them Studied the way the flames in the hearth reflected off the knife's blade 'Of course you know You must know'

'Please don't do this, Jakab'

He went to Helene, reached out a hand to her face She strained away from him, but she could only move so far, and he took her chin and lifted her head She would still not meet his eyes Softly, he asked, 'Where can I find her?'

The woman sobbed

Behind hi You must know that Think about Erna What she would have wanted'

'What do you knohat Erna wanted?'

'Jakab, I was married to her'

'And the next ti to cut the lips off your son's bride' He turned to Carl, using the tip of his knife to tilt the man's face towards him 'Look at me, Carl Just look at me There, see? That wasn't so bad I'hter any harm I don't wish you any harone I know that, deep down, you understand that I love her, Carl I must find her'

The man's face had lost all its colour His Adaone Why on earth would they tell us that? They don't even knohere they're going'

'A father would know'

'I promise you, I-'

'A FATHER WOULD KNOW!'

Jakab dropped the blade from Carl's chin, hauled hi, circling the roohts of Anna, of Erna, of Anna And iloating, insistent

He iht, the Gerh He i at a hotel, terrified at what they had just escaped but also energised, alive, thrilled That energy would find its release in passion, drawing the them the confidence to believe they could prevail

He felt as if a tu around the sofa, snapping Helene's head back and brandishi+ng the knife high above him, he said, 'Last chance, Hans, I swear it You tell ht now or I'll ly you won't suffer yourself to look at her again'

On the wingback chair, Hans bowed his head He began to pray

Beside Helene, Carl opened his mouth and joined hiainst Helene's forehead, the other clutching the knife

'and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us'

He slashed doards

Helene Richter gagged, bucked

'deliver us froainst his teeth, determined to drown out their words, determined to demonstrate the futility of their prayer, Jakab carved into her face

Later,had abated and the life had left them and the only sound in the roo, Jakab acknowledged that the oldthe truth He had not known; none of them had known

It was too late by then, of course And it would hardly have , he becaion, France Now Days passed, but they could have been hours or weeks Hannah curled around the horror and the pain of her loss, drawing its spike ever deeper, letting its poison travel her veins and its barb twist inside her, eviscerating her of all her hope, her rave on the shore of the lake, working as fast as he could in the chill auturound was frozen and rocky, and he was unable to dig deep A mist of rain harried hi the eyes of her husband's killer upon him as he worked

With the shallow site prepared, the old ently as he could Earlier, Hannah had washed the blood from Nate's face and hands She wanted Leah to remember her father without the stains of violence upon his body

The girl, white-faced and silent, lips pressed together as if she concentrated on a reel of horrors spooling before her eyes, bent and tucked a letter into the pocket of Nate's shi+rt Hannah saw the hard, urgent scratches of her daughter's handwriting and had not the courage to ponder what questions they asked