“He told me to cut the rope….”

Njord’s fist answered me. Doubling over, I coughed and spluttered. There was no point in acting tough… he just hit harder.

“Lygari! Liar!” Njord was ready to stomp me with his big, fat weight. Covering myself, hands on head, I rolled away from the blows.

“He did! There was no way to save him!” As expected, Njord kicked me again.

“Birger is… was the greatest climber I knew! He wouldn’t end up in a situation like that!”

“It was rotten bark! Anyone can fall to that!” I shouted this to all around me. The tappers were collected on one of the branchlings of the Spire-Branch, deep in a thicket. There was plenty of room in the clearing they chose, but it felt cramped when surrounded with unfriendly faces.

“You think he didn’t know that!? He’s dealt with rotten bark a thousand times! Tell the truth!” He approached again for another interrogation.

“A sprout fell on us, that is the truth!” I grabbed a fallen, rotten piece of wood, threatening to… break it on his face. He smashed it with his fist. His hands clasped me like a noose, making me look into his face, red and angry as the blood on his knuckles, as his red hair… as his bloodshot eyes. He looked like a draugr, a spirit of vengeance returned from the grave.

“And why didn’t you tell him it was coming…? Why weren’t you keeping proper watch!?” Njord caused a flash of discomfort amongst the others. Falling sprouts were fast and rare, so even with a belayer on watch, accidents still happened. Any of them could be in this situation, it felt like… but no one dared speak.

“By Odinn’s eye! I warned him! That’s how he leapt off, that’s how he ended up hanging from the spire!” I screamed for all to hear, right in his face, and he didn’t budge. “Birger was sent alone with no one to guard him—and you blame me for being there to help!? If I hadn’t gone up there, the same thing would’ve happened!” Not the most tactful thing I said, Stonebear’s grimace etching slightly deeper.

“You made him let his guard down! He was too busy babysitting the newcomer to watch out!” Njord’s hands clenched tighter.

“Yhhouuu—” I made a funny sound. Grabbing his wrists, I pulled against them, releasing his grip a little. “You can’t be serious,” I wheezed. “What was I supposed to do!?”

“You cut the rope!” He strangled harder. I wasn’t in a position where I could kick him effectively. I reached for his eyes, dodging his teeth as he bit at me. Clawing and scrabbling at his face… he pushed me away, hands still strangling; Njord’s arms so long I could no longer reach his face. It was harder for him to choke me at his full extension, but he was strong enough that he could. Pulling at his hands, I lifted one leg, kicking hard at his shin, trying to push myself free. He didn’t like the kick, and stretched out as he was… I slipped from his grasp, nails clawing at me as I did.

“Birger told me to!” I gasped for breath.

“Lygari! He would never sacrifice himself for a mad changeling!” Njord approached again, ready to repeat the stomping, the strangling, the game of seeing how far he could throw me and how I’d land.

“Wait, Njord!” Erik’s voice wedged in, slipping between the shouting. “We’ve all thought about that… we’ve heard of plenty of people who had to cut off their own brothers with a line between them, and those who both fell because they wouldn’t. Many of us would’ve done the same, in Crow’s position.”

“You would have cut Birger loose!?” Njord roared, turning on Erik and giving me some relief.

“I didn’t say that.” Erik retreated a step.

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“And why do you believe this kinslayer, this murderer? He killed Birger!” He walked along the crowd, telling them his opinion—and theirs as well.

“I didn’t….” My protest was weak after so many repetitions.

“You hated Birger! So you cut his rope! It was YOUR anchor that failed! I told you to put them in tight!”

I shuddered, Njord shouting tight by my ear as he seized a fistfull of black hair.

“It wasn’t like that! He… told me things! We were getting along, making plans.” Stonebear’s gaze kept me careful what I admitted to.

“Plans…? Like your ‘princess’? Does she even exist, or was it another one of your games?” He shoved my head down... and I didn’t dare to lift it. “Where’s the Crow who dances and sings? Who pecks at us with his endless, grating wit!? You killed Birger, and now you’re acting like a sorry, scared boy, to trick us!”

Lifting my gaze, I shouted with bared teeth. “One moment you say I’m an incompetent coward, and the next that I am Loki himself!?”

“You hated Birger because he worshipped Loki!”

“Is that why I supposedly murdered him? Or will you switch around back to me being the scared boy when that doesn’t fit!? You don’t CARE Birger’s dead! You just want me to join him!”

“You argr skitkarl! He was my brother! My sister was going to marry him, and now Ragnhild will grieve because of you!” Njord was tired from shouting and from his own anger. I could tell because he didn’t hit me. “And here you are… acting like Birger was your best friend, so sad when you’ve been waiting like a vulture for a chance to kill him! What’s got you so morbid all of a sudden, Crow!?”

“I’ve never seen anyone die!” I choked the words. “I didn’t expect it… to feel like this. I keep thinking of his stupid, tattooed face, looking at me as he falls down to Hel…. And I didn’t expect him to tell me to cut the rope!”

“Look at you… ever the actor, the pleaser as much as the aggravator, as it suits you. People in the upper tree die all the time, how can you never have seen it!?”

“I was lucky… and alone. I knew a lot of people who didn’t come back from climbing, but it never happened to me! What did you want me to say, joining you? That I haven’t killed before…? That I’d be a new-blood you could push around and beat like you’re doing now?”

“So you were just trying to make friends by acting tough, and making us all WANT to kill you!?”

“It worked, didn’t it!? Until this went wrong, all was well! Why would I ruin everything!? You think I’m so smart, so if I killed him, why wouldn’t I just have untied the rope since I’m good with knots? I could have said I never saw Birger—so he must’ve fallen before I got there. I cut the rope because I HAD to!”

“It…. You just… didn’t think of it till now!” Njord paused, growling with fury. So angry he couldn’t think to answer, but not being able to answer made his rage burn hotter. “You knew it’d be too suspicious Birger disappears the moment you climb after him! This was a plot to get our sympathy, our attention!”

“You think I purposefully got you to accuse me of kinslaying, wanted to get beaten… for attention? You fífl, nothing you said makes sense!”

“It does make sense!” Njord was boiling in his own blood. “You’re just trying to confuse me… to trick us all!”

“You tried to throw me off the tree, because I called you ugly!”

“And it would’ve been good if I did!” Njord reached for me, planning to finish that.

“See, you just hate me! You hated me since your sister laid eyes on me, when I did nothing wrong! You would have proudly been a kinslayer yourself!” I squirmed away, Njord not having the energy to catch me.

“You’re a thief, a liar, a disgraceful coward, a murderer! I would’ve done us all a favour!” He grabbed me by my klifrigg. “It was my mistake to put up with you!”

He dragged me towards the edge of the branchling. I clawed for something to grip. “Will you just let him murder me!?” I called out to the cowards around me.

“Njord…” Stonebear’s voice was not loud., but it was heard.

Njord stopped to look at him. “WHAT IS IT!?” Stonebear wasn’t deaf… but Njord still bellowed like a bull, trying to frighten that cold, stoney face. And it had been working… Stonebear did not say a single thing to interrupt Njord, letting him interrogate Crow this way for over an hour.

Now… he took opium, and lit his pipe. “It’s been going on in circles for long enough… we’ve heard your side, so sit down, and let the rest of us have our turn to discuss it.”

The veins on Njord’s neck pumped and swelled, his eyes bright red with blood. “...Haven’t you heard a thing I said…?”

“I have….” Stonebear nodded, puffing his pipe. As calm as he was, Gunne and Asotall looked ready for a fight they didn’t want. “So let us discuss it… we are honourable men, here.” A strange thing to hear from Tappers… but appreciated in the circumstance.

Njord tossed me aside like a sack of potatoes. He stomped his way to a central place amongst the shrinking crowd, forcing himself to sit down when his body wanted to jump and fight and kill.