140

The path lead the two men to the crest of the ridge some distance to the south east of the village. And from there, they could see the village, pretty much in its entirety to the left, while still having a grand view of the fjord, harbor and airport to their right. The path, which had been so narrow that the two men had to walk one after the other with Bjorn following Ante, became once again wide enough for them to walk side by side.

"You know, I was worried about you there for a moment," Ante said, breaking the silence that had grown between the two men.
"When?" Bjorn asked, not immediately understanding what Ante was talking about.
"When you were alone with Einar in the servants' quarters."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"So that was why you popped in to see me?"
"Yeah. He is one of those kids, you know."
"One of those kids?"
"Yeah. The ones in the news. Just two weeks ago, this girl stabbed a woman to death in Asker, remember?"
"And you thought Einar would do the same to me?"
"Well, I didn't want to take any chances."
"That's awfully generous of you," Bjorn answered with a lighthearted smile.

Bjorn felt happy and confident walking on the top of the ridge, and thought the idea of Einar actually hurting him, quite silly.

"So what did Georgio tell you that made you so worried?" Bjorn asked.
"Well, he told us that Einar was a cop killer, and a little suspicious of people in uniform."
"I see. I guess that would have made me a little worried too. If it was you alone with him, that is."
"Thanks."
"And why would Georgio put it that way?" Bjorn asked. "I mean, wasn't that a little mean to make you worried like that."
"Georgio is no fan of uniforms either, I guess. He keeps poking fun of us for being one of them."
"And we are, aren't we? In their eyes, I mean."
"We're the bad guys," Bjorn commented with an ironic smile. "Yet they know that we aren't."
"And so they invite us into their little world to try to convert us, you think?" Ante continued. "To show us that they are the good guys, and that we can become one of them if we please."

Bjorn nodded thoughtfully.

"You think they are right about that, though? Us being the bad guys I mean." Bjorn asked.
"Well, we're not actively doing any harm," Ante replied. "And Georgio can come and go as he pleases, so he has no reason to complain."
"He's angry about the way things went in Venice, I guess. He might be projecting his anger onto us."
"What you mean?"
"Well, he told me Friday night that the Romans clubbed down the Venetians for wanting to break free of Italy."
"Really? When did that happen?"
"Quite recently, I believe."
"I can't remember reading about that anywhere."
"No. I don't think anyone took the referendum seriously, if it even happened. Except Georgio and his friends, that is. And... well... they are Fifth Empire nut cases all of them, aren't they?"