Chapters (51)
- Dedication
- Contents
- PREVIOUSLY …
- PART I
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- PART II
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- PART III
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- PART IV
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- About the Author
- ALSO BY DAVID WRAGG
- About the Publisher
Loveless’s smile crinkled the scar at her temple. ‘Well now, I didn’t say that. Exactly how much did you bag?’
SIX
They left in the snow, a stinging wind slapping gentle flakes against their skin. Eka was as good as her word, guiding them to a trading post on the edge of hill-lands where Rennic exchanged a quantity of blood-silver for as many mules and supplies as the proprietor could offer, including a couple of oversized shields that went Foss’s way. She asked no questions, made no recommendations and attempted no up-sell. Rennic approved.
They parted with Sab, Eka and her people a day later, sending them off with two laden mules between them. Chel exchanged a tearful farewell with his sister, promised to return before she knew it, spoke words of thanks and implied threat to Eka who nodded them away. He tried to watch them go, to follow them with his eyes until they were over the crest and lost from view, but Brecki growled at them to follow and was away over the hillside.
She set a brutal pace from the start, too brutal even for herself. Weeks of little food and moving less than a veal-calf had left her frail, and she flagged rapidly. He was close to her when first she stumbled, one-armed, and instinctively he reached out to steady her.
She slapped his hand away with a snarl, righting herself on the slippery path. He saw the crisp gems of sweat glinting from her forehead, the flutter of the pulse in the pale cords of her neck. Her twitching eyes dared him to mock her, to make something of her weakness, her ruined arm.
‘Sorry,’ he mumbled, gaze fixed on the frigid earth. ‘I thought you could use a … ah.’
She pushed on without a word, but this time a little slower, to Chel’s relief. He wasn’t in much better shape himself after his time in the cells, and the frequent stops and early camps that followed reassured him that however swift their southward journey, it wouldn’t leave him wrecked in the snow.
He kept close to Tarfel, who was at pains to keep up with Brecki in a presumed demonstration of leadership. He cut an awkward, bulky figure in his new-bought furs, pale face peeping from within, lost in the surrounding fuzz. Chel walked at his side and kept an eye on Brecki, whom he was certainly no closer to trusting. Who knew where she might lead them, or what she might do along the way? The woman was an instinctive and merciless killer.
But then, so were most of the others in their party.