He kissed my hand, and nodded. He knelt and unbound my boots and removed them, and then his own. Then he picked me up and placed me in his bed. He came in beside me, and drew the blankets and furs up over us. We lay in the soft dark facing each other, side by side, and he said nothing, but stroked my hair, my brand, my face. Then we lay still, and the only sounds in the night were Kallai restless on his perch, the crackling of the fire, and the Firelord’s peaceful breathing.

I slept at last, enfolded in his warmth, more at home here than in any other place on earth. And the wind outside whistled over our mountains, and swept the white road and the high peaks of Kasimarra. And on the cushion near our heads lay the little wooden dolphin, smiling.

16 Gifts

16

Gifts

I DIVIDED the plucked raven into portions, threaded them onto the sharpened rod, and placed them over the fire. I put some root vegetables in a pot to boil, made a bowl of salad, then two cups of hot herb tea. I took one to my lord, sitting wrapped in furs close to the fire, his face harrowed and grey. His hand shook as he took the cup, and his fingers brushing mine were deathly cold.

“If you wish, lord, I’ll make your bed, and you can sleep while our meal cooks.”

He shook his head, and smiled faintly through the steam of his cup. “No, Elsha. There are things we have to talk about.”

A sudden bitter wind whirled into our cave, scattering smoke and ash and whipping up the dust. I shivered, took one of my sleeping furs and wrapped it about me while I sat by my lord and had my drink.

I sat as close to the fire as I dared, without scorching my boots. I had never been so cold as I had been these four days of travelling. We had been through all the worst the weather could give – sleet, ice, wind, storm and snow. All around us had been the thunder of avalanches, the roar of swollen rivers, the knife-edged relentless wind, and always the cruel unconquerable cold. And inside, my heart was bleaker than the world. Separation from Teraj had torn me in two, left me severed, solitary, disunited from my very soul. I had not known that a human being could feel this, and still live.

The Firelord knew my pain, and I did not know whether empathy with me had made him ill, or whether it was his own sickness inside that ate at him. But he was stricken with cold and suffering, and I ached as much for him as I did for myself.

“Let me take you back to Teraj, lord,” I said. “Even if we get to Kasimarra before the Fire Festival, you will be too ill to carry out the rituals.”