Rune Knight: Book Two of The Empress Saga

CHAPTER TEN

    The sky was brightening with the return of the sun. Dawn had come and gone, yet the camp made within the forest gully was only now beginning to stir. After the excitement of the previous night, everyone had needed some extra rest. All of them were on edge, some more than others, and each was entitled to a little consideration. There were new faces to meet, new names to learn, new trials to face, and new hurts to tend to.

    Not all of those wounds were something a sky woman could help with. Rippling Moon and Light Hoof had been all but catatonic upon their return to the gully. Ban was little better.

    Enfri had seen to Prince Sasha's injuries, though she had found that there was little more that needed to be done for him. The green ones were skilled, and the Altieri prince was well on his way to recovering. He suffered mostly superficial contusions, and his ribs would be tender for another few days. All said, Sasha was in much better condition than she had feared to find him in. The goblins that took him hadn't been gentle, but they hadn't been cruel either.

    Deebee and Kimpo's reunion was one bright piece of happiness to ward away the gloom. The two dragons talked until well after everyone else retired to their bedrolls, and even now they lay curled together as wolves.

    Enfri came awake feeling cold and as if she hadn't had near enough sleep. Come to think of it, she couldn't remember the last time she awoke feeling well-rested. On the road with Jin, preparing to leave Sandharbor, and even before that in Marwin and fleeing the king's assassins into the Espalla Dunes, Enfri hadn't found peace in her bed in a very long time.
Someday soon, she promised herself, I'll find a warm little corner with a blanket, and I won't leave it until I'm good and ready.

    She sat up and reached for her water skin. The warding draught she took each night to prevent her dreams from being invaded by oneiromancers left a foul taste on her tongue come the morning. She brought the skin to her lips and frowned in consternation. The blustering thing was frozen solid.

    "How do people live in this kingdom?" she wondered aloud. "It's supposed to be spring."

    A full and thawed water skin was dangled in front of her face. Enfri snatched it gratefully and drank her fill.

    Jin took the frozen skin and placed it near to the fire. "True thaw only comes in the summer," she said as she took a seat next to Enfri's bedroll. "Even then, you may only have a month without snow on the ground."

    "It's a wonder they get anything to grow here," Enfri said.

    "The Altieri have their ways," Jin said, "but most of their food comes from the sea. In villages away from the coast, they hunt."

    "No wonder they're all so big, eating so much meat." Enfri muttered. She set the water skin aside and leaned into Jin. Enfri held onto her arm as if afraid she would leave again. "I didn't have a chance to say it when you returned, but I'm glad you're safe. I don't like feeling so useless when you go off to be heroic."

    "Very little I've ever done could be called heroic," Jin said quietly. She took Enfri's hand and kissed her fingers. "And you are far from useless, my heart. Do you not see how much we rely on you?"

    Enfri laughed and no longer felt the cold. "You'd have all fallen to bits ages ago. Still, I wish my magic could be of more use if things get dangerous."

    Jin put her arm around Enfri and held her close. "I would not ask you to become anything other than what you are. It was a sky woman I fell in love with, not a war-alchemist."

    A familiar and anxious feeling came into Enfri's stomach. "And if I felt I had to change?" she asked.

    The answer came immediately and without hesitation. "Then I will be here. You're not alone."