The Cold Light Fades - Book 1 of the Crystal Chronicles

Chapter Ten - The Road to Entarus

Alesson was woken sharply from his slumber the following morning, when Rakk pushed open the tent flaps, stuck his red-haired head in and declared it to be breakfast time. Deltain grumbled disdainfully next to the prince as he too was roused from sleep. Then the old sage felt his head begin to pound and then he rolled over and pulled his bed covers up over his head and groaned loudly.

"Rise and shine," Rakk said in a cheery voice.

"Go away!" Deltain muttered from under the covers.

"But we'll need to be breaking camp soon. Garlent said the sun will be coming up soon and we need to get underway," Rakk replied as he pulled his head back out of the tent, "...and besides my belly is definitely telling me it's time to eat."

"I'll be right out," Alesson called after Rakk. Deltain just continued to grumble into his pillow. Alesson was sure that at one point, he heard the old sage mutter that his head felt like several stone giants were hammering at the inside of his skull. Alesson tried to slip out of his bedroll as silently as possible to not disturb the ailing man. Then he got dressed in some thick winter clothes and he and Frostbite slowly left the tent.

It was still dark outside, only a slightly purple smudge off to the east showed that morning was approaching. The weather had gone incredibly cold, Alesson's face was blasted by the icy cold wind that blew across the hillock. For a second, he considered climbing back into his uncomfortable bed, just to stay warm. A thick frost lay on the mossy ground, which made the ground look grey, and pale compared to the dark black sky above.

Narlia and Linta had already risen and were preparing breakfast over a small fire that Rakk had built with the aid of Chal. The young crimson haired soldier was sat watching the women cook and he was clutching his bowl as if it was alive.

Alesson sat down next to the eager soldier and greeted his sister and Narlia. "Good morning. Did you both sleep well?"

"Yes, thank you," Linta replied and Narlia nodded. "I slept on such a nice thick mossy patch that felt softer than my old bed."

Alesson's limbs felt very tight and sore. Whether his soreness had been caused by his training from the night before or his uncomfortable bed, he could not be sure. At this point, Alesson suddenly remembered what he had discovered about the strange voice in his head, but he decided to talk to his sister privately about it later. Very soon, there was a bubbling pot of porridge over the cooking fire.

"There, breakfast is ready now," Narlia said as she stirred the pot. "I've made enough for ten people, but I'll bet young Rakk eats at least three times as much as anybody else. Where does your appetite come from?" Narlia asked the man who looked like he was ready to jump into the cooking pot and devour all the porridge.

"I don't know," said the drooling soldier. "I just can't seem to stop thinking about food, it's a good job I get plenty of exercise or I'd probably be as broad around the middle as Garlent is across the chest."

Narlia laughed at the young man's response and soon the twins found themselves giggling as well. Then Garlent arrived and looked at the chuckling group around the fire. "What's so funny?" asked the commander gruffly.

"Nothing, nothing," Narlia said quickly as she stifled her laughter, which made the twins giggle harder. The commander looked sternly at them all, grunted and stomped off to finish packing his tent away.

Soon the party had all finished eating breakfast and began to pack the campsite away ready to continue their journey. Deltain was roused from his tent and put in the back of the lead cart, the old man was in a foul mood, and everybody avoided him while he dealt with his hangover.