Erdene and Ermine. Part 1

Additional info about the book

New chapters will be published weekly on Sunday.

*

Rinat, a young medic, was living a quite peaceful life in Iske Manara, the City of Old Towers.

And then the war came.

When Rinat (pet name Ermine) was tending to the wounded on the battlefield, he got kidnapped by a group of mercenaries from the Tiz Telke clan. They wanted him to save somebody's life. Which is, in general, a good thing.

The catch was that the life of this certain somebody was hanging by a thread – and if Rinat failed to deliver, he himself would die soon after. Which is a bad thing.

Only once it was clear that the warrior had made it, did Rinat get to know whose life he had saved. The mangled body that he stitched up belonged to Erdene, the son of a nojon, the prince of the Dechlee clan. Rinat believed that he would be a short-lived acquaintance, given Erdene was unconscious and the medic had finished saving his life. Little did he know...!

This was only where the story began.

*

The Tiz Telke was to escort wounded Erdene through the snowy plains to the stronghold of Saklyn Tau. This was already far enough from Iske Manara, only worsened by them taking the scenic route so as to deceive any enemies who might be at their heels – it became a really long journey. Rinat didn't sign up for this, but, of course, nobody cared. He had to look after Erdene day and night. And again, yes, if something went wrong, Rinat's head would roll across the snow.

That head was quite pretty, actually, containing a heart-shaped face, big eyes and a cute smile. However, when Erdene finally woke up from the coma, he was not interested in admiring such aesthetics. He was interested in power, bloodshed and revenge. Rinat couldn't offer him any of that, but he did have some really cool, happy meds to keep Erdene calm and soften the blow of his situation.

In Erdene's opinion, Rinat could shove it.

Some people are just not made to be placated or tamed.

Being more of a hostage of the Tiz Telke clan than a part of the group, Rinat was already walking on thin ice. Now, with Erdene the Troublemaker trying to get everything under his control, it got worse.

Rinat could still make it out alive if he stuck to the plan. All he had to do was what he was told and lay low.

Eventually, well, there was some lying down involved. And from an outside perspective, Rinat was at times the one lying lower than Erdene. Yes, this is supposed to sound cheesy. Sue me.

So – what happened next?

Check it out.