Chapter Fifteen
Freya stumbled through the fog, pulling her cloak closer around her body, trying to keep warm. When she called after Truman, the fog seemed to swallow her voice, and after a wile she was sure she had gotten lost, so she fell to her knees, hurting them on the hard ground, biting her lip as she fought against the tears welling up in her eyes.
She gave in to her tears after a few moments of battle, bringing her knees up to her chin and wrapping the cloak over her knees, trying to conserve her body heat.
She heard noises in the fog, but ignored them, supposing it was her mind playing tricks on her, hoping it was Jean or somebody coming to get her.
Her cries joined the sounds coming from the fog, coming to a sudden stop when she heard the snap of a twig, her sobs subsiding to hiccups as she squinted, trying to see through the thick fog.
“Jean?” Freya gulped, her teeth chattering as she rubbed her arms, trying to bring warmth back to her cold fingers. “Hello? Karaugh?”
“Freya, is that you?” a familiar husky voice came from behind her, tears coming back to her eyes at the sound of the voice she had only heard in her dreams since she had left her home.
Freya twisted around, seeing a tall man standing over her, a torch in his one hand, the other rested on the hilt of his sword. His hair was neatly tied to the side, his almost white, blonde curls falling over his shoulder, his pale green eyes staring down into Freya’s strange eyes.
He knelt down to Freya, sticking the bottom of the torch into the dirt, making sure it would stay standing in the dirt about an arm’s length from himself before crawling closer and pulling Freya into a hug.
Freya began crying again, this time into the man’s warm shoulder.
“Don’t cry Freya,” the man said quietly. “It’ll all be all right,” he whispered into her hair, stroking her messy curls down, pressing his lips against her forehead.
“Wys,” Freya’s voice was muffled by the man’s chest. “I thought you were dead.”
“Now you didn’t expect your brother to die so easily, did you?” he chuckled, patting her on the back and rocking her gently back and forth. “What are you doing on your own out here? Did your escorts die or something, or did they leave you? I could hunt them down for treasonous deeds.”
“No Wystan! I got... lost....”
“You never had a sense of direction,” Wystan held her close, gently lifting her to her feet. “Here, let’s get you back to your escorts, shall we?” he asked, wrapping his cloak around her like he did sometimes when they were younger. Freya nodded slowly as Wystan kicked dirt over the torch, stomping on it to make sure it was out before leading her through the fog.
“How did you find me Wy?” Freya asked after a while of walking.
“I escaped a little later than you did, and I got caught up in some nasty weather too. I wanted to go see Nana, where I knew it was safe to hide, but when I got there, she was gone so I had to ask the Moribito where she went. They gave me a rough direction so I followed the trail you left, which was very well concealed I might add,” Wystan let a thin smile pass his lips. “I’m glad I found you when you did, you would have frozen to death. Why were you out like this?”
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Falling Up
Mystery / Thriller*sequel to Ashes* Sharon has remembered her name, but is still no closer than she was to finding out what happened to her friends, Joshua and Markl, who think they finally have a lead on what Alice wanted them to get for her... but Alice has other t...
