Winterfinding (26 page)

Roth blinked, “I think I liked you better
when you didn’t speak.”

Colm shook his head, “No you didn’t.”

“Yeah, you’re right, I didn’t.” Roth smiled.
“Come over here and huddle up. It’s going to a long night and we
need to keep our heat in.” Roth held his arms open as Colm crawled
his way over and nestled into the crook of Roth’s body. The storm
persisted as the two fell asleep almost immediately.

The pair had been travelling nearly non-stop
since leaving the ternary headwaters. They had left ahead of the
others down the Sorrent River, which eventually lead to Sulecin.
However, a third of the way downriver they departed the ferry they
had booked passage on and headed northeast. Roth was heading
overland to Hythe. From there they had gone due north

It would have been faster to go down the
Falkstone, but it was a heavily travelled route. If there were
Spires’s soldiers coming after them or other mercenaries, they
would look first to the main thoroughfares. Next to the High Road
and the Elmander River, the Falkstone was the prime artery for
trade and travel. Roth didn’t want to take any chances.

The last village they had seen was Medves, a
sad collection of yurts, tents, and impermanent looking wooden
sheds. There were no proper streets, just dirt paths that meandered
through the current conglomeration of housing. The village was
little more than a waystation. Most of its inhabitants were
drifters or boatmen waiting or begging for the next job. These were
the people who didn’t have it in them to go all the way to Far Port
but had nowhere to return to or lacked the resources. Usually, it
was both.

They were well beyond that sad village. They
had sold their horses and most of what they had of value. Roth had
bought the furs they would need, dried food, and water. It hadn’t
occurred to Colm that they’d need more water than what they
had.

“
Can’t we just refill out
botas in creeks or ponds?” He had asked.

Roth had taken to answering every question
that Colm posed to him in a very direct manner. The boy liked this
and it kept the two talking, distracted from the monotony of their
trek.

“
What there will be will
be frozen.”

“
So can’t we just eat the
snow?”

Roth had shook his head, “You can but it’ll
do you in. It takes too much effort for your body to melt the snow
and what little water you get isn’t worth it. You lose your heat.
You never want to lose your heat.”

“
But you can, eat snow. If
you’re desperate.”

“
I’m not going to let us
get to that point. But yeah, you can. Best to melt it though. Then
you’re usually fine.” He conceded.

“
And our water won’t
freeze in these packs?”

“
Oh, it’ll get damn cold
and may even get a bit chunky, but it’ll stay. These are lined with
skins from Far Port. Seals. And are well padded on top of
that.”

“
Seals?”

“
Imagine a dog-sized
sausage only with short fur and a sort of flipper.”

“
Sounds bizarre. How do I
know you’re not making that up?”

“
You don’t.” Roth had
smiled at him. Inane conversations littered their paths. It seemed
as though both were happy to have a reason to talk.

When morning came, the light seemed to want
to pierce the snow. The shoddy quinzhee seemed to glow. Roth woke
first and slid around Colm, punching his way through the entrance,
which had gotten a bit snowed over. Light poured into the snow
cave. When it struck Colm, the boy awakened immediately.

Roth grabbed a pack and dragged it out with
him. Crawling out from in the snow, he emerged into a nearly
pristine plain of glitter new snow. The shockingly blue sky halved
the world sharing it with the broad white of the taiga. In the far
distance, Roth saw the tree line. That was where they were heading,
the last great forest. A seemingly endless knot of evergreens
awaited them. Colm emerged, coughed, and shielded his eyes because
the glare was so bright.

“
How far?” He
asked.

“
We should get to the tree
line before dark. Well before if things go right.”

“
Will things go
right?”

“
Why wouldn’t
they.”

“
There’s always a reason.”
Colm said as he hefted his pack on his back and started walking.
Roth chuckled. He re-wrapped his scarves around his face and head,
made sure all this layers were closed tightly, and threw his own
pack over his shoulder. He followed Colm.

“
Know where you’re going
do you?”

“
You said the tree line.”
Colm gestured towards the forest. “Those are the only
trees.”

“
Aye.” From within one of
his coat’s pockets Roth pulled out what looked like a piece of
bark. “Here, eat this.”

Colm took what Roth offered and slipped it
under his scarves into his mouth. “What is it?” He mumbled.

“
A kind of fish. Suck on
it, let it get soft, and chew it up well.”

“
It tastes awful.” Colm
didn’t enjoy the fish but felt stronger as he did.

“
You’ll get used to
it.”

“
I don’t want to get used
to it.”

“
Well, then you won’t eat
because that’s what we have.”

“
Why won’t you just eat
meat like everyone else?”

“
Fish is meat.”

“
I’ve never heard anyone
say that.”

“
When we get to Verkana,
you can have all the meat you want.”

“
They don’t all eat like
you do?”

“
No, they do.”

“
Then how?”

“
There aren’t just people
like me. There are people like you there.”

“
Oh.” The two were
breathing heavy as their conversation died out. The evergreen
forest slowly came closer with its trees’ branches weighed down
with snow and eerily still. It waited patiently for the two dark
specks in an otherwise white snow plain to arrive.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Daniel Casey has a MFA in
Creative Writing-Poetry from the University of Notre Dame. He has
been an adjunct English instructor, a soccer journalist, and a
literary magazine editor.
Winterfinding
is his second novel in
his Ascendant Realms series, the first being
Adversaries Together
.