Read Online WinterMaejic by Terie Garrison - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Terie Garrison
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life vibration of the forest felt comfortingly familiar. Then I detected a subtle undertow of negative energy. I glanced at Anazian to see if he felt it, too, but he continued to stroll along as if nothing were wrong. It must be the residue from the soldiers who were now ahead of us.
Before long, the rush of energy that had accompanied the fear of discovery wore off, leaving me even more tired than I’d been before. Soon I was stumbling along, and finally Anazian realized that I couldn’t go on any farther.
I was scarcely aware of him looking for a likely spot, building a fire, and telling me I’d be more comfortable sleeping on the ground than on my feet.
But I didn’t sleep well. Dreams of flashing light, screams of pain, and the rattling of armor disturbed my slumber. I awoke several times, always to find Anazian staring into the flames. I had a nagging feeling that I should have offered to keep watch and let him get some rest, but I always fell back to sleep before I could form the words to speak them.
It turned out that Anazian wasn’t able to hold out. When I woke up, well into the morning judging by the angle of the sun, I found him sound asleep and the fire burned down to embers. I rose as quietly as possible and rebuilt the fire with wood Anazian had gathered while I slept. Then I took the waterskin that lay empty next to Anazian’s pack and went in search of water. The brook I found ran swift and cold. I splashed water on my face to wash away the last traces of sleep.
When I returned to the fire, Anazian was just sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He started when he saw that I was no longer lying in the place I’d spent the night, and I could feel his relief when he spotted me standing nearby.
“I can’t believe I fell asleep,” he said in an annoyed tone as he held his hands out to the fire.
“You obviously needed it,” I said, setting the waterskin down. “It’s been days since you last slept.”
“That’s no excuse. We could have been found, captured . . . or worse.”
I almost asked what could possibly be worse than being captured by the Royal Guard, but decided I didn’t actually want to know.
The day went much like the previous one, except that it was noticeably colder. This seemed to please Anazian. I wondered if it might make it harder for someone to track us, but I couldn’t figure out how the temperature could affect that. If it rained, sure. But the sky was a clear, wintry blue.
I felt better for the rest I’d goten, but Anazian seemed irritable, as if falling asleep bothered him more than he was willing to say. He didn’t talk as much as he had the day before, and as the afternoon progressed, the silence between us built until it felt like an impenetrable wall.
Finally, the sun went down, and Anazian surprised me by saying we’d stop for the night, that he knew of a good place just ahead. We walked about another half mile, then turned off the road onto a faint track that I wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t pointed it out. We followed the path a short way to a place where the trees grew thicker. He stopped at a point where they grew almost unnaturally close together.
Anazian nodded in satisfaction, and we set about making camp for the night. I started the fire while he went for water, then I cooked up a simple vegetable stew and he gathered more firewood.
After we finished eating, I still didn’t feel quite sleepy enough to lie down. As we sat keeping warm in front of the fire, Anazian began to talk about the trees.
“This forest we’ve been traveling through—have you any idea of its age?”
I shook my head. “I never really thought about it. I guess it’s been here forever.”
He smiled. “Almost, perhaps, but not quite. The trees, they can tell you.”
My eyes widened. “You can talk to the trees?” Maybe that explained why he was so knowledgeable about plants and so adept at finding his way through the woods.
“Oh, yes. Anyone maejic
Before long, the rush of energy that had accompanied the fear of discovery wore off, leaving me even more tired than I’d been before. Soon I was stumbling along, and finally Anazian realized that I couldn’t go on any farther.
I was scarcely aware of him looking for a likely spot, building a fire, and telling me I’d be more comfortable sleeping on the ground than on my feet.
But I didn’t sleep well. Dreams of flashing light, screams of pain, and the rattling of armor disturbed my slumber. I awoke several times, always to find Anazian staring into the flames. I had a nagging feeling that I should have offered to keep watch and let him get some rest, but I always fell back to sleep before I could form the words to speak them.
It turned out that Anazian wasn’t able to hold out. When I woke up, well into the morning judging by the angle of the sun, I found him sound asleep and the fire burned down to embers. I rose as quietly as possible and rebuilt the fire with wood Anazian had gathered while I slept. Then I took the waterskin that lay empty next to Anazian’s pack and went in search of water. The brook I found ran swift and cold. I splashed water on my face to wash away the last traces of sleep.
When I returned to the fire, Anazian was just sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He started when he saw that I was no longer lying in the place I’d spent the night, and I could feel his relief when he spotted me standing nearby.
“I can’t believe I fell asleep,” he said in an annoyed tone as he held his hands out to the fire.
“You obviously needed it,” I said, setting the waterskin down. “It’s been days since you last slept.”
“That’s no excuse. We could have been found, captured . . . or worse.”
I almost asked what could possibly be worse than being captured by the Royal Guard, but decided I didn’t actually want to know.
The day went much like the previous one, except that it was noticeably colder. This seemed to please Anazian. I wondered if it might make it harder for someone to track us, but I couldn’t figure out how the temperature could affect that. If it rained, sure. But the sky was a clear, wintry blue.
I felt better for the rest I’d goten, but Anazian seemed irritable, as if falling asleep bothered him more than he was willing to say. He didn’t talk as much as he had the day before, and as the afternoon progressed, the silence between us built until it felt like an impenetrable wall.
Finally, the sun went down, and Anazian surprised me by saying we’d stop for the night, that he knew of a good place just ahead. We walked about another half mile, then turned off the road onto a faint track that I wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t pointed it out. We followed the path a short way to a place where the trees grew thicker. He stopped at a point where they grew almost unnaturally close together.
Anazian nodded in satisfaction, and we set about making camp for the night. I started the fire while he went for water, then I cooked up a simple vegetable stew and he gathered more firewood.
After we finished eating, I still didn’t feel quite sleepy enough to lie down. As we sat keeping warm in front of the fire, Anazian began to talk about the trees.
“This forest we’ve been traveling through—have you any idea of its age?”
I shook my head. “I never really thought about it. I guess it’s been here forever.”
He smiled. “Almost, perhaps, but not quite. The trees, they can tell you.”
My eyes widened. “You can talk to the trees?” Maybe that explained why he was so knowledgeable about plants and so adept at finding his way through the woods.
“Oh, yes. Anyone maejic
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