and he would have planned for it. And Essie’s brothers would have figured out a way to counteract the ice for Escarland’s army as well.
He reached for the heart bond. Somewhere, Essie was trying to sleep. But she was cold. Why was she cold? Surely she was not in Kostaria. Her brother Averett would not have wanted her anywhere near the fighting.
But she would come for him. Because of the heart bond, she might have been able to talk her brothers into it.
Another reason he needed to escape on his own.
THE BLIZZARD HOWLED above the thick branches of the shelter Jalissa had grown from the scrub brush that grew between the rocks of the windswept Kostarian wilderness.
Essie shifted. The grass and scrub brush padding Jalissa had also grown insulated them from the cold of the ground and was far softer than the rock. But it was still so cold. She tucked her face deeper into the blanket. Her nose was cold. Her fingers were cold. Even dressed in thick clothes and under the blankets allotted to her and Jalissa, her bones still ached with cold.
The blanket shook with a shiver, but Essie wasn’t the one shivering. She half rolled to peer over her shoulder at Jalissa. “It’s hard to sleep when you’re shivering.”
“Yes.” Jalissa pressed her hand to the wall of the shelter, and more leaves and branches filled in the cracks to make their shelter more snug. “I hope the warriors do not freeze tonight.”
Essie nodded. The elves had expended as much energy as they dared to grow shelters like this for most of the men, both elves and humans. But a portion of the men had to stay alert and patrolling to make sure there would not be a night attack. Nor could most of the shelters be as snug as the one Essie shared with Jalissa, since a door needed to be left for the Escarlish soldiers. According to Essie’s brothers, they were using the canvas from their tents to block the worst of the wind.
Essie shifted closer to the center of the shelter. She and Jalissa had left space between them, but perhaps it was time to stop worrying about personal space. “If we sleep back to back, we’ll stay warmer.”
Jalissa immediately shifted and put her back to Essie’s. It took a few moments, but Essie felt warmer.
In the shelter her brothers were sharing, they were probably sleeping in a pile to stay warm, though they would not admit it to anyone.
For some reason, the thought made her giggle.
Jalissa glanced over her shoulder. “I do not see anything funny.”
“Sorry, thinking about my brothers unwillingly snuggling to stay warm. Do you think your brother will deign to join their pile out of desperation? He doesn’t have anyone else.”
Jalissa snorted out something like a laugh. “If he does, it will be because your brothers dragged him there too forcibly for him to resist. Though, I almost hope they do. I hate to think of him shivering alone on a night like this.”
The branches above them creaked as another gust of wind howled down from the nearby mountain.
Essie wormed deeper into the blankets. “I’ve slept outside before, but this is a lot colder than family camping nights, that’s for sure.”
“It will probably become even colder before we reach Gror Grar.” Jalissa also burrowed into the blankets.
Essie grimaced at that thought. Each day had been a hard-fought battle, and not just against the trolls. The trolls had used their magic to blanket their kingdom with snow and ice. Slogging through it wearied the men even before they reached the battle, while they struggled to stay warm during the night. The mule teams strained to pull the artillery guns forward, even though they had been put on sled skis to make moving them easier, while the few steam-powered transports for the weapons often got stuck on the rough terrain and had to be levered free.
Those same steam-powered vehicles had to have their boilers stoked all through the night to keep the engines warm. Normally a job the soldiers avoided, but now they all but fought over the duty. Other soldiers stoked the fires that kept the artillery guns warm enough to function properly.
Even the set of train tracks left abandoned by the trolls was too iced over to be of use, even if they could retrofit an elven train to work on the rails.
“Attacking Kostaria in the early fall might not have been the wisest choice.” Essie’s shivers eased as Jalissa’s