The Whitefire Crossing - By Courtney Schafer Page 0,37

his teeth in a grin at Cara. “I’ll keep out of his way, if you keep him out of mine.”

“Food’s ready,” Harken announced, leaning over to look in the pot. Kiran wasn’t the only one who let out a sigh of relief. As Jerik set out bowls and Harken ladled portions, Kiran edged closer to Dev. Under the rattling of Harken’s spoon in the pot, he whispered, “Why did—”

“Later,” Dev muttered sharply. Kiran sat back in frustration. Later, when? Dev had warned him earlier the other tarps would be too close that night for safe conversation.

Cara handed round the filled bowls. When Dev took his, she leaned down and spoke quietly. “If that little sand adder ripped her fangs out of you, I get you’re still working out the poison. Must be tough, leaving someone after so long. But for Khalmet’s sake, don’t fuck up the rest of your life over it.”

For a moment, Dev looked weary beyond bearing. Then his face smoothed out, all expression vanishing. “Are we scouting tomorrow morning?” he asked, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Cara shook her head and muttered something under her breath. She raised her own voice. “Yeah. First thing, too, so nobody stay out too late.” She glanced at Kiran. “Kid, you’ll join us. We’ll be scouting avalanche conditions before the convoy crosses Broken Hand Pass—one of the most important parts of the job. You stick close to Dev tomorrow and pay attention.”

As Cara retreated to the far side of the fire, Dev whispered, “Wait for the scout.”

Kiran nodded, grudgingly. If Dev thought it necessary to be so cautious, Kiran would choke back his questions until morning. But he didn’t see why they couldn’t simply return to the stream and depend on the noise of the water to cover their conversation. Perhaps Dev thought Pello would anticipate such a move, and follow them? Kiran stabbed his spoon into his bowl. For the hundredth time, he regretted the necessity to hold his barriers. Without them, he’d sense Pello’s presence no matter how well he hid, the man’s living ikilhia energy burning bright as magefire flame in Kiran’s inner sight. As it was, he could hardly feel the flicker of Dev’s ikilhia, and Dev was sitting right beside him.

No one seemed eager to restart the conversation. Spoons scraped bowls, punctuating the rush of the stream in the distance. Kiran ate mechanically, barely tasting Harken’s concoction. Cara’s soft words echoed in his ears: Must be tough, leaving someone after so long. The truth of it intensified the ache in his heart. He’d spent his entire life with Ruslan and Mikail. Despite the horror of Ruslan’s true nature, and Mikail’s betrayal...a part of him missed them, badly. Childhood memories ran through his head, bright as sunlight. He bit down on his tongue hard enough to draw blood. The life he remembered was nothing more than a lie.

CHAPTER SIX

(Dev)

I sat cross-legged on a flat topped chunk of talus and soaked in the view. Below me sprawled the broad rock strewn basin at the head of the canyon. Dawn’s light painted the surrounding peaks a vivid gold and softened the contours of the icy snowfields that spilled from their heights. To the west, between two rugged peaks lay the saddle of Broken Hand Pass, blown clear of snow by the high winds of spring. Out eastward, beyond the jagged pinnacles surrounding the deep gash of Silverlode canyon, the pale white rock of the ridges dwindled into steep gray and brown slopes and leveled out in the low sandy expanse of the Painted Valley. Ninavel was visible on the desert plain, tiny and toy-like at this distance, the firefly radiance of magelights sparkling in the valley’s shadow. The splendor of the scene and the bite of the chill morning air helped to clear the cobwebs from my head.

Gods, I was tired. Though Kiran looked far worse. I eyed him as he struggled over the wagon-sized boulder below mine, his chest heaving in great gasps. Bluish circles stained the skin beneath his eyes, and his cheekbones stood out sharp as the ridgeline above us.

After all the yelling and thrashing he’d done in his sleep last night, I thought it a miracle he had the energy to walk at all. Tonight I meant to go buy some yeleran leaf extract off Merryn, the convoy’s healer. If Kiran refused to swallow it, by Khalmet, I’d pour it down his throat. Yeleran would knock him out for sure, and gain us both some