A short time later, we set off on our woales, heavily laden with supplies. Yulenna rides behind Solat, and I ride with Aron. It’s bitterly cold and despite the layers of clothing I’m wearing, I’m shivering within minutes. Snow falls in a relentless blanket as we head out the north gate of Novoro and onto the rocky mountain path. Ahead of us stretches a trail that leads into the mountains, and I can see far ahead…and there’s nothing to see. There’s only more mountains, more snow, and more forbidding landscape.
It makes me wonder if we should have stayed in Novoro after all.
But Aron takes a deep breath as the imposing Novoro citadel disappears, and he relaxes. I can’t help but laugh, and I poke him in the side. “Glad to be gone?”
He glares at me from over his shoulder. “You have no idea how much that lord simpers and natters on, desperate to win approval.”
“Oh, I can guess.” Aron hasn’t had a moment’s peace since we arrived at Novoro. “Are you sure you won’t miss the titty buffet?”
“Titty…buffet?”
“Yeah, the all-you-can-eat, all-the-pussy-you-can-stand parties he put on every night?”
Aron snorts with amusement. “As if that would please me. A ‘titty buffet’ as you call it is unnecessary.”
“Because you don’t eat?”
“Because no tits hold my interest save yours.”
And just because I like hearing that, I press them against his back.
The snow grows thicker as the hours pass and the day steadily colder. No amount of layers keeps me warm and I’m shivering as I hold onto Aron. The woales seem utterly unaffected by the change in weather, plodding onward and chewing feed from ice-crusted feed bags. I look over at the other mortals in our group and see they’re all suffering as much as me. Yulenna’s teeth chatter constantly and her face is buried against Solat’s cloak. The other men have their heads down, shoulders hunched as they lean into the wind and try to endure it.
“Can we stop for the night?” I ask Aron when the sun goes down under the horizon. “I know a woale can go all night, but my ass quit about two hours ago. I need a fire and to get out of this wind before my nose freezes off my face.”
He looks over his shoulder at me in irritation, but his expression softens as he gazes on my face. I must look really bad because he nods. “We’ll set up camp here.”
“Here?” I ask, surprised. I look around and we’re still in the mountains, on the muddy, nasty path that winds between the rocks. It doesn’t look like any place I’d want to walk, much less spend the night. “In the middle of the road?”
“We’re not going to be out of the mountains tonight,” Aron says, tugging on the reins of our woale. “This is as good a place as any.”
“But it’s the middle of the road,” I protest. I guess I envisioned a nice copse of trees, a nearby creek, something more camp-like than just parking our asses here. We’re not even on an even slope.
“You heard Novoro’s lord,” Markos calls out. “They are the only ones with access to the northern wastes. They will not let anyone through to threaten my lord Aron.”
He’s got a point. And I do want to stop.
“Don’t be so fussy, Faith,” Aron murmurs. “Would you rather go back to Novoro and endure another titty feast?”
“It’s ‘buffet,’ and good point.”
Aron helps me down, and then I huddle with Yulenna while the three soldiers make two tents—one for me and Aron, and one for the rest of them to huddle in. I know Yulenna won’t say a thing, but I don’t like the thought of her sleeping with the guys. I pull Yulenna close. “You’re sleeping with us tonight, all right?”
“I would be honored to service you both,” she says, smiling at me.
Erk. “In a purely non-sexual way. I just want you to sleep somewhere where you don’t have to worry about being groped.”
“Markos would never,” Yulenna protests immediately.
Interesting that she mentions Markos out of all four. “And Kerren would never, either. But Vitar and Solat might not care.”
She laughs and nods. “I thank you, Faith. You’ve been good to me.” And she huddles up against me again.
I feel like a jerk as I share warmth with her. She’s been nothing but nice to me and I was terribly, horribly jealous of her when we first met.