A Time of Blood (Of Blood and Bone #2) - John Gwynne Page 0,54

like a whale rising out of the sea, and then Hammer was standing, her wounded leg shaking, her shoulder quivering.

Drem looked at them, Keld, Fen and Hammer, the three of them battered and scarred, but not beaten. He felt a lump in his throat.

“Ah, see, she’s just been waiting for Fen to join her and old Keld to wake up,” Keld said over his shoulder to Drem and Cullen. “Now, be right quick and break camp.”

Drem took the rearguard position as they walked away from their campsite. Cullen was in the lead, Fen scouting a little ahead of him, Keld and Hammer in between. Keld had refused to even try and sit on Hammer’s back, saying it would be too much for the bear, and Drem thought he was probably right. Hammer was upright and steadier than Drem had dared hope, but she was clearly weak on her left side; walking would be enough of a trial for her. They’d stripped all of her tack, bridle and saddlebags that had been strapped to her, and tried to share them out between each other. Anything they didn’t class as essential had been left behind, but there was still a lot of extra weight on Drem’s back. It didn’t help that he had given himself extra baggage, deeming himself bigger and stronger than Cullen.

Besides, if we end up in a fight, Cullen’s the one who’s most likely to save us with his swordcraft. He’ll need his blade in his fist quick, and not have to be worrying about extricating himself from a mountain of packs.

He can be the fighter, I’ll be the packhorse.

Drem looked back at their old camp as they walked deeper into the pinewoods and smiled. If Fritha ever did catch up with them, he’d left a little surprise for her. He’d had six days to fill, after all, and there was only so much trapping he could do.

He set his face to the trail ahead and followed Hammer’s gigantic furry backside.

They were climbing slowly upwards, curling through a sea of pine, following a path that Drem had tracked a little way during the last few days. Not really a path, more just about the only route that wasn’t blocked by boulders, sheer cliffs or snow. It took them roughly south and east, which Drem judged was the way to Dun Seren.

If we ever find a way out of the Bonefells.

They were in uncharted territory, deep within the hills and mountains of the Bonefells, a western region that Olin had never taken Drem into before. From the tales in Kergard, no one else had tried, either. It had a bad reputation, with all manner of wild stories putting off sensible trappers.

And now I know why.

If we manage to stay ahead of Fritha and her followers, we must have come through the worst of it. There can’t be anything worse than draigs in these mountains and hills.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

RIV

Riv stood in the shadows of one of the alcoves carved into the walls of Drassil’s great keep. The walls curved in a vertiginous dome around the colossal tree trunk that the entire fortress of Drassil was built around. Riv was high above the ground, gazing down into the Great Hall where, far below her, people were gathering, flowing in through the wide gates and sitting upon the tiered stone steps of the Great Hall. Even from her lofty vantage point she could see almost every detail of those who came in. That was something else that had changed about her: her vision sharper and keener since she had grown her wings.

Riv saw Bleda enter, felt something shift in her chest at the sight of him. She remembered him calling to her, that night on the road as they had been journeying back to Drassil. She knew he wanted her to explain why she was behaving like this, to tell him what was happening. She’d wanted nothing more than to fly back down to him and tell him everything. He must have heard Aphra’s revelation at the cabin, that Kol was her father. Just the thought of it filled her with shame. She had wanted to tell Bleda of all that had happened in the cabin, that she had made a deal with him, sworn an oath, but only to protect Bleda and her friends. But something inside her would not, could not, tell him.

How could she tell him that she had made a deal with Kol! The man who had killed Bleda’s brother