A Time of Blood (Of Blood and Bone #2) - John Gwynne Page 0,6

then,” Riv answered, still grinning.

“Huh.” Bleda snorted and leaned in his saddle, patting his mount’s shoulder. “My mare is fast, but she is not the wind.”

“I am, though,” Riv said.

“Aye,” Bleda agreed, “you are as fast as the wind.” He smiled then, his normally impassive face yielding to the assault of her smiles. “How does it feel to fly so fast? The gallop, it sets my heart free, so to fly as you can…” He shook his head with envy.

“It is wonderful,” she agreed, a pulse of her wings as she descended, feet touching gently upon the ground.

“You are doing much better,” Bleda commented. “I remember the first time, you almost broke your knees.” He laughed at the memory, swaying in his saddle.

It had hurt; Riv had returned from her first flight, ecstatic from the experience, but she had misjudged the speed of her landing and ended up a crumpled heap on the floor, spikes of pain jolting through her legs. Still, she had had much to come to terms with in little time. All her life she had just wanted to be a warrior, to join the elite White-Wings of Drassil and serve the Ben-Elim and their holy cause. With the coming of her wings all had changed, not least the fact that she must be a half-breed, which meant there was a death sentence hanging over her head. None of that dampened the joy of flying, though.

“I can understand the joy you feel, and the freedom,” Bleda said, straightening and wiping a tear of laughter from his eye. “But you should still stay closer. You are not the only one in the Banished Lands with wings. And you have enemies.”

“I do.” Memories of Kol’s scarred, handsome face, blond hair bound tight, white wings arching behind him, slaying Israfil, the Lord Protector of the Ben-Elim. Then turning his blade upon Riv’s mam as she tried to protect her. Riv could still see her mam’s lifeless eyes, glazed and vacant, felt a physical pain in her chest as the image wormed its way through her.

I swear I’ll take his head.

“Even if I flew closer, what could you do, if I were attacked by Ben-Elim in the air?” Riv shrugged.

Bleda patted the double-curved bow that sat in a leather case strapped to his saddle, fingertips brushing the feathers of a bundle of arrows in a quiver harnessed beside the bow.

“I can do a lot,” he said, no trace of pride or braggart about him, just a flat statement of the truth.

Riv didn’t doubt it, having seen him in action.

“I shall fly closer, then,” Riv said with a shy smile and dip of her head. “But, in the meantime, I’m hungry, so let’s eat something while we wait for the others.”

“They were right behind me,” Bleda said, frowning as he twisted in his saddle to look back along the road that snaked its way through the hills.

“You were over a league ahead of them.” Riv snorted. “They’ll be a while yet.” She took the bridle of Bleda’s mount and led them to a patch of grass on the roadside shaded by towering trees, the ground thick with purple heather and thyme. They rooted through Bleda’s saddlebags and sat with a loaf of bread, a round of cheese and a skin of cold spring water. A companionable silence settled between them, Riv taking a long draught of water and watching Bleda eat.

He broke a small piece of bread from the loaf, set it to one side and pulled a little eating knife from his belt, cutting a slice of cheese and placing it neatly on the bread, then with obvious pleasure ate it. She smiled to herself, thinking how once not so long ago she had thought of Bleda as cold-faced and cold-hearted, his dark skin and almond-shaped eyes making him seem almost a different species. Now she hardly noticed any of that, except to think how pleasant he was to look at.

“What?” Bleda said, feeling Riv’s gaze.

“You look like you’re enjoying that.” She shivered and with a rustle of feathers wrapped her wings about her.

These things have more than one use, she thought, though they do take a bit of getting used to. She shifted her weight, releasing one wing tip that had been stuck beneath her backside.

“It’s good,” Bleda said. “Here, try some.” He went through the same ritual and gave it to Riv.

“Mmmm,” Riv said as the cheese and bread crumbled in her mouth. She leaned back, shifted a wing