A Flame in the North (Black Land's Bane Book 1) by Lilith Saintcrow

Author:Lilith Saintcrow [Saintcrow, Lilith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780316440431
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2024-02-12T18:30:00+00:00

Offering Apology

Though orukhar are foul they are also hardy, and may march great distances with untiring swiftness. Many times have they appeared where all is considered safe, and their greatest strikes are against the unsuspecting. They delight in battle, and it is well they are so fond of it, for did they not fall upon each other when left to their own devices they might trouble us all the more…

—Tharos of Naras, History of the Northern Houses

At dusk or dawn the orbs of Nithraen dimmed and a hush fell over the city. The songs of the Elder turn slow and thoughtful, lullabies or laments, and sometimes halt altogether in soft restful silence. Upon the balcony of a beautiful room turned into a trap I paced, occasionally glancing into the street below.

I could not see the Northerners, but I could very well feel their watchfulness that eve—or I thought it likely to be evening, though time under the hills was strange and I had no way of aligning myself with the sky. Slipping away from men with wolf-keen senses was a daunting prospect even with my shieldmaid’s spear to meet any direct challenge. Traversing the unknown streets of an Elder city and gaining the outside was another, and after that, the snows of deep winter and more things like orukhar, the twisted carnivorous sheep-creature, and liches?

Even a volva might be net-caught in such a collection of quandaries.

There was enough space inside for Arneior to practice her own form of nervous pacing, following her spear’s bright whistling as she parries and attacks invisible opponents. As practice, it clears the mind wonderfully, and its sweat wrings anger away so one may think clearly.

I was not so lucky, too scattered to engage in our usual game of dodge-dancing. So it was the balcony for me, back and forth as a sacrifice in a wicker cage or a fish trapped in a drying puddle. I could not tell if anger was what I felt; the mix inside me was eye-watering volatile as strong mead. The excitement of a journey promising much knowledge was stained with rage at my own blindness, the anxiety of possessing too little seidhr to avoid the snare, and nauseating homesickness.

I could at least be glad the Northerners had not taken Bjorn or Astrid; my siblings were safely at home with my mother. If things like the grelmalk or the lich wended their way southward, though…

Every time I thought of those creatures near Dun Rithell, I shuddered. My father was mighty, and gifted with the battle-madness, but against a lich even that gods-granted fury might fail. Especially if I were not there to sing strength into the warriors’ arms, or meet the thing with whatever seidhr I could. Desperation might strengthen us in that battle, but the Northerners spoke as if liches were almost common in their lands.

And that was a chilling prospect indeed, for a single one had reduced me to quivering terror. What else—or worse—might Arn and I face if

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.