By Blood and Magic by Jamie A. Waters

Author:Jamie A. Waters [Waters, Jamie A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-949524-18-5
Publisher: Hidden Realms Publishing

Sabine shivered and rubbed her arms. The thin material of her dress hadn’t been too bad within the confines of the city. Without the city walls to shield the night wind, however, it was colder than she’d expected. Blossom was equally uncomfortable, and the pixie had decided to huddle against Sabine’s neck to stay warm.

Malek stopped and opened his bag. He pulled out one of his shirts and said, “This should help. Once we locate Ryley, we can get out of this wind.”

Sabine nodded and slipped the shirt over her dress. It was far too large for her, but it helped alleviate the worst of the chill. “How far away do you think they camped?”

“Not sure,” Malek replied, scanning the horizon. Unfortunately, the rolling sand dunes made it difficult to tell what was over the next rise. “I’m reluctant to travel too far from the city. Zaverza was right about the Badlands being an unforgiving place. We’re on the main road right now, but it’s always safer to travel with an escort.”

He hefted his bags back over his shoulder, and they continued walking. The stars shone brightly overhead, which prevented the need for any lanterns. Other than the chill, it was a pleasant night. Even though they were potentially walking into danger and both of their magic was running low, she was surprisingly content having Malek at her side.

Trying to envision one of Malek’s maps in her head, she asked, “If we had to travel across land to get to the dwarven city, how long would it take?”

Malek frowned. “By sea and with the weather holding, we could be in Razadon in another week. By land? If I had to guess, I’d say it could take three times that long. That’s assuming we had mounts. It would be much longer on foot.”

Sabine winced. They’d already spent a week at sea, and she wasn’t looking forward to another week. If he hadn’t been able to acquire additional supplies in Karga, they’d run into problems while they were waiting for Malek’s ship to be repaired. “Do you think Ryley and his group regularly travel that far?”

“Anything’s possible. I’ve seen a few traveling troupes in some port cities I’ve visited. Some stick to a small area, but others go much farther. It depends on the city, but some troupes are highly regarded and offered generous incentives to perform for several weeks.”

Sabine frowned. “What’s the nearest city to us?”

Malek adjusted the bag over his shoulder. “I believe Gorvin. It’s a smaller port city, with more of a focus on fishing and maritime wares. I’ve only stopped there once. It’s about a day south by ship.”

From the top of a hill, Sabine spotted almost two dozen colorful tents and wagons painted with whimsical designs. Some of the designs were more abstract swirls and lines, but Sabine noticed several stars and even the phases of the moon were represented. One of them even had what appeared to be a forest painted on the side of it.

A few fires were burning low, with one large one in the middle of the tents and wagons.

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.