Children of a Broken Sky (Redemption Chronicle Book 1) by Nicolai Adam J

Author:Nicolai, Adam J [Nicolai, Adam J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lone Road Publishing, LLC
Published: 2013-10-24T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

i. Helix

They returned to the road and walked.

Seth told Iggy what had happened. The others added as they saw fit, and nothing was left out. Helix said nothing. He felt numb.

His shocked mind had been rushing from one emergency to the next throughout the night, but he'd always been sure, somewhere in his head, that there was an end to it all. He just had to reach it. Yes, he'd been sentenced to death, but even now he couldn't shake the sense that it was all a giant misunderstanding, that it could be somehow remedied. Yes, he was running for his life, but the home he'd left was still there.

Except now, it wasn't. It sounded like everyone he knew had been taken in by the Tribunal. His home was gone. There was no turning back.

His thoughts were awash in little questions. What are we going to eat? Where are we going? But lurking beneath them, like the shadows of monsters beneath a lake surface, were the big questions.

Where is home now? Is there any hope?

Winter was nearly here. It was already freezing the creeks and stealing into his muscles, weighing him down like a hundred pound pack. When it comes in force, what will we do?

Are my parents still alive?

He had no answers, but the questions wouldn't stop. He trudged through them until the trees started to thin and Seth called a halt for lunch. The words hit Helix like a hammer, and he staggered to a halt and sat.

"Iggy, help me hunt," Seth said. "We should save what we have while we can."

I should help them hunt, Helix thought, just before waking to a firm shake of his shoulder and the smell of roasted pheasant.

"Here," Lyseira said, offering him a piece of steaming meat. He took it and ate, his jaw grinding like an automaton. It was good—delicious—the best meal he'd ever had. The taste ignited a renewed hunger in his belly that he hadn't even realized had been there, and his exhaustion faded somewhat to give it room.

The others discussed directions and plans. Angbar mentioned going to Coram to stock up on supplies. Iggy said they'd do best to stick with the old roads; something about Alynwood giving cover from a coming blizzard. Lyseira suggested a longer-term plan: going to Tal'aden, to meet with the Fatherlord and tell him what had happened. It all sounded equally pointless to Helix.

Someone asked his opinion. He gave them a grunt and a shrug. Beyond the fact that home was gone, he couldn't understand anything.

After eating, he climbed to his feet and winced as all the aches in his legs and back flared to life. Even his arms were sore. Why in Hel are my arms sore? I haven't been walking on them.

They made Alynwood an hour before dusk. Between the trees, the old road crawled over hills and ridges. It was nearly overgrown here, sometimes little more than two dull trails of beaten, brittle grass.

But at least Iggy knew where to take them.

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