Deed of Empire by Adam Stemple

Author:Adam Stemple [Stemple, Adam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: 2023-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

16.

Alda — The Wandering Sands

* * *

Alda awoke tied to a horse. Not truly restrained however, just enough so she didn’t fall off. She freed her hands easily and glanced around. Isrim rode ahead holding her horse’s lead loosely. The other five horses trotted alongside. They rode through scrubby desert that was growing patchier by the moment. In the distance, Alda could see red sand dunes rising up, bare of tracks or plant life. Her left leg ached. White cloth clearly ripped from Isrim’s silks was bound tightly around her thigh. It had darkened in the middle but had not bled through. Meant the bleeding had probably stopped.

If the bleeding has stopped and the wound doesn’t sour, I won’t die from it. She looked again at the approaching dunes. Though I’m not sure how I’ll survive that. She knew that people lived there, she just didn’t know how. Shouldn’t we be carrying a lot more water? Food? Not to mention weapons against the creatures she’d heard lived there: snakes as long as caravans, scorpions the size of horses. She had no idea what weapon one used against the sand demons or the fire spirits.

Isrim turned his head around. “Ah, you awaken. Do you need me to loosen your bonds?”

Alda showed him her free hands and nearly toppled off her horse. “Flap-eared god of fools and royalty!” she shouted, righting herself and grabbing the reins tightly. The horse’s whinny matched Isrim’s laughter.

“You would think someone so dexterous would be a better rider,” he said.

She kicked her horse lightly, urging it up next to Isrim’s. She suspected it obeyed her because it wanted to be next to its friend more than for obedience to her wishes.

“If there was ever a horse in my neighborhood,” she said, “we ate it.” Isrim looked at her inquiringly. “I’m from Sellers Park.” She wasn’t sure that would mean anything to Isrim, but he nodded.

“I have heard of it. A difficult place for a young woman to grow up, I imagine.”

Alda shrugged. “How could I tell? I know no other.” She nodded ahead, out toward the dunes. “That looks a far more difficult place to me. Nothing but sand and monsters. Tell me, Isrim, why do we ride into the sands instead of taking the road north to Eidan?”

“The Duke will have sent birds ahead to his holdings in Eidan. It does us no good to flee from him and ride straight to his men.”

I hadn’t thought about the birds. Was my plan doomed from the start? “I can see the sense in that.”

Isrim squinted out at the desert for a time. “Besides, I doubt the monsters we may find in the desert are any more terrible than the ones in your Park.”

Alda thought of Heron. He may have a point. But…

“There are no scorpions bigger than me in the Park.”

Isrim barked a laugh. “I wish they grew to that size. You might be able to see them before they kill you.”

“That is not reassuring!”

“It wasn’t meant to be.

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.