O'Connor, Bryce - The Wings of War Series - Books 1 - 4 by O'Connor Bryce

Author:O'Connor, Bryce [O'Connor, Bryce]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lulu Press
Published: 2018-12-26T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 26

“When you pause to think about it, there is really no greater madness in the world than the Citadel path. Six thousand crafted steps, twisting their way up the sheer sides of the Saragrias Ranges? What sort of devil possessed the maniac who looked at that mountain and thought ‘Hmm… Yes. This looks like an excellent spot for a stairway’?”

—Talo Brahnt, after a few too many drinks

Damn these stairs!

Raz—though he would never say so aloud—prided himself on his physique. On the one hand his body was the tool by which he plied his trade, the one instrument he would never be able to do without. On the other, his lithe frame, strength, and speed made up much of the thread from which his infamy had been spun, woven into the subliminal fright behind every mention of the Monster of Karth, the Scourge of the South. It was a legend that had won him a solitude he had enjoyed for so many years, a peace and quietness he had started to miss again after the deaths of Lueski and Arrun.

At the moment, though, Raz himself felt his own understanding of that legend tatter and fray, imagining what he looked like now.

He was hanging onto Ahna. Not resting on. Not helping himself with. Hanging. With both hands he clung to her haft, feeling his arms burn every time he wrenched her pointed tip out of the packed snow to plunge it back in one or two steps ahead of him. His legs were long past such pain, the thick, bone-deep ache of fatigue having dissipated into resolute, sluggish numbness around the third hour of their ascent. His breath came in heaving billows, his lungs screaming from a combination of the thinning atmosphere and icy temperature of the air that was only getting colder as they climbed. This, however, was the one thing that didn’t bother Raz. He welcomed the chill that filled his chest with every gasped inhalation, cooling him from the inside out. Despite the frigid winter evening, for once Raz was boiling beneath his furs, burning up as his body worked to carry him along the stairs step by step by step.

Never again, he thought to himself, looking up to see where Carro had gotten off to. Never, EVER, again.

The old Priest was, as always, well ahead of him. Almost from the moment they had started their climb the man had fallen into a sad, sullen silence, and Raz had given him his space. It was the first time since the previous night Carro had had any opportunity to be alone with his wandering mind, and Raz rather thought the man could use some time to himself.

He’s alone, Raz thought sadly as he lifted Ahna yet again from the snow and shoved her back down again on the next step. That’s a feeling we know well, isn’t it, sis?

The thought of Talo’s death had dredged up other memories with it, and Raz had taken his own time to let

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