Snakewood by Adrian Selby

Author:Adrian Selby
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fiction / Fantasy / Epic, Fiction / Action & Adventure
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2016-03-15T07:00:00+00:00

I was woken by a man who said I reminded him of his daughter, a hunter checking his traps like those we’d preyed upon weeks previously. He put a bearskin over me and his mittens on my hands, fed me morsels of bread, for my saddlebag had been scattered in my delirium. I remember little beyond the beautiful clean white whiskers of his moustache, protecting his smile from the world. He was thin too, he’d lost flesh and his jumper slumped around the bones of his shoulders. After a small bitter apple, he gave me his walking stick and helped me away to his camp.

He had to argue with his camp’s leader and his wife to be allowed to nurse me, for the bandits and the winter that had moved south from the mountains and highlands of the Citadels and Mount Hope had brought hunger and its attendant savagery to the borders of the wealthiest country in the Old Kingdoms. If I could give that man all the gold I had I would, for he saved my life and fed me at some cost to his own family and people. It did not last long of course; they had no room for another mouth to feed unless it came with a strong back or a good sword-hand.

They spared me some boots and woollens as the price of my goodbye and gave me directions to the nearest Post House, for I wanted to tell the Post of what had happened to Nielus and his awful crew, and I hoped they would send a party up to the hills to look for my brother. The Post of our nursery tales was as dead as Nielus said it was, or at least had too few of the leaders and numbers to do much more than keep its routes from being overrun completely by bandits.

A sleepy boy, not much older than myself, walked me from the gate of the Post House to an office next to the stores. He had armour on that must have belonged to a man twice his size, with what looked like two arrow holes in it, at the centre of his chest. He asked for my story of the events that befell us and wrote it down. Shortly, a Red came in cussing and took off his cloak.

“Carving up fucking pigs again, Reeve’s sold two of ours to some merchant we’ve got our finger up who’s trying to work a contract for tin and he wants one for a spit and the other made into cuts and broth.”

“Canny’s got you doing it again after last time? He said you fucked it,” said the boy laughing.

“You need a butcher?” I said.

“You offering?” They both laughed at me. “Sorry, girl, for you sounds too well spoken altogether for that profession,” said the boy.

“Who’s this?” said the Red.

“She come in from the mountains, said Nelly’s up there with his boys but got done by bandits. You need to tell Canny to put a crew together.

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