Thaw (The Wintering Book 3) by Stephen Bowkett

Author:Stephen Bowkett [Bowkett, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Venture Press
Published: 2015-11-04T00:00:00+00:00

The Shining Ones

It was shocking enough for Kell to be so affectionately greeted: Hora suffered more because he knew what was coming. Skjebne accepted Feoh’s welcome with a rare tolerance, and Sebalrai used the opportunity to compliment Feoh on her appearance, and in particular the gorgeous moonstone she wore at her brow.

‘Well, when it is time I will give you one that is just the same,’ Feoh said. Yes, that much is clear, she thought, but there is also so much darkness. She realised how far her own abilities had matured; and in seeing Kell and Sebalrai together she knew now that only death would separate them.

The others thought her quietness was due to Wrynn’s presence. Feoh smiled at the mage a little shyly, and in their glance acknowledged that they would save what had to be said between themselves until later.

‘Let us return to the city,’ Wrynn advised, ‘and make our plans there. Kairos itself already knows I am back, but I would keep my arrival secret from the Brothers as long as possible. Here too gossip moves faster than any man can run.’

So they made their way, with Feoh commenting how nimbly Skjebne was walking.

‘Wrynn has given me a rare gift,’ he replied, and went on to tell of the Radiant Iron and explain some of the events that had unfolded since they were last together.

A short time later a tall and imposing woman in a striking blue robe walked along the white-walled alley to her home. She needed to stoop to avoid the doorway’s low lintel, and left the door open a few moments before closing it to the world. Feoh the Healer she was called on the streets; Sustren some feolc said, and it was probably true to judge by the way the air lensed oddly around her as she moved, and how the rippling preceded the sound of soft voices from within her apartment, as though she was speaking in tongues ...

‘It is exhausting,’ Sebalrai gasped. ‘I can’t —’ And her concentration slipped and her friends became visible again. Skjebne was delighted.

‘I have never seen you maintain the spell so completely for so long, or shield so many. Well done.’

‘I think we have avoided prying eyes,’ Wrynn said. ‘Besides, you will be lodging elsewhere. And soon enough it will not matter anyway because by then we will have moved on to Arcanum.’

‘The abode of the All Mother, where Shamra has been taken.’

‘Yes.’ Wrynn nodded. ‘But we must be sure of our forces and the means of our approach, Skjebne. None of us has been to Arcanum before. It will certainly be very well protected. Although we have the powerful wyrda to fight on our behalf, and although your wulfen friends, Kell, have promised their allegiance, sheer strength and weaponry might not be the most effective means of attack.’

‘We also have the orbs,’ Skjebne reminded them. ‘Skymaster and Windhover and the travel orbs — and now through the revelations of the Guardian Helmet a knowledge of the byways of the Rad.

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