The First Law Trilogy Boxed Set by Joe Abercrombie

Author:Joe Abercrombie [Abercrombie, Joe]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780575092969
Publisher: Gollancz
Published: 2012-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Furious

The snow drifted down, white specks swirling in the empty air beyond the cliff’s edge, turning the green pines, the black rocks, the brown river below into grey ghosts. West could hardly believe that as a child he had looked forward to the coming of snow every year. That he had been delighted to wake up and see the world coated in white. That it could have held a mystery, and a wonder, and a joy. Now the sight of the flakes settling on Cathil’s hair, on Ladisla’s coat, on West’s own filthy trouser leg, filled him with horror. More gripping cold, more chafing wet, more crushing effort to move. He rubbed his pale hands together, sniffed and frowned up at the sky, willing himself not to slide into misery.

‘Have to make the best of things,’ he whispered, the words croaking in his raw throat and smoking thick in the cold. ‘Have to.’ He thought of warm summer in the Agriont. Blossom blowing from the trees in the squares. Birds twittering on the shoulders of smiling statues. Sunlight pouring through leafy branches in the park. It did not help. He sniffed back runny snot, tried yet again to worm his hands up into his uniform sleeves, but they were never quite long enough. He gripped the frayed hems with his pale fingers. Would he ever be warm again?

He felt Pike’s hand on his shoulder. ‘Something’s up,’ murmured the convict. He pointed at the Northmen, squatting in a group, muttering urgently to each other.

West stared wearily over at them. He had only just got nearly comfortable and it was difficult to take an interest in anything beyond his own pain. He slowly unfolded his aching legs, heard his cold knees click as he got up, shook himself, tried to slap the tiredness out of his body. He started shuffling towards the Northmen, bent over like an old man, arms wrapped round himself for warmth. Before he got there the meeting had already broken up. Another decision made without any need for his opinion.

Threetrees strode towards him, utterly unaffected by the falling snow. ‘The Dogman’s spotted some of Bethod’s scouts,’ he grunted, pointing through the trees. ‘Just down the rise there, right in by the stream, near those falls. Lucky he caught them. They could just as easily have caught us, and we’d most likely all be dead by now.’

‘How many?’

‘A dozen, he thinks. Getting round ’em could be risky.’

West frowned, rocking his weight from one foot back to the other, trying to keep the blood moving. ‘Surely fighting them would be riskier still?’

‘Maybe, maybe not. If we can get the jump on ’em, our chances ain’t bad. They’ve got food, weapons,’ he looked West up and down, ‘and clothes. All kinds o’ gear that we could use. We’re just past the knuckle o’ winter now. We keep heading north, it ain’t going to get any warmer. It’s decided. We’re fighting. A dozen’s long odds, so we’ll need every man. Your mate Pike there looks like he can swing an axe without worrying too much on the results.

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.