The Heart of the Tempest (The War of the Veil Book 3) by John Donlan

Author:John Donlan [Donlan, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-06-26T07:00:00+00:00

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The snow arrived within an hour of them breaking camp and returning to the saddle. The skies brightened quickly to an almost brilliant white before releasing their load on the lands below. The flakes were large and full and thick, and the ground was quickly blanketed in a fresh, crisp layer. To Lysena, it felt like home, but to Darius’ men, it was something to complain about. She smiled as she listened to their grumbling, disgruntled mutterings, and felt a pang of yearning to flee back across the mountains. She quashed the feeling and turned her attentions to the way ahead.

As they left the sheltered valley, Lysena glanced back across towards the distant fort. She wondered why the camp had not been attacked, and realised the answer pretty quickly. The enemy did not have the numbers. The fort likely had just a small contingent of men left to protect it. After all, the new king had taken his army beyond the mountains, thus ensuring no attack could come from that side, and he would never have considered one coming from this side, from his own people.

Thinking of Harrow and his forces sent the anger coursing through her veins once more, and she had to wrestle with her decision all over again. Yet no matter how many times she told herself that she had made the right one, she couldn’t help thinking the opposite. What had happened to Jaran, and Therlin? And the old Loremaster? She smiled softly as she imagined him with his head down on his old table, snoring peacefully while war raged above.

It was too painful and she focused her thoughts on the way forward instead. Darius had told her that they were heading for a small town on the coast. While mostly insignificant in the grand scheme of things, it was also home to one of the larger ship yards in the kingdom. Most of the Losarn’s navy had been built there, and there was a strong possibility of finding a vessel large enough to transport Darius’ men across the sea.

Lysena was looking forward to the voyage. She had only travelled by sea once before, and that trip had not only been a short one, but it had taken place when she was very young. She barely remembered it now, most of the memory taken by the image of her father’s smiling face. He had told her that as a youth, his dream had been to sail the seas and visit distant lands. He wanted to explore, and discover what else was out there. But of course, as heir to the throne, it had remained nothing but a dream.

Her horse stumbled slightly and Lysena was pulled from her mental reverie with a start. She looked up to find that she was falling behind slightly and heeled her horse in the flanks to catch up. Snow was flung up from the hooves as she trotted forward. It was going to be a long journey.

They stopped briefly at midday to refresh and eat, but moved on again quickly.

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