Sub Zero by Angel Martinez

Author:Angel Martinez [Martinez, Angel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Gay & Lesbian
ISBN: 9781611243147
Publisher: Amber Quill Press, LLC

Chapter 8: Tale-Singer

"Clever little mites," Emma muttered as she poked at one of the polished stones that acted as lamps. Recessed into the walls at intervals, they emitted a soft, amber glow, making luminescent pools of the surrounding rock. So far, she'd been unable to divine their power source or means of illumination. "Low tech subsistence culture, my ass."

She limped back to her floor bed in her thick fur slippers. When the hunters had found her, she'd been getting desperate as whiteout conditions closed in and the temperature plunged below what her thermal gear could handle. She'd been lucky. Her feet sustained some frostbite but it didn't look like she would lose any toes, especially with the miraculous paste her dangpo hosts had slathered all over her hands and feet the moment they brought her in.

Not ready for a twenty-mile full pack march yet, but I could if I had to.

The kid... no, she had to stop thinking of him like that. Nyachung had stopped by with regular updates about the major. By the way people deferred to him, it was obvious he was a respected member of the community, a man with at least some authority. Odd to see their shy, nervous friend in his own element. Not that he was suddenly a loud, strutting peacock, but he spoke with more confidence, even moved with greater surety here than he had in the city.

"Emma?"

Speak of the devil... "Hey. How's himself this evening?"

Nyachung ducked his head, a blue tinge spreading over the tops of his ears. "He is...much recovered. And asks for you."

"About damn time," she muttered as she heaved herself to her feet again. "Lying around like we're on shore leave."

"He has not been well," Nyachung said stiffly. "And then he..." He waved a hand and looked away, apparently abandoning his moment of offense.

"He what, kiddo? He is all right, isn't he?"

"Better. Yes." He took her arm to help steady her. "I took him to the... I do not know the word you use. The place you go to visit the dead."

"Took him to Akar's grave, sounds like." She tried to picture the scene, with what she could glean from Nyachung's reactions. "Didn't take it well, did he?"

Nyachung's lips compressed. "It was difficult. A second storm for him to battle."

"And now?"

"He is..." Nyachung cocked his head to one side like a little bird, a habit she'd noticed when he searched for a word in standard. "Steady. Steadier? Does one say that?"

"Steadier works for me." She concentrated on walking normally instead of as if she was treading on transistor filaments. "Health wise?"

"He has slept much. Has eaten well. For him."

She knew what he meant. The major needed constant refueling, but she'd never seen him eat more than a bird's portion at any sitting. There were old stills and vids of him; he'd been a big man. Hard to see how he'd ever regain his former mass at the rate he was going.

When they got to Nyachung's room, the major glanced up from his perusal of a complicated metal contraption that looked like a stunted metal tree.

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