The Warrior Within by Sharon Green

Author:Sharon Green [Green, Sharon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780879977078
Google: PiIi0xLfL1UC
Publisher: Sharon Green Books
Published: 1982-09-15T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

The rain still fell the next day and my world, too, was grey and cold. l found it impossible to look at the barbarian without tears starting in my eyes, so I avoided the sight of him as best I could. I was still able to eat none of the cold meat, so I threw it away when the barbarian turned his back, then folded the sleeping furs without comment when told to do so. The camtah was put on another of the seetarr and we began traveling again.

We might have been traveling continuously over the same stretch of road for all that I could tell. The rain fell in thick, steady torrents, the road was an endless stretch of mud, the trees looked the same, the fields looked the same. Sometimes the trees were to the right and the fields were to the left, sometimes the other way around, and sometimes there were no fields at all. Other than that, there was no variation.

We stopped at midday for another meal, but the sight of the meat, white-dotted with its own congealed fat, turned my stomach. l managed to throw it away again, wishing only for a place where the rain would not beat at me, one that did not continually rock from side to side. l could feel the barbarian's eyes on me, feel the puzzlement he felt, but happily he said nothing.

It was late in the day when I almost fell. The dizziness had crept up on me and slowly increased until I clung to the barbarian's rain cape in desperation. My cheek was tight against it, trying to draw every bit of coolness from it, coolness that would drive the dizziness away. The coolness wasn't enough, the dizziness continued to increase, and then my fingers lost their grip. I slid to the left, drawn by the sea of mud beneath, expecting to go down to meet it, but was stopped instead by the giant hand of my captor. He gripped my arm tightly and drew me to the saddle in front of him, frowning as he studied me.

"What ails you, woman?" he muttered, putting his hand to my face. The touch of it was like ice, and I shivered even as it revived me somewhat. He drew his hand away again, leaned me against him, then changed the direction of the seetar. We entered the woods again, found another clearing, and stopped. I didn't know why we'd stopped when there was still light left, but I was too dizzy to care. I sat on the seetar while the carntah went up, drawing what comfort I could from its grumbling concern.

Once again I was carried to the camtah, and once again my clothes were removed. The steadiness of my sleeping furs was a heavenly delight, but they were too warm to have on me. I kicked off the covering one, then held tight to the one beneath me.

"You must remain covered," the barbarian said, waking me from a light doze.

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