Torn by Emily Asimov

Author:Emily Asimov [Asimov, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Reagent Press

Chapter 7

“Ty where are you going?” shouted Shilastar, chasing after him.

“You don’t expect me to just go hop-skipping across the planet with them still up there, do you?” Ty averted his eyes from her searching stare, looking upward for a hint of shadows against the soft night sky.

“No, we can walk. Remember, you promised... You said you would accompany me...” stated Shilastar, her tone almost imploring.

“How did you... ? No, I didn’t.”

“Fine, just take me as far as Ttuirre.”

“Ttuirre?”

He had intended to keep his promise to Phaylio, but he didn’t understand the import. Who was this Send’r and why did he care? Ty was too busy contemplating his own dilemma to be concerned over someone else’s comparatively trivial problem. If Phaylio had been visited with the slow death, it was his just desserts, that was the law. And although he could grieve for the rest of his life, it wouldn’t change the facts. He and Shilastar sat long by the water’s edge conferring the body to its final resting place as Phaylio had wished.

“I’ll have Erant help me. I don’t need your help.”

“Erant?” Ty asked.

“Yes, Erant.” Shilastar played with the tone of her voice as she said the other’s name. “Father told me I could trust you. He said I could put my life in your hands... little did he know.”

“He said that?” Ty wasn’t sure if he believed her.

“He did.”

“Okay, but only as far as the fourth village, and we will go to Ttuirre last.”

“No problem. That’s all it will take. And the sooner you leave, the better,” rebuked Shilastar.

“The sooner the better. Very much so,” mumbled Ty.

Their conversation hadn’t gained much ground until now, and Ty was growing flustered. Paliy had but five villages: six in theory but four excluding Phaylio village. The way Ty figured it, the faster they moved, the better. He hoped to have Paliy far behind him in two day’s time. The villages spread out in a large circle from the ruins; and because earlier Shilastar had pointed out the direction of the closest village to where they stood, this is the direction he headed.

The breezes turned bitter as the darkness progressed, but neither had provisions to shield them. Walking had built up a fever in them, so the cold didn’t take hold of them until they idled. The two began anew at a faster pace, carefully picking their way among the shadows in their path. Ty watched Shilastar brace herself against tight shivers, wrapping her arms about herself. The chill was getting to him, too, though he wouldn’t admit it.

The next time they stopped began again, Shilastar’s teeth were chattering and she shook intensely. Ty loosed his jacket from his shoulders and offered it to her, but when she refused it he put it back on, pulling it up close.

“Suit yourself.”

He took stock of his possessions, as he did often unconsciously, especially when he was aggravated.

Shilastar’s vexation grew as she watched him for a moment. “All right already, give it to me,” she said through frigid lips.

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