Bones of the Empire Read Free

Nuzzling his cheek, she answered, “You always try to be alone to brood about them. I told you the last time that I will not let you do this to yourself. I would rather we fight about the decision than have you stand out here being miserable.”
    Estin sighed and hugged Feanne close, thankful for her concern and warmth. He wanted to hide from everyone and cry when he thought of the kits, so far away without their parents, but she was right. There was no sense in beating himself up over what he could not change. Likely she felt exactly the same.
    “Do we have any chance of surviving this?” he asked eventually, staring off into the heavy snowfall north of them.
    Feanne squeezed him a little tighter. “Had you asked me that when the undead attacked our camp, the mists took us, or any number of other times, I would have been honest in saying that our chance of survival was slim at best. Even then, I would have been lying. We should already be dead. I already have been more than my fair share.”
    “That’s not very optimistic.”
    “Were you wanting hope or honesty? Honesty is that we’ve been lucky enough to survive everything Turessi has thrown at us for years. We may yet do that again. If what you want is hope, you yourself have said many times that you would willingly die for any of us…now we know that the Turessians want us and will not seek out our children. That will need to be enough hope, regardless of whether we live or die.”
    “You really need to work on your motivating speeches, Feanne.”
    Laughing softly near his ear, she tugged him back toward the tent. “We need to rest, Estin. It will be a long journey and not an easy one. Yoska will likely get us lost, and either of us will want to kill him within days if we become too tired.”
    Estin kept quiet until the wind’s chill began to make him shake, despite Feanne’s arms around him. He still had no desire to go into that tent and see the hopelessness on Raeln and Dalania’s faces or hear Yoska’s lies.
    “How are the others holding up?” he asked, trying to keep his voice from shaking the way his arms and legs had started to. Deep down, he wondered if he would ever be warm again, and they had barely entered Turessi. Yoska had claimed Turess said this storm was harsher than most, but he could not believe much the man said. “They’ve been quiet…except Yoska, of course.”
    “Yoska says everything that enters his head, other than how he actually feels. He’s as worried as you are and wants to run. He will not as long as we keep going, but he wants to. Turess is plotting something, though without being able to talk with him, I cannot be sure what. He may simply be trying to learn who we all are and what is happening. Dalania is terrified of violence, and there will be no end of that where we are going. Raeln…I have no idea what Raeln is feeling. He has closed himself to me after whatever happened near the tomb. I believe he will talk when he is ready and not a moment sooner.”
    Estin nodded and held her arms tightly to him for a moment before pulling away to head back into the tent. He hesitated when Feanne continued to stare off into the snow. “We should get out of sight. You never know when someone could be out there.”
    Holding up her arm to look at the bright red of her fur where it poked out of her shirt sleeve, Feanne smiled and shook her head. “Not tonight. I called to the bats that inhabit the area. They are watching for anyone hunting us and will relay what they see to me.”
    “How does that work? I knew you could call animals, but I thought seeing through their eyes was something Dalania did.”
    “It works the same way most magic works,” she told him, following him back toward the tent. “Once you know the trick, it simply does. Dalania taught me that some time ago, but I only remembered it while we rode yesterday. I cannot control what comes to my call or whether they will help as I intend. Dalania has far better