Cursed by Ice Read Free Page A

remain home with my son,” Dethan said darkly. “We will not even entertain the idea of her coming on a campaign.”
    “Dethan, she is a magess of fire, one of the most powerful of the mage schools—”
    “Enough! We will not discuss it!”
    Garreth knew by his brother’s terrible tone that it was indeed the end of the conversation. Garreth’s sister by marriage, however powerful she might be, would never be allowed from behind the safety of Hexis’s walls. Not for anything, and certainly not for war.
    “Then how are we to prepare for whatever tricks they have planned? This is clearly a mage of some kind of mindcraft.”
    “Perhaps. The best way to battle this is by using deception and great numbers. No mage is strong enough to fool an entire army, but they can do damage in small increments. It is most important that they don’t know where you and I are. As leaders, we are the ones giving commands and we cannot allow ourselves to be tricked into giving false commands.”
    “Not an easy ploy considering your armor is black. It rather stands out.”
    “As does yours with its golden hue. We will have to wear other armor.”
    “But both of our armors are god made. And you are no longer immortal, brother. I do not wish to see you—”
    “I was fighting wars without immortality for a very long time. Do you not trust that I can come away from this alive and well again?”
    “Of course I do. I only meant … I would not wish to take unnecessary chances. Not when such a valuable tool such as our armor is available to us.”
    “It is not ideal of course, but it will have to be. I will call a page to find us suits of common armor. You cannot be killed except with a god-made weapon, and since I am the only one with a god-made sword, you have little to worry about.”
    “I would not say that,” Garreth said with a grimace. He moved toward the opening of the tent. “Dusk comes.”
    Dethan frowned, his clover-green eyes expressing his deep regret, his awareness of what his brother was suffering, and the guilt of knowing it was his folly that had led Garreth to it.
    But Garreth had willingly followed Dethan. He had made the choice of his own free will to go on their quest for the fountain. He had been weak and was now paying the price for not being strong against his brothers’ cajoling coercions.
    “Brother …” Dethan began.
    “Dusk comes every night,” Garreth said quietly. “Will you flagellate yourself every time?”
    “Yes,” Dethan said simply.
    “I wish you would not” was all Garreth could say. Then he left the tent and began to head toward the orchards that stood a little ways away from the encampment. He headed for the section of marjan trees that had turned from a healthy white to a sickly brown, the only trees in the orchards not bearing leaves or fruit. Both had fallen to the ground the day after they hadfirst come to Kith. The day after his first dusk in the orchard.
    He stood among those barren trees and slowly removed his armor. Piece by piece, he set it down onto the ground a few feet away from where he eventually stood waiting.
    The moment the first touch of darkness bled into the sky, the grasses beneath his feet began to turn white with frost. The frost crept outward in an ever-widening circle, overtaking the dead trees, climbing up the bark and into the branches. Had there been leaves left, they too would have frosted over.
    He began to feel the cold seeping into his bones and he could not help but shudder. He tried not to brace against it, tried in vain to just let it come without his body resisting it and causing him even more pain in the long run. But he tensed just the same, his heartbeat racing as his breath began to cloud upon the air.
    He dropped to his knees, falling forward onto his hands, as pain screamed through his freezing muscles. His body shuddered again and again in a futile effort to try to warm itself. He felt everything within him turning to solid ice, from bones to