Talon (The Astor Chronicles Book 1) Read Free Page A

that other wild animals wouldn’t come near the fire, I packed my gear, crawled into my shelter and settled down to sleep. The fact that I had an icetiger ready to defend my life, if the need arose, was enough to send me into a deep slumber.
    Dawn broke with splendour; a cacophony of birdsong accompanied the day-star’s appearance over the nearest peaks. A breeze stirred the embers of my fire when I emerged from my shelter. I shivered and looked around for the icetiger, but she was nowhere in sight.
    ‘Icetiger?’ I called hesitantly.
    Speaking through the waves had seemed as natural as thinking yesterday, but now that my new Rada-kin had ventured away from me, I didn’t know if I could reach her. I concentrated on the space in my being that allowed my thoughts to flow outwards like a gust of wind. I discovered a landscape to the spiritual world around me. Rather than being affected by the ground and trees, though, it expanded outwards emptily. It was only empty briefly, for I soon encountered the brightness of the icetiger’s presence.
    ‘Rada-kin?’
    The sparkling icetiger shape I could see in the waves seemed startled. As I focused my attention, her form became more like the real icetiger’s, in my mind. She turned her bright eyes upon me and stalked forward. It took her a few minutes to learn how to respond. For a moment it was like she was shouting from a long way off. Communicating over distances in the waves was clearly a different skill from conversing within close quarters.
    ‘I’m here,’ she called. ‘I’m heading back.’
    She had been marking the east side of her territory one last time, a fruitless exercise, but something she felt she needed to do.
    There was still some meat left on the deer carcass when it came time for us to leave. The icetiger growled at me and muttered through the waves about abandoning it.
    ‘There’s plenty of food where we are going,’ I assured her. ‘There are cattle, goats and chickens.’
    ‘Fish?’
    I chuckled. ‘Yes, but this season’s catch has been less than usual.’
    ‘How do you catch them?’ she asked.
    I packed up as I explained it to her. Although we used words to speak to each other through the waves, they were often accompanied with images or emotions. When I spoke of the fishing that I did for Bessed, the icetiger recognised the pride I took in being one of the best fishers in Jaria. Though it was a solitary, tedious task for some, it was something I enjoyed. The simplicity of testing one’s patience against the inexorable movements of nature helped me to achieve a sense of triumph. The fish weren’t holding out on me, tricking me or waiting for me to look away. They just were , and they did what fish do, until one might happen upon the bait on my fishing hook.
    ‘You have the patience of a hunter,’ the icetiger said.
    ‘You seem surprised,’ I replied.
    ‘I know from your memories that most of your kind are not like you.’
    ‘Perhaps I only think they’re not. How would you know if you haven’t ever met any other people?’
    She gazed up at me, struck by the profundity of the question and by the fact that she could think in such a new and convoluted way. We left the question hanging, both knowing that soon it would be answered. The icetiger would meet more people this very day, as well as other Rada-kin.
    We made our way south east down the mountain, enjoying the warmth from the day-star and the smells of nature. Everything seemed more alive to me now that I had the benefit of peeking through the icetiger’s senses. Her fascination with my mind was more focused on all the thoughts and emotions. We had opened each other’s worlds in just a few days, the bond between us already strengthening.
    I stopped to rest and rearrange the milk bulbs frequently, because the weight was too much for me to bear for long.
    I was relieved when, through the icetiger’s senses, I noticed a person travelling north west through the forest to meet