2,49 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: Tami Veldura
- Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021
What We Do For Love
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Ähnliche
Table of Contents
Title Page
What We Do For Love
About The Author
Copyright
What We Do For Love
By Tami Veldura
Kayin hugged herself tightly against the bitter cold of the mountainside and crouched as the wind gusted. She wore little suited to the climate, only thin hide and a light cloak. Barely yards away, into the valley, her ancestral home had been protected ages ago with old magic and she'd badly misunderstood the weather outside of that protection. This kind of cold couldn't be explained by a breeze or a refreshing stream. This cold cut like knives, settled deep into her bones, and made even her skin brittle.
Akanni followed Kayin up the mountain, better prepared with her fur coat and padded pants. Even her boots were lined with wool. She was young, hardly adult by elf eyes, but she knew this mountainside better than Kayin. She understood the way these trails had been cut into thin paths that wound in and out of the wind.
Kayin stood again when the gust pushed off to the right and checked her small bag at her hip. It held an orange and a small knife to peel it with; little things, but important.
Akanni pointed out how the path twisted and Kayin struggled forward once more, shivering in the bitter cold, her whole body shaking with each step. The mountainside's stone was dark, but Kayin walked across a crunchy layer of white snow that sometimes hid a slick patch of ice. Without Akanni, she would have plunged to her death twice already.
She had to forge onward. The sun had peaked when she started this journey and now as it approached the mountainous horizon, it blew the wind harder than ever and time was running short. They had to reach Summoner's Breach before nightfall.
In the protected valley below, elves of every age were gathering for solstice. Kayin had helped the clan decorate with winter lilies for days. When the sun tucked itself under the horizon, but before full dark fell on the valley, there would be a moment where the veil between this life and the next was thin, where the ancestors could speak with the living. No sound could pierce the veil, only light, so every elf knew how to sign with their hands just as well as speak with their mouths, thus twice a year a connection could be made with the past.
Kayin had dragged Akanni up this mountainside on the eve of solstice because she wanted to do far more than sign with the dead.
She wanted to bring someone back across the veil.
Rock below Kayin's foot suddenly gave way and she staggered, sliding alarmingly downward. In a breath the shelf of her path whipped by. Then Akanni's firm, gloved hand grabbed hers and Kayin felt her weight pull the girl to her knees. But she held.
Kayin scrambled on the loose rock. Akanni pulled from above. Kayin's fingers were numb with cold, but adrenaline warmed her muscles and she found the shelf with her other hand. With Akanni's help she yanked her chest over the ledge, then swung her hips up from the side. Akanni held her in close around the waist and they both breathed again.
Wind scuttled up the mountainside and stole Kayin's breath and the words she was about to say. Instead, she twisted onto her back and signed at Akanni, her stiff fingers making the symbols tough to form.
"That was close. Thank you."
Akanni nodded, then signed, "The path is gone, but we can climb if you're willing."
