Orhewas tired and didn’t want to admit it. There was a small copse of trees about a league ahead, and I pointed at them. “Shelter.”
The captain nodded, and we resumed our trek.
The trees offered little shelter. They were sparse, and like all our trees in Crystallese, they never flowered. They were also the unofficial boundary in Crystallese I’d never crossed.
This was the farthest north I’d ever gone. As I approached, I scanned ahead of me.
North of here was nothing. Absolutely nothing. No people. Only mountains, snow, ice, and whatever creature lived here and could survive. There weren’t many.
I looked over my shoulder and saw Nicco behind me. When did he get so close?
“Startle you, bunny?”
It was the first words he’d said to me for the better part of a day, and it rankled me that his tone was as condescending as his look.
“Fuck off.”
Nicco laughed.
Niccolaughed.
And my mouth hung open in shock. “You’re laughing?”
He patted me on the shoulder as he walked past. “Don’t look so startled, Amarya, it happens.”
It did? When?
I turned and followed him when the others joined us, and I got more than one look, as if assessing whether I was okay. The men made quick work of setting up a small campsite. They had adapted to the conditions well over the last while. Baxley and Larana circled the trees twice to ensure there were no surprises hidden among them, although since I could see through the gaps in the trees, I thought it was a waste of energy.
I packed my tin mug full of snow and waited for my turn to hold it over the fire. Armed with lukewarm, melting water, my pack, and a headache, I sat apart from the others, as I was wont to do.
When Baxley and Larana joined us, they sat with Nicco as they were wont to do.
I pulled my hood low over my eyes. The glare from the gray sky and the sparkling white snow was abusively bright today. I was also hiding the fact that I was observing my companions.
Twice now, my magic had come out, with no need for Glyph magic. Holding my mug to my lips, I took a sip and pushed a tiny trickle toward my fingertips.
“Shit!” I dropped my mug as the metal turned burning hot. I scooped it out of the snow quickly, my eyes wide as the snow hissed.
“Amarya?” Captain Marson called.
“I think I nodded off,” I called back, giving a half shrug. “Didn’t mean to startle anyone.”
“Your water has melted the snow,” someone piped up.
“I know.” I forced a chuckle. “Must have stood by the fire too long. Careless.”
A few half-hearted comments followed, and I did my best to appear normal, though all the while I wanted to demand what was going on.
Magic didn’t behave like this.
It was to be commanded.
Notfree to act as it wished.
I looked down at my mug, almost sure it would be glowing red like molten metal, but a simple tin mug looked back at me.
A large hand descended in front of me, and I knocked it away, scooping my mug out of the snow before he could.
