Death Comes To All (Book 1) (36 page)

In
the end, he had to draw on their supplies once more. While they had
plenty for now, he knew that Grant had planned on those supplies
lasting them through much of the winter. As such he ate sparingly,
though he was very hungry after trudging through the muck all day.

The
clearing they sat in was bare of anything to use as a seat. Bane
briefly considered trying to pull a log out of the water, he saw one
likely suspect nearby, but discarded the thought. The wood would have
been so sodden that it would undoubtedly have ruined his already
soiled clothing, and the wet wood wouldn't have been very comfortable
anyway.

Bane
once again took the first watch. Without a word he piled a couple of
the packs on the ground to rest his back on. As long as the water
level didn't rise the packs and their contents would stay dry at
least, and for the most part he was still dry as well. The water they
had walked through had not crested the top of his knee-high boots,
though he had been splashed a few times as he walked through it. The
ground he stood on, and would be sleeping on, was damp, but it wasn’t
completely soaked.

Grant
fell asleep immediately. Bane wasn't even certain that the man had
bothered eating anything that night. He had been so absorbed in his
own thoughts that he hadn't been paying very close attention. Trick
finished his small meal with a disturbing crunch, which Bane had no
intentions of trying to identify. He looked back again over the
water, as if considering whether to go in for more or not.

The
last of the light had already fading into darkness, so how the
creature could see into the depths Bane couldn't understand. Perhaps
it couldn't, or perhaps it just decided it didn't need another
morsel. Instead of going back to the water, Trick waddled over to
Grant and curled up behind the man's knees. Grant slept on,
oblivious.

"The
sooner we reach the Hut, the better," Raine commented grumpily,
walking over to sit down next to him. "I hate walking through
water like this. At least my boots aren't soaking up the liquid."

"I
thought you've been to this place before. Didn't you expect this when
we started out?"

"Of
course I did. It doesn't mean I like it any more than I did the last
time. Still, this place would be impossible to get to for anyone who
doesn't already know the path. This trail is invisible to anyone
trying to follow."

"How
did Raiste find it?" he asked.

No
one will be able to overhear us here. It should be safe enough to use
the man's real name now.

Raine
shrugged. "Beats me. This is the same way we took the last time
he brought me here. As far as I know, it's the only way in or out. I
don't really know what he plans on doing with the horses once we get
there. There's enough dry land for them, but most of it is covered
with either thick swamp forest or tall grasses that come up nearly as
high as my head. I don’t remember offhand if there’s any
grains nearby, but if there are I would think that the two of you
would want to save them for yourselves. There certainly can’t
be enough to winter four horses. On the up side, no one will be able
to find us there. We'll be completely hidden away. Well, we might
still have to watch out for that dragon. We didn't have to worry
about anything like that the last time we were out there."

"How
many times have you been here before now?"

"This
is only my second time actually. The first time was about three years
ago. We weren't running from anything then. He uses this place to
store extra supplies and such, and I think as kind of a home base to
go to when things got a little too hot elsewhere. He has dozens of
different sets of clothing, a few extra weapons, and even had extra
food stored away in jars out there, though I doubt that any of that
is still edible. If not we can always empty and reuse the jars. There
are a few places nearby where we can gather food you can eat this
winter. We’ll have to do it soon, since we won't have much time
before the citrus fruits won't be good to eat anymore."

With
any luck, I’ll have time to gather enough fruits and vegetables
before it starts to get too cold,
he thought.

Raine
had bought enough food to last them for a good portion of the winter,
but since Raiste had wanted to use regular leather packs she had been
limited by the amount that they could carry. Raiste had already
mentioned that they would be able to hunt and fish for food, but that
would not help Bane, who was a strict vegetarian.

He
considered that for a moment. While it was true that sorvinians were,
as a rule, all vegetarian, his mother had been human. She disdained
from meat by choice.

Perhaps,
if I had no other alternative, I could try eating meat,
he
thought.

The
very thought disgusted him. Still, if given the choice of eating meat
or starvation, he might at least try it. He knew that nothing short
of the threat of starving to death would get him to do so, but it was
still something to think about.

“
Wake
me for my shift when those stars there are directly overhead,”
she told him, pointing to one of the constellations she had been
trying to teach him. He couldn’t for the life of him remember
the name of the constellation, but the pattern was easy enough to
recognize.

That
said, Raine left him with his thoughts and turned in. He settled in
for a long night. Occasionally he would see a flash of light from a
lightning bug signaling silently to its fellows, or he would hear the
splash of a fish or some other creature hunting in the water around
him, but otherwise nothing at all caught his interest. When it was
finally time to wake Raine for her turn watching over them, he was
grateful. The night had been so uneventful it was a wonder he hadn't
fallen asleep.

At
first she was difficult to wake. He had to quickly dance out of the
way as she sent a hard kick in his direction. Luckily, her aim was
affected by her groggy state, and her attack went wide.

“
Sorry,”
he said quickly. As she opened her eyes to glare at him he pointed at
the sky. “You did say to wake you when those stars there were
directly overhead,” he reminded her.

“
You’re
fine. It’s me that should apologize. I’m sometimes a
little disoriented when I first wake up. I’ve got it from here.
Go ahead and get some sleep.”

He
lay his head on one of the softer packs. He couldn't tell in the
darkness if it was his own or if the pack belonged to one of his
companions. He believed that his friends wouldn't begrudge him what
little comfort he could find in such a place, so he wasn't concerned.
Laying directly on his back, he lay his head on his makeshift pillow.
Within only a few seconds he slipped easily into sleep.

Chapter
Twelve

The
next day was more of the same, endlessly plodding through the water
along a narrow path Bane could not even see. If it hadn't been for
Raiste leading the way with his strong, self-assured gait he would
have wandered off the thin bridge of land in seconds, and would
surely have been lost in the depths of the warm swamp water.

Raiste
never seemed to question his direction, as if every tree and vine
they passed were old, familiar friends, just waiting for him to come
along and say hello. Bane wondered if that was perhaps Raiste's
magical talent, finding his way. Certainly the man was very tight
lipped when it came to his magic.

Even
Raine admitted that she did not know what power he might possess. He
was the son of one of the great mages, and a powerful one if his tale
was to be believed. However, Raiste had also said that there were
times that powerful mages had children with little or no magical
talent of their own. Perhaps he was one of those untalented
offspring.

Thankfully,
the path was not always underwater. At times the trail would lead
them onto solid ground, and for a while they would push through thick
growth where there didn't seem to be any sort of a path at all. At
one point they walked through what appeared to be an entire orchard
of orange trees. The growth of weeds and grasses around them proved
that they hadn't been tended in a long time.

The
fruit was already beginning to turn. Several of the overripe oranges
had already fallen to the ground of their own volition. Bane did his
best to take advantage of whatever was still viable without slowing
them down.

Raiste
seemed to have no intention of stopping, Much to Bane’s dismay.
It was obvious that with the amount of oranges that were still on the
several dozen trees around them they could have supplied themselves
for the entire winter, as long as they found a way to safely keep the
fruit from spoiling anyway.

As
much as I don’t want to live on oranges all winter, at least I
wouldn’t starve,
he thought.

Raine
had mentioned that Raiste kept jars, some empty and some likely still
holding spoiled fruit from previous years, that they could use to
store the access oranges. By filling them completely and boiling them
for only a few moments in water they could keep the food away from
the air, allowing them to easily store it for a longer period of time
without spoilage.

As
it turned out Bane's earlier assessment hadn't been correct, and
Raiste called for a short rest in the grove, where they could relax
in some comfort on the dry ground of the orchard. They had already
been walking for several hours by that point anyway, so stopping for
a brief rest and a quick bite seemed like a prudent idea. For a
moment Bane even thought that the man would stop there for the night,
but he obviously had other thoughts in mind.

"We
don't have much farther to go," Raine commented to him quietly
when she thought that Raiste wouldn't be able to overhear. "I
don't think that we can make it before nightfall, but unless I'm
wrong that's what he plans on trying to do anyway. I remember this
place well. I'm thinking that we have about another five hours of
daylight left, and the Hut is at least six hours away on foot. Still,
it's almost all solid ground the rest of the way, so we should be
safe enough leading the horses. We might even be able to ride them
for some of that distance, which would allow us to get there before
it's too dark to see properly."

"We'll
be continuing straight on from here," Raiste said from where he
leaned against an orange tree several yards away, confirming what
Raine had already suggested. "We should make it there shortly
after sundown, if we hurry. If we have to we'll make torches to light
our way, but we should make it there before the light fades entirely.
Tomorrow we'll empty out a few packs and come back here. We can pick
enough to keep us through the winter if we need to. There are a few
other types of plants we can still gather as well, tubers and greens,
those sorts of things. We shouldn’t have any food shortages
this winter."

After
less than fifteen minutes rest the group set out again. Trick flew in
lazy circles overhead, undoubtedly watching the land and water for
any possible dangers. Bane didn't think they really needed to worry
much about the wildlife. Soon most of the native reptiles, certainly
the most dangerous of creatures they were likely to encounter, would
all be hibernating through most of the winter.

Bane
was more than a little skeptical about spending the entire winter in
a what his companions had been calling a hut with two other people
for such a long time. Always before he had spent the winter on his
parent's farm, and he had originally planned on spending this time
working in one of the cities.

Certainly
everything that had happened had changed that. He didn't think that
would even be an option anymore, even if he had wanted to try that
lifestyle. The mages would surely be hunting him now. The cities
would no longer be safe for him.

Perhaps
it won't be as bad as it sounds,
he thought.
Sure, there won't
be much in the way of privacy in a small hut, but it wouldn't be much
different than camping on the road.

It
was just one more experience in his new life; an unexpected
experience to be sure, but not necessarily a bad one as long as he
learned from it. There would be a myriad of new experiences in the
life he now faced, he knew, filled with new knowledge and
discoveries.

His
magic, for instance, he might never have discovered if the life he
had planned had become his reality. Granted, he still did not know
how to control his magic, but he had never expected to have magic to
begin with. Raiste had already told him that he would help him learn
how to understand and control his magic, if it was even possible. His
life had been changed forever when he met Raiste and Raine, for
better or worse.

The
only thing I can do now is wait and see where my new life takes me.

As
Raiste had predicted, the sun had already set and the light was
beginning to fade away when they arrived at their final destination.
They wouldn't have much time before the light would no longer give
them any aid, he knew. Perhaps another half an hour, if they were
lucky, and then they would need some other form of light to see by.
In the distance he could see the pale moon rising on the horizon. It
appeared to be full enough to help them outdoors, he thought, but he
didn't believe it would help them inside.