Patreon or PayPal Me keeps this site and its author alive. Thank you. |
Stories from the Verse
A Dozen Verses
Chapter 118: Slade 290
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Cooper 111
As the cold rushed in on them, Slade looked around and said, “We need to move.”
“Move, my lord?”
“Not far. These bodies are going to attract more than just mice. Eagles and buzzards wouldn’t be trouble, and I imagine that something on the order of foxes or dogs or something will show up, but eventually there will be more wolves, and they might not appreciate our presence.”
“So we have to leave our water supply?”
And food, he thought, but that was inherent in that.
“Not far, as I say. If we went up the hill a hundred yards, we could still see the water, get to it easily enough, and be out of the way of creatures who want a drink or a bite to eat. Think of it as making room for the other diners.”
She gave him a puzzled look, rarely having eaten in restaurants, but shrugged and started packing. He did the same. He wasn’t too worried about dressing for travel, because they were just going up the slope, and it was just a matter of getting there.
“O.K.,” he said, when he thought the stream was about as far away as a set of goal posts from the far end of the field, “Let’s set up here.”
Setting down her gear, she nodded and began the familiar spell.
Abruptly it got a lot colder, and she had a panicked look on her face.
“I gather it didn’t work,” he said.
“No, m’lord. Sorry, m’lord.”
The temperature continued to drop.
“We’d better move,” he said, and took hold of her to pull her out of the shelter. It wasn’t working; the shelter seemed to move with them.
“Save yourself,” she said, and pushed him. Caught off balance, he fell backwards into the snow--and out of the colder space into the normal frozen world. As he watched in horror, she collapsed before he could get back to his feet, and vanished before he could reach her.
Of course, her possessions all went with her. That meant that in addition to losing her magic, he lost her warm body and her warm bedding. His bedroll was not going to be up to the task of protecting him against this weather, and he had no shelter. He wondered if he could build an igloo, but there was rarely enough snow back home for him to have learned how to make more than a snowman and a few low walls for a snowball fight.
The only thing he could think to do at this point was pack up his belongings and continue his southern trek in the hope of reaching warmer weather--if this world even had warmer weather somewhere. It occurred to him that he might be in the southern half of the world and would be heading into colder parts, but his luck was usually better than that, so it was time to bundle up and get moving.
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with eleven other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #533: Characters Traveling. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
