Page 15 of The Empty Throne

He settled for jamming the main doors shut,and seeing to it that the window he escaped from after doing sowouldn't be opening either. Best compromise between necessity andconscious.

Leading his caribou away, he headed for theback gate he'd seen guards using. Predictably, with Fazekas away,nobody was guarding it. Why did they need to? They knew right wheretheir prisoner was, and nobody was going to be coming after them inthis weather.

Once he was through the gate and well intothe woods beyond, Cohea finally swung into the saddle and urged thecaribou to a pace that would make good time, but not put them atgreat risk from the weather or of tiring too quickly.

The wind was cold and sharp in his face, evenwith the stolen protections against it, but it was freedom, and hewould take that at any price.

Using the stars to get his bearings, Coheatraveled. Thankfully, between the wind and the dark, there wouldn'tbe much in the way of tracks for his eventual pursuers to follow,especially if it took them hours to even notice he was missing. Ashe didn't dare get cocky and rely on that, Cohea opted to traveluntil the caribou was too exhausted to move and his own vision wasdubious. Finding a small, clear area well off the rough path he'dbeen following, he tended the caribou and then put together a fireand crude bed. He'd lifted supplies aplenty between the guard andwhat he'd found in the stables, but it was still going to beseveral days before he remembered howwarmfelt.

Wrapping up in his cloak and blanket, Coheaslept. Not well or long, but enough to keep going once the caribouwas ready, though the poor thing would be utterly spent by the timethey got to where he could get a fresh mount.

Onward he trudged, back of his neck itchingall the while, constantly alert for the soldiers that must becoming after him by now.

Either he'd done an exceptional job ofslowing them down, or the weather really had cooperated with himfor once, because as freezing afternoon turned into miserablybitter evening, he reached a small fishing village on the rockyshores that Terek called beaches without incident.

First order of business was passage, which hesecured with the caribou he no longer needed. That dealt with, henegotiated with what little coin he had on him and all of hisbelongings for slightly better belongings, these ones clean, whichwas the best part. The negotiations also included a hot bath andfood, which nearly made him weep with joy.

Cohea groaned as he settled back against thecushion draped over one edge of the steaming hot tub, soaking upthe heat and fresh scent of the yuzu that bobbed along the surface.The world was snow and ice, but the tub was piping hot, watercoming directly from a hot spring. The yuzu tossed in for scent andhealth were a Cremision tradition, but as close as they were toCremisio, things like borders tended to blur, if not fadeentirely.

If only he could stay here forever, just himand his moon shadow, the rest of the world far away.

Sighing, shoving away the homesickness andlonging that struck him like a crashing wave, Cohea turned his mindto other matters. As much as he would love to return home, heneeded to get to Cremin, to the royal palace.

Once there, he could secure and reveal theheir. That would take the wind from the sails of Terek, Boltane,and Everage. For now, anyway. Cremisio was always going to be onthe edge of war; they were too powerfully situated, and too smallto be a real threat. They would only ever know peace by allyingwith a larger power, but every last one of those larger powerswanted to turn Cremisio into a glorified colony and neither he northe other Houses nor the throne would stand for that.

After this latest problem was finallysettled…

After that would be another problem, andstill more after that. There wouldalwaysbe problems tosolve, and rarely a moment to rest between them. Cohea wastired.

He'd made promises, though, and a Szelisdidn't break their promises. He had no problems besmirching hishonor to strangle a cruel bastard who laughed as he hurt people,but he wouldn't break his promises.

Lifting his hand from the water, he stared athis ring, the stones glittering black in the weak light. He'd wornthe ring for months now, but every now and then it still feltstrange to see it on his finger.

Magical Bonding had many uses acrosscountless cultures, but its one fatal flaw had been its undoing:when one died, so too did the other, or however many were in thebond, though he'd never heard of a bond that took when there weremore than three parties involved.

Religion, military, romantic, political…every reason under the sun had been used to bind people together insuch an irrevocable way. Until one too many tragedies had struck,and people far too young to die had done precisely that.

The practice had been outlawed decades beforeCohea was even born, but it had persisted in the shadows, as therewas nothing people universally hated more than being told no.

The Binding had been ordered by His Majesty,but in the end, Cohea had done it because he wanted it, wasfiercely possessive about the one who held his heart. They had gonethrough so much… and this was not where he ever would have guessedtheir journey would take them, but he wasn't unhappy with theresult either.

Soon. A few more days, weeks at most, andthis would all be over, and his moon shadow could come out ofhiding.

Heaving out of the bath, Cohea grabbed thewarm towel waiting for him and headed into the changing room, wherehe quickly pulled on homespun linen and soft, warm wool, the outerlayers trimmed in rabbit fur. He had clothes at home and in hispalace suite that were made of materials far more luxurious, butwarm was warm.

Properly bathed and dressed, he headed forthe house that had agreed to take him in the for night, with theunderstandable caveat that he slept in the stable. Hardly the firsttime, probably not the last.

The woman met him at the door with a trayholding enough food for six, which was exceedingly generous of her.Food in the coldest months was a valuable resource, and not to bewasted on a stranger passing through.

Cohea thanked her, bowing in the Cremisionstyle, which seemed to please her immensely. She shooed him off,and he was happy to obey.

In the stable, which was well made, warm anddry, even without a fire, he settled at a bench, using a barrel foran improvised table, and dug into his veritable feast, which was aninteresting and delicious mix of Cremisio and Terek cuisine: currywith rice, rice balls stuffed with spicy smoked fish, creamy fishchowder, and vegetables quickly fried and smothered in the brineused for the tea eggs that finished off the dish. Hearty food,meant to build warmth and last hours, especially during EndlessNight when the months-long lack of sun could easily break theinexperienced

When he'd finished, he set the tray by thedoor to return to the house in the morning, and bedded down in theloft, where there was plenty of hay for bedding and insulation.

It was the best sleep he'd had in years.

Six

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