Page 31 of Winter's Fate

“The underbrush is dry,” Laena said. “We could make camp. A fire.”

Callum looked around, water streaming from his hair and down his cheeks. “I’m not sure we can do much other than huddle against a trunk and wait for dawn. Without light to see, we’ll walk straight into your tiger’s den.”

Laena raised a hand and stroked Brin’s back, eliciting a satisfied squeak out of the newt. “Brin, would you light the way?”

She didn’t think the words were necessary, or that Brin understood them. She merely knew that a second stroke down the shimmerling’s back—which she administered now—would prompt Brin to start glowing. Which she did, like a large pink firefly, only bright enough to see by.

Only when Callum stepped closer did she realize her mistake. “Magic, my lady?” he asked.

He stood so close that only a few inches separated them as he bent over her shoulder to inspect Brin. Laena stepped back, cupping her hands protectively over the small lizard. “It isn’t magic,” she said. “It’s biology, I’m sure. How else would she hunt at night.”

“Cats hunt at night without setting themselves aflame. Bats, too.”

“She isn’t on fire. She’s merely… glowing.”

But to her surprise, Callum raised a fist to his heart, bowing gently in Brin’s direction.

“Shimmerlings are revered in Aglye,” he said softly. “The last remaining magic of the Vales. I have never seen one in person.”

Perhaps not the only remaining magic of the Vales, she thought. But she held her tongue. “Why would they be revered?”

“Do you not know the stories?”

She shook her head. She’d heard of shimmerlings of course, but only in the context of fairytales.

“They say shimmerling bones were used to control humans during the time of the mages,” he said softly, eyes still trained on Brin. “And they say a shimmerling bone broke the curse at last. Long enough for humans to rise up and banish the mages. But perhaps the creatures felt themselves misused. They disappeared into the wilds, leaving the humans to fend for themselves.”

He’d drifted closer again, and without her even noticing. There were drops of water clinging to his eyelashes, each of them shining in the glow of Brin’s magic.

“I’ve never heard that story,” she said. Her voice was a mere whisper. She could not have made it louder if she wanted to.

“The mages were not so ensconced in Etra,” he said. “Or so they say. Perhaps the shimmerlings fled there.”

“How? Did they build little boats?”

He raised his eyebrows and she sighed, forcing herself to move away from him. “The light won’t last forever, Captain. Best get gathering.”

Together they located a clearing that would be safe for building a fire. No axe to chop wood, but there were fallen branches that snapped easily enough, and they got to work gathering kindling as best they could. Laena withdrew her dagger—still firmly ensconced in its sheath, thank goodness—and struck it upon a stone until sparks ignited the small pile of leaves she’d gathered in the center of the kindling.

It always felt like a puzzle to her, arranging the kindling and logs just so, creating a chimney. There was a deep satisfaction in watching the flames spring to life from just a few strikes of steel and stone. At the cottage, she often broke her spring and fall yard work into several sessions merely so she might have several bonfires instead of just one. True, there were no neighbors to share a hot drink with, no friends to tell stories and jokes. But somehow, the flames were companion enough.

When Callum returned to the clearing, he dropped the firewood he’d collected and sat beside her, gazing appreciatively into the flames. “How did a princess learn the art of starting a campfire?”

“We did not grow up as sheltered doves,” Laena said, wrapping her arms around her knees to quell her shivering. “We roamed the countryside around Riles.”

He paused, perhaps considering how sheltered Aglye’s princess was. Laena didn’t really know; the girl was a mystery, rarely seen. “I hope your stablehand appreciates your skill.”

Laena frowned, and he shifted an inch closer to the fire. “I said I pay no heed to gossip. I do have ears.”

“I suppose that story made it all the way to the Miragelands,” Laena said, sighing.

Callum shivered, though she didn’t think it had anything to do with the chill in the air. The mention of the mages’ lands, after what they’d experienced today… it felt like an ill omen. She wished she could snatch the words back again, to banish the thought of the magic users who had so callously used humans for centuries.

Until they’d been locked away again. Perhaps his legends were right. Perhaps the shimmerlings had played a part in it. As Brin curled up on her shoulder, Laena found she rather liked the idea.

“Don’t worry, my lady,” Callum said, snatching her out of her thoughts. “I’ll get you home safe to him.”

For a moment she could only stare at him, confused. Until she realized that he meant Ben. The stories he paid no heed to. The scandal that had crossed all lands.

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