Page 55 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
I am a Davey. I am strong.
But the old mantra didn’t work. So she tried a new one.
I am stone. Not glass. Not wind. Stone.
She simply nodded at the woman, who helped her to her feet and whispered a gentle “Right this way,” before leading her a short way down the offshoot where a few families sat huddled on the floor, arms wrapped around each other. They looked cold, and scared—but then, who didn’t down in the Catacombs? Their darting eyes looked up fearfully as the two women approached, but once they recognized the older woman and saw Clara holding a baby, they settled back down.
The woman helped Clara to a small alcove, the flickering torch above casting a slight shadow into the space. She undid the leather ties on Clara’s rucksack and pulled out a dove-gray knitted blanket, handing it over.
Careful of her sore ankle and the knot in her throat, Clara settled herself on the rough ground. Samuel squirmed in her arms. She set the blanket on her shoulders and worked to calm and feed Samuel. Once his cries quieted, the woman sat beside her, pulling out a few hard crackers, one of which she handed to Clara.
Trying not to disturb Samuel, Clara took the cracker with a shaking hand and nibbled a bit of the edge. It reminded her of the fare soldiers took on their missions, something that didn’t spoil easily and tasted mostly of salt. Clara broke off another chunk with her teeth and chewed. Not her favorite, but the saltiness reminded her of the seaside she’d grown up beside.
“Sorry I don’t have much else to offer, but that’ll keep you satiated for an hour or two.” The woman finished off her own fare before dusting her fingers on her worn brown trousers.
Clara cleared her throat, and finally, her words began working again, though her voice still came out thick and muddled. “Thank you.”
She didn’t know what else to say. What else was there?
The woman fished out knitting needles and golden yarn and gave a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “After birthing two of my own children, I cannot imagine trying to navigate postpartum while hiding in an underground bunker.”
Clara gave her a watery smile. “It’s not been a month.”
She didn’t mention the fact that not only had the time since been full of raging hormones and lost hours of sleep, her father-in-law had gone on trial and been sentenced to death. Clara nearly laughed at the absurdity of it all.
The woman smiled encouragingly. “I’m Zelda, and I’ll be glad to help you out until we find your family. Didn’t expect to arrive at the capital for the first time in the middle of an attack.”
“You just got here?”
“This morning.”
Clara nodded, glad to feel sorry for someone else for once. “I’m Clara. This is Samuel.”
She couldn’t say anything more, for anything else would make her crumble. Instead, she and Zelda sat there in companionable silence. Samuel finished and fell back asleep. Zelda knitted. Before long, Clara found herself drifting away against the wall.
She jerked awake, but Zelda readjusted the coverlet. “Hold your baby tight, and I’ll keep an eye out. We’ll figure this all out soon.”
She wanted to argue, to say that she didn’t need sleep. She needed Jove. But her eyelids drooped, the adrenaline from everything fading at last, and she found she didn’t have any fight left to give.
Chapter 11
NEVER WANTED TO LEAVE
Niels
IF YOU’D ASKED NIELS A day ago whether or not he was in good shape, he’d have answered yes. He’d done five years in the mines, and besides the slow onset of the Fogs, he would’ve said he could hike a mountain without any trouble. But with two injuries, one being a bullet still lodged in his leg…well, that would’ve made him a liar.
If he could’ve walked straight on while leaning on the branch he’d fashioned as a walking stick before they started hiking, he would have suffered only stiffness and a slight ache. But a mountain wasn’t something to be conquered like a road in the plains. Each step up the incline, he had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from crying out. The pain would calm after a minute, but shortly after, he’d repeat the process once more.
It was agony.
He was determined to keep the worst of it from Hallie. She had enough on her mind, and with the Cerl King waitingfor them to return with some sword, he didn’t want to add yet another burden to her plate. If she did know, she would only blame herself for failing to heal him all the way.
What kind of world had Niels woken up in? He’d seen the Essence power used multiple times now, yet each time he was almost convinced he’d dreamt it.
His lungs burned a little from the changing altitude, but as a son of the mountains, he adjusted easily. He briefly wondered if Hallie would come down with a bout of high-altitude sickness. He hoped not; she’d seemed fine back in the caverns and in Achilles, but judging by the strain on his own lungs, this mountain path would take them much higher than the altitude even he was used to.
But they had more pressing problems.
