Half Discovered Wings Read Online Free PDF Page B

was
coarse against her skin, but she was too fatigued to even move
around to a softer area.
    Already she felt like she was being eroded by the journey.
Pieces of her were being swept along by this strong, leather-clad
current, whilst others lingered back at the church, forever wedged
into the crumbling mortar and ground into the dusty wooden
floorboards.
    She opened her
eyes and the only light she saw was the glow from the fire, surfing
through the darkness and reflecting off the bark on the trees
around her. A few minutes later she rolled over, and saw Gabel
disappearing into the darkness.
    ~
    Gabel had heard noises before they stopped to rest, but he
wasn’t concerned. The forest was full of creatures, especially
around nightfall when they were awakened by the quietness around
them, the leaves settling as the day-winds died and the light fell.
Even now Gabel could hear small animals crunching through the
fallen leaves, or scrabbling in the low branches around his head as
he walked alongside a narrow river.
    It had been a long time since Gabel had seen the stars
outside of the town. He recognised three constellations, but
another stranger one had appeared from the east, and he could not
think of a shape to go with those six bright points.
    The moon wasn’t visible – it was behind the trees now – but
its shine illuminated the leaves of the plants across the
riverbank. Thoughts returned to William Teague, the theriope. Gabel
had been stupid to lead the others into that last clearing before
checking it first. The thing he had kicked away was a human torso,
rotted almost to the bone. But with the distraction of saying
farewell to Bethany he had forgotten Teague and their
confrontation, and Rowan couldn’t handle a shock like that.
Whatever illness ravaged her, she was weak.
    Gabel dipped
his hands in the water by his feet, washed them roughly, and wished
his old friend good luck in whatever hellgarden he had sprouted in
since his death.
    ‘ May it be better than our sad lives together,’ he said, and
baptised himself with the cold, clear water from the river. ‘Rest
well, William, my friend.’
    The slog back to the little camp was short, but it was a long
enough period for the factotum to dwell on the place he had
abandoned, and the place he was going. The old magus, who still
remained only a shade of a personality to Gabel, skilfully managed
to avoid giving any direct answers to their true destination. All
Gabel knew was that Shianti, also called Hermeticia, was in the
region of their destination. There they would seek out medicine for
Rowan’s wasting sickness as well as accomplish the magus’ obscure
goal.
    Upon arriving
back at the camp he saw that the others were sleeping. He lay down
without a blanket a few feet away from Rowan, and rested his eyes
until just before sunrise. Then, after a modest breakfast, they
began to move on.
    ~
    The three walked alone for five days without meeting any
person or creature. Rowan had started to believe that the forest
was completely uninhabited, and that the danger the magus and Gabel
constantly warned her about was nothing but fiction.
    On the sixth day Gabel stopped dead, standing perfectly
straight as the few singular rays of light began to shine through
the trees. He lowered his hat over his eyes and said, ‘The wider
river’s to our left. Not far now.’
    Treading softly through the forest, Rowan could hear the
sounds of a river in front of her. They arrived half an hour later,
where the rushing waters were white by their feet over deep
embankments covered in lichen and grass. She watched the waters
flow and it made the time pass quicker.
    They walked
until long after dark, until the hunter absently looked up at the
moon and muttered, ‘It’s midnight.’
    Rowan stopped
then and sat, looking over the waters with her hands in her
lap.
    Gabel called
over to her from further away. ‘What’s the matter?’
    She said, ‘It just became Sunday.’
    The hunter
sighed,