Winter Be My Shield Read Online Free PDF Page A

check his snares,’ Rhia said, showing no impatience, even though she’d already answered the question several times.
    â€˜It shouldn’t be taking him this long.’ Isidro winced at the petulance in his voice. He’s probably just taking the chance to get out on his own for a while , he told himself. With the way he and Brekan have been at each other’s throats, I can’t blame him. Eloba and Lakua, the sisters who shared Brekan as their husband, had just taken their tent down for repairs whenthe weather worsened, so all seven of them had been crammed into a single tent while the storm howled around them.
    It was dangerous for a traveller to be out alone after dark, and not just because of the threatening war. Aside from the soldiers, the Mesentreians still hunting the fugitive prince and his tiny band, and the Slavers striking from the west, wolves, leopards and tigers roamed these hills. With their normal prey frightened away or hunted out by foragers, they might be desperate enough to stalk one man alone.
    â€˜If he cannot return safely, Cam will take shelter for the night and find us in the morning,’ Rhia said. ‘The weather is good and he knows how to stay out of sight and cover his tracks if there is danger. He will be fine.’
    She was soothing him like a fractious child. Isidro drew breath to reply, but he inhaled just a little too deeply. The cold air hit his lungs and a spasm clenched like a fist in his chest and doubled him over in a fit of coughing.
    Rhia drew his good arm over her shoulder and turned him back towards the tent. ‘Inside, quickly. You need warm air.’
    The fit of coughing was so severe that he couldn’t draw breath. With his head swimming and bright spots dancing before his eyes, Isidro didn’t resist as she propelled him towards the larger of the two tents, the sisters having set theirs up again at first light.
    Garzen appeared in the doorway just as he and Rhia reached it. With the lamplight behind him and thick black lines of mourning tattoos carved into his face, he would be a fearsome sight to anyone who didn’t know him. He held the flap open with one hand and steadied Isidro’s shoulder with the other as he stumbled through the doorway and into the spruce-scented warmth of the tent. Garzen started to let the flap fall behind him, but then stiffened and raised it again. ‘Who’s that?’
    Isidro turned, but his vision was too blurred to see.
    â€˜It must be Cam,’ Rhia said, but there was a note of uncertainty in her voice.
    His face grim, Garzen ducked out through the doorway, snatching up one of the spears driven into the snow outside as he went.
    â€˜What’s wrong?’ Isidro wheezed, still out of breath.
    â€˜Cam left on foot,’ Rhia said, peering after Garzen with a frown creasing her brow. ‘Someone approaches leading a horse.’
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    Cam ducked through the doorway with the limp figure slung over his shoulder.
    â€˜Set her down here,’ Rhia commanded, spreading her own furs out to receive the girl.
    â€˜She was alive when I found her, but that was hours ago,’ Cam said. ‘I didn’t want to take the time to stop and check on her again.’
    Rhia eased off the girl’s cap and cowl, lifting them carefully away from nose and ears that might be damaged by frostbite. ‘We shall see. Where are the hot stones? I need them now!’
    â€˜Just wrapping them up,’ Eloba said from the stove. She and Lakua had answered Rhia’s shout for help without needing to be told what to do — every Ricalani knew the procedure when someone was brought in unresponsive from the cold. Smooth, round pebbles of soapstone were kept in the stove for just this purpose. Lakua lifted them from the coals with a pair of bone tongs and Eloba wrapped them carefully in scraps of cloth and fur.
    Isidro sat cross-legged on his bed, trying to stay out of the way. Rhia always