Vassal by Sterling D'Este (ebook reader computer TXT) 📕

For once, Delyth broke her own rules about showing emotion in front of the others. She stepped towards Alphonse and laid the palm of her hand gently against the smaller woman’s cheek. “Wait here, little bird, and I will find you.”

With a shake of her wings, the warrior leaped into the air, keeping low over the trees. The wind ripped at her clothes and braids, but she had fought it before, high in the storm-torn sky where it ruled. At the height of the trees, it was not yet bad enough to stop her.

Even if it were, she would find a way. They had to have shelter or the blizzard would kill them more easily than any sword.

❀

Alphonse watched Delyth’s form shrink and disappear. With a mournful shake of her head, she turned to look at her two male companions. They were like fighting cats. Which was no use to her at all. They needed to keep trudging forward. To find shelter.

But first, Alphonse knelt at the pack Delyth had dropped; it was hers, though Delyth carried it when Enyo was in control. Carefully she started to layer on scarves and even her sleeping blankets. With her head firmly wrapped and muffled in an additional shawl, Alphonse turned towards Etienne and Tristan.

She didn’t feel like much of a leader, but…

But she was all that was left.

Squaring her shoulders, Alphonse marched forward. “Let’s go. It doesn’t matter why it happened. It just did, and now we have to survive it.”

“Didn’t Delyth say to wait here?” Etienne asked. “It would be easier for her to find us here.”

Tristan was already shaking his head. “No, I’m with the mouse. Let’s head in the direction she flew in, so we don’t get stuck here when the blizzard hits.”

Alphonse hesitated. Etienne was right, Delyth had said to stay here but… but if the warrior found a safer place for them, then had to race all the way back to find them, and they’d have to travel on foot to get there…

Surely. making the distance shorter was the wisest option?

For once, the voice within her didn’t speak. Didn’t peep. They really were on their own.

“I…” she sputtered, her confidence faltering.

Tristan slapped a hand to his face in exasperation. “Do you have to question yourself at the slightest sign of disagreement, mouse? Show some Godsdamned spine. You were right.

Let’s move. The mutt’s always managed to find you before.”

Alphonse cast an apologetic look towards Etienne even as she started to walk again. It felt strange to have Tristan supporting her decision, but…

But she didn’t want Delyth out there for too long, flying back needlessly when they could meet her halfway.

“Right,” she mumbled to no one in particular as she started to head up the path once more. The winds overhead were howling something terrible in a language her blood responded to, even if she didn’t understand precisely.

Enyo’s storm was a creation of perfection.

༄

By the time Delyth found a suitable cave, the winds around her were howling Enyo’s vengeance in shrieking voices. It was cold enough that even she felt it, pummeled as she was by the icy currents of air.

The cave was farther away than she liked, but they could still make it before the storm if they hurried. If only she could find the others quickly.

Delyth took a deep breath. It would be a waste of time to look when she had a compass of sorts to show her the way. Stilling herself as much as possible, Delyth took hold of Calamity’s hilt and banked into the direction it sent her.

She reached the others in less time than she thought it would take. They’d moved on up the road, narrowing the distance between themselves and the cave.

She could have kissed them. Or Alphonse, at least.

It might mean the difference between reaching safety in time and not.

The warrior landed with a thud in front of the now-swaddled Alphonse. “You kept going,” she said. “Good idea. I’ve found a cave, but we need to move quickly.”

⥣          ⥣           ⥣

Etienne had long since followed Alphonse’s example. He was wrapped from head to toe in every scrap of clothing he owned, and his bedding was wrapped around his shoulders. Still, he shivered. It was a small consolation that the others faced the same horrible cold. Even Delyth shivered where she worked to set up her and Alphonse’s tent.

The protection spell he had labored over to seal the entrance of the cave wasn’t helping much either, for all that it kept the worst of the snow and wind from swamping them. For shelter, it wasn’t much, but the rock floor was dry, and there was room enough to pitch all three tents around a small fire, some crack in the rock above keeping the space free of smoke.

He was just turning away from his spell when Alphonse found him, her shoulders tense and her hands buried in the folds of her coat.

“I’m sorry, Etienne,” she mumbled. “I didn’t mean to… dismiss your suggestion.”

Etienne listened tensely, his face sullen. “Dismiss my suggestion?” he asked, incredulous. “You didn’t even entertain it.”

Enyo targeted him. Tristan picked at him. Delyth obviously considered herself a better protector to Alphonse.

Was his best friend now going to disregard him as well?

“It's like you don’t even need me here anymore.” He kept his voice soft for fear of Tristan overhearing them, but his words were no less sharp.

Alphonse took a step back from Etienne as if he had physically repulsed her. The shock and hurt on her face were evident, and she looked around hastily to make sure no one else could see the rebuff.  “Of course, I need you. You’re my best friend and… and the only one who wants what I want.”

Etienne stepped back, his face hard. “Do you even know what you want anymore, Alphonse? Because it looks to me like you’ve forgotten why we’re here.”

He looked towards Delyth and the