Winter Be My Shield by Jo Spurrier Read Free Book Online Page A

them?’
    Garzen cleared his throat. ‘Well, it’s a funny thing, but looks like those bracelets did it. Couldn’t have, of course — there’s no way to heat them up that wouldn’t have burned her worse. Maybe they’d tied her up with rope and she held it over a flame to free herself? That’s probably it.’
    That wouldn’t match the pattern of the burns. Isidro caught the end of one of the bracelets between his thumb and forefinger and let it dangle, glowing sullenly in the lamplight. This was an enchantment he hadn’t come across before. A Mesentreian priest could have made them, perhaps. Or maybe the one who locked them around her wrists had enough power and influence to convince Lord Kell to make them.
    He handed the bracelets to Cam, who took them with a low whistle.‘Someone’s going to be spitting that she walked away with these.’ He put them with the others, all wrapped up in the scrap of cloth, and began to pack everything back in the bag, but when he went to put it at the foot of the newcomer’s bed, Rhia waved him away. ‘Not there. She is still weak. I don’t want those cursed stones near her.’
    â€˜They’re just witch-stones, Rhia.’
    â€˜No matter! Put them over there.’ She pointed to the part of the tent where the miscellaneous gear was stacked. ‘You have few mages in this country, Cammarian. You are lucky to have so few. I have seen strong men die of trifling wounds because they would not let their curse-stones be taken away. Even witch-stones sap strength.’
    Cam shrugged and put the bag as far away as he could from the sick beds laid out head-to-head. ‘Is that far enough?’
    â€˜No. Throw them into the sea. That will be far enough.’ Rhia gave a weary smile. ‘That will do, though. For now.’
    Â 
    Sierra held herself perfectly still. The soft noises of night were all around her — the sighing breaths of people asleep in their furs and the comforting crackle of the fire within the stove; but her heart was beating fast and she had to work hard to keep panic from taking her over.
    She couldn’t see. That was the worst part. A thick blindfold covered half her face and she didn’t dare raise a hand to explore it. Her hands were by her sides, pinned down beneath a weight of fur, and the burns around her wrists kept a dull throb in time with her pounding heart. Her whole right arm throbbed from knuckles to elbow, as though she’d sprained or wrenched it.
    The last thing she remembered was huddling beside the tiny fire in the rough shelter beneath the branches of a spruce. With hot food in her belly she’d been warm for the first time in days and had fallen asleep not caring that she would probably never wake. Better to die free than spend the rest of her life as Kell’s pet and Rasten’s plaything.
    But now she was alive, warm, awake … and what? A prisoner? She’d thought she was heading east when she left the king’s encampment, but in the midst of the blizzard the blasting wind was her only sense of direction. The fact that she was still alive told her she hadn’t stumbled across an Akharian legion. The Slavers didn’t tolerate mage-talent among their captives. They would have cut her throat at once.
    She was too far north to have strayed into settlers’ lands, and if the king’s men had tracked her down she’d be back in Kell’s hands already. What did that leave? She could have been found by the outlaws who haunted these hills, or by the men the Wolf Clan sent to hunt them. Or perhaps some country folk had come across her while checking their trap-lines …
    If she’d been brought in from the cold by ordinary Ricalanis, they’d feel duty-bound to hand her over to their ruling clan once they found out what she was. If she’d been picked up by one of the outlaw bands, they’d likely try to keep