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

her for themselves, as they did with the women they captured on their raids. By the Black Sun, she ought to hope it was the bandits who’d found her — so many had died at her hands already that it seemed foolish to have qualms against spilling more blood, especially that of the murderers and thieves who made up the outlaw bands.
    If an ordinary family had picked her up, she might have to shed blood to escape them anyway. Stop it, Sierra told herself, just stop thinking like that. I’ll cross that river when I come to it. All her dreams and hopes had been focussed on escape for so long — now that it had come, she didn’t know what to do next. All she knew was that she had to keep moving. If Rasten didn’t track her down, then it would be the Akharians snapping at her heels soon enough. They couldn’t be far away — she’d escaped while Kell and Rasten were attending upon the king in a discussion of strategy while the invaders massed on the far side of the river valley. For all she knew, the legions and their mages had already met the king’s men. What if the Akharians came upon her before Rasten hunted her down? Sierra clenched her fists at the thought, but then with a shuddering breath forced herself to relax them before her power could spill. If they came, she would fight with all she had, but the Gods alone knew if her power would be enough. She was untrained — Kell had seen to that — and if they were anything like her old master they would flatten her with one blow. But Kell only spoke of the empire’s mages with disdain, so perhaps she would stand a chance. Only by meeting them would she be sure, but she’d rather be well away from here by the time the Slavers came. Wherever here was.
    Supposing she could avoid Rasten and the Akharians, she had no one to turn to, no family and no kin. For all she knew, her parents were dead, and had been for two years, ever since the night Kell had tracked her tothe ruined temple where they’d taken shelter and pinned her there with Rasten and a contingent of the king’s guard.
    Her family had sacrificed all they had to protect her, giving up their kin, their lands, their herds, everything . When stories began to spread of the herder-girl’s strange powers, they picked up what they could carry and moved along again, uprooting seven adults and half a dozen children, all for her sake.
    Kell would have found them no matter what; Sierra knew that now. Her mothers and fathers had thought they were protecting her from the priests, or from a mob that would tear her apart for what she could do. It had never occurred to them that Kell himself would come for her and by the time they realised the danger, it was too late. Two of her fathers had died that night in the ruined temple — and after all this time, she still wasn’t sure which two — and one of her mothers was bleeding to death when Kell sent Rasten to deliver his ultimatum: surrender now, and he’d spare the rest; resist, and he’d slaughter the lot of them.
    Even then, she’d had no faith that he would keep his end of the bargain. But what else could she do? If Rasten outmatched her, Kell was a god compared to her fledgling powers.
    Once she was in chains, Rasten had drugged her to keep her from giving them any more trouble, so for all she knew, the rest of her family had been put to the sword the moment she was too insensible to feel it. If they had survived, they would have gone into hiding to protect the children they had left. Everyone knew the taint of sorcery ran through families and there would be some who thought it best if the bloodline that produced Kell’s new apprentice ended there. Even if they had survived, and she was able to find them, she couldn’t bring herself to seek them out. They couldn’t protect her and they’d suffered enough for her sake.
    Thinking of them brought tears to her eyes;