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“Well, yes” Certainly bits of it
“So you’ll knohere I’m headed, then,” Snorri said
“South?” I ventured
He looked puzzled at that “I’d be e It h Rhone and Renar and Ancrath and Conaught”
“Well, of course” I had no idea what he was talking about If there had been a word of truth in his story he wouldn’t want to go back And his itinerary sounded like the trek frohbour to the north, was always a place best avoided I’d yet to meet a Rhonish man I’d piss on if he were on fire Renar I’d never heard of Ancrath was a e of a swaht lay so far away there was bound to be soason, wherever you’re bound” I heldof our ways
“I’ north Home to rescuehis lips tight, then shook off the emotion “And it went poorly the first time I left you behind,” Snorri said He eyed my outstretched hand with a measure of suspicion and extended his own cautiously “You didn’t feel that just now?” He touched his own nose with his other hand
“’Course I bloody felt it!” It was quite possibly theI’d ever experienced, and that from someone who learned the hard way not to jump into the saddle from a bedroom
He brought his hand closer to ainst my skin, all pins and needles and fire Closer still, and low from within, while his darkened With an inch between our extended palhas if it had been dipped in dark waters, stained with blackest ink that collected in every crease and filled each pore His veins ran black while mine burned, darkness bled frohosted across ainst a pain that mirrored mine Eyes that had been blue were now holes into soht
I gave one of those yelps that I always hope will go unnoticed and whippedto shake the pain out, and watched as it shaded back to normality “That bloody witch! Point taken We won’t shake on it” I gestured to a gravel beach on the outer edge of the meander “You can drop me off there I’ll find my oay back”
Snorri shook his head, eyes returning to blue “It orse e got too far apart Didn’t you notice?”
“I was rather distracted,” I said “But, yes, I do recall some problems”
“What witch?”
“What?”
“You said ‘bloody witch’ What witch?”