The Lannister Wolf Series

Chapter Eleven

7 weeks later

Evelyn tightened the ropes, ignoring the pain of the ropes cutting her skin that were already clammy and sweaty from the sudden change in temperature. She looked over at Zinzi and Lady who were lying on their backs in the shade, bellies toward the sky in order to cool down while Chance and Ace stood nearby. Calum was seated under the shade on his blanket, wearing only his shirt which made the heat a little more comfortable for him.

Evelyn had shed all her clothes except her pants, shirt and cloak. She knew that she either had to sweat or burn so she resorted to wearing the cloak to protect her skin from the sun even if it meant heating her body to a crisp.

Walking over to the child, she scooped him into her arms and placed him on her hip before loading the rest of their belongings onto the small wooden contraption she put together. The wind whipping across the sands of the dessert were enough to push a sail, so Evelyn had spent the good of three days putting together a sled of some sorts, harnessed to a trap sail. She knew it was not strong enough to carry Chance, so she removed all the belongings and saddling from Chance before patting his head.

"You stay here. We may not find water there and there will be no grass for you to feed on. If you want to leave, you do just that. It would be better for you anyway." Evelyn told him, earning a bump with the horse's head in response.

The girl turned to the wolves but the two direwolves had already climbed onto the sand 'boat' and were perched in the center of the contraption, facing the wind as the wind cooled them.

"Well, that answers my next question," Evelyn observed, smiling.

Spreading out Calum's blanket, she sat the child on it and he immediately laid down for his nap. Grabbing four large stones, she placed them at each corner of his blanket before spreading a thin tarp over the top to keep the sun and sand away from the sleeping child, pushing the corners of the cloth beneath the rocks to hold it in place. Ace fluttered over and curled up near one of the rocks that was large enough to give off some shade on the boat.

Evelyn untied the two ropes that held the ship still before throwing them onto the boat and hopping on. Immediately, the contraption began to move slowly so she grabbed the ropes that were tethered to the mast and moved them just enough to open the sail. The boat jolted before slowly beginning to move off, picking up speed as the wind caught in the sail. Evelyn peered over her shoulder to see Chance standing under the shade of the tree... the last look at green before the expanse of desert far and wide.

"Now... let's find this Southern Heat," Evelyn muttered.

It felt like years that they were on that boat, sailing through the desert. It was slow work climbing the dunes and once or twice Evelyn had to hop out to lessen the weight so that the boat could make it to the top. Luckily, the wind never died even when it got dark and that was when it cooled. Evelyn was able to tie the mast so that it stayed southbound which made it easier for her to nurse Calum and to rock him to sleep. Lady, Zinzi and Ace were much more comfortable once night fell and even though Evelyn was exhausted, she wanted to do most of the traveling by night so that they could make it to the source of the Southern Heat with as little exposure to the sun as possible.

However, her exhaustion soon caught up to her before morning and she fell asleep, lying on her back, facing the sun. She didn't wake until almost noon for the mast had been blocking the sun from her face and that had prevented her from waking when the sun rose.

She sat up with a start, looking over at Calum, only to see that he was still sound asleep beneath his little makeshift tent. Zinzi and Lady had found a little shade beneath the mast and were asleep as well, Ace sitting atop one of the mast poles, facing the blowing wind.