Dragon: A Histories of Purga Novel

Roc: Sneak Peak

The wind howled around three figures trudging up the side of a mountain. Their faces were red. Their eyes were squinted shut against the cold. Their hands were enveloped by thick, wool-lined gloves. Heavy coats with thickly padded hoods covered their heads and bright silver packs were strapped to their backs. They all wore three layers of pants. Despite their best efforts, each one was nearly frozen solid.

"We need to go back the way we came!" one of them shouted as a small drone hovered close to his head. He screamed it as loud as he could, trying to be heard over the shrieking winds.

The figure in the lead turned around. There was a hard, unyielding glint in his icy blue eyes.

"I'm not going back, Asher!" he yelled.

"Rone, this is suicide. Even if she's up here, it's nearly impossible to get to her. We have to be reasonable!" Asher begged. He hated himself for even saying the words, but somebody had to. If they kept going, the only thing they would get for their trouble was a slow, frozen death. He glanced up. Way up. They were on one of the biggest mountains in the Polaris range. Its snow-capped peak was still a couple of hundred feet up. It was too much.

"Can we go home?" Fowler moaned from the back. His eyes were squinted so tightly they looked like they were closed.

"Shut up!" Rone yelled, whirling on the both of them in fury. Asher and Fowler flinched. "Just shut up! I'm not leaving her. She risked everything to save my life. I'm not leaving until I to do the same for her. She's here, I know she is."

He turned away from them without another word and resumed the rough hike up the mountain's treacherous slopes again, his body bent forward slightly to shield himself from the wind.

Asher let out a breath and followed after the Rook.

Fowler grumbled to himself and started walking as well, wishing he'd never left Vitari.

Rone kept walking. He slipped several times, falling heavily onto the icy snow, only to get back up to continue on with single-minded persistence. A voice inside his mind screamed at him to stop being such an idiot. He was going to get himself killed, along with Asher and Fowler, but he ignored it. He shut it out. The only thing he let himself believe was that he would see Keiara again. That he would get to hold her, comfort her, kiss her, love her. He missed her. All he could think about was her. His mind was cluttered with visions of her stunning face. It brought him images of her when she was tied to the post in Roanoke, flames wreathing her like a dress, her eyes streaming as Wilhelm pulled the trigger and shot him. Then the images switched and she was as she looked in Vitari, beautiful and alluring. Exotic. Compassionate. He remembered the first time he'd seen her after he'd woken up in a Terraquois healer's hut, scared out of his mind and utterly alone. He'd been disoriented, confused, and a little violent. Still, even during all that confusion, he couldn't help but think she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.

Hours went by and it looked as if they'd made no progress. To make things worse, night was coming on fast and the snow and wind only seemed to pick up. The temperature plummeted. Despite his best efforts, Rone knew that they needed to stop and make camp. They needed to shield themselves from the weather or they wouldn't last another hour.

He looked through the blinding snow, trying to find a place that would offer some measure of protection against the elements. Thirty or forty feet up the mountain was an overhanging ledge. The protection it offered was minimal at best, but the bleak terrain didn't offer anything better.

"We'll camp there," he said, pointing up the slope to the ledge.

Asher nodded his head, his teeth chattering uncontrollably. Fowler just let out a sort of grunt as his entire body trembled.