Life Bonds

by Daniel Schinhofen

  “Myna has the right of it,” Fiona said, pulling her shirt on quick, since Sean had uncovered her chest when he had sat up.

  “What they said,” Sean added.

  Ryann let out a deep breath. “It was still rude of me to just join you.”

  “We’ll make the invitation open, then,” Fiona said. “Anytime you get too cold, you may join us in bed to warm up.”

  “You are part of our group,” Myna nodded.

  Ryann looked to Sean, who simply shrugged. “They aren’t wrong. You all stay here. I’ll check on the horses and see about getting a fire going. I’ll bring the kettle in, so you can all have something to help start warming you up.” Putting his boots on, Sean frowned at the cold fur-lined leather. Snagging the brazier, he untied the ties on the tent. “You’re going to want to tie this partially closed at least,” he said as he pushed out into the biting wind.

  Lips pursed, Sean whistled softly. A blanket of snow covered the ground with at least a few inches of snow, and the sun was a dim speck behind the dark grey clouds overhead. Shaking his head, Sean went to check on the horses first.

  The horses were unhappy, but seemed to be fine otherwise. He got them fed and checked their water barrel, which was frozen solid. Grumbling, he chipped some ice out of it before summoning hot water into the trough. He added the ice until it was lukewarm and set in front of the horses next to their feed. Sean went to the snow mound that hid the woodpile. He gathered up what dry wood he could find and carried it over to the fire pit.

  The fire pit was also filled with snow. Sean sighed and walked over to the wagon to grab a small spade and the kettle. Crumbling some leaves into the kettle, he filled it with summoned hot water, then set it inside the tent with some cups. “I’ll get things ready to go. It’ll be a cold breakfast. From the looks of the sky, we’ll want to get to Flento tonight,” he told the others.

  “We’ll wait here until you say it’s ready,” Fiona replied through the tent.

  Heading over to the fire pit again, he dug it out enough to get a small fire going. Once it was burning, he checked on the horses again. They had finished eating, so he started hitching them to the wagon. When he finished with that task, he filled the brazier with coals, and set it in the wagon. With nothing but the bedding and tent left to take care of, he walked back to the tent.

  “Ladies, the wagon is ready. Bring the bedding and hunker down in the back with the brazier. I’ll get the tent down and join you,” Sean told them.

  “Why is he doing it alone?” Ryann’s whisper was soft, but Sean still heard it.

  “Sean doesn’t feel the weather the same as we do,” Myna told her. “Come on, we shouldn’t keep him waiting.”

  A moment later, they came out of the tent, each carrying bedding. Sean gave them a smile, kissing Myna and Fiona on the cheeks as they went past. He didn’t waste any time taking the tent down and stowing it in the wagon before climbing into the driver’s seat.

  “I can drive, Master,” Myna said from the back.

  “Nope, you three are to stay back there and keep warm,” Sean rebuffed her gently. “Hand me the overcoat in case it starts to snow or rain again, though.”

  “Told you,” Fiona murmured to Ryann.

  “He is far too unusual,” Ryann murmured back.

  Sean ignored their soft comments as he took the coat from Myna. “Next stop will be Flento, hopefully,” Sean said, slipping the coat on. Lightly snapping the reins, he got the wagon on the road and headed towards their next destination.

  The wind came from the east, a biting chill that even Sean started to feel after an hour. He peeked into the back when he dug out mittens, and saw Fiona, Myna, and Ryann dozing peacefully in a pile of blankets. A smile came to him, before he pulled his eyes away to look for his hat. Seeing it at the back of the wagon, Sean sighed.

  Do I wake one of them to grab it for me, or just stop the wagon? Sean considered, turning back to the road to make sure he was still good. Wait, I don’t have to do either of those. Sean chuckled to himself as he looked back at his hat.

  Focusing on the wagon, Sean extended his will and a rod of wood pushed his hat into the air. Grinning, Sean hooked the end of the rod, so the hat was secure. Sean began to grow that section, curving the entire thing towards him. He could feel the small pull on his core as his energy unraveled to Shape the wood. When it reached him, he took the hat and reversed the Shaping.

  Pulling the ushanka onto his head, Sean tied the strings under his chin to keep it in place. His ears prickled as they began to warm, and Sean was glad he had gotten the hat when he had. The horses continued their plodding walk, and Sean had to judge where the road was under the snow to keep them on it.

  Hours later, the women began to stir in the back. “Sean, did you need to switch with one of us?” Fiona asked, being the first awake enough to speak up.

  “Not yet. It’s bone chilling out here,” he replied looking back at the women under their pile of furs. “I’m good for now, but you should all stay hunkered down. It just started to snow again.”

  “The Queen must be in a truly foul mood,” Ryann murmured as she stayed huddled under the blankets.

  “Sean, if this continues, we really should stop in Flento,” Fiona said.

  “We might have to. Even I’m feeling the bite from the wind,” Sean agreed. “We still have time before we get to the town. Just stay warm, and if I need a break, I’ll let you know.”

  “You should have some tea at least,” Myna added.

  “I could use a hot beverage,” Sean nodded. “Hand the kettle up here, and I’ll fill it up so we can all have some.” It took Sean only a moment to summon water in the kettle and soon they all held steaming cups of tea, letting the heat warm their faces. Sean felt the heat of it push back the chill on his nose. “That was a great idea, Myna.”

  “Did you have your hat when we started this morning?” Fiona asked.

  “No. I retrieved it from the back while you all slept,” Sean told her.

  “You let go of the reins?” Fiona asked, a look of horror crossing her face.

  “No, I Shaped the wagon to bring it to me,” Sean chuckled.

  Fiona blinked at him before she began to laugh. “That must have used a good amount of your energy.”

  “I felt it, but it was well worth getting the hat.”

  “We would have gotten it for you,” Myna said.

  “I know, but I didn’t want to wake any of you.”

  “Has the road been empty this whole time?” Ryann asked.

  “Nothing but us and the snow,” Sean replied.

  “Where’s the sun?” Fiona asked.

  “A little past midday,” Sean told her.

  “We should start seeing some of the farms soon,” Myna said.

  “I’ll keep an eye out,” Sean assured her as he watched the snow fall faster. The conversation lapsed into silence as each of them slowly sipped at their cups, wanting to enjoy the warmth as long as possible.

  Chapter Forty

  Sean blew out a deep breath, watching the billowing cloud float before him as the town walls came closer. Thank gods, Sean thought as they got closer. I don’t think I could have taken another hour of sitting through this blizzard.

  The entire day had been filled with snow. The flurries had been bad enough a few times to make it hard to see the horses, let alone the road and the snow had been starting to pile up in the wagon bed so they had used more canvas to block off the front and back of the wagon. Those few minutes had been enough to prove that none of the women would have been able to drive the wagon for very long at all.

  Stopping the wagon short of the closed gates, Sean cleared his throat and spoke loudly, “Is anyone there?”

  The snow drifted down and coated the covered horses’ backs for what seemed like forever before a head appeared above the wall. “What in the Queens’ names are you doing traveling in this?” the guard asked incredulously.

  “Hoping to get to an inn so we don’t freeze t
o death,” Sean replied with a hint of exasperation. “Can we get inside the walls?”

  “Oy, Ian, get the gate open! We got an idiot out here,” the guard said as he vanished from the wall.

  “I’ll give you an idiot,” Sean muttered.

  “Master, are we there?” Fiona asked from behind him.

  “Waiting on the gate,” Sean replied. “We will be at an inn soon, I hope. Can you get everything together so we can get inside quickly, please?”

  “We’ll be ready,” Fiona told him.

  One of the gates opened ponderously, pushing a ridge of snow along with it. Inside, four guards watched as the wagon rolled through the gate before two of them began to shut it. One of the very bundled men halted the wagon. “Name, destination, and where from,” the sentence was said quickly, the guard obviously wanting to get back into the guard room built onto the wall.

  “MacDougal, Hearthglen, Riverrock,” Sean replied just as obviously wanting to get out of the cold.

  “Anything we need to know of for cargo?”

  “Small knick knacks for sale, nothing of import,” Sean replied, his teeth starting to chatter.

  “The Homeheart Inn is on the main square,” the guard said, dismissing Sean with a vague wave as he and the others quickly filed back into the guard room.

  “Thanks,” Sean muttered and snapped the reins to get the horses moving again.

  Sean stopped the wagon outside the stable yard. Taking his sword from its sheath, he Shaped it to ring the bell on the gate, then resized and sheathed it again. Gritting his teeth at the cold that was finally taking its toll on him, he was glad when three men appeared at the gate.

  “We’ll be staying until the storm lets up,” Sean told the wide-eyed stable hands.

  “Traveling in this is stupid,” one of them muttered as the other two got the gate open.

  “We didn’t have much choice. It was that or hope we could wait it out between towns,” Sean snapped.

  Blinking, not expecting to be overheard, the stable hand stepped away from Sean. “I didn’t…”

  Letting out a deep breath Sean, flicked the man a bronze coin. “Take good care of my horses, and I’ll settle the bill when we leave.”

  He caught the coin and after seeing it, quickly put it away. “Right away, sir.” Turning to the other stable hands, he started yelling at them to get things moving faster.

  “Master,” Myna said, leaving the wagon, “I’ll arrange rooms.” She hurried toward the inn as the other two got out of the back.

  The stable hand took a second look as he saw the bundled figures get out of the back. “I didn’t know you had even more people with you. My apologies, sir.”

  “It’s fine, the cold has been killing us. Just forget the incident,” Sean said, waving the man off. Seeing the privy, Sean headed for it first, with Fiona and Ryann following him.

  “Lucky they made it,” a younger voice behind them carried on the breeze.

  “Get those horses settled. If they’ve been pulling all day in this, they’ll need extra care, and he’s paid for it,” the stable master told his worker.

  When the three of them crossed the yard toward the inn, the hands had the horses unhitched and were taking them into the stable. Seeing the horses being cared for, Sean felt better, silently thanking them for their hard work in getting them to the town.

  Fiona opened the door for them, but Sean took it from her, so he was the last one in. As the door shut behind them, Sean let out a sigh. The warmth of the inn was a welcome change. Fiona looked at him with concern. “Sean, are you okay?”

  “The chill was getting to me,” he admitted with an apologetic smile. “I couldn’t ask you to take over on the drive.”

  “We’ll get you warm again as soon as we can,” Fiona murmured as they walked down the hall to the taproom.

  The inn was busier than Sean had expected with the weather as it was. All eyes turned to them with curious gazes, and Sean ignored them as he crossed to Myna, who was talking with the innkeeper.

  “I don’t have any of the rooms you’re asking for; they’re already filled,” the innkeeper was telling Myna. “I only have one room left and that’s it.”

  “We’ll take it,” Sean said, tossing a bronze onto the counter, “along with food and drink. I’ll also be needing your bathing room for an hour for just us.”

  The innkeeper tapped the coin to a small metal stud behind the bar, then nodded. “This will more than cover tonight. Do you want to apply the rest toward your stay until you leave?”

  “Yes,” Sean said. “We’ll drop our things off, then take over your bathing room. Have our food delivered to our room once we’re done.”

  “I’ll see to it,” the innkeeper grinned, tapping the bell on the counter.

  A young maid came down the stairs to the side of the bar. “Yes, sir?”

  “Show these four to our last room, then make sure the bathing room is cleared and put up the sign. When they’re done, bring their dinner to their room.”

  “As you say, sir,” the maid bowed her head, turning her attention to the group as the innkeeper walked down the bar to serve another customer. “If you will all follow me.”

  Sean caught snippets of the patron's hushed conversations as he followed the servant.

  “Three? And two are Life Bonded…”

  “At least one of them is a fighter, look at the way she…”

  “Who do you think…?”

  “Probably a small merchant, heh, should be easy to fleece…”

  “How is it that weak men like that…?”

  The voices faded away as they climbed the stairs and Sean shook his head. Please let them not start shit... just one fucking town, at least. Sighing softly, Sean and his Bonded followed the maid to the third floor.

  Stopping at the first room, she opened the door and led them in. The maid used a candle from the hall to light the room’s lantern.

  Sean looked around, and was grateful the room was at least big enough to hold them, even if it would be a little snug. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, sir. I shall have the bathing room ready directly,” the maid said, backing out of the room with a bow.

  Once the maid was gone, Sean sat down heavily on the bed. “Today was officially a sucktastic day.”

  “What does that word mean?” Ryann asked.

  “Good question,” Sean snorted. “It’s not important.”

  “Sorry I couldn’t get us separate rooms,” Myna said softly.

  “You did the best you could. I didn’t expect a full house,” Sean shrugged.

  “I should have seen it,” Fiona said. “Until the worst of the storm blows over, we’ll be stuck here, much as they are.”

  “Buying the bathing room for us is likely to draw attention to us,” Ryann added.

  “Had to,” Sean said, getting to his feet. “Otherwise, someone could see Fiona during our bath.”

  Fiona frowned. “I’m sorry, Sean.”

  Pulling her into a hug, Sean shook his head. “Shh. It’s not an issue. We’ll deal with complications later.”

  “The maid should have things ready by now,” Myna said, picking up a stack of clean outfits for them.

  “Let’s go get clean. Then we can have some hot food and fall unconscious,” Sean said.

  By the time they made it to the bathing room, the maid had the kettles on and was just leaving the room. “Everything is ready, sir. I shall be standing by here to make sure you aren’t disturbed. If you need anything, please let me know.”

  “We will,” Myna said as she shut the door behind them.

  All the kettles were steaming by the time they’d cleaned their clothing and were ready for the tubs, though Sean supplied a little more so everyone had steaming water to soak in.

  When their water cooled, they dressed and left the room. The maid was standing in front of the door having a hushed argument with a large, richly dressed man. Sean pulled up short, meeting the man’s gaze. “Problem?”r />
  “Taking the room to yourselves,” the man sneered. “Do you think you’re special?”

  “Special? No. Is it worth the coin? Yes,” Sean said, stepping past him.

  “You waste money like a fool,” the man snickered.

  Sean bit back the comment on his lips and motioned Fiona, Myna, and Ryann ahead of him as he climbed the stairs. The maid called out that she would be along with their meals in a few minutes. Sean just nodded as he followed them.