'Snow?' Kethry asked unhappily.
'Hai. Damnitall. How much more of this is he going to be able to take?'
'I don't know, ske'enedra. I don't know how much more of this I'm going to be able to take. I'm about ready to fall off, myself.'
Tarma scanned the terrain around her, hoping for someplace where they could get a sheltered fire going and maybe get warm again for the first time in four days. Nothing. Just crumbling hills, over-hangs she dared not trust, and scrub. Not a tree, not a cave, not even a tumble of boulders to shelter in. And even as she watched, the first flakes of snow began.
She watched them, hoping to see them melting when they hit the ground -- as so far, had always been the case. This time they didn't. '*0h hellfire. Keth, this stuff is going to stick, I'm afraid.'
The mage sighed. 'It would. I'd witch the weather, but I'd do more harm than good.'
'I'd rather you conjured up a sheltered camp.'
'I've tried,' Kethry replied bleakly. 'My energies are at absolute nadir. I spent everything I had getting that mage off our trail. I'd cast a jesto-vath, but I need some kind of wall and ceiling to make it work.'
Tarma stifled a cough, hunched her shoulders against the cold wind, and sighed. 'It's not like you had any choice; no more than we do now. Let's get on. Maybe something will turn up.'
But nothing did, and the flurries turned to a full-fledged snowstorm before they'd gone another furlong.
'We've got to get a rest' Tarma said, finally, as they gave the horses a breather at the top of a hill. 'Jadrek, how are you doing?'
'Poorly,' he replied, rousing himself. The tone of his voice was dull. 'I need to take more of my medicines, and I dare not. If I fell asleep in this cold -- '
'Right. Look -- there's a bit of a corner down there.' Tarma pointed through the curtaining snow to a cul-de- sac visible just off the main trail. 'It might be sheltered enough to let us get a bit warner. And the horses need more than a breather.'
'I won't argue,' Kethry replied. 'I can feel 'Bane straining now.'
Unspoken was the very real danger that was in all of their minds. It was obvious that the snow was falling more thickly with every candlemark; it was equally obvious that unless they found a good camp-site they'd be in danger of death by exposure if they fell asleep. That meant pressing on through the night if they didn't find a secure site. This little rest might be the closest to sleep that they'd get tonight.
And when they got to the cul-de-sac, they found evidence of how real the danger was.
Huddled against the boulders of the back was what was left of a man.
Rags and bones, mostly. The carcass was decades old, at least. There were no marks of violence on him, except that done by scavengers, and from the way the bones lay Tarma judged he'd died of cold.
'Poor bastard,' she said, picking up a sword in a half-rotten sheath, and turning it over, looking for some trace of ownership-marks. 'Helluva way to die.'
Kethry was tumbling stones down over the pitiful remains, Jadrek was doing his best to help. 'Is there any good way to die?'
'In your own bed. In your own time. Here -- can you make anything of this?'
Jadrek dug into his packs while the women were occupying themselves with the grisly remains they'd found. He was aching all over with pain, even through the haze of drugs. Worse, he was slowing them down.
But there was a solution, of sorts. They didn't need him now, and if the weather worsened, his presence -- or absence -- might mean the difference between life and death for the two partners.
So he was going to overdose. That would put him to sleep. If they did find shelter, there would be no harm done, and he would simply sleep the overdose off. But if they didn't --
If they didn't, the cold would kill him painlessly, and they'd be rid of an unwieldy burden. Without him they'd be able to take paths and chances they weren't taking now. Without him they could devote energy to saving themselves.
He swallowed the bitter herb pellets quickly, before they could catch him at it, and washed away the bitterness with a splash of icy water from his canteen. Then he pressed himself up against the sheltered side of
