Excerpt: The Light in the Groves, Book Two

Cat was cold in a way that killed thought, that left her mind empty of everything except for the knowledge of the cold. She was wrapped up in a blanket, held in the crook of one of Argor's enormous arms against his chest and partially under his cloak as well. She might have felt insulted by this treatment – indeed, she was swaddled almost like an infant – but she was too cold to feel anything except the dull ache of her limbs and the sharp slap of the wind when she brought her head too far away from the giant's chest.

Their party was strung out in a line, far enough apart not to kick snow in each other's way, but as close as possible to keep each other in plain sight. It wasn't actively snowing anymore, but the wind was high enough to blow gusts of loose snow across their path, and although it was still early afternoon it was already growing dark. Vaash had point, breaking a path for the rest of the party through the waist high drifts. He'd been in the lead for a bit less than an hour and was breathing heavily, but steady. After a few more minutes he dropped back and Red took his place. He and the twins and Argor exchanged places every hour or so, so none of them would be exhausted by the difficult work of breaking a path.

They all wore cloaks brought from the City of the Third Grove, and blankets around their shoulders as well, as the City had been too temperate for truly thick cloaks to be available. The four warriors didn't seem to feel the cold much, and Vaash had even let his cloak fall open during the hard work of breaking the trail. Leigh had spent nearly all of the time since coming through the Grove in the shape of one bird or another before settling on a great white owl. Sometimes she flew ahead, coming back briefly to give directions one way or the other. She spoke directly into their thoughts, as she couldn't carry clothing with her when she was in bird form and it was an unpleasant place to go naked.

At first they'd thought to avoid settlements until they reached the hall of Argor's father, as it was still early winter and there was enough hunting to augment the supplies they'd brought through from the City. However, it had become clear that the cold was dangerous for Cat, and Gem as well though she hid it behind her usual gruff exterior. She rode in an improvised sling alongside of Bo's pack of goods, wrapped up as well so only her head was visible peeking out from under Bo's cloak. It gave the warrior woman the look of a strangely humpbacked creature from behind.

As they walked, Red and Bo entertained themselves by experimenting with the mental link between them. They could extend it to include the others, but one of them had to maintain the link with a small part of their concentration otherwise it failed. They found that Bo was better at maintaining the link, which Red was better at bringing people into and out of the link. The only person they couldn't leave out was Vaash, who was capable of breaking into their minds whenever he wanted. It made them uneasy, and even more so because they couldn't hide this uneasiness from him.

[There are ways to shield yourselves] he thought to them both. [And ways to shield the link, though shielding other minds is much more difficult than shielding your own. When we fought in the grove I was blocking the link from the guards. It's a bit like trying to sing one song out loud and another in your head at the same time. I'll teach you as much as I can. I think the two of you will be able to do things together much more quickly than you could apart.]

They paid attention, also, to the detail of the mind speak, something they'd never done back in their own home. There the mental connection was just a constant background, something that had existed all their lives and that they'd thought common to all twins when they were children and didn't know better. They'd always known what the other was doing, or feeling if the emotion was strong enough, which Red in particular had found occasionally awkward coming from her much more exuberant sister. In battle they'd known what the other was going to do before she did it, which had led to the uncanny unity they showed in the arena and along with their years of intense training had resulted in their dominance in the field.

Red in particular paid attention to language when they spoke to one of the others. She tried to get Leigh's assistance in this, knowing the woman had been a scholar of languages back on her world, but Leigh's mind was changed somehow when she was a bird, and she was slow to respond to their questions. Red worried about her, and Bo agreed that things were not well with their friend, but the priority was getting to shelter.

Vaash dropped back to walk within speaking distance of his grandfather. The path wasn't wide enough for them to walk side by side.

“How is you?” he asked, meaning how was Cat. Cat took a breath and raised her head, giving him a wan smile.

“I'd like to be off this horrible world, please,” she said with as much humor as she could manage. Vaash smiled.

“Ah, I'm sorry little one,” Argor said. She could feel his chest vibrate with each word, his voice so deep it was hard to understand. “I should have thought better what our winter would mean to someone so small, and from a more temperate climate.” Vaash squinted at the sun.

“We should be able to make it a while still before it's completely dark,” he said. “Damn it all for being winter.”