The Ice by Ryan Cahill EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Ryan Cahill
- Language: English
- Genre: Coming of Age Fantasy
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
THE PLAN
Haftsfjord – Winter, Year 3079 After Doom
AESON STOOD BEFORE THE GLITTERING WATERS OF HAFTSFJORD, HIS
breath misting before him, the warm sun hanging low in the eastern sky.
The towering city of Belduar with its ringed walls stood at his back, nestled
into the Lodhar Mountains, banners of purple and gold rippling in the wind.
He drew a slow breath, savouring the chill in the morning air as he ran
his thumb over the smooth stone in his palm. A column of riders moved
across the plains between the lake and the city, at least fifty. Arthur would
be at their head.
“Father.”
Aeson turned back towards the lake at the sound of Erik’s voice,
squinting at the sun’s reflection. He raised a questioning eyebrow.
“Can you show me again?” Erik held out his palm, a flat stone at its
centre.
Aeson smiled, the weight that burdened his mind lifting at the sight of
his son’s face.
“I told you,” Dahlen said, shrugging. “It’s in the wrist. Watch.”
Dahlen rolled back his shoulders, drew a long breath, then flicked his
wrist. The stone skipped across the water, bouncing six times before sinking
into the lake. A satisfied grin touched his lips.
“Ah yes, I see now.” Erik moved his wrist back and forth. “All I have to
do is…” He rolled back his shoulder and launched a stone at Dahlen, who
ducked in time to see it soar past his head.
“Oh, you’re gonna regret that.” Dahlen grabbed another stone from the
ground and hurled it at Erik, but Aeson snatched it from the air mid-flight.
He gave both Dahlen and Erik a sharp look. “Stop acting like children,
the both of you.”
“Yes, Father.” They both lifted their chins and straightened.
Aeson sighed. He’d never thought that, amongst all the death, war, and
ruin he’d seen, raising two children alone in the world would be the most
challenging thing he’d ever face. He let his gaze shift from Erik to Dahlen
and back again. Erik had seen twenty summers, Dahlen twenty-two. Aeson
had taught them to wield blades, to hunt and forage, to move silently and
kill efficiently.
They could sew clothes and stitch wounds, track a target for
over a hundred miles, and survive in the harshest places. He had taught
them so many things, and they had always exceeded his highest
expectations. And yet, he had never taught them something as simple as
skimming stones.
Why did that small fact fill him with such an immeasurable sense of
failure? His fondest memories of his own father – so many lifetimes ago –
were often of the simplest moments. He remembered the exact spot, at the
edge of the Aonan Lake, where his father had taught him to skim stones.
Would Erik and Dahlen ever look back on him with the same fondness with
which he looked back on his own father?
I’m being what they need me to be. I’m teaching them to survive.
‘To survive, is not to live,’ he could hear Naia whispering in his mind.
But they must first survive to live, my love.
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