Free Kastori Restorations (The Kastori Chronicles Book 4) by Stephen Allan Page B

Celeste knew he didn’t agree at all. Fortunately, he unusually kept his mouth shut, and the two continued trudging through the snow north.
    The dreaded evening came, and the winds seemed to pick up. What had once felt like knives cutting soon turned into a feeling of scythes abrasively slashing their skin. The chill reached unbearable temperatures, and it threatened to only get worse. Celeste unsheathed her sword and gave it a fire spell, which helped some—but not nearly enough. Cyrus did the same, but the heat only reached his own body, not both of them.
    They looked around for any shelter, but Vostoka resembled Nubia all too well, except with snow instead of sand. They could see for miles and miles, a sight both beautiful and depressing at the same time.
    “We should have listened to the old man,” Cyrus lamented. “Should’ve waited until sunrise.”
    “And then on the return trip we would have suffered the same,” Celeste said. “We just have to suck it up. I can teleport us some, but I don’t know that it’ll work that well. We’ll only be able to teleport as far as I can see, and then I’ll need time to recover before going into the cave.”
    Celeste grabbed Cyrus’ arm as they teleported forward, but they only gained an additional five miles before Celeste needed rest, leaving them ten miles out with the darkness of the sky nearing.
    And then Celeste saw what she hoped was her salvation.
    “Cyrus, I think I have an idea to at least keep us warm temporarily, but you’re not going to like it.”
    An ursus meandered about a hundred yards to the east of them. Though Celeste had never gotten comfortable with hunting—even as she ate meat—her desire for survival in the harsh winter environment took over. She quickly put the creature to sleep, the better so that it would not die painfully, and used her red magic to carry it back to Cyrus. She laid the creature in front of him.
    “So… I love a good meal as much as anyone, but—”
    But then Celeste shocked him when she sliced its belly open, causing much of its guts to spill out. The smell was nauseating, and Cyrus vomited to the side after about two seconds. Celeste reached down and placed her hand near the spilled intestines and organs.
    “It’s the warmest place we’re going to find on this planet,” she said.
    “Oh man, Crystil is not going to want to be near me after this,” Cyrus mumbled.
    The two, groaning and holding their nose at the smell, curled up near the exposed creature. The heat was almost too much, as Celeste felt like removing a layer of clothing, but she gladly embraced the warmth of the creature’s guts. The warmth ran over her body, starting from her face, fogging up her goggles, and then reaching down to her chest, stomach, and legs. The smell never quite went away, but it at least became tolerable enough that she was able to shut her eyes and focus on resting.
    “Man, Crystil really isn’t going to want to see me after this,” Cyrus said with a moan.
    “I think she can look past—or should I say, smell past—this,” Celeste said. “When are you going to make a move, anyways?”
    “Well, someone suggested doing it before Nubia, and I thought that was a great idea, but then we returned and someone thought it was an emergency to get over to Vostoka, so next thing you know, I’m out here with my sister, sleeping with the appendix of an ursus on my face, wondering where I went wrong.”
    The continuous speech from Cyrus brought an unexpected degree of laughter from Celeste.
    “You went wrong when you decided to try and help me,” she said with a playful elbow. “Or maybe even when you decided to rescue Crystil and I that one night.”
    Cyrus snorted and gave a short chuckle.
    “I guess I did make a difference here, huh?”
    Celeste sat up and looked at Cyrus. She laughed when she saw the creature’s organs laid exactly as Cyrus had described them.
    “You made a difference in making sure I smell better,” she