Free Lament (Scars of the Sundering Book 2) by Hans Cummings

away, all right? The
lizards were hungry, and she conjures the boggins to keep them from eating
whatever sheep or cows we might find. Better those boggins than one of your
sheep, eh?”
    “That’s right.” Pancras nodded in
agreement with Edric, patting the human on the shoulder. “It was an ill-timed
feeding, I’ll grant you.” The crunching of bone and slurping sounds emanating
from the nailtooth pen punctuated his point.
    “Hey, they got to see some real
magic though, right? Not just kiddie tricks.”
    “Stop helping, Kale.” Pancras
took the man by the arm. He turned him toward the pen. The nailtooths had
finished with their meal and now groomed each other. “See? No harm done.”
    The tinker shook off Pancras’s
grip. “No harm? Tell that to our children when they wake up screaming tonight
with dreams of torn-up beasties in their heads.”
    “Oleg!” Magda shooed away the
remaining children and observers. “Oleg, your boy needs you. His horse threw a
shoe, and he can’t handle her alone. Get back to your wagon and leave these
folk alone. Their ways are different is all.”
    Oleg grumbled. With one last,
withering glance at Delilah, he stalked toward his wagon. Magda shook her head
as he departed. “Always bending his iron, that one. They’re going to see sheep
slaughtered sooner or later.”
    She stared at the draks, Edric,
and Pancras and placed her hands on her hips. “Well, what are you waiting
around for? Dinner’s on the fire. You want to eat, you’ll help me with these
vegetables!”
     
    * * *
     
    Fire-roasted chicken with root
vegetables was a greater meal than Delilah expected to find as they journeyed
across the plains of Etrunia. She thought about complimenting Magda, but
between the woman’s interrogation of Pancras about all things Almerian and
Vasily’s nonstop stories to Kali and Kale, she couldn’t get a word in edgewise.
    It was just as well. A smile
spread across her face every time she thought about conjuring those boggins for
the nailtooths. I told them I wasn’t going to do any parlor tricks. I showed
those human spawn some real magic.
    As the night dragged on and the
fires died down, the air grew bitter and raw. When she exhaled, her breath was
visible, and she noticed Kali was practically on top of Kale. Delilah felt a
pang of jealousy, not for the attention Kali received from her brother, but
rather for her brother’s high body heat that allowed him to weather the cold
with a thin cloth cloak.
    Delilah shivered and drew her
thick wool cloak around her. She scooted closer to the fire, holding her hands
toward its warmth. Edric kicked her foot. “Hey, go check on the lizards.”
    She shot him a glance. “Why don’t
you?”
    The dwarf glanced over his
shoulder toward the horses. “Yaffa’s fine with the horses. The lizards are drak
responsibilities. Scales for scales and all that.”
    Delilah cursed under her breath
and shoved Edric as she stepped past. “You’re a pain in myscales.”
    She stomped her feet as she made
her way to the nailtooth pen. It seemed to keep the chill at arm’s length as
the warmth of the fire became a distant memory. The Eye of Tinian was low in
the sky now, marking the inevitable pass of winter into spring, though she
guessed it would be several weeks still before it was gone entirely. Muncifer
is still so far away. The realization of how far she was from the only home
she’d ever known caused a shiver to wrack her body. She gritted her teeth and
studied the lizards.
    The nailtooths huddled together
in a cluster at the center of the pen, sharing body heat and sleeping. After
ensuring everything was secure, she turned to find a human child staring at
her.
    She gasped and jumped backward
out of reflex. It was almost eye level with her. She recognized the child as
the screaming boy Oleg grabbed. It struck her how flat human faces were. His
greasy, stringy hair fell down around his ears and across his forehead, and the
cold air gave his broad