Free Return To Sky Raven (Book 2) by T. Michael Ford Page A

front! I have to admit the thought of a good night’s sleep in a real bed has some attraction too; it’s been a long hard day.
    “There might be a little food left in the kitchen if you search,” Rosa commented, and then went back to scrutinizing her papers, dismissing us with a wave.
    I dumped my outer armor, made a tray of sandwiches in the kitchen, and brought them up to check on Nia. As I expected, she was sound asleep on her warm pillow, wrapped up in her blanket on the fake window ledge. I knew she needed to eat, but I didn’t want to wake her. Sleep and time would be her friends in getting over the shock and grief of what happened to her people. I left a thick cucumber sandwich, her favorite, near her bed. After a much-needed bath, I came back to the room and found a clean, gorgeous dark elf sitting cross-legged on my bed devouring all the remaining sandwiches.
    “Wow, it didn’t take you long to find those,” I quipped.
    “I just didn’t want you to feel guilty about having good food to eat while everyone else outside is eating iron rations.” Maya smacked her lips, wiping some errant cream cheese from the corner of her mouth.
    “Oh, and I suppose you have no such qualms?”
    “Nope, I figure I earned it after the kind of day I had today.”
    “Hmm, and might I inquire where your eminently entitled self plans on sleeping tonight?”
    “Sleeping only, and right here,” she said, patting the bed with a yawn. “It’s gonna be another long day tomorrow, and I don’t need any bad dreams to spoil things. Besides, Nia might need me in the middle of the night.”
    And with that, I resignedly crawled under the covers with her and took a deep appreciative whiff of her hair. Is it really possible to feel like the luckiest man alive and the most deprived at the same time?
     

Chapter 4
    As the sun just started peeking up over the horizon, it found us back in armor and heading out the tent flap with Nia in tow. I noticed the cucumber sandwich was conspicuously absent from the plate I had left next to her bed the night before, but she said nothing about the sleeping arrangements, so neither did I. As soon as we stepped outside, two servants immediately started taking down the tent, undoubtedly not knowing what it really was. Rosa told us to mount up and take the lead so everyone knew where to start the lines. Much to my genuine surprise, it looked like just about everyone was packed up and ready to move. Alera and Hons started lining up wizards directly behind us in two rows. The boxes of supplies were spit up between the servants and the wizards, with the heavier boxes loaded on the donkey carts already laden with wounded, leaving Maya and I and all the guards free to move without encumbrance.
    The twins quickly joined up with us, followed by Lin and Julia, who seemed to be over their first bout of awkwardness from the night before. About twenty minutes later, newly promoted Captain Higs gave the signal that everyone was ready and we could start our trek down the mountain.
    The path down was made even easier when Hons and a few other earth wizards used spells to restore the old road and clear away any remaining rubble, leaving behind a rather nice road that was wide enough for any cart. The forest itself was a bit slower going; the closeness of the trees and the uncertain footing through the leaf litter made walking with the boxes a dangerous game and the healer corps had to fix a couple bad ankles along the route. Passing the spot where we would turn off to the pixie village, Nia flew up and paused for a bit, nodding as if to respectfully acknowledge their presence, and then regretfully streaked forward to land with a thud on my shoulder. She seemed better, but I knew the healing process would be a long and tearful one.
    Finding the river was easy; you could hear the roaring water from a considerable distance. We took a break when we reached it so everyone could rest up and take a much needed drink from the