Three days hard travel had them all
on edge. They were two days from the
Enmyrnis border. They cut many leagues from
their journey with Ruya’s unexpected augury at Thorn Library, but the path they
had decided upon would have scared a neophyte
to death.
Their route went through the
backcountry across Moon Plateau. The
high plain boasted of white plant life.
Thick waves of snowy grass swished with each breath of wind. Cottony flowers peeked from equally pale foliage. Even the berries were drops of ice on the
rare clusters of bushes. Only they were
as dangerous as they were beautiful. Nepenthean toxins were inherent in all the
plants.
Once ingested or absorbed through
the skin, all will became lost in a hazy euphoric bliss and susceptible to
attack, and the animal life was just as dangerous. Many were nocturnal predators that stalked
the sparse herbivores that thrived in this environment.
Despite
the dangers, brave souls including naïfs, nebbishes, and experts came to the plateau to make
a fortune, a fortune in insect carcasses.
Only not just any insect. They
hunted for one particular insect, the Pearl Fly.
The
rich coveted the nacreous exoskeletons. They were the nonpareil
decoration for garments and jewelry, and they would pay extraordinary amounts
of gelt for the nitid things.
The
horses were the most vulnerable here.
Not only did they have to keep them from grazing, they had to guard them
from being attacked in the night.
“I’ll
take first watch,” Nándor said as he placed the feedbag over Tesni’s
muzzle. “Garrick, get some sleep. You have next watch.”
Garrick
gave a halfhearted salute as he pulled his cloak from his pack. He walked up behind Ruya and wrapped them
both in the folds of the heavy material.
He chuckled as she squirmed before blowing a hot breath on the nuque just below her ear. “Would you like to cuddle with me,
princess? The tonight is going to be
cold. I would definitely keep you warm. All.
Night. Long.”
She
gasped at his audacity. She did not know
why she kept being surprised. She should
be used to his behavior by now.
“Let
go, miscreant,” she said in a haughty tone, her chin lifting in arrogance, but
her eyes gave away the laughter.
She
shook her head, continuing to unroll the bedding.
©djinnia 2014
Sounds like an interesting, but dangerous place.
ReplyDelete~Patricia Lynne~
Story Dam
Patricia Lynne, YA Author
it was the bugs. i had to have a place that would show off sparkly bugs. only they were supposed to glow like fireflies too, but i sorta forgot to put that part in . . . heh heh heh.
ReplyDeleteWay to turn him down princess! You go girl.
ReplyDeleteyeah, there's a bit of the Aerie in her left.
DeleteOh Garrick, the rogue! Thinks brashness will win him the lady.
ReplyDeleteMarlene at On Writing and Riding
but a lovable rogue.
DeleteIt all starts with cuddling. Run Ruya!
ReplyDeleteSee if it's that cold I'd go for body heat and just bite if he had a case of wandering palms :)
ReplyDeleteTasha
Tasha's Thinkings - AtoZ (Vampires)
FB3X - AtoZ (Erotic Drabbles)
yeah, but why take the chance. he might keep her mouth occupied. =D
DeleteI love the description of this area. Particularly the valuable insect exoskeletons. Both gross and interesting! :D
ReplyDeletei sorta took that from history. to get pink frosting in Regency times, they used an insect shell. cochineals.
DeleteOh, I hope someone keeps an eye on Tesni! Your word building in this chapter is clever & unique! I think we should exchange manuscripts *the literary equivalent to "I'll show you mine if you show me yours"!
ReplyDeleteWriterlySam
Echoes of Olympus
A to Z #TeamDamyanti
they will. and thank you. i was sort of drawing it out to fill in the gaps to get where i needed to get.
Deletesure. mine is a complete utter mess and needs someone to tear it to shreds with prejudice.
thank you.
ReplyDelete