The rain had started sometime before dawn. It wasn’t the clean, sharp snow Halo preferred, but a thin drizzle that glazed the world in ice and turned the air metallic. It tapped against the lodge windows in a patient, miserable rhythm as Noah moved through the main room, already awake long before the light tried to rise.
Longheat was bleeding out. He could feel it in the grain of the wood beneath his palm, in the way the hearth struggled to push back the damp. Leafchange in Halo did not arrive in gold and crimson and gentle chill. It came treacherous. He needed to prepare to take a team out and gather and hunt enough to bulk the stows of the lodge, and send compatriots home with enough for their homes and families.
He crossed to the hooks near the door and pulled down his oiled cloak to keep away th rain. He added an extra lining beneath of wool, thick enough to hold warmth even when soaked. At the long table, he laid out what he would carry. From a shelf near the hearth, he gathered dried meat and hard cheese, wrapping them in waxed cloth. A small flask of something stronger followed. Not for indulgence, but for heat, if it came to that.
He continued around the lodge, gathering supplies he would need.
Longheat was bleeding out. He could feel it in the grain of the wood beneath his palm, in the way the hearth struggled to push back the damp. Leafchange in Halo did not arrive in gold and crimson and gentle chill. It came treacherous. He needed to prepare to take a team out and gather and hunt enough to bulk the stows of the lodge, and send compatriots home with enough for their homes and families.
He crossed to the hooks near the door and pulled down his oiled cloak to keep away th rain. He added an extra lining beneath of wool, thick enough to hold warmth even when soaked. At the long table, he laid out what he would carry. From a shelf near the hearth, he gathered dried meat and hard cheese, wrapping them in waxed cloth. A small flask of something stronger followed. Not for indulgence, but for heat, if it came to that.
He continued around the lodge, gathering supplies he would need.
the sentinel of the north
