The Dread Lords Rising by J. David Phillips

  *

  Winter lasted three more weeks, pushing itself into spring until at last it broke its back on a warm spell that finally brought relief to the Lake Valleys. Nimble shoots pushed eagerly through last year’s dead bark and emerged like supple little emeralds, soaking up the morning light and glowing with the green intensity that only spring allows before summer’s hues darken into less glorious shades of life. Bug sat with Niam looking out at the first flowers; dandelions blossomed like brilliant suns across the fields, and in the orchards, fruit trees opened themselves across the land in mats of pink and white. Everywhere, bees thrummed busily about the fields, and the air was heady with the perfume of spring.

  “The first green leaves and flowers are beautiful,” Bug said as they sat on a stump, watching three foals frolic in the pasture spread out before them.

  “You ought to come see the fields that were burned off several weeks ago,” Niam said to this, “When the sun rises, the new blades of grass light up and glow. I’ve always loved seeing that.”

  Bug chewed on a blade of hay, and Niam noted for what was probably the twentieth time recently that Bug seemed to have lost weight. Already skinny, she now appeared to be rail thin. “I was talking to Davin and Maerillus this morning, and we all would love it if you ate with us this week.”

  When she looked up, she brightened and asked, “Really?”

  “Of course!” Niam’s cheery note made her smile even more.

  Bug’s smile faltered a bit as a thought crossed her mind. “But what if I don’t feel like eating much?”

  “You need to eat something,” Niam told her. “Pretty soon you’ll be thin enough to use as a sewing needle, and if that happens, you’re not going to like what I use you to sew up. You know there are a couple of colts that are ready to be neutered, don’t you?”

  Bug screwed her face up in a silly expression of disgust. “You wouldn’t!”

  Niam nodded his head gravely. “Yep. I’ve already cleared it with Mr. Sartor.”

  “That’s just disgusting!” Bug said.

  “Where do you think we get BLT salads from?” Niam playfully asked.

  “BLT?”

  “You know, balls, lettuce, and tomato?”

  “That sounds like the kind of thing Card would like to do,” Bug told him.

  Niam grinned. “I don’t think he’s going to be doing anything with his or anyone else’s balls for a very long time.”

  “Somebody should neuter him,” she said fiercely.

  “Well,” Niam countered, “They’ve got to eat something don’t they?”

  Bug scowled and stuck her tongue out. “Salb smelled like smoke and raw meat,” she complained. “Every time I smell roast or mutton now it makes me sick.”

  “We’ll cook chicken,” Niam reassured her.

  “Really? I thought the Sartors used theirs to lay golden eggs,” Bug replied.

  Niam tousled her hair and mussed it up. “They say the gold makes them taste better.”

  “I don’t know,” Bug said uncertainly. “I bet gold’s hard to get out from between your teeth.”

  “Clogs up your plumbing, too.”

  “Eew,” Bug complained. “Boys are gross sometimes.”

  “No,” Niam said. “Seriously. That’s why Sartors sometimes lay golden eggs, too.”

  “Eew!” Bug said loudly.

  “Hey! I’m just saying!”

  A devilish grin spread across Bug’s face. “Have you ever peeled one?”

  Now Niam made a face and followed it with retching sounds. “That’s just gross!”

  “I’m just saying,” Bug told him as they laughed at the terrible joke.

  Bug lay her head against his shoulder, and in a quiet voice, asked, “Niam, will you always be my best friend?”

  Niam put his arm around Bug’s shoulder and held her tightly against his side. He thought about all that had happened since the fall. He missed Sarah. She missed Corey. But for now, as they sat together, they had one another . . . and for Niam, that was something worth living for.

  “I can’t imagine life any other way,” he said warmly.