Page 145 of Salt Between the Wolves

The hesitation lasted long enough to become irritating.

"What?"

The warrior swallowed carefully, as though weighing every word before he spoke.

"You should rest."

Silence settled over the group, and the words lingered in the cold air. Soren stared at him.

The young warrior immediately regretted speaking, and that much was obvious. Several others nearby suddenly became very interested in their horses.

No one moved or spoke while the moment stretched between them.

At last Soren turned away.

"Set camp."

Relief swept visibly through the group.

The reaction did not escape him, though he did not understand it.

Hours later, long after the others had fallen asleep, Soren remained awake beside the fire.

The flames crackled softly while snow drifted beyond the circle of light.

His thoughts returned to the same place they always did: a village, a road, a traveler, a trail, and yet another failure.

The bond remained, but it felt faint, distant, and unreachable.

Soren closed his eyes and reached toward it for a moment, searching and listening for anything that might answer him.

Nothing did.

What he felt was neither absence nor presence but something suspended between the two, lingering somewhere impossibly far away.

A familiar pressure tightened beneath his ribs, followed by something sharper.

Pain.

Soren frowned and instinctively pressed a hand against his chest.

The sensation disappeared almost immediately, leaving only a lingering discomfort behind.

For a long while he sat motionless, listening to the wind, the silence, and a bond that no longer seemed to know how to speak.

Eventually he rose.

The firelight shifted as he removed his cloak, and something dark caught his eye.

Looking down, he noticed a small stain on the inside of his shirt. It was barely noticeable and no larger than a coin, appearing almost black in the darkness.

He touched it.

When he pulled his hand away, his fingertips were red.

For several seconds he simply stared.

Then he wiped the blood away, pulled the shirt closed, and said nothing.