Chapter 9: Codron

Chapter 9 Draft of in-progress novel

Winter settled around him as he nestled into the nook of the mountains of Dra. The chill whispered into his wounds with a shiver, numbing the pain of infection. He planned to go to the monasteries in the mountains but had been stuck in the rubble-filled path that was laid to waste by Ferric’s sellswords. Echoes of the prisoner Pono on the Aurelia teased him with partial truths. Pono muttered around him that the mountains were in ruin, but he still chose to go up and see for himself.

He pitied his own insolence. Why would I believe a waste of a boy? The idea of being wrong about everything stung him with melody. He persevered through the rising cold with a haggard step, limping toward salvation. A promise he sought for himself, and refused to let go of his footing forward. Even in the face of disease, he had nothing to lose. He had to see if anyone was left up here, even if it killed him.