Literature
The Crystal Serpent
Chapter Six: Through Bitter Rain
They set out again briskly through the trees. Robin knew his friends wanted to leave the smoke of Kalmar behind them as soon as possible, just like he did. It seemed to cling hatefully to one’s nostrils, like the smell of death itself–maybe the smell of something worse.
He hadn’t had so much as a morsel all morning, but at present he felt far more thirsty than hungry. Now and then they passed little streams or brooks winding through the valleys or down the hillsides, but these were all frozen and undrinkable.
Robin tried to keep his bravest face on as he pressed forward in what he judged a southerly course. Without Petter, it was he who must lead–yet he felt sorely beneath that task. He tried very hard not to think of his family back in the city. Whenever he did, a painful lump welled up in the back of his throat. But he did not cry.
Why, oh why had the gods allowed this to happen? It seemed the cruellest fate in the world.
As for Morwald… if the
