Caleb sat tight-lipped and shifted uncomfortably again in his saddle. “Yes, there are a lot of cave-ins, bad air, you name it. It’s hell down in the mines. I spent a season in them after I dropped out of training as a mechanic at the Citadel,” he said quietly.
Lily looked at Caleb, surprised he’d mentioned the Citadel. He rarely spoke about his training as a mechanic. He’d left everything but warrior magic to Lily’s other mechanics, and avoided assisting her in the rituals to make clean water, cleansers, or medicine for the group. Lily sensed a dark memory behind his dislike for the rituals, and she wished he’d talk about it. She got the terrible feeling that the witch or crucible who trained him had mistreated him in some way.
Lily saw Una staring at Caleb with wide, sad eyes and wondered if the two of them had more in common than she was privy to. She didn’t pry. Keeping the peace between so many telepathically connected individuals meant that they all had to give one another space and know when to back off a subject. Lily’s inner circle of Juliet, the Tristans, Una, Breakfast, and Caleb would sometimes go days without speaking and purposely put a lot of physical distance between themselves on the trail. Not because they were arguing, but because they needed a break from always having someone so close to them, brushing up against their minds.
The rest of the braves needed their space as well. While they craved Lily’s strength and her presence, it was the first time any of them had spent so much time around a witch. Many of them found it hard to adjust to having her in their minds and none of them were accustomed to sharing their headspace with someone who could potentially possess them. It set them on edge. Tempers ran high and the trail seemed to get longer every day.
Lily started to understand why witches lived in citadels, separated from the rest of their claimed for most of the day. She had become a sounding board for everyone’s emotions, and more often than not, even non–stone kin were affected by one another’s moods because they were connected through her. Lily needed a buffer, but there was no way to seclude herself while they all rode on horseback across the ever-flattening terrain.
CHAPTER
14
Carrick bartered his last beaver pelt for a sack of grain. It was a small sack, but he’d have to make do. There were still two bombs left for him to locate and disarm. Hakan, the builder, didn’t have any idea where to start looking for them and Carrick had to make his supplies last for as long as his search took. The money and first-class train passes Lillian had given him had made his trip between the cities downright enjoyable, but Carrick was in the wild now. City money wouldn’t get him grain or beans out here.
At least the winter hadn’t been too harsh and some of the smaller family groups Carrick encountered still had stores of food they could trade. Some didn’t, of course. Being an Outlander often meant you went hungry, no matter what the winters were like.