Shadow Slave

Eventually, Sunny climbed out of the sleeping niche and went about the business of managing the caravan. They had made it far into the mountains and were already moving north, toward their true goal.

The blizzard was still raging, reducing visibility to almost zero. The landscape was as grim and foreboding as ever.

Surrounding areas needed to be scouted, maps needed to be updated, reports needed to be received, and a hundred other things demanded his attention.

Before getting down to it, Sunny spared a few moments to stare at the grey fabric and lusterless black leather of the Puppeteer's Shroud.

Who could have thought that he would be reduced to seriously using it again, after all that time?

'It sure is much more comfortable than walking around in a full plate of steel armor. Ah, the old me had it good...'

Actually, not really.

Sunny was ready to climb to the roof of the Rhino when he noticed Beth staring at him with a strange expression. He lingered for a moment.

"What?"

She blinked a couple of times, then pulled her gaze away.

"No, no... nothing..."

Sunny frowned.

"Just say it, will you?"

Beth remained silent for a second, then asked hesitantly:

"Are you... uh... are you wearing makeup?"

was his

Why would you think

a dubious look and shook her

look a

Sunny grinned.

complexion of a marble statue, no makeup involved.

a sigh and mumbled under her

how is

shadows and appeared on top of the Rhino,

was not that cold. His passive

of Ice, and wrapped the shadow he kept with himself

couple of seconds later, he felt even more comfortable. Sunny still sensed a slight chill, but it was in no way bothersome. Additionally, the

Huh.

down on the roof and closed his

can get

continued. Traversing the abomination-infested expanse of the Antarctic Center was still hard and dangerous, but with Naeve assisting Sunny in defending the caravan, things became a little bit

chain of relays in the military vehicles. Sunny was stationed

met face-to-face during the rare stops and when an especially dire threat demanded both of them to fight side by

'Ah. Finally, a professional...'

bone harpoon and a

not entirely comfortable fighting on land, and his Aspect powers seemed to be under severe restriction, though, so the scion of the House of Night mostly supported Sunny and made it easier for

more

but enough for Sunny to notice the difference between the two of them. It was understandable... after all, the Nightwalker had a family to come back to. He carried more than one

was a bit new to Sunny, and made him think about

Sunny was secretly starting to thank the gods that Naeve's ship had suffered catastrophic damage. Without the additional supplies looted from its

had enough to feed everyone and arm those who could

other than Beth who showed any reaction was Kim. At some