by Cathi Shaw
Kiara stared at the thing in Caedmon's arms. It didn't struggle but stared at her with its blood red eyes. Kiara felt a shiver of cold run down her spine. This was a Hunter like the one who had attacked Mina in the forest that day.
It turned its head to Teague and Thia and hissed at Teague baring its pointed teeth. "Draíodóir." The voice was a scratching whisper. It started to raise its hands toward Teague and in a split second Caedmon violently twisted its head, breaking its neck with a loud cracking sound. He dropped the body to the ground, disgust on his face.
For a moment Kiara was frozen in horrified fascination as she stared at the body at Caedmon's feet. It was unlike any man she had seen before and yet she was almost certain it was a man of some kind.
Its head was bald and its skin was so pale and translucent that the blue veins under the skin were visible. Its red eyes were staring unseeingly at the ceiling and its mouth was open revealing the sharp points of its white teeth.
"Hunter," Teague said softly. "They know where we are."
Caedmon nodded grimly. "Perhaps this was a lone one," he said, the corners of his mouth turned down. "But we need to dispose of it and leave here at first light."
Kiara couldn't stop staring at the body. Even though she knew the Hunter had been there to kill Teague and perhaps all of them, she felt almost empty at seeing life so quickly removed from a man. And Caedmon seemed unconcerned about it.
She looked up at Caedmon, not sure what she felt. He had so easily taken a life. As she stared at the remains of the man in front of her, she suddenly realized how juvenile her comments about hunting must have seemed to him. She swallowed quickly, suddenly feeling sick.
Caedmon stepped toward her and she flinched away. She heard him speaking to her sister. "Thia, take Kiara to your room and stay there until morning. We leave at first light."
****
The next few days were uneventful. They spent their days travelling from village to village and there was no sign of more Hunters or any indication that they were being followed. Teague had come to the conclusion that the Hunter who found them must have been scouting on his own. Kiara shared Caedmon's bedchamber, taking turns sleeping in the bed but they did not discuss what had happened at the inn in Silver Vale. Kiara tried not to think about the side of Caedmon that had been revealed in that night.
The great mountains remained far in the distance and Kiara began to wonder if they would ever reach them.
Despite the distance of the mountains, the weather had decided to change. It had been bitterly cold all day and when they stopped for their mid-day meal, it was a miserable, freezing experience. As they were packing up Thia exclaimed over snowflakes starting to fall.
Kiara met Caedmon's eyes. They both knew that once they reached the mountains there would be snow on the ground but if snow was falling here on the Lowlands, then the mountains would be worse.
That night when they arrived at the hamlet of Green Lake, they were cold, wet and ready for warm beds.
The Innkeeper and his wife were kind and happy to see them. They didn't have many travelers at this time of the year, they admitted, so were pleased for both the business and the company.
It was when they were leaving their rooms to go down for dinner in the Great Room that Thia suddenly cried out.
Kiara felt a chill run down her spine. She knew from the sound her sister made exactly what was happening, and quickly looked up and down the hallway to see if anyone had seen her sister as she fell to the ground.
Stars, she thought to herself as she saw the chambermaid standing horrified in the hallway.
"She's fine," Kiara called reassuringly to the girl as Caedmon stepped forward, effectively blocking the girl's view of Thia. Teague was at Thia's side, her head cradled in his lap, his attention focused only on her.
When Thia opened her eyes she murmured. "No, no, no." Which was her typical response when she realized that she'd had a seizure.
"It's alright," Kiara said, in a reassuring tone. "You're okay, Thia."
But as often happened after one of her seizures, Thia seemed to be listening inward. This time it seemed to be more pronounced than was the norm after such a spell. And Teague did not seem to be aware of Kiara or Caedmon. Kiara couldn't help wondering if he was doing something to her sister.
"Thia," she said more sternly and Thia's golden eyes focused past Teague on Kiara.
"What did you see?" she asked.
Thia shook her head, tears filling her eyes. "Snow and falling rock and blood." She shuddered as Teague helped her sit up. "Something horrible is going to happen in the mountains," she whispered.
Kiara felt a shiver of foreboding snake down her spine. She looked at Caedmon. He looked back at her, concerned written on his face.
"We need to get you downstairs," Kiara said quickly. "That serving girl saw you and I'm sure she's shared what she saw with her employers. We are supposed to be keeping a low profile but word that a girl who is prone to seizures such as yours would not be the kind of news that could aid in our hiding."
To her dismay, Kiara discovered she was right. When they arrived downstairs the maid was speaking animatedly to the innkeeper and his wife. They both turned toward them as they arrived in the great room.
"I hope your servant wasn't scared," Teague said before Kiara could think of a plausible story. "My wife has taken to fainting spells." A look of concern passed over his face and Kiara was amazed at his acting abilities. "I can't help worrying but her mother has assured me that it's quite common for women in her, um" Teague reddened bashfully, "condition."
Teague could not have come up with a better explanation. The innkeeper's wife was all sympathy. She shook her head, putting her arm around Thia. "Come sit down, my dear," she said leading Thia to the table that had been set for them "A little bit of food will help. And don't you worry, young man, it is very common especially with first babies." She turned to her husband. "Why remember, Haros, I had such spells when I was expecting Jaerem to arrive?"
Her husband laughed and nodded. "That I do." He clamped Teague on the arm. "Nothing to worry about," he added with a grin. "But you look like you could do with a mug of ale!"
Teague, looking relieved, nodded at the man.
Kiara saw the servant girl watching them, suspicion on her face. The Innkeeper and his wife might have been convinced by that story but she sure wasn't.
"I told you she was fine. Just a faint, now you know why," Kiara called out to the girl, making sure she held her eye. While she didn't argue, Kiara felt the girl wasn't entirely convinced. If a Hunter passed through these parts she didn't think he'd have trouble getting this girl to talk to him.
Kiara swallowed her concern as the Innkeeper's wife brought them large bowls of steaming soup and crusty biscuits to dunk in it. There was nothing they could do about a suspicious servant except to move on quickly. Despite the discomfort they were sure to encounter, Kiara would be happy when they'd left the inns behind and were in the mountains. Her second sense told her they wouldn't be safe until that happened.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Seven more days found them in the mountains. Thia didn't speak of her vision again but they were all on edge. As they left the last inn, they had to abandon the pony and cart, as the snow was too deep for it to pass through. Teague sold the cart to the blacksmith in that town, while Caedmon sold his and Kiara’s mounts to the innkeeper, who was hopeful to turn a profit on them the next time the army came through from the mountains.
They'd been lucky to find shelter in an abandoned barn the first night in the foothills but now they would be making camp with nothing more than a few pine trees as their shelter. Still Kiara knew it would be more comfortable than when they moved completely into the mountains.
Since they were staying outside anyway, they stopped their travels early and Kiara did a bit of hunting. She was able to get three rabbits for their dinner, which would supplement the bread they had from the inn the previous night.
As
Kiara skinned the dead rabbits, her mind went back to Caedmon's killing of the Hunter in the inn. Was what he had done really so much worse than what she, herself, had done to these creatures? And she was going to eat the flesh of these – Caedmon hadn't done that.
Kiara couldn't say what it was about that night that had shaken her so much. She remembered the blank, brutal look on Caedmon's face as he broke the Hunter's neck. She knew the Hunter would have killed them without a second thought. Caedmon was only protecting them.
They had not spoken of the killing since that night. Caedmon behaved almost as if nothing had happened. Kiara knew that she would not be able to act with such coldness if she'd taken the life of a human, no matter how evil. At times it made her wonder how Caedmon had become so cold in killing. How many men had he murdered while in the army? Kiara wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to that question.
By the time Kiara returned to camp, Teague had built a fire. Thia took the skinned rabbits and prepared them in a stew pot with some roots she'd found. Thia, always the cook, had also packed a small bundle of herbs for seasoning the stew and later as Kiara took her first spoonful of the tasty dish, she was once again grateful that her sister was so gifted. Kiara was sure that, had the cooking been left to her, dinner would have been a far less appealing affair.
Despite the warm stew in their bellies, it was a cold and uncomfortable night for all of them. Caedmon and her took turns with the watch. Teague had volunteered to also take a watch shift but both she and Caedmon had insisted that they wanted to keep watch. So Teague shrugged, rolled himself into his bedding, and was soon snoring.
The next day they began to climb into the mountains. Kiara could tell the climbing was hard for her sister. Thia didn't complain but climbing uphill in the snow while she was so much smaller than the others was not an easy task. As the day wore on, they had to slow their speed so Thia didn't get left behind. Teague began to walk with her. Although they didn't speak, he seemed to be silently encouraging her.
In the mid-afternoon the sky darkened.
"A storm is moving in," Caedmon announced. Kiara look at the darkening sky and her heart sank. "We need to find shelter and soon."
She agreed with him. A mountain storm was not something to be caught in. Survival in the mountains relied as much on the ability to locate shelter as it did on anything else.
Luckily, the mountainside where they now found themselves had multiple caves. Kiara and Caedmon began inspecting them, hoping to find one big enough for all of them to shelter in together.
After searching through caves that were either too small or too unstable, Caedmon called from a hundred meters or so ahead of them.
Kiara quickly climbed up to where he was, leaving Teague and Thia to follow more slowly in case what he'd found was not a practical shelter.
But he'd located a cave that was both large enough to shelter all of them and deep enough to keep them safe from the storm.
"Perfect!" Kiara said with a smile.
"Get them in there and I'll start looking for fuel – with luck maybe we can even have a fire," he said then looked skyward and dropped his voice. "I would guess this storm will last several days. I'll try to collect as much fuel as possible."
Kiara went into the cave with Thia and Teague. They would be warm and dry in the cave for the duration of the storm but she couldn't help thinking that they would be hungry. They only had a few dried apples and nuts in their packs. She looked out the mouth of the cave. The storm had yet to hit, she estimated she had a about a quarter of an hour to do some quick hunting and perhaps find more fuel. The hunting wasn't as plentiful in the mountain passes but they were going to need some food especially if the storm lasted more than a day or so as Caedmon suggested.
"Why don't you set up our bedding over there?" she suggested to Thia, pointing to the far end of the cave away from the entrance.
Thia looked at where she was pointing and nodded. Kiara put her pack in the back of the cave and took her bow and sheath of arrows from the pile.
Thia frowned. "Caedmon's stuff is not here," she pointed out.
Kiara looked around. "I think he didn't bother putting down his gear before he went to find fuel. Just set up the others. It will be easier to do while we have light."
"Hey did you see this, Kiara?" Teague was calling from the back of the cave.
Kiara walked over to where he was standing. Behind him was an opening.
"What is it?" she asked.
"It looks like it could be a route through the mountain," he said, his silver eyes flashing with excitement.
Kiara looked at the opening doubtfully. "You mean some kind of passageway?"
Teague nodded, barely containing his excitement. "If we could go through the mountain instead of over it, do you know what that could mean?"
Warmth, shelter and darkness. Or. "It could mean that we scout through to a dead end.”
Teague shrugged, not to be deterred by her negativity.
"I think it could mean that we've found an easier route." He paused. "Look when Caedmon gets back and we're settled here, I'm going to do a bit of looking around."
Kiara shook her head and then marched to the entrance of the cave.
Thia straightened from where she was laying out their bedding. "Hold it! Where do you think you’re going?" she asked.
"I'm just going to be 15 minutes. I have time to quickly scout for some food – if we're going to be holed up here for a while it won't hurt to have some game. Don't worry I won't go far and I'll keep an eye on the weather."
Neither her sister nor Teague looked too happy about her plan but Kiara left the cave before either of them could voice their protests. Outside the storm clouds were building but she estimated that she still had a bit of time. She looked around but there was no sign of Caedmon.
Kiara found hunting to be an act of frustration that afternoon. She didn't see a single living thing. It was as though all the animals were also taking cover from the storm. Finally, admitting defeat, she turned back to the cave. She arrived at the entrance to find Caedmon waiting for her, his expression murderous.
"Where have you been?" he shouted at her.
Kiara pushed her hair out of her face, annoyed that it had grown so shaggy on the journey. "Looking for game to keep us fed while we are stuck here."
He glared at her empty hands.
"Look," she shouted around the building wind. "I'm back alright. There was no game."
"Maybe I was wrong about your prowess as a hunter," Caedmon said darkly.
Just then there was an enormous cracking sound above them. Kiara looked at Caedmon before they both lunched toward the entrance of the cave at the same time. Just as Kiara was about to step through Caedmon grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back.
"No, let me go!" She struggled against him as the entrance to the cave disappeared in a pile of rubble, snow and dust.
"Thia!" she screamed, breaking free of Caedmon and rushing at the now buried entrance, trying not to cough from the dust that was in the air.
Frantically Kiara began moving the rocks and debris from the entrance. Caedmon was heaving boulders to the side as if they weighed nothing. But after half an hour they'd made little progress and he sat back on his heels.
"Why are you stopping?" Kiara shouted above the driving wind and pelting snow, her voice frantic.
"This is hopeless, Kiara," he shouted back.
"What are you talking about?" she asked as she continued to claw at the rubble.
Caedmon grabbed her arms and turned her toward him. "There's nothing more we can do," He shouted above the storm. "We need to take shelter or we'd be dead."
Kiara shook her head. "I'm not leaving my sister."
"Kiara, you're being ridiculous. There's nothing we can do for them now."
She hit Caedmon in the chest but he didn't budge. 'You don't understand. It's my sister in there!"
He grabbed her shoulders suddenly, anger and grief on his face. "I do understan
d. It's my brother as well, remember?"
Kiara stopped anguish suddenly weighing heavily on her.
"I don't think your mother and Mina would like for us to perish here. We need to find shelter now."
Admitting defeat, Kiara followed Caedmon up the mountain through the driving snow, trying to see in front of her but failing miserably as tears clouded her eyes and froze on her cheeks.
Suddenly Caedmon stopped and grabbed her arm. "There's a shelter over here." He led her to a small cave.
"It is safe?" she asked doubtfully, remembering how the mountain had come down on Thia and Teague, trying to fight off the waves of shivers that were racking her body.
Caedmon shrugged. "It's safer than staying out in the storm." He said grimly and pulled her into the cave.
They sat in the dark, shoulder to shoulder, listening to the wind howling outside the cave and not speaking. Despite her heavy gloves Kiara couldn't feel her fingers. And she could not stop shivering. She'd never been so cold in her life. Her pack with her supplies and her sleeping roll was in the cave with Thia and Teague, buried under half the mountain or so it seemed.
Caedmon suddenly shifted next to her and awkwardly put his arm around her.
"You're frozen," he said gruffly.
Kiara shrugged in the darkness. "I-I'll b-b-be f-f-f-fine," she chattered, her teeth banging together.
Caedmon suddenly released her and she could hear him rummaging through his pack.
"Here." He pulled his sleeping roll out of the bag. "Get inside."
"W-w-w hat about y-y-you?" Kiara chattered.
He opened the roll, climbed in and then pulled her into it with him, his arms going around her. Kiara sighed into his warmness.
After a few minutes the shivering ceased. Caedmon was gloriously warm; Kiara had never felt anything so wonderful. Her fingers started to unthaw in painful bursts. As her body warmed her thoughts went to her sister, buried under those piles of rocks. Tears began to slide down her cheeks, soaking Caedmon's shirt.