But Thaw wouldn’t settle, he barked again and wiggled to get out of her arms.
“Stay!” she ordered, but Thaw would have none of her command. He wiggled himself free and jumped from her arms.
“Thaw! Thaw!” she yelled, worried she’d lose him in the snow, though his continued barks let her know he was close. “Finn!” she shouted, concerned he wouldn’t hear her through the relentless wind.
Thaw continued to bark and with the horses stopped and no sound from Finn, she began to grow uneasy. She couldn’t just sit there with the snow whipping viciously around, she had to do something.
“Please, Mum, help me,” she pleaded as she slid off the horse.
Her mum had died from complications from the fire that had blinded Snow. Though, not before she had tended Snow’s eyes, bathing them day after day in some solution she had brewed. She had told her to keep hope strong in her heart and mind, that her vision would return.
“Never give up hope, my daughter. I named you appropriately. Snow can blind, but it leaves everything fresh and sparkling clear after settling on the land. One day you will see again,” her mum had said.
Snow held hope that her mum had been right and that was why she reached out to her when frightened or in need.
Snow kept her hand on the horse’s side, following along it until she found the rope Finn had tied from her horse to his. Her hand followed along the rope to Finn’s horse, Thaw’s barking growing louder.
“Finn,” she called out and Thaw stopped barking for a moment then started again. “What is it, Thaw? Did something happen to Finn?” Thaw barked twice, stopped, and barked again.
Snow’s stomach roiled. Something was wrong, horribly wrong.
“Where’s Finn, Thaw?” she asked and she suddenly felt the pup tugging at the hem of her tunic. He wanted her to follow him. Finn could very well be hurt. But did she chance leaving the horses? Would she find her way back to them?
Thaw’s tugs grew more frantic. She tried to untie the rope on Finn’s horse to keep hold of it, but the snow, cold, and strength of the knot made it impossible. She had little choice but to step away from the horse, letting Thaw know she’d follow. He didn’t let go of her hem, he used it to guide her steps. She counted each one so she knew the distance.
Thaw stopped and so did she.
He barked once and she knew he had delivered her to Finn. She moved her booted-foot forward and touched something.
“Finn!” she cried out, but got no answer.
With trepidation, she slowly lowered herself down, the swirling snow making it difficult to see even gray shadows. She reached out and her hand touched snow, but it was what she felt beneath that frightened her. After brushing the snow away, she removed her glove to touch Finn’s chest. There was no rise and fall to it. She moved her hand up to his face, brushing off the snow that had accumulated there and pressed her fingers to his cold lips.
No breath came from his mouth.
He was dead.
She felt around his face and top and sides of his head for a wound and ran her hand over his chest again. There were no signs of blood. His heart must have stopped as her mum would say when someone suddenly died without any apparent reason.
Tears threatened her eyes and she brushed them away. It would do no good to mourn Finn now or spend time senselessly crying when a snowstorm raged around her. But what did she do? Without her sight, how did she determine the direction that would take her home? Thaw would be of no help, since he had yet to learn the path between Macardle keep and Willow and Slatter’s keep, though Slatter had promised he’d teach the pup soon.
“The horses,” she whispered and slipped her glove back on.
She needed to make sure she stayed with the horses. She would turn and backtrack her steps the best she could. She was bound to bump into them.
“The horses, Thaw. We need to get to the horses,” she said, hoping he understood her.
He barked and raced around her and she turned and began to walk, Thaw running ahead of her. She counted her steps and when she reached the spot where the horses should be, she reached out but nothing was there. She took a few steps in one direction, then another, still nothing.
Now what did she do?
Thaw’s bark drew her attention and she wondered if he had found the horses.
“Where are you, Thaw?” she called out and he continued to bark.
She followed the sound of his barks, and she realized with every step she took that the snow had reached her ankles. The snow was accumulating fast. Thaw’s barks stopped and so did she and she was relieved when she felt him at the hem of her tunic, tugging at it once again.