She followed and Thaw barked a warning too late. She bumped into something. She let her hands explore and found it was a tree trunk. Thaw had brought her to shelter under a tree.
The pup slipped under her cloak to rest against her leg as he always did when he felt she was in need of protection.
Snow reached down and scooped him up, tucking him in the crook of her arm beneath her fur-lined cloak to keep him warm.
“We have a problem, Thaw,” she said, turning and lowering her head to keep the wind from hitting her face.
They couldn’t find the horses and with no idea where she was in relationship to home, and the snowstorm growing worse, and with no sufficient shelter, their fate was sealed. They would freeze to death.
She had felt helpless many times since turning blind, but never as helpless as she felt now. It wasn’t a far distance between Macardle keep and McHenry keep, the clan that Slatter was now chieftain of and Willow and he called home. But she had no idea of direction and to strike out blindly would be foolish.
“I don’t know what to do, Thaw,” she said, and the pup reached up and licked her face. She kissed the top of his snout. “I love you so much, Thaw.” He licked her cheek again, showing her he felt the same.
Snow thought of her sister Sorrell. She would have been on the move already, battling through the snow. but then she had her sight. No matter what she thought others would do, it didn’t matter since she had her blindness to contend with.
Think, Snow, think, she challenged herself.
She got a sudden thought. The horses. They knew the way home, hopefully they would instinctively take her there. If she could find them, she could get home.
“We need to find the horses, Thaw. They’re our only hope,” she said, silently praying they would find them.
Thaw barked and wiggled in her arms.
“You can’t go too far from me,” she warned and hope he understood.
He barked again and she placed him on the ground. “Find the horses, Thaw.”
Snow took careful steps, keeping her arms stretched out in front of her and following Thaw’s barks. Every now and again, he’d return and grab the hem of her tunic and take her in a different direction.
After what seemed like a senseless hunt, Thaw started barking non-stop and hope soared in Snow that he’d found the horses. She headed in the direction of his bark, though it was difficult to tell the true direction with the wind swirling the snow furiously around her.
She was relieved to feel him at her hem again, though this time he scurried in front of her and began to growl.
Her heart felt as if it stopped beating for a moment. He was warning whatever stood not far from her to stay away from her. She couldn’t see anything. Was it an animal? A person? Whatever it was Thaw had sensed it was dangerous, and she stood blind before it.
Thaw’s growl deepened in warning and that’s when Snow saw it. A large, shadowy blur nearly on top of her. It had to be a person, but who could it be? A traveler caught unaware in the snowstorm like her and Finn? And would he help her or be of danger to her?
The blur drew closer and Thaw’s growls increased, though he didn’t attack. He kept a protective stance in front of her.
Thaw’s growl didn’t seem to bother the blur, he kept approaching and Snow reacted instinctively. Her hand shot out to stop whatever it was from getting any closer.
Her hand met a snout and sharp teeth, and she yanked her hand back.
Her heart felt as if it would beat right out of her chest. And it wasn’t the freezing cold that sent shivers rushing through her, it was fear. She forced herself to remain calm. It couldn’t be an animal. It would have attacked by now. But why had she felt what she was sure was the head of an animal?
Thaw kept up his steady, threatening growl.
It came to her then… who would wear the head of an animal?
Barbarians.
Chapter 2
Snow almost lashed out at the shadowy creature when he grabbed her arm, but stopped when he let out a growling shout.
“Shelter.”
He intended to help her, at least she prayed that was his intention.
She hurried to reach down and scoop Thaw up, but his strong yank prevented her from doing so.
“My pup,” she protested and was propelled forward with the strength of his grip. She was grateful to hear Thaw bark and keep pace alongside her as she was hurried through the snow.
Shadows and blurs rushed around her and his firm hold tugged her now and again, preventing her from hitting anything. From his confident pace, he seemed to know where he was going, though how he could see through the raging snow was beyond her.