He stared at the entrance in silence, his black lips pinched. His nose twitched. “Follow me.”
Hel laid her hand on his arm, stopping his forward movement. “Émilien, talk to me.”
He stared at her hand, and she caught the pain in his eyes. “We need to get inside—make a camp. The nights up here can get chilly, so I’ll gather enough dry wood to last until morning. Please, go inside the cave and wait for me. You’ll be safe there.” She didn’t move and continued to stare at him until he reluctantly nodded. “Let me collect the wood, and I will explain everything.”
“You promise? I’m not letting you go until you give me your word. You aren’t the best at opening up.”
He let out a humorless chuckle. “You’re the pot and I’m the black kettle, but I promise.”
She nodded and walked into the cave, ducking at the last moment to avoid a sharp, low-hanging rock. Letting her eyes adjust, she saw a decent-sized cavern. Moving closer to the wall, she ran her fingers along the tool gouges. Near the top, she saw the faint outlines of chalk drawings, tiny images of animals. She could barely make out some type of cat, a few birds, and a strange bipedal-shaped figure. This image looked more recent and was outlined in black. Charcoal, maybe? Her finger traced the hood shape surrounding the man’s head and thought she saw long fingernails, or claws, on his hands.
Hearing a slight snuffling sound, she made her way to the back of the cave and stopped to listen. The silence here was deafening and heavy. She took a step back then heard a tiny cry. Ahead of her next to the wall was a large rock. Walking over, she laid a hand on the rough surface and peered over, finding herself staring down into the golden eyes of a small wolf cub.
“Well, aren’t you a surprise,smár vargr,” she smiled at the way the pup tilted his head when she called him little wolf. “Where’s your momma? Brothers and sisters?” She held out her finger and let him sniff the end. “Are you here all by yourself?”
“Hel, who are you talking to?”
Rising, she turned to find Émilien glaring at her from the center of the room. Beside him was a messy pile of wood for their fire. “I’m afraid we may be invading someone’s home.” She smiled and pointed behind the rock.
Émilien frowned and walked toward her, his long neck craning to see what she was pointing at. A low chuckle filtered around them as he squatted in front of the pup, whose eyes widened in amazement the moment Émilien appeared. The much larger wolf reached down, holding out a single claw, and waited for the pup’s reaction. His black nose inched forward as he sniffed. After a visible debate, its tiny body shaking, the pup scooted closer.
“What do you think, little one? Am I too fearful for you?” The pup let out a high-pitched bark, but Hel noticed the slight wag of his small tail, the tip taking turns hitting the rock wall and boulder on either side of him.
“I think you have his approval.” She smiled, and the pup yelped in response. Émilien held out his paw, and the pup crawled onto his palm.
“So, little one, where’s your pack?” Émilien asked, straightening. “You’re too little to be out on your own.” The pup yapped a couple of times then laid down, resting his head on top of his small paws. His mouth opened in a wide yawn, then he was asleep.
“Oh, to be able to do that,” Hel whispered, her heart clenching at the thought of the pup being all alone. “I stare at the ceiling for hours before falling asleep.”
“At least you get to lie down in the first place. I sleep very little anymore.”
“So, what are we going to do with him?” She gently ran her finger over the pup’s cheek, loving his soft snuffling.
“I have no clue.” He pulled out a long woolen scarf from the small bag attached to the leather strap crisscrossing his chest and molded it into a makeshift bed. Placing the pup in its center, he drew a foldof the material over his small body to keep him warm. He then turned and stacked several logs. With a sharp snap of his fingers, flames sprang to life and danced along the dry wood. He sat near the fire and pulled a couple of wrapped packages from his bag, holding out one for Hel.
“Can I do anything?” she asked, feeling very useless. “And how do you fit everything inside that tiny satchel?”
“It’s magical. The space inside is larger than the outside, so I can pretty much carry anything I want or need.”
“Wow, I could have used something like that back when we were toting diapers and bottles around.”
“That’s what gave me the idea. It was difficult enough, but I figured making life a bit easier would make parenting better as well. I wanted to spend as much quality time with Shalendra as I could instead of running around repacking a diaper bag all the time.”
He sat and handed her one of the packages. “One of Madoc’s special hoagies. He always sends extra in case I can’t get back as soon as I planned.”
She peeled back one side of the wrapping and stared at the round bread filled with two kinds of meat, cheese, and a blend of sauces. “What’s a whatever you called it? Looks like a sandwich to me.”
“Just eat the blasted thing before I do. I’m starving.”
Hel bit into one end and slowly chewed. Incredible. So delicious, in fact, she had never tasted anything even close, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. He would never let her live it down. Just as she opened her mouth to take another bite, he met her gaze.
“Well?” he asked. “What do you think?”
She shrugged. “It’s okay.”
His grin widened. “That means you love it. I’ll be sure to tell Madoc. He’ll be pleased.” He opened his mouth, and an entire sandwich disappeared.
“Good gods, Émilien do you even chew? If you choke, I’m not saving your ass, so take smaller bites.”