“We should organize a search party.”
“I’ve spread the word in the village, but no one’s very enthusiastic about climbing the haunted mountain. Knut has been going around saying it’s just some kind of trick the boy’s playing.”
“That bastard.”
“I know. But it’s easy to believe when it means you can stay in your nice warm house. And you know it’s not the first time Whit’s played a trick like that.”
“No, but he would never put Cinna in danger.” She cast a worried look over Melissa’s shoulder at the heavy clouds. Based on the way they were moving, the storm that had been threatening for the past few days was almost here.
Melissa frowned up at the sky as well. “Do you want me to help you look?”
Jaelle shook her head. “I know you have to get back to the village. You didn’t see any other sign of her on the way up, did you?”
“I’m afraid not.” Melissa hesitated. “Has anyone else been up here?”
“As you pointed out, no one is particularly enthusiastic about visiting a haunted mountain,” she said dryly. “Why?”
“It’s hard to tell because there isn’t much snow, I thought maybe I saw footprints.”
Jaelle’s heart skipped a beat. Could someone have taken the children? But why would they have done such a thing? And why would they have brought them up her mountain – unless it was a twisted attempt to punish her. “You’re sure Knut is still in the village?”
“I’m sure. I can understand why you think he might be behind this, but Kara told me he passed out early last night and I believe her.”
Damn. She cast another worried glance at the sky. “I’ll see if I can find them.”
“Look, Jaelle. I know you worry, but as much as I hate to admit it, Knut could be right.”
“Even if he is right, it looks like Cinna was here.” She nodded at the ribbon in Melissa’s hand. “Why would they come up here? Unless…” Her stomach clenched as she remembered. “Whit and I were talking about caves on my last visit.”
“Are there any caves around here?”
“A few, higher up the mountain.” Surely the boy wouldn’t have headed there. But the more she thought about it, the more she couldn’t escape the sinking feeling that something was wrong. She had to at least take a look. “I’m going to go check them out.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” Melissa was undoubtedly sincere, but Jaelle could see the worry in her eyes.
“No, really. The cave isn’t that far from here and you have a long trip back down the mountain.”
“All right. If the storm holds off, I’ll be back tomorrow. If you can’t find them, we’ll just have to get a larger group to search with.” The other woman must have read the doubt on Jaelle’s face because she gave her a quick smile. “Trust me, if I close down the tavern until they’re found, I’ll get a search party together.”
“Thank you, Melissa,” she said sincerely.
The tavern keeper gave her a quick smile, then hurried back down the path. Jaelle grabbed her cane and her heaviest cloak, then set off in the other direction. Robin fluttered around her head with a scolding chirp, but she ignored him.
As she reached the edge of her clearing, she paused to inspect the ground. As Melissa had said, there wasn’t much snow, but what was there was scuffed as if someone large had passed this way. The memory of her encounter with Knut made her palms dampen, but if the children needed her… She took a firm grip on her cane and set off.
Chapter Six
The woods surrounding Jaelle were oddly still, and within a few steps, the snow began to fall. At first it was almost pleasant, big white flakes drifting lazily down from the sky, but it accumulated with astonishing speed. The flakes came faster and faster and before long she was trudging through an ankle-deep layer of snow. She kept switching her cane from hand to hand, burying the free hand deep in the pocket of her cloak, but despite that, her fingers were beginning to go numb. Her face was also tingling from the cold as she peered ahead through the swirling white. The cave she and Whit had discussed shouldn’t be much further.
A branch concealed beneath the snow made her stumble, wrenching her ankle in the process. Robin chirped anxiously, but Jaelle managed to keep her feet. Even with the numbing effects of the snow, each step was increasingly painful. She leaned more and more heavily on her cane, and she was almost at the point of giving up, when she caught a glimpse of a darker patch ahead. The cave!
“Whit! Cinna!” she cried, stumbling towards the opening. As she did, she caught a glimpse of movement inside the cave and gave a sob of relief. They were here!
“What were you thinking?” she asked as she took another step in that direction. But instead of a child’s high-pitched voice, a low growl answered her. She froze as a huge animal came padding out of the cave entrance.
The settlers called them dire wolves, although their only resemblance to the Earth creatures was their size and the claws that extended from their massive paws. Her heart pounded against her chest so rapidly that she felt sick, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the enormous blue-furred creature studying her.
The dire wolves were rarely seen in these parts, but the villagers had encountered them during hunting expeditions. She’d heard enough of those stories to know how dangerous they were. She took a cautious step back, then another, as it watched her from gleaming yellow eyes. With the third step, disaster struck when her injured ankle crumpled. As she fell back into the snow, her head struck a hidden rock and dizziness washed over her. She watched in horror as the wolf prowled towards her.
Robin squawked and dove at the wolf’s head. It snapped at the bird, but he kept coming, still making those outraged noises, until the wolf caught him with a massive paw, sending him flying.
She tried desperately to focus on the dire wolf and saw it gather itself, saw it prepare to pounce. She fumbled for her cane, knowing that it would do little to stop the creature but determined to die fighting.
The dire wolf sprang, but before it could reach her, there was an even louder roar and a man came flying out of the snow, crashing against the animal’s body and sending it sprawling to the ground. As he followed it down, her dazed mind took in the broad shoulders and the white hair and suddenly recognized the man from her dreams. No, not a man, not with those horns. How could he be real?
But even as she struggled to believe what she was seeing, the two intertwined bodies rolled closer and she saw her rescuer grip the wolf’s neck with long black claws, penetrating the thick fur as the animal thrashed beneath him. A sudden gush of blood and it finally lay still. Without even sparing it a second glance, the stranger turned to her, his eyes glowing.
“Now you are mine.”
She tried to scramble backwards, but she put too much weight on her injured ankle and pain washed over her. Black spots danced in her vision, and the last thing she saw before darkness overtook her was the stranger reaching for her.
Krampasarian swore as Jaelle’s eyes fluttered closed. This was not how he had intended their first meeting to occur. He had seen the fear in her eyes. Fear of him, no doubt due to the savagery of his attack.