Page 29 of Winter's Edge
Through Archer's eyes, it looked the same for miles—snow-covered and wild…and much too overwhelming. I would be walking through some of this, by myself. Finally, I closed my eyes to block it all out, taking comfort in the darkness. Right away, my other senses perked up, right at home taking front and center over vision. Over the hiss of wind and the sleigh cracking a path through the snow, the faint, bubbly song of a winter wren sounded
We moved surprisingly fast, directly into theterrible wind. It whipped against my nose and cheeks, and I dared lift one hand from the handrail to rearrange the scarf around my neck to better cover my face.
Archer had said Old Man’s Den was about three miles, or thirty minutes, away, but it seemed much farther than that by the time he finally stopped. It must have been a much slower three miles while lugging me around behind him. I opened my eyes to see through his, but nothing but forest still crowded around us. I imagined the town was just over the next hill, which thankfully wasn't too steep. Archer’s vision blinked out suddenly, and then two feet instead of four stepped toward me.
"This is as far as I can go," he said with a sigh.
I turned and reached for him, my throat pulling tight. Even though I would see him again after I left Old Man’s Den, this felt like the first of our goodbyes. I didn't know what to say to him that could possibly sum up all that I was feeling, and thankfully, I didn't have to say anything.
He clasped my outstretched fingers and pulled me to him, his lips finding mine in a space between my galloping heartbeats. Unlike his sweet, probing kiss last night, this one felt hard and desperate, his mouth claiming my breaths like he needed them more than I did. And I gave them to him, everything I had and more. Or the best I could anyway since I couldn't really feel my face.
He roughly pulled away, his ragged breaths steaming warmth over my cheeks. "Go. Hurry. Come back to me, and I'll find you when you do."
"I won't ever forget this," I said, reaching up to find his cheek. Even now—especially now standing here on the edge of winter—his heat startled me. I wished I could cling to it for longer. "Everything you've done for me and everything that you are, I will never forget it."
"The same goes for me, too, Aika."He held my hand to his face for a moment and then guided me off the sleigh so he could gather my supplies.
While he did, I took a small container of dried peppermint from my pocket I’d swiped from Grady and crumbled the flakes all over my coat, pants, and even my hair. The scent was potent, and Archer had already tested its efficiency to mask the smell of another wolf while Grady had been making the fake poison.
Once Archer secured the package in my coat pocket, looped my bow and arrows around my shoulder, and handed me Grady's walking stick, he faced me in the right direction again. "Head straight. Move quick as you can so you can get out of the wind. I'll be right here when you get back."
"Okay." Suddenly the risks involved in this plan drilled right to the center of my bones and rattled doubt through them. There wasn't any other way, though, and I refused to just give in to the death sentence winter brought with it.
I took the first step, which was always the hardest, and led with my walking stick, tapping it back and forth across the snow-covered ground. Archer's heat faded behind me the farther I drew away from him, his gaze a comforting pressure on my back as if he were helping to push me forward against the frigid wind.
I wanted him. The realization popped into my head so clear and complete and bright that it dashed another impossible smile across my face. I wanted him so much it hurt, more than anything I'd ever wanted in my life. I wanted to get to know him more, discover what made him beautiful on the inside, and out. I wanted to kiss him so much more, do things to him. Have him do things to me.
My head must've crested the hill because an onslaught of putrid smells carried on the wind, effectively killing all happy thoughts. The smells came from Old Man’s Den, so thick with coppery blood and death that it slimed my tongue with them. I slammed my mouth shut, my eyes watering from the stink, and readjusted my scarf over my nose.
The town smelled like a slaughter. I didn't remember it being this bad before. Sometimes lambs or other animals were strung up on the side of the single road, still shrieking, and killed right there so the individual parts could be sold. The single street of Old Man’s Den was like a marketplace just outside of the business buildings.
My walking stick helped me work around trees and rocks, and then my feet were pointing down the hill. The ground was steep and uneven, too slick in places for me to do anything other than slide uncontrollably. One wrong move and I could twist an ankle, fall and break an arm, rebreak my healing ribs. Or worse, break the package.
I kept going and dug in my heels the best I could. Gradually, the ground sloped a little gentler, but I didn't dare start to trust it.
The wind brought raucous male laughter with it, coming from up ahead. I was close.
To my left, a tree branch snapped. I stopped and whirled toward it, my free hand going to my bow. A wolf? Another wild? Or the bald man coming to see what I was up to?
I mentally shook my head. Not every sound meant I was being hunted. Besides, I wasn't in the Crimson Forest where the wolves had first attacked me. I came at the town through Slipjoint Forest from the opposite side than what I was used to. I continued on, my senses on alert, just in case.
The town’s sounds grew loud enough so I could hear snatches of sellers shouting out their wares. I would have to walk through an assault on my ears, all the way through the center of it, to get to my destination on the other side. More scents enveloped me, not all of them terrible like smoked meats and fried and sugared breads. And then terrible in a different way with sweaty, jostling bodies pressing in.
“But…Aika?”
My mind scratched at the familiar voice, and I stopped, wondering if it was possible to be in two locations at once. Because that voice belonged back home, not in Old Man’s Den.
“Lee?” I couldn’t hear myself, couldn’t believe I was saying his name.
Suddenly, he stood right in front of me and touched my face just as I always did to him, our usual greeting. I’d always patted him on the cheek as a little boy, and somehow it evolved into this—our thing.
“You’re so beautiful, Aika. I love you.”
Jeers and whistles sounded nearby.
“Who’s your friend here, lover boy?” a man asked and slapped his hand on Lee’s back, knocking him closer.
But I hardly heard him. A bitter tang rolled on Lee’s breath, sharp enough to bring tears to my eyes.
