Page 6 of A Kiss of Frost

It also didn’t help that because of the way the river wound along, they could see no further than the next curve. Each time they came around a bend, she hoped to see something different. She knew they were a long way from the end of the pass, but she still found herself hoping to see the end each time they turned the corner. Each time she was disappointed.

Merry wasn’t helping. She had woken up cheerfully enough, but that cheerfulness had ended after the first hour of their journey, and then she began to complain. Not just about the current journey, but about every unpleasant incident she could remember. Katerina did her best not to respond, simply nodding as her sister bemoaned her circumstances but as the day slowly turned into afternoon, she finally snapped. Her feet hurt, her back ached, and the cold wind was giving her a headache.

She came to an abrupt halt, fisting her hands on her hips as she glared at her sister.

“I’m sorry, Merry. I’m sorry that this is cold and hard and we don’t know where we’re going. I’m sorry that your life hasn’t been everything you wanted it to be and I’m sorry that our father destroyed the doll I made you for your sixth birthday. But what do you want me to do? Do you want to turn around and go back? To go back to the caravan and the wagons and riding instead of walking?”

Merry’s mouth dropped open, tears gathering those big blue eyes.

“No, of course not.” Her mouth trembled and a tear slid prettily down her cheek. “I’m sorry, Kat. I know it’s not your fault. None of this is your fault. It’s just that talking distracts me.”

Katerina sighed and put her arms around her sister.

“I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I know you’re not trying to upset me. I guess I’m just tired.”

Merry tightened her arms around Katerina’s waist.

“I don’t want to go back,” she whispered.

“Neither do I.”

Merry leaned her head back and smiled up at her. When Katerina cried, her eyes and nose turned red and her face went blotchy. Her sister looked as pretty as ever despite the tear stains on her cheeks and the tears caught in her long dark lashes. She tapped an affectionate finger on Merry’s nose.

“All right, we’re agreed. We won’t go back.”

“And I’ll try not to complain so much.”

She laughed. “Or maybe just keep it under your breath. Maybe there will be something different around the next bend.”

Her sister nodded eagerly.

“You know what would be nice? What if there was a cabin there? Just something small that had been abandoned where we could spend the night.”

Her sister was off again, quickly lost in fantasies about an idyllic cabin, but she didn’t mind. She much preferred the fantasy to the complaining. As they resumed walking, the back of her neck tingled and she couldn’t help glancing over her shoulder. All day she’d had the uneasy feeling that someone was following them, but she’d resolutely pushed it aside. If her father had discovered them, he wouldn’t waste any time playing cat and mouse games. He would have marched up to them, roaring his displeasure and using his hands to emphasize the fact. She shivered at the thought, her pace quickening.

No, it couldn’t be him. She didn’t really believe it was anyone. The pass still felt far too silent and abandoned for any type of animal life, let alone other human beings.Maybe it’s my snow prince, she thought with a smile. As ridiculous as the thought was, it comforted her and the feeling of being watched transitioned from being alarming to being oddly comforting. She was still smiling when she caught up with her sister and together they passed the bend of the river. Both of them immediately came to a halt.

“Well, you did say you wanted something different,” she murmured, her voice shaky.

Up to this point, the tree line had roughly paralleled the river, but now it drew far, far back in a wide sweeping curve to create an open valley. The mountains formed a wall around the edge of the valley, like the walls of the bowl and in the center of the bowl a vast gleaming sheet of ice stretched from the tip of the mountains down into the valley, smooth and gleaming blue white even under the clouds.

A glacier, she decided, awed at the power that had ripped away the side of the mountains and formed that smooth sheet of ice. A small collection of stone buildings huddled at the base of the glacier, partially ruined, but surprisingly intact considering their obvious age. The sight of them teased her memory, but it took her a moment before she realized why they look so familiar. She was more accustomed to wooden, or even stucco buildings, and on a much smaller scale, but there was no doubt. This had been a trading post.

How had it ended up here? And why had it been abandoned.? It didn’t look foreboding as much as lonely and isolated, resting in the shadow of the glacier.

“Looks like you got your other wish as well. It’s not exactly a cabin, but it is shelter.”

“Are you sure?” Merry asked doubtfully. “It’s kind of creepy.”

“As Reggi used to say, never look a gift horse in the mouth.” The words had never made sense to her, but the meaning was clear enough. “It even looks as though parts of the roof are intact,” she added with an uneasy look at the sky.

The heavy clouds dropped even lower as they made their way across the valley. The size of the glacier made the distance deceptive – it was much further than it had appeared and the light was fading when they reached the first of the stone buildings. A long stable building, with little remaining except the outer walls and a few crumbled piles of rocks where the stalls had once been.

“I think we can do better,” she said cheerfully, just as the first snowflake brushed a wet kiss across her cheek.

The next building, a storeroom of some sort, had all four walls but no roof and it was far too large to be able to heat. Just beyond it she found the first of a pair of small buildings on either side of an opening into an interior courtyard. Gatehouses, she decided. The gatehouse had all four walls and most of the roof and would be easy to heat. She breathed a sigh of relief as she led Merry inside. The remnants of a hearth were built into one wall and a long bunk into the other. Broken pieces of furniture were scattered around the small space, but everything looked as if it were still in the same place that it had originally been, simply crumbled from disuse and abandonment.

“It’s like they just left,” Merry whispered, echoing her thoughts. “But why?”

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