Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

A va looked repeatedly at the staircase. The sun had risen and was now glowing brightly through the windows of the tavern, casting the room in yellow and white streaks of light. The snow clearly wasn’t melting in the sunlight, for the air was too cold, but it wasn’t that what made Ava shiver and fidget in her seat.

She kept looking at the stairs, waiting to get a glimpse of Kai. She was also hoping to see if anyone would come down the stairs with him, and if he would hold true to his word of sleeping alone the night before.

“Here.” A woman’s voice made her turn around. It was the dark-haired lass from the night before. She planted a trencher of bread and cheese that looked more fit for maggots than human consumption. She did not look happy but pouted and kept glancing at the empty seat beside Ava.

All of a sudden, Ava found herself smiling. Clearly the barmaid’s foul mood was because Kai had shown no further interest in her the night before.

Not long after the woman had walked away, the bench on the other side of the table was taken by Kai. Ava stared at him, trying not to let her stomach be taken over by that moth-like sensation which had dominated it the evening before.

“How about we leave that?” Kai nodded at the trencher. “I have better food we can eat on the journey, and we can have another lesson on our ride.”

“Another lesson? Already?”

“Nervous?”

“I dinnae fear anything, Kai.” Ava happily pushed the trencher away and stood. Kai winked at her as he led the way out of the tavern, not sparing a second glance for the dark-haired barmaid. Ava tried to keep the smile from her face as she noticed.

“Ye dinnae need tae be nervous,” Kai said as they stepped outside.

The wind had dropped this morning, but the snow was just as thick as it had been the night before, perhaps even thicker, with a fresh falling of snow on top of it. The clouds were a misty bright white, making everything as far as Ava’s eyes could see appear as if they had been painted ivory white. Even the trees in the distance were blocked out with clouds, the path that led toward them through the mountains obstructed in thick clumps of ice.

“It’s only me, Ava,” he whispered as they walked through the snow toward the stables. Kai led the way, but when Ava shivered in the wind, he turned back to face her, flicking up the collar of her cloak with ease, as if he had done it a thousand times before.

“Maybe I’m nervous exactly because it’s ye,” she whispered.

Clearly, Kai had heard. He whipped his head around as they entered the stable, plainly not paying attention to where he was going and walking straight into a beam. Ava couldn’t stop her laughter as she readied her mare.

“Dinnae get excited,” she said teasingly. “With ye… I ken ye only ever look at women like that tae bed them fer a night. Tae see ye looking at me like that last night, making me dae the same…” She couldn’t put it into words, couldn’t possibly explain that it made her think things she knew she should not think about. Strange things. “It was weird, ye ken.”

Kai was now readying his own steed, just waiting for her to continue.

Ava watched him move. He belted his cloak around his waist to hold it in place, pushed back his tousled chestnut hair then pulled down a wide-brimmed hat. The whole display was one that was very alluring as he pulled himself athletically up into the saddle with ease.

Ava bit her lip, wondering what it would be like to see Kai without the belted cloak, shirt and tartan. What if he stood there before her bare, with only his body on show?

Her cheeks heated, as if coals were burning on them.

“Ye were saying?” Kai urged.

Ava turned her head away as she pulled herself onto her own horse, setting the sword she carried into the saddle to make it easier to ride.

“It was just awkward,” she said, hoping to dispel the odd atmosphere between them. “With a stranger, it might have been easier.” She turned the horse to leave the stable, only for Kai to shift his own steed to block hers. “What are ye doing?” He looked at ease in the saddle, leaning forward and shaking her head.

“Ava, if ye cannae even flirt with me, how are ye supposed tae flirt with a stranger? Ye ken ye’re safe with me. Remember that.” He winked, turned his horse out of the stable and was gone.

Ava blinked as she stared after him.

I am safe with him.

The thought was both warm, comforting, and yet also a bit of a wrench. Wasn’t he insinuating that he never thought of her in that way? That she had never been and would never be anything but a friend? He was safe to practice on.

“Ye coming?” Kai called from outside the stable.

Ava urged the mare out of the stable and into the snow.

Ava and Kai had an uneventful ride to the castle, where she had snuck back into her room, only to feign surprise when Kai had showed up shortly after telling her and her father that Thora had expressed a strong desire to see her. As she had known he would be scouting in the area, she had asked him to drop by and ask if Ada would come visit. It was faster than sending a letter and he could accompany her back to Dunvegan without needing to bring guards of her own.

The laird had gladly consented, as the MacLeods were old family friends. He also most likely felt bad for the future that lay ahead of his oldest daughter and wanted to grant her some solace, spending time with her dear friends.

They all shared a midday meal while the servants prepared Ada’s things for her journey and then headed off immediately thereafter while the weather was decent, fearing what might come in the following days.

However, the more they rode, the worse the snow became. What started as a light snowfall became a thick blizzard. They were trapped on a rough track that could barely be discerned in the ice, forced to ride with heads bent into the wind. Ava had covered her mouth with a tartan scarf as Kai buried his own face into the neckline of his fur cloak. Repeatedly the horses whinnied and snorted, angered to be out in such weather.

“Kai!” Ava called when they dropped off a mountain path and into a valley. The wind was still strong there, but not so great that it whistled in her ears and made her nose burn with the feeling of ice. “Kai?”

“Aye?” He turned his head around in the saddle, struggling to look back at her.

“The horses. We have tae rest them.”

Kai looked ready to argue, his eyes just visible over the fur of his cloak, but he nodded all the same. Pulling his horse up alongside a lonely skeletal tree in the snow, he jumped down, wrapping the reins around a branch and pulling out a blanket from one of his saddle packs which he threw over the horse.

As Ava reached him, he held up his hand to her.

“Since when dae I need a man’s help tae get me down from a horse?”

There was a twinkle in his eyes that were just visible as snow flurries flew between them.

“Yer next lesson. A man likes tae think he can be useful tae his lass. Even if she doesnae need them, he likes tae be of service.”

Ava’s wish to argue fell away. There was something about the idea of Kai’s hands on her waist, helping her down from the horse, that was suddenly alluring. She pushed the weapons in her belts aside and shifted in the saddle, bringing one leg around to face him. The lip of the saddle caught her woolen skirt and lifted it high, so that she flashed her thigh at him.

As Kai’s eyebrows shot up, Ava reached fast to pull it back down, but his hand got there first. He covered her leg up swiftly, though she was sure she had felt the backs of his fingers brushing the top of her thigh and her skin burned where she had touched him.

He reached up again, and she leaned toward him. With her hands on his shoulders and his hands on her waist, he helped her down from the horse and into the snow, her boots sinking until they were ankle-deep. He didn’t move back from her but stayed completely still, his hands resting on her waist.

Rather breathless, Ava kept her palms on his shoulders too, waiting to see when he would step back, but he didn’t. They both just stood there in the flurries of snow, staring at one another.

“Is this another lesson?” she whispered eventually.

“Aye.” He bent his head toward her an inch. “If ye want a man tae be interested in ye, Ava, ye dinnae pull back from his touch.”

“I’m nae pulling back.”

“I noticed.”

She held her breath and for a moment, it didn’t feel like a lesson was happening at all. It was just her and Kai nestled together on a mountain side, listening to the horses’ snort beneath their blankets as the wind whipped between them.

“Ye’re a good learner,” he said after a few more seconds of silence, his lips spreading into a smile.

Ava couldn’t help returning that smile. Her fingers softened on his shoulders, and she slowly brought them down the center of his chest.

“A very good learner,” he whispered huskily.

There was a creak somewhere and a crunch of snow. Ava blinked, her mind half concentrating on Kai and his husky voice, as the other part of her mind recognized that these were sounds that were not expected.

“Stand this close tae a man and he’ll fall at yer feet.”

“Kai?” she whispered.

“Ye dinnae believe me?”

“Kai.” Her fingers tightened on his cloak. The smile vanished from his face. “Listen.” Her whispered order made him fall still.

A crunch came again, as if it was the snow being flattened beneath someone’s heavy boot.

Kai’s hands tightened, no longer on her waist but slipping down to her hips, protectively.

“What are ye–”

“Shh,” he urged, releasing her and reaching for her saddle where she had put her sword. He brought it out swiftly and handed it to her. “I think ye are about tae need this, Ava.”

She took the handle, cold as ice, and lifted the blade high in front of her.

The crunching had grown louder now, much nearer. She and Kai moved back-to-back, touching, as they each lifted their blades in the air. Then abruptly, that sound vanished. In its place, all she could hear was the whistling wind as she strained to peer through falling snow for any sign of movement.

Whoever was out there, they knew just how to hide.

Reaching forward to the saddle, she snapped up a crossbow.

“Ava,” Kai hissed, but she was next to him seconds later, her back to his.

“They’re watching us,” Ava urged. “I ken the pattern.”

“Stay hidden.” Kai gestured for her to move behind the tree, but Ava didn’t move. She was not going to abandon him out in the open to be shot at with an arrow. “Ava –”

“Hush!” she elbowed him, trying her best to ignore the way he winced. “Och, I didnae elbow ye that hard –”

“Ye call that nae hard?” He hadn’t even finished speaking when she saw it. Out of the corner of her eye, there was something moving through the snow. Someone had raised a bow and arrow and the long weapon, shadowy against the white world, was pointing straight at Kai.

Ava raised her crossbow and barely aimed before she fired. The sound of the bolt whipping through the air silenced Kai better than her words could.

“Argh!” Someone cried out, the bow and arrow falling to the snow.

“Good shot,” Kai whispered. Before Ava could thank him, more shadowy figures began to move through the snow. The closer they moved, the more their faces became visible, or theire lack of faces, for they had covered their features with scarves and strips of tartan, to hide themselves. “Bandits,” Kai grunted. “Run.”

Yet there was nowhere to run. As Ava looked around, there were more men approaching from their other side. She snapped up another bolt from the saddle and turned to fire it into a crowd of three men approaching from behind her. The second bolt seemed to unleash a torrent of fighting.

Ava could no longer feel Kai’s back against hers as he moved away to fight, his broadsword clashing against two of the bandits he was facing. Ava’s bolt had taken one of the three men down, but one was still moving toward her, as the second, clothed completely in black raised a bow and arrow, aiming not for her, but for her horse.

Ava grabbed the reins of her mare and tried to jerk her out of the way just as the arrow flew through the air. It buried itself into the leg of the mare, taking it down to the ground in seconds. There was a great furor of whinnies as Kai’s steed bucked and reared in fear.

The other man was running toward Ava now, staggering through the snow toward her, slipping in the ice repeatedly, but not once relenting in his pace. She dived behind the bucking horse, doing her best to use the rearing animal as a shield. Drawing out a third bolt, she aimed for the man completely clothed in black, but he had vanished. Somehow, in all his dark clothes, he had impossibly melted into the world of white.

Where are ye?

“Now, now,” a rumbling voice warned behind her. “Dinnae put up a fight, lass.”

She whirled around, having to dart to the side to avoid being hit by the bucking horse, just as she came face to face with the man she had been looking for. He had his bow raised, ready to strike her with it. He whipped it through the air as she bent down, narrowly managing to avoid being hit, though she ended on her back, the snow dampening her cloak and gown in seconds.

“Ye ken what we do with lasses who fight?” He veered over her, bending down. She scrambled to lift up her sword, but he was too tall, too overpowering, and kicked the blade away with ease. “We give them an extra punishment.” The words left little to the imagination as he took hold of her wrist.

Ava was reminded of another man who had grabbed her wrist years ago, a man who had tried to force something from her. Petrified to the spot, Ava didn’t reach for the other weapons in her belt – she lay there, her bones as immovable as the ice.