Chapter 28

Wearing nothing but her underwear, Ursula stood by the wood stove, stirring a pot of stew. Bael sat on the bed, his jacket slung over his shoulders for warmth. In his lap, he held Ursula’s torn shirt. He’d found a needle and thread on one of the shelves, and he’d busied himself by carefully stitching a patch onto the shoulder.

“How long do you think this storm will last?” asked Ursula.

“The wind is beginning to wane. I think it will finish tonight,” said Bael.

Her stomach rumbled. “Good thing we’ve got food here.” The thick stew was just beginning to bubble. “I think it’s hot. Are you hungry?”

“I’m starving,” said Bael. “That smells amazing. How did you manage to cook it?”

“I opened the cans, dumped the contents into a pot, and heated it up. It’s very complicated. Someday I’ll show you my technique.” Ursula filled two ceramic bowls with steaming stew, then brought them over to Bael. She sat next to him, eagerly digging in. Maybe it wasn’t a complex recipe, but it tasted delicious all the same.

After a few minutes of eating in silence, she said, “I don’t understand how you were able to resist the old way. Last time you consumed my blood, you nearly killed me.”

“Xarthra’s blood acts as an antidote. I’ll need more, but for the time being, I’m in control.”

“That’s handy, considering we’re trapped in a small space for now.”

Bael slid his stew onto the table, then handed Ursula the shirt he’d been patching. “Try this on when you’re ready.”

Ursula pulled on the shirt and buttoned the front. All the holes had been fixed, and it fit perfectly.

Bael rose and crossed to the door. He cracked it open, and a burst of snowflakes blasted into the cabin, followed by icy wind. Night had fallen outside, but Ursula could see that snow had piled at least halfway up the doorframe.

Ursula’s heart sped up. “Bael,” she whispered, “I think we’re trapped here. There’s four feet of fresh snow out there, and the avalanche destroyed the path back to the chalet. We can’t go back that way.”

“We’ll find a way around,” said Bael absently. All of a sudden, his gaze seemed intent on one of her hands, and he crossed to her and lifted it to inspect it.

“Care to tell me what you’re doing with my hand?”

He met her gaze, holding up her hand like it might be diseased. “I’m trying to understand how you’re able to wield a sword with something so small.”

She dropped her soup onto the table, and pulled Bael back down to the bed.

Even curled up nextto Bael, Ursula could tell the cabin was freezing cold. Propping herself up, she looked to the stove. The barest wisps of smoke rose from the remains of the fire. Next to her, Bael slept soundly, completely unmoving.

Wrapping her sweater around her bare shoulders, she climbed out of bed. As Bael continued to doze, she added some fresh kindling and blew on the coals until flames licked over the twigs. She crouched in front of the open stove, alternating between warming her fingers and stoking the embers.

“Thanks for starting the fire,” said Bael from the bed.

“No problem.”

A moment later, she felt Bael’s arm on her shoulder as he crouched next to her, and she leaned into him.

“How did you sleep?” she asked.

“Like a man saved from the brink of death.” He raised his arms over his head. “But I think we can try leaving now.”

Ursula rose and pulled on her dried clothes. Bael had patched everything, and while they wouldn’t be as warm as before the avalanche, they were at least waterproof again.

Fully dressed, Bael reached for two strange-looking objects that stood next to the door. Made of fresh saplings, they looked like a failing final project for Basket Making 101.

“What are those for?”

“You haven’t seen a pair of snowshoes before?”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Those are snowshoes?”

“The owners of this cabin didn’t see fit to leave any behind. While you slept, I slipped out and made some. Here, give me your foot.”

While she stood by the door, Bael crouched down, tying the improvised snow shoes to her feet. They were a little wide, forcing Ursula into a sort of bowlegged gait, but when she stepped out into the snow, she found that she only sank in a few inches.

“These are amazing!” She clomped in a small circuit.

Bael appeared a moment later, a larger pair affixed to his feet, “Are you ready?”

“Slightly reluctant to leave our little haven, but yes.”

They hiked back toward the path of the avalanche. The storm had smoothed everything out, turning the ice-scarred snow into a veritable winter wonderland. Ursula was about to start across the field when Bael caught her arm.

“I don’t think it’s stable.”

“Oh right,” said Ursula immediately, feeling foolish.

Bael looked up at the cornice, and shook his head. “Unfortunately, I think our way home is over the top of that monster.”

Ursula gaped at him. “You want to hike up there?”

“I don’t see any other way.”

“What about continuing further along the path, past the cabin?”

Bael shook his head. “I investigated it this morning. There’s another exposed snowfield. If we want to find the dragon, we need to go up.” Without waiting for Ursula to respond, he started up the side of the snowfield, sticking to the trees.

Ursula followed behind, her makeshift snowshoes crunching over the snow. They walked through the pine forest. Above them, fresh snow weighed down the tree boughs, sparkling in the sunlight. The rising sun lit a bluebird sky, and sunlight glinted off tiny snowflakes still suspended in the air. It felt like magic, even if it wasn’t.

With aching legs, Ursula climbed beside Bael for hours. It must have been about noon when they reached the top of the forest. Bael handed her his canteen, and she took a long drink of the ice-cold water.

Ursula stared at the towering cornice. “So do you know a path over it?”

Bael shook his head, his gray eyes thoughtful. “I was hoping we might find a crack we could slip through.”

Ursula scanned along the ice, but it appeared to be a single sheet of uninterrupted cliff.

“Looks pretty smooth to me,” she said. “We’ll need to climb it.”

“We don’t have the right equipment. You’d need crampons, a rope?—”

“Or a pair of hands that can melt handholds right into the ice?” Ursula channeled flames into her hand.

Bael’s eyebrows rose in admiration. “Do you think that would work?”

“I know it will,” said Ursula. “I used these very hands to climb out of a deep tree-well before I saved you.”