“Please!” I shouted over the deafening wind. And I was so desperate, so out of options that all I could beg was, “Help!”
The person stepped nearer, holding the torch close to my face, and they just stared at me for a moment. I don’t know what they were looking for, or what they found satisfying about me, but they grabbed the leather leads attached to Brande’s bit to guide him. I released the reins to let the person take us, and wrapped both of my arms around Ava, for comfort mostly, because there was nothing I could do to give heat. It felt like it took forever, the person wading through the thigh deep snow, until we came upon a steep mountain. It appeared to be a dead end, and for a split second, thinking this person wasn’t trying to help us after all, I nearly panicked. But they continued forward toward the sheer wall, and soon all the wind and snow ceased. We’d been led into the start of a cave.
“That’s not Gibbons,” observed a man inside.
Something went up at the entrance, so that we were blocked now from the outside world. The entire inside was lit with torches, and while there were a handful of people around now, I could see that the cave split off in a variety of directions.
Our guide removed their head covering, revealing a dark skinned man, his black hair tied at the back and his brown eyes full of careful concern. I trusted him instantly, if only because he motioned worriedly to Ava. “Hand her down,” he said. I helped Ava off while he held his arms out, and he said to one of the entrance guards, “Go start a fire in an empty tunnel.”
The guard hurried away, and I hopped off Brande, an entire layer of snow falling from my clothes when my feet hit the ground. “I’ll take her now,” I told the man protectively.
He didn’t protest, and put Ava in my arms. “Follow me.”
I carried Ava behind him as we headed off in the direction the other man had disappeared. There were a multitude of tunnels, some of which had wooden doors built at the start of them. I had no idea what kind of place we’d come to, but right now our situation was too dire for me to care. Our guide led us past some of these doors and farther into the cave, until we reached an open one, inside of which his companion had just started a fire.
“I’ve set out some extra furs,” the man said, meeting us at the entrance of the short inlet.
“Thank you, Oren,” said our guide.
Ava was still trembling in my arms, and I needed to warm her as quickly as possible, so I stepped through the open door, Albus following at my heels.
“You should—”
“I got it,” I interrupted the man, “thank you.” And I kicked the door closed, because I knew what I had to do and I didn’t want them around. I rushed over to the fire and the sleeping furs on the ground beside it, and set Ava on her feet. “Can you stand?” I asked, gentle even though I was frantic to get her warmed before she was too cold for revival. She was shivering stiffly, arms stuck around her chest and her body tense, but she managed a nod. “Your clothes are soaking wet, I’ve got to take them off to get you warm.”
Ava gave another nod, but made no move to take off her clothes. It only took a moment for me to realize that she couldn’t; she was too cold to put much effort into moving. So I did it for her. I took off her cloak and then grabbed the hem of her tunic, sliding it over her head, careful not to look and careful not to do it too fast because I knew how frozen limbs could hurt when jostled. After I managed to get her tunic off, I did the same with her trousers, and then helped her down into the sleeping furs.
Albus had already curled into himself at the fireside, and though I would’ve had him lay atop Ava to help warm her, I knew there was no way I could get him to move. All I could do was tuck Ava in and make sure no heat escaped. It was only now that I began to feel the cold that had seeped into my own bones. My top layers were soaked too, so I removed my heavy fur outerwear and set it near the fire to dry, doing the same with Ava’s wet apparel. Then I sat on the ground nearby in my damp clothes, wrapping my arms around my knees while I began to absorb the heat.
Though I’d begun to warm already, Ava was still shaking, so desperate that she scooted herself nearer the fire. “Not too close, Ava,” I said. She was already as close to the flame as she could get, any more and she’d burn herself.
Yet she made no response. All I could hear was the loud chattering of her teeth. She wasn’t warming fast enough. The fire was only able to reach the side she faced it with, and the air in the cave was so chill that it robbed her of whatever warmth she managed to get from the flame. There was only one other option, but I couldn’t. Not after today. Not after she’d kissed me.
I sat there for another minute by the fire, but I couldn’t tune out the sound of her trembling. She was frozen and miserable, and through the chattering of her teeth, I could hear that her breathing was stunted and shallow. She’d been too cold for too long, and if I didn’t do something soon, she’d get sick. Or worse. I tapped my heel against the ground, struggling with the conflict while my eyes wandered over to Ava. She’d gotten even closer to the fire, so close that I could smell the hairs of her blanket singeing. I couldn’t just sit here.
Resolved that I had to suck it up, I stood and pulled off the remainder of my damp clothes. As I lowered myself into the sleeping furs beside her, she turned away from the fire to face me. “I’ve got to get in,” I told her apologetically, pulling the blanket up to my chin, “it’s the only w—”
She didn’t even let me finish. Her arm wrapped around my waist and she pulled herself into me so that even our legs were intertwined. She buried her face in my neck, and I sucked in a jolted breath at the frigid feel of her skin. Every bit of her was frozen. The arm around my waist and her feet wrapped around my calves and her entire torso pressed against the front of me. I could feel her icy flesh stripping my body of heat, but I didn’t care as long as it helped. I wrapped both my arms around her to pull her closer, to give her as much of my warmth as I could.
And it did help. With me at one side of her, and the fire at the other, she had the heat she needed. Not long after I lay down, she stopped shivering so badly, and soon after that she stopped altogether. Her skin started to feel warm again, her breathing returned to normal, and we were both exhausted enough by the cold that we fell asleep.
I woke at what felt like early morning. My body was drained of energy and I could’ve slept longer, but it was heavy footsteps that had woken me. My eyes cracked open to see the same man from last night. He was putting fresh logs on the fire that had dwindled overnight, and when he saw that I was awake and noticed him, he passed me a simple nod and then retreated out the door. However, now that I was awake and realized Ava was still tangled up in me, I couldn’t go back to sleep. Nor could I bring myself to move…
Though I couldn’t see her, Ava must have woken too, because she released a laugh into my neck. “This is not how I imagined ending up naked with you.”
“This is not the time for jokes,” I protested, squeezing my eyes shut. How could she laugh now? When for me it was still sinking in that she’d been so near death only hours ago, and that I’d almost got her killed. “I’m sorry, Ava,” I said, the full fear of last night finally making its loathsome appearance. I knew better than to go into storms like that. I’d almost lost Albus because of it, and I’d gone and risked Ava in spite of it. I swallowed hard as I felt tears sting my eyes. “I should have come up with something else, another way to get out of there. I never should have taken you into the storm.”