This situation is going from bad, to really, really bad. I must be going into shock because if I didn’t know better, I could swear a flash of amusement flickers in the creature’s gaze at my expletive.
I squeeze my eyes shut and inhale, willing the shock-inducedhallucinations away. I must have sustained a concussion in the avalanche. Or maybe this is a dream. Or perhaps I really am dead. But when I reopen them, the figure remains.
A towering mass of thick white fur. A legend made flesh. Its eyes—deep-set, silver as glacial ice—lock onto me, unblinking. In the fading light, they almost seem to glow, twin beacons in the snow. A kaleidoscope of frost and pearl, made to withstand the storm and see through the blinding white.
A wave of primal fear crashes over me. My pulse pounds in my ears, loud enough to drown out the howling wind.Run!Every instinct I have screams the command, but my body refuses to obey. Too cold. Too weak. Too late.
I swallow hard, forcing my lips to move, my voice barely more than a whisper.
“Uh, hi.” The word fogs in the freezing air before vanishing into the wind. “Thanks.” I clear my throat, trying to force my voice to continue. “Thank you for saving me. I—I didn’t mean to enter your territory. I mean you no harm.”
I scramble to convey respect, frantically trying to recall what Sita had said about the mysterious cryptid. The great eyes blink at me, and I take in the immense shaggy white head that takes up my entire field of vision at this close range. Other than its eyes, the facial features are obscured by the white, thick fur that is caked with snow.
The Yeti glances up at the sky and heaves a great sigh.
A shiver wracks my body as the snow accumulates on my exposed face, falling down into the hood of my coat around my neck and ears. I can’t figure out which direction this is going to go. I should probably be afraid of this massive creature who could crush me in a single blow. The one Sita warned me about.
Instead, I find myself curious and very, very cold. Another shiver wracks my body, setting my teeth to chattering until I can't control the sound of them clacking together. The noisedraws the creature’s gaze back to me, alarm flashing through the mystical eyes.
It’s head tilts, regarding me as if not quite knowing what to do with this half-frozen human it has stumbled upon. With a huff of what I’m guessing is resignation, it scoops me up out of the snow and pulls me into its very large body.
A yelp of surprise escapes before I can stop it. My pulse stutters, my frozen limbs too weak to resist. I can only hope it is rescuing me and not saving me as a snack for later. I squeak out a muffled thanks into its fur but it sounds more like a question than a statement.
A low grunt rumbles through its chest. Acknowledgment? Dismissal? Before I can decide, its grip tightens, pulling me closer. Heat radiates through its thick fur, sinking into my frozen skin. My shivers lessen, muscles unclenching from their painful spasms. But as circulation returns, fire sparks in my fingers and toes. Please, don’t be frostbite.
The storm rages, shrieking around us. The wind should tear through me. The cold should steal what little life I have left.
Instead, the creature shifts its hold, and—impossibly—its fur grows longer, thicker, surrounding me like a living cloak against the elements.
From my warm and safe cocoon, I can’t help the soft moan that escapes my lips. Exhausted, my body gives up, my vision tunneling as the void pulls me under. The last thought in my fading mind is absurd.
Sita was right.
I’ve just been saved by a Yeti.
Chapter Thirteen
Eryon - Earlier
Ifollow her. Unseen, unheard, unknown. I keep pace above the two women, the forest swallowing my steps and hiding my form.
As if she can sense me, she chances small glances over her shoulder to the tree line. Sometimes her eyes slide over me, and I feel them pulling me forward till I can scarcely resist their call.
But I do. I vowed she would not walk alone, and she doesn’t. I trail them to the ashram, then hide outside when they go in. Even with focusing my keen hearing towards its thick walls, all I can hear are muffled voices.
Though I didn’t need to hear what they said, because when she emerges, their answer is written in the slump of her shoulders, in the tears sparkling in her lashes like the first frost of winter.
I heard her say the name of the plant she is looking for,Silene vitalis, but the foreign word is unknown to me despite my familiarity and understanding of many of the centuries that have passed.
Man’s names for the plants of my mountains and forests is not something I ever wasted time on learning. What is the use of a name when knowing the use of the plant itself is what matters.
Knowing when to harvest and how to preserve, what phase of the moon makes the plant's essence more potent or which to leave on someone's doorstep for health. What plants and animals are in harmony, and which need to be balanced to fulfill my sacred duty to the mountains and the forests of my domain. These are the things I concern myself with.
And now, also with her.
As the women stand outside the large wooden doors of the ashram, their voices drift back to me on the wind. I listen as she tells Sita she needs to get back to her notes. But as they come into view, I see the truth in her eyes. The conviction of a woman with nothing left to lose. I’ve seen it reflected in my own face, and I know—she is going to cross the river. She is going to enter my domain.
And I will not be able to stop her.
