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That is up to you, my friend…
The sultry voice whispered in her mind, teasing at the edges of her consciousness.
“You must know that even if we weren’t on a quest, I would never let you harm a hair on Kai’s head,” Ere stated, clearly meaning every word.
Eir assessed the man with a brief head-to-toe perusal. He was no warrior, she already knew from the first glance.
And yet, there was something indefinably…dangerousabout him. A power roiling beneath the surface of his skin. She would underestimate him at her peril, she surmised.
“I am certain Kai can defend himself,” she said.
The man in question rode slightly farther ahead, close enough to hear if he wanted to, but also far enough to tune them out.
Ere gave Eir an assessing look in turn, taking her measure.
“He’s one of the strongest beings I know. But he’s weak for you, I can tell. So, I must protect my brother where he can’t protect himself.”
Eir looked longingly at the warrior’s back.
“He is in no way weak,” she refuted. And was terribly disturbed that her voice trailed off on a simpering sigh.
That was justwrong.
Ere was silent for a while, simply staring at her.
Finally, he huffed, “Wow. You’re blinder than Rui was. And that’s saying something.”
Eir frowned, not comprehending.
Everything about Kai was unbreakable, impenetrable stalwart strength. His body, his will. The man bowed to no one.
Except…
What was it she’d seen in his eyes last night?
What was thiswrongnessshe felt today?
“Danger ahead,” Kai finally spoke, breaking into their idle chatter.
Without saying more, his actions speaking louder, he spurred his horse into a trot to pull ahead of them. Presumably to investigate.
Eir narrowed her eyes at the rapidly darkening sky toward the north.
It was mid-afternoon. Though the sun was weak, the day was relatively bright. What little light that filtered through gray clouds multiplied in brightness from the reflection off the snow and ice that surrounded them on all sides.
A blizzard was brewing. She could smell it in the air. Perhaps this was the danger Kai sensed, or perhaps there was more. Already, snowflakes clumped together and began to fall heavily from the sunless sky. Thankfully, the wind was mild, but visibility became quickly impaired.
The horses and donkey couldn’t walk as fast, taking more time to step through rapidly heaping snow and ice over unfamiliar terrain. She could no longer see the other riders, though she could feel their presence somewhere close by. She could no longer feel her fingers, numb and frozen with cold as they were.
And none of that worried her. Her only thought was: where was Kai?
The fact that he wasn’t with her, his arms around her; the fact that she couldn’t smell him, feel him, see him…it waswrong. She set her jaw to keep from galloping off after him.
There was nothing but white now, all around her. Blinding white. Even if she knew the direction in which he’d headed and could distinguish it in the blizzard, it would be madness to go after him. It would only serve to separate the four of them and likely get lost in the process.
But…
She could fly above the blizzard to safety. She could, but she didn’t move to do so. Not when Kai was still within the icy hell.
