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A flash of movement beneath her feet startled her enough to slip a little.
“Kian,” she called.
He turned to her, his eyes wide with what looked almost like fear.
“I-I just saw something moving under the ice,” she told him.
His expression melted into relief.
“Sure,” he told her. “There are lots of things living under there. It’s why you’ll be able to run a fishing enterprise up here.”
She nodded, but still had a bad feeling, like icy fingers running down her spine.
As they walked on, she began to relax a little again.
Without warning, something hit the ice from below, hard enough to make it shake.
Kinsley cried out in fear and slipped, barely catching herself on her hands with her face just inches from the ice.
Something dark looked back at her from underneath, its face stretching into a horrible smile with three rows of razor-sharp teeth.
It looked like a cross between a rabid leopard seal and an Old Terran religious illustration of a demon.
Kinsley was frozen in horror, watching as it closed its mouth and pulled back before slamming its massive head against the ice between them.
Before she could get her wits about her, Kian was sweeping her up in his arms.
“Run,” he screamed to the others as he began sprinting across the ice with her and the baby both in his arms.
Kinsley was too afraid to breathe as she felt him losing and regaining his footing, with the others all rushing for the other side of the frozen lake just as quickly.
The ice groaned and hummed all around them, its song punctuated by the bass drum of the thing under the ice, smashing itself against the barrier to get to them.
17
KIAN
Kian observed the tent with satisfaction.
By some miracle, every single member of the convoy and all the cargo had made it to the thicker ice in one piece.
But it was so late, and they were all so exhausted, that they didn’t dare continue.
The camp wasn’t in a bad place, really. Even stampeding mammoth would never come out onto the ice, and the cracking and groaning would likely alert them to any invasion of bandits before the dogs even had the chance.
Kinsley was already inside, feeding the baby.
She had been brave today, too brave. He hated the idea that the delicate Terran had to face danger at all.
She’s so small, so vulnerable…
And yet she had entered the tent he put up with a smile on her face.
But something was still tugging at his mind and heart. A hesitation he hadn’t felt before. This was more than fear of shirking his duty. It was bone-deep and painful. And every time he tried to catch onto what was bothering him, it slipped away before he could pin it down.
He checked on the dogs, but Bill was quietly tending to them and seemed to need no help.
The sheriff was already huddled in his own tent, while the deputy and Hank made packets of cold supper to distribute among the convoy.
