Chapter Text
I
Neve knew it was cold, but she couldn’t really feel it anymore. The forest around her was blanketed with a heavy layer of snow and given the thick, grey clouds covering the sky, she could have expected more, and soon.
As if they didn’t experience one misfortune after another in the last three days.
Alven’s horse tripped, reminding her that it too, was exhausted. And that the last three days were nothing short of a disaster.
First, their latest job went south. They were used to that already – just as they were used to hightailing their way out of the mercenaries camps, carrying off the clothes on their backs and whatever they were able to grab onto while trying not to lose their heads at the same time. Coins preferably. Everything else could be obtained once they were out of trouble.
It was a small mercy that things went downhill while they were riding this time. Outnumbered five to one, it was clear from the moment the fight broke out that they were not making it out alive if they decided to stick to their escorting contract. So they’ve chosen to protect their skin rather than the merchants’, who not only didn’t give them an accurate job description, but also planned to not pay them appropriately for it.
They really weren’t losing much by escaping, except, maybe, spending a night or two under a roof somewhere. Not respecting the contract could potentially put them on thin ice with the prospective employers, but they didn’t really expect the current ones to live long enough to get the word about them out. And they could always seek out their next job elsewhere. Alven was suggesting South even before it got well and truly cold, but Neve wasn’t sure. Regardless of everything, North was familiar. She knew how to survive here, regardless of how people treated her. North was a home, sort of. South was an unknown.
If they survive this, she would do whatever he wanted. Go however far south he would want to go. But first, they needed to find the way out of this forest. And some settlement.
Hopefully with a healer or at least a herbalist in it.
Neve shifted in the saddle, trying to ease some strain from her sore muscles. What she got was a fresh flare of pain from the untended wound on her side and the loud creak of the leathers she wore, reminding her that she was almost frozen solid. And she almost preferred it to being soaking wet not so long ago.
At least she didn’t end up at the bottom of the river with her horse and her belongings.
Though their current predicament was only marginally better. Alven was barely conscious and shivering so hard, it was a wonder she had managed to keep them both on top of the horse. She wanted desperately to comfort him, but she knew that right now she was only making the matters worse.
She pulled him closer anyway.
The forest around them was eerily quiet, save for the thud of their horse’s hooves and the occasional sound of the snow falling off a tree or a branch snapping under too much weight.
Neve let out a heavy breath, ignoring the resulting tightness in her chest and pressed on. Listening to Alven’s laboured breathing, it was all she could do.
Night arrived quickly this time of the year. Neve didn’t dare to stop. Not when their horse slowed down even more, barely putting one leg in front of the other, nor when she heard wolves circling around them. She only saw glimpses; a speck of fur or a glint of eyes – they never got too close, but she knew they were there. Waiting for their chance.
They only went away when the sun started to rise again and the woods around them thinned. Shortly after, the wind carried over the scent she longed for over the last three days.
Smoke.
Soon after that, she found a road.
And huddled against it, was the tiniest village she had seen in a while. A few huts, clumped together in the small clearing, dirty and grey despite the snow surrounding it. The heavy scent in the air, told her well enough what the villagers did for a living.
Charcoal burning.
This early in the morning, the village seemed deserted, save for a few chickens, goats and a mutt, who started barking as soon as it got a whiff of them.
Their horse snorted and stopped, unwilling to get any closer to the snarling dog.
Alven groaned and shifted, lifting his head from her shoulder to look around.
‘Where are we?’
‘Fuck if I know…’ she replied, driving her heels none too gently into their horses side and forcing it forward. ‘Nor do I care as long as we can get supplies here…’
The door of the nearest hut swung open, revealing a thin, haggard looking man, dressed in what once could be a clean shirt.
‘You two looked like shit warmed over…’ he said, appraising them with a thoroughly unimpressed glare and giving Neve a clear view of at least several missing teeth. ‘Running away from someone, eh?’
‘Fuck…’ Neve muttered to herself. Alven heard her no doubt and huffed in what was clearly supposed to be amusement; at least until he hunched over and the sound turned into a wet cough. Something thick and warm dribbled down the hand she kept splayed over his chest to help him stay upward.
‘We are looking for a healer’ she decided to say. There was no point in trying to pretend otherwise. ‘Do you know where we can find one?’
Worst came to worst, she was fairly sure she could coax one last run out of their horse.
The man looked at them, clearly deep in thought.
And then his expression changed to something Neve did not expect to see.
Compassion.
Maybe they were dirty enough that he didn’t recognize them as elves.
‘Aye, we do have a healer living nearby’ he said. ‘Let me put on some pants and I’ll show you… these forests are not safe, you know? People need to look out for each other…’ the rest of his words were drowned out by the door swinging close.
‘I can’t fucking believe this…’ Alven groaned, leaning heavily against her.. ‘Just like that… He still might return with a crossbow though…’
‘Shh’ Neve replied, pressing her lips to his sweaty forehead. ‘Save your strength… We’ve got this far; it would be a shame if you expired on the healer’s doorstep…’
‘And how do you plan on getting them to help us?’
‘I will ask nicely… Or I’ll make them. Depends on how helpful they’ll decide to be…’
The door to the hut opened again and the same man stepped out, wearing a coat of sheepskin and pulling up a pair of pants as dirty as the shirt he already wore.
Not that she could judge, Neve thought to herself, well aware that she was hardly a sight to behold.
‘Oh, you are still here’ the man mused, lifting his arm to beckon them closer. ‘Come on then, it’s not like you have any time to lose… Fang! Shut the hell up you stupid mutt!’
Whether it was his voice or the rock he kicked towards the dog, it stopped barking and ducked behind the rickety fence with a yelp, and laid there, still growling and drooling towards their horse’s pasterns.
Neve couldn’t care less. Not when they were this close to getting some help.
As she nudged their horse to follow the villager, the sky finally decided to open, bathing them in the light snowfall.