Well, he may be an idiot, but he’s my idiot.
I won’t leave him and I won’t let him die out here. A fresh gust of icy snow staggered her. But if worse comes to worst, at least we’ll die together. Like Alain said, hand in hand to whatever comes after this world.
Chapter Eight
She walked on, step after step, for how long she could never say afterwards. Her leg muscles burned until she thought she couldn’t stand it another second, and then they burned even worse. Her feet felt like inert sacks of sand, her lungs were seared with each breath of icy air she took, and her face seemed to be getting pricked with innumerable needles as the wind lashed it through the covering. The weight of her pack became unendurable, but she couldn’t shed it with her arm tied to Alain’s, so she hunched forward a little more and kept enduring the burden.
There came a moment in the endlessness of her torment when the wind slackened, as if they had come into the lee of some kind of shelter. Part of Mari noticed, but she couldn’t rouse the rest of herself to do anything but keep walking. Then her boots clumped on wooden boards instead of snow drifts. Then there was a light and she finally stumbled to a halt with Alain beside her, raising arms that seemed barely able to function to lift the covering from her head. Blobs of lantern light. Alain raising one hand to pound on a door until the door swung open and more light spilled out. Vague shapes of people.
Without the need to keep planting one foot in front of the other Mari found herself swaying, every ounce of her either numb or screaming with pain and no strength anywhere. Her legs gave way and she started falling, staring blankly at the doorway of light. Alain could not support her and fell with her. Hands grabbed at her arms and then there was nothing but a deep dark where she could feel nothing.
Mari woke surrounded by darkness and felt a moment’s stab of fear, wondering if her last memories had been a hallucination and she had actually collapsed in the open and now lay buried beneath the merciless snow. Then Mari realized she could hear the sound of the storm still raging, but muffled. She blinked into the darkness, her weary eyes having trouble focusing, until she could make out walls around her which shook occasionally as a particularly strong gust hit. She turned her head, making out the dim outlines of a very small room. A little window in one wall showed nothing but the backs of storm shutters closed tight, small drifts of snow nonetheless penetrating to the inside. Mari was surrounded by a softness and a warmth that even her numb, aching body could feel. I’m in a bed. We’re safe. We?
Where was Alain? Another bolt of fear went through Mari and she managed to prop herself up on one elbow, scanning the room. She almost missed him, then spotted Alain on the floor. He was rolled in a blanket, lying next to the bed, his face slack with exhaustion. Mari stared until she could be sure he was breathing, then collapsed back onto the bed and passed out again.
The next time she awoke the sounds of the blizzard had diminished a bit. A trace of weak light could be seen outlining the storm shutters over the little window. Mari lay still for a moment, staring up at the ceiling and wondering how someone could hurt this badly and still be alive. At least she was lying on a mattress, covered by a thick comforter. Then her conscience came to sit on her chest and stare accusingly at her. I’m in a soft, warm bed. The guy who saved my life is lying on the floor.
She pushed herself up again, seeing he hadn’t moved from his place next to the bed. “Alain.” Her voice came out in the barest whisper. She swallowed and tried again. “Alain.”
The Mage stirred, blinking around with bleary eyes, then looked up at her. Too exhausted to maintain emotional control, his cracked lips bent in a small, slow smile. “Mari.”
“Get in this bed.”
“What?” Alain blinked some more.
“Get up here. I won’t have you sleeping on the floor while I’m comfortable.”
“But, Mari…your bed…you said…not too close…”
“Listen, you silly Mage, we’re both fully clothed except for our boots, I hurt all over and can barely move, and the last thing on my mind is any form of exercise. Now get up here.”
“But…you are sure?”
“Alain, if you don’t get up here right now I’m getting out of bed and lying on the floor, too!”
That threat stirred him into motion. Groaning, Alain came to his hands and knees, then managed to pull himself up into the bed. He tried to lie right on the edge, as far from Mari as possible, but the bed was so narrow she had no trouble reaching out, grabbing him, and pulling him close, flipping the comforter over him as well as her. “Neither of us is a threat to the other’s virtue right now, Mage.” His body, tense at first, slowly relaxed in her arms. It felt good, even through the pain in her body. Holding Alain felt very good. “Why did I take so long to do this?” she murmured. “Are you all right, Alain? I mean, I’m sure you hurt as bad as I do, but are you all right?”
His voice sounded strained. “I will live. I will stay with you.” His arm tightened around her for a moment.
“Don’t get any ideas,” she warned drowsily, already feeling worn out from her burst of effort. “We still have to wait. But I know I’m safe with you beside me here. Once I can move again, I’m going to kiss you. I don’t care how bad my lips hurt. You’re going to get kissed like you’ve never been kissed before.”
“You are the only one who has ever kissed me.”
“Let’s keep it that way.” She sighed, feeling a joy at his presence through the pain in her body. “You saved my life. I wouldn’t have made it without you.”
“Do you think I would have been able to keep going without you?” he asked.
Instead of answering, Mari smiled and snuggled her head against his shoulder, then surrendered again to her exhaustion.
A noise startled Mari awake. Alain was no longer beside her. She saw a middle-aged woman standing near the narrow door to the small room, watching Mari with a smile. Mari looked around frantically. “Where’s—?”
“Your young man?” the woman asked. “Getting a warm soak. He wanted to wait for you to awaken, but I told him the water wouldn’t be getting any warmer and he needed it. From the way he looks, I believe he’s still in shock.”
Mari tried to gather her thoughts. The way he looks? The lack of emotions showing! I have to cover for Alain. “He…he’s usually pretty impassive. That’s just the way he was…brought up.”
“Well, he smiled a little at you, so I’m sure he’s not a Mage.” The woman took a step closer. “I’m Jana. And I’m a healer. I took refuge in this inn, fortunately for you.” The healer shook her head in wonderment. “Maybe it’s because you’re young. You came out of that in better shape than you had any right to. You and your man.”
“My man? Inn?” Mari rubbed her forehead with both hands, trying to collect scattered thoughts. “The storm. We reached an inn?”
“That’s right. I can’t imagine how.” The healer sat down on the edge of the bed and patted Mari’s knee. “Even a Mage would have trouble finding a building in that blizzard.” The healer leaned closer and whispered. “We’ve got a few of them sheltering here, too. Staying well away from everyone else, thank the stars.” Then she straightened and spoke in a normal volume again. “But as I was saying, you and your man came out very well. A miracle, seems to me. How long had you been walking?”