“Ready?” he asked, pulling the heavy woollen scarf up from his own neck over his face, making sure to cover his ears.
“As I'll ever be.” Lori pulled her fur hood up over her head.
The pair stepped out into the blinding snowstorm. Karn was immediately at Lephas's side. The commanderstooped to give the large wolf an affectionate pat. Lori trailed a safe distance behind, keeping her eyes fixed on Karn warily.
“Let's set out,” Lephas shouted to Haros over the whistling wind.
“It's howling out here!” Haros shouted back. “It's going to be hard to travel in this.”
“I know, but the longer we sit here, the more likely it is we’ll be discovered.” Lephas glanced back at the princess, who had her head tucked down against the onslaught and her arms held tight to her chest.
He grabbed her shoulder and tugged her roughly to stand in front of him. “Whenever you can, try to stay down-wind of me. I'll try to buffer the worst of it.”
“It's so cold!” Lori cried.
“It's just going to get worse. Let me know if you start getting too cold, alright?” Lephas rested his hand on her shoulder.
Lori nodded.
“Come on.” He turned to his men. “Move out!”
The group began trudging onwards, back down the hill towards the narrow track they had been following the day prior. Karn gracefully ran ahead – the deep snow was no challenge for him.
Where the temperature had dropped overnight, the ground was icy underfoot. Even with his snow spikes, the commander could feel his footing slipping as they carefully made their waydown. Lephas hoped that when they got to the bottom, the forest would shade the worst of the storm from them. He was under no illusions that their journey was going to be any less arduous, either way; the snow was deep and brittle. He glanced over his shoulder.
The small figure following him was almost up to her mid-calves in places.
Just as he looked at her, Lori lost her footing and her feet slid out from underneath her. The manacle on his wrist jerked his arm backwards and he wobbled, nearly falling with her.
He steadied himself before turning to hold out a hand for the princess. She took it gladly and he pulled her back onto her feet.
As Lephas went to pull his hand from her, her grip tightened. She took a few shaky steps towards him and, still holding his hand, latched her other hand onto his bicep.
Deciding not to read too much into it, Lephas allowed her to hold onto him as they continued. His men, although travelling much slower than they would usually, had already walked on ahead. They were only a little way in front, but the thick snow made it difficult to see them. They were just dark shadows.
They had only taken a few more steps before Lori slid again. It was a wonder the girl had made it this far by herself before they had captured her. Lephas conceded that the weather conditions were certainly harsher than yesterday, but she was like a baby deer. Her long, slender legs slid from underneath her at every opportunity.
After the third or fourth slip, Lephas lost his patience. He signalled for Lori to stop and the girl looked up, her blue eyes gazing at him curiously. Without asking her permission, Lephas swept the princess off her feet and flipped her up over his shoulder.
“Hey! Put me down!” He heard her screech and a small fist hit his back.
“It'll take us all year to get anywhere at this rate. Just sit still,” he instructed her, carefully picking his way through the snow.
Within minutes, they had caught up to Haros and the others. His friend did a double-take when he saw them approaching. Though Haros'sface was completely hidden by thermal furs, Lephas knew he would be smirking.
The commander strode to the front of the group, ignoring his friend.
Still Lori continued to wriggle and sheslipped from his shoulder, dangerously close to being dropped. Lephas paused to heft her back up, attempting to secure her position whilst fighting against falling on his ass in the snow himself.
The girl in his arms froze momentarily before twisting to smack him on the back of the head.
“What?!” he shouted at her.
“Hands!”
In his haste to stop Lori from falling, Lephas had grabbed her wherever he could get a handhold. When he glanced across, he had his large hand between her thighs and was using her generous bottom to drag her back up onto his shoulder.
“Oh! Sorry!” He released her immediately.
