Gathering a breath for courage, she started out. At first, she attempted a jog to cover ground faster. But the snow was so deep now and the wind pressed against her so hard, she couldn’t maintain the pace.
Dropping back to a walk, she extended her stride as much as she could manage in the soft snow. Every minute or so, she called his name. And in between, she sent up prayers for God to lead her to him.
Worry coursed through her, but it was likely nothing compared to what Jeanette and Louis were feeling. She’d already been gone much longer than she anticipated. At least the gnawing fear kept her from being hungry. With so much unknown, she needed to save the food in case ...
In case what? Her mind tried to answer with images of Marcellus so cold and weak he couldn’t walk on his own. When another picture tried to surface of him mostly buried under snow, she pushed it away. “Marcellus!”
Once again, no answer.
God, where are you?Did He not care about one of thebest of His creations? Everything in Marcellus desired to be good and helpful and kind and loving. Surely the Lord would respond the same.
After checking two different places where Marcellus might have sought cover, she was so miserable with cold and fear she wanted to scream. But she didn’t waste energy on such a reaction.
Instead, she ate a bit more roasted meat. Her strength was waning, but she had to keep moving.
She wasn’t as familiar with this area, as it didn’t usually provide much game. There might be places he’d taken refuge that she’d forgotten about, but with the storm swirling around her, she could only move from one known group of trees to another.
The isolation of the blizzard made her feel like night should be coming on, but she probably hadn’t been out that long. For a while now, the clouds had covered what little sun there was, casting a pall over the atmosphere that made it feel like the semidarkness that lasted so much of the winter months.
How long had she been searching by now? Half a day? The storm hadn’t let up. If anything, the strength of the wind had worsened.
Should she turn back? She couldn’t. Her family would worry, but they would know she wouldn’t return without Marcellus.
Had someone told Evan? Was he worried?
But she pushed all those thoughts away. She didn’t have the energy to let them fester. She had to find Marcellus. She couldn’t return without him.
A dark mound rose up before her, and she staggeredtoward it. The form took the shape of a scrawny tree standing separate from the others clustered a few steps away. She braced a hand against its trunk and let it bear her weight.
Maybe she should turn back and see if she’d missed him somewhere along the way. If she still didn’t find him, she could stop in Laurent and gather supplies, along with one or two others to help search. Then they could go northward and see if she’d missed him in her travels that morning.
The plan sounded as good as anything else her exhausted mind could conjure.
Pushing off from the tree, she turned back the way she’d come and screamed Marcellus’s name once more.
Evan eyed the guard as he sat with his paper and charcoal. Leonard had acted more and more worried as the afternoon progressed. The man said a blizzard was raging outside, but did that account for all of his angst?
Leonard stood again and began to pace the short length of the room. Back. Forth. Back again. He glanced at the door each time he turned.
“If there’s something you need to go do, I’ll be fine here. I won’t try to escape. You have my word.”
The man jerked his focus to Evan, then shook his head. “There’s nothing I can do.”
“What is it you’re worried about?”
He just grunted and shook his head again.
Evan wanted to pound the pencil point into the stone floor. Anything to vent the frustration building inside him. His own body itched with pent-up nerves, but he couldn’ttell if it was merely fear of not knowing what was wrong or an inner sense telling him he needed to take action.
Soft footsteps sounded in the hall, and they both jerked to attention. Leonard strode to the door and lifted the bar with a sharp clang. He pulled the door open to reveal Audrey standing with the tray containing their evening meal.
Her wide eyes stared at the man, then swung to Evan.
“Any news?” Leonard spoke in French, but his voice was loud enough Evan could make out the words without much trouble. He was going to be fluent in that language by the time he left Laurent.
Audrey’s lips pressed tight, and even in the shadows he could see the worry lines fanning her face as she shook her head.
Leonard stepped back and motioned for her to enter with the tray. A thick fear hovered in the room, and Evan breathed it in with every breath.
