Ava was running. Breathless, she pushed aside the branches of the trees, trudging through the snow as quickly as she could. Sometimes the ice reached up past her knees, it was so deep. She felt she would drown in that snow, more than once. Heaving it aside with great thrusts of her arms, she scrambled up, compressing the ice down beneath her feet before she ran again.
It was dark, though the glistening snow lit her way, so she was racing through grey murkiness. The only black around her were the silhouettes of the trees and the figure chasing behind her.
It was him.She knew it even without having to see his face. It was the same man who had chased her so many times in her dreams. So often in this forest had he pinned her down, grabbed her arm, tried to force himself on her.
“Nay!” she screamed, throwing the word back at him as she saw the silhouette run toward her, his figure unmistakable. She was not going to be taken by him tonight. She would not let the fear cripple her.
She broke off in another direction through the trees, trying her best to confuse her pursuer. It was the only way she’d be able to escape him, if she just kept running, surely, he would soon give up.
It was the same with any hunt. How many times had she seen men give up chasing a stag when the beast proved himself too elusive?
Then the figure was before her. It was impossible, the dark figure, the face undiscernible between the trees, shouldn’t have been before her, but as if he was clothed in magic, he had run around her, cornered her in a clearing.
“Get away from me. Nay, get away,” she yelled at him and took off again in another direction. He pursued her, calmly, as if her running was just a game to him, something that could be brushed aside easily.
Then something appeared through the trees – it was the seer’s croft. Laden as it had been before with great sods of snow, it looked as though it might break into pieces at any moment.
Ava flung herself at the door, hoping for a safe haven inside. It opened, as if the door was made of some sort of liquid. She couldn’t even really remember how she got inside, but she stood there, with herbs dangling from the ceiling. There were charms, tokens, gemstones that glittered with light, even a rabbit’s foot, still fluffy, as it spun around in the sudden wind she had let into the room. She had to bend down to avoid hitting her head against any of it.
The fire struck her with heat. She cowered back, raising her hands over her face to protect herself from the flames.
“Help. Help!” Ava screamed, certain that the fire was about to crawl out of the hearth and claim her.
There was a click of fingers in the air and Ava turned around to see she was not alone in the room after all. The fire had dampened at the loud click. There was a woman sitting there, an old hag, not the seer Ava had met here before, but more haggard looking. She was clothed head to toe in black ravens’ feathers, her teeth worn down to her gums, her eyes bloodshot red. There was something terrifying in her visage as she looked at Ava.
“Time tae make yer choice, lass.” The hag’s voice came in sharp stutters. “Who dae ye choose?” She pointed a crooked finger out toward the window of the croft.
Standing in the snow, staring at the croft, was the man that had pursued her, only she could see his face now and it wasn’t the man who had cornered her in the woods all those years ago after all. It was Blair Grant, his cold blue gaze fixed icily on her face.
“Nay.” Ava backed up, colliding with the wall.
“Then ye choose the other, dae ye?” The hag turned her hand toward the fireplace. All at once, the flames became wilder.
“Go tae bed, ye fool,” Kai told himself. He pushed away from where he had been watching the snow fall and tiptoed past Thora and Lyla. The two of them had both fallen asleep in the sitting room, having stayed up for most of the night talking. Kai laid blankets over the two of them before he left, deciding it was time he went to sleep himself.
Nae that I will get much sleep.
Any amount of peaceful sleep seemed out of reach those days. The moment he closed his eyes, he saw Ava in his dreams. It was a pleasant torture, both thrilling and agonizing.
Kai climbed the stairs, nodding at the guards he passed on the way, before turning his feet toward the east wing of the castle. He knew he should have headed west, but something in him couldn’t resist the pull of Ava. He just had to get a little closer to her, perhaps stand for a few seconds outside of her door, before he managed to tell himself how ridiculous he was being and left.
He had barely entered the passage outside of her chamber when he heard it.
“Nay, nay…” It was Ava’s voice. “Dinnae come any nearer!” Her voice was piercingly loud.
Kai looked around, but there was nothing happening in the corridor, and neither was there a guard to come running to her aid.
“Nay! Are ye nae listening? I said nay!”
Kai ran to her door. He placed his hand to the wood, trying to open it, to get inside. Someone was hurting Ava. He had to find a way in.
“Nay…” Her voice softened again, then there was a meek mewling sound. It was strange, there was no other noise, no other voice commanding her to be quiet. The thought that maybe a man was in there, pinning Ava down so she could not fight back made Kai sick to his gut.
Bending down to look at the lock, Kai acted quickly. As a scout, he’d had more than one cause in his lifetime to sneak past a locked door. Now it was no different. He looked around wildly and found a rushlight holder discarded on a stone nook nearby. He snapped it up, bending the thin spike of iron that would normally hold up some wax so that it laid straight. Using it as a lock pick, he drove the metal into the lock and turned it hard. At first, nothing happened.
“Nay!” Ava shouted again.
Fighting harder with the door, Kai turned the rod again. This time, the lock gave away. He flung the door open, reaching for the weapons in his belt, ready to fight someone, then stilled.
