It was far too much. Even Charlotte felt the chill down to her bones. The korrigans were tough, but they had their limits. There were few things that could survive in this kind of cold.
And humans were not one of them.
Charlotte ran up the High Street, past the forge, and up the path into the mountains. Julian hadn’t said exactly where his delivery would take him, and any tracks he might have made had been covered by the newly fallen snow. But Charlotte had a guess—there was a dwarf who kept a cottage on the hillside near the lumber mill that supplied the mines, and he had a sweet tooth.
She made it to the turn off for the cottage, or where she thought the turn off was, at least. It was hard to tell in the blizzard. But she should have been able to see the smoke coming from the dwarf’s chimney from here. Maybe the wind was too strong to see it.
Charlotte breathed heavily as she raced up the winding path. At least the exertion was warming her up a little, although the air felt like ice in her lungs. What if she was heading to the wrong house, and Julian was stuck somewhere else? By the time she found him, it might be too late.
Or he might not be in trouble at all. Perhaps he’d made it to the dwarf’s house, and they were enjoying a cup of tea by the fire, waiting for it all to blow over.
Or maybe he had passed her somehow and had made it back to the bakery, and she was the only one who was in danger.
She could warm up by the dwarf’s fire if nothing else. Then she could keep going, either to find Julian or to return home, once she caught her breath.
She had almost made it to the cottage’s steps when she spotted something off the path half buried in the snow.
“Julian!”
Chapter Seventeen
A WINTERY ARRIVAL
Alison
The day before the wedding, Alison woke to find a foot of snow had fallen overnight.
She had received Gwenla’s warning on the way back from dropping off her completed poetry book at the post office, and it had given her just enough time to find Keir at the inn (and to rescue him from her mother’s endless questions) before the snow had started falling.
They had spent the evening in Alison’s cottage—it was smaller and easier to keep warm. Alison hoped everyone else managed to keep warm as well, especially her out-of-town guests who were due to arrive today.
“Do you suppose they all made it to Fossholm last night before it started? Or do you think they turned back to Sudport when things got rough? I hope no one was trapped out there,” said Alison as Keir dug out a path through the snow.
“I’m sure the carriages from Sudport knew what to do,” said Keir. “Don’t worry. Let’s go down to the inn and greet them as they arrive.”
“They’re stuck on the road from Fossholm!” yelled Gwenla. The dwarf came tearing up the path from Orchard Lane, or where the path would have been if it hadn’t been covered insnow. She had something strapped to her boots that resembled badminton rackets: snowshoes.
“Who’s stuck?” asked Alison.
“Your aunt and cousin. Your mother wanted me to come get you. The driver rode into town to get help. Brytak has gone down there with his cart.”
Aunt Rose and Eloise were city girls through and through. They were probably scared half to death stuck in an abandoned carriage. “Do you know if they’re alright?” asked Alison.
“The carriage was closed, at least. They should manage for a couple of hours. I sent a pigeon to Sudport to see if Yordin and Marna have left yet. Oh, what a mess this is! At least the sun is out.”
Rinka joined them then, likely having heard Gwenla’s yelling all the way from Keir’s house where she spent most nights. “Any sign of Idris yet? Or Ceri? Or Leo?”
“No,” said Gwenla. “Although out of everyone, I’d worry about that lot the least.”
Gwenla had a point. At least the royals had their magic to keep warm.
And so did Alison. “Come on,” she said to Keir and Rinka. “We can fix this.” She held out her hand and said out loud:
The situation is dire,
Let’s have some fire.
Sparks flew from her hand onto the ground, instantly clearing a patch of snow and ice from the road.
