Page 19 of Savage Kilted Highlander

Thank God, he thought when he finally spied the snow-mottled roof peeking through the trees a few hundred yards ahead, perched halfway up the rocky hill to their left. His memory had served him well, and he was thankful he had found it in time. Any longer, and the snow would have completely covered it. He turned the horses up what he made out was a narrow track and headed straight for it.

It was hidden away in a sheltered position among the pine trees between some large rocks, with a rain-swollen burn rushing down the hillside nearby, a perfect place to make camp in good weather. Knowing the makeshift shelter represented the difference between death and survival, he was determined to get Constance inside before she collapsed.

“Oh, look, a house of some sort,” Constance suddenly cried out, noticing the cabin as they approached. “Perhaps there are people there who will take us in and allow us to warm ourselves by their fire and even give us something to eat!”

For a few moments she sounded so happy that Bane felt bad for her. As they came up to the cabin and it became obvious it was derelict, she made small sound in her throat that expressed bitter disappointment better than any words.

She went very quiet, which worried him greatly. She was shivering and her teeth were chattering even more violently that before. Terrified he had pushed her too far, he hastened to dismount. She almost fell into his arms as he lifted her down from Lucy’s back as gently as he could and carried her into the decaying structure.

There was no door, so he stepped straight inside and scanned the single, darkened room. It was roughly ten by fifteen feet and smelled of rotting wood. Apart from a hole in the roof in the far corner where snowflakes were drifting in and making a puddle below, the majority of the earthen floor was dry. The plank walls and window boards had small gaps between them where the wind whistled in. But there was room to house both them and the horses. Though the place was decaying, he judged it sturdy enough to keep the worst of the weather out for the night.

Constance clinged to him as she wrinkled her nose at the smell and dubiously eyed the puddle, but she didn’t say anything.

“Granted, ’tis nae very fancy, but ’tis a shelter, and we should be grateful fer it. It’ll keep us alive fer the night,” he told her, wishing he could be as certain as he tried to sound. He set her on her feet and left her shivering while he fetched in the horses. He had no problem sleeping with the beasts close by. He was not sure what Constance would have to say about it though. It was a mark of her exhaustion that she did not remark upon it, for which he was grateful.

Once he had them all inside, he took stock of the accommodation and set about settling them in for the night. He wanted to make Constance as comfortable as possible in the circumstances, without letting her see how concerned about her he was. First, he took one of the blankets and hung it over the open doorway on some rusty nails, to keep the worst of the weather out. Then, he took two more, laying one on the ground so Constance could sit down and draping the other around her shoulders to keep her warm until he could get a fire going. Then he looked around the cabin for something to burn.

There was a makeshift hearth to one side, still containing ashes. Bane thought it an incredible stroke of luck that whoever had occupied the cabin before them had left a stack of fire wood next to it. And it was reasonably dry. He took out his tinder box and hurried to get a fire going.

As he did so, he kept glancing over at Constance to check on her. She huddled miserably under the blanket, shivering, her nose glowing and her cheeks pinched with cold. She looked so fatigued and bedraggled, his fear she could get ill flared up once more. After all, she was not used to such rough living, and this was rougher than even he liked. But they had to survive, and it was down to him to make sure they did.