Unbound

Chapter 43

The guard who found me wasn't alone. While he kept an eye on me, the shotgun pointing at the ground between my knees, another circled around behind me and snatched up my backpack. He rummaged through it, unzipping the outer pockets. Satisfied that nothing inside posed any sort of threat, he tossed it back into the snow beside me.

My entire body trembled, tense and flooded with adrenaline. I knew my knees and shins should have been cold where they pressed into the snowy earth, but I couldn't feel a thing other than my racing heart and the breath that was caught somewhere in my throat. The second man continued to skirt around me until he stood beside the first.

"Lift the sweater," he ordered. I did so quickly and followed by raising the shirt underneath for good measure. The sudden cold against my bare stomach shocked my body and forced a breath to find its way down into my lungs.

"Jesus, Lance, give it a rest," the man with the shotgun barked. Lance huffed an irritated response that I couldn't hear over the wind that had now begun to pick up. I wanted to stand, but I'd wait for permission. Finally, I got it in the form of a gesture with the shotgun. I climbed to my feet unsteadily and hoisted my pack onto one shoulder.

"What's your name?" He asked, pulling the gaiter back up to warm his face.

"Kiera." I watched them watching me. I looked utterly pathetic by now, to be sure. The one with the gun seemed to take pity on me.

"Nathan," he introduced himself. He nodded towards the angrier of the two. "That's Lance. Let's go." He started walking, and both Lance and I followed.

"Nate—" Lance started.

"Not you," Nathan cut him off shortly. "You've still got another two hours on your patrol shift. I think I can handle her just fine." His words sounded menacing, but I thought I detected a hint of humor in them. He was teasing Lance, maybe, for being so concerned over such a non-threatening figure. Lance stomped off, muttering under his breath, and Nathan swung the shotgun around on its strap to hang from his back.

"I'm sorry to cause such a disturbance." My sentence was punctuated by my chattering teeth.

He waved his hand, dismissing my apology. "You're the first action we've seen in weeks. And getting me off duty early? I should be thanking you." He chuckled. "Though you couldn't have picked a worse time of year to come."

He wasn't wrong. Conditions were much more severe than I expected for only having traveled two days north. The wind was bitter and biting; I'd never complain about another Castle winter again. If I ever saw another Castle winter again.

"Are you taking me to jail?" I asked cautiously. I really, really hoped the answer would be no.

"Of course not," he said cheerfully. "Just to get thawed out. We're not far from town, I'll get you set up with some blankets then bring some people 'round to meet you."

Dmitri had said they likely wouldn't be overly aggressive with me, but this was a far kinder reception so far than I had expected. Of course, I still had to sell them on my story.

It wasn't long before we made it into the heart of the settlement, though I could scarcely see two feet in front of my own face for the swirling flakes that blotted out whatever buildings stood around us. It immediately left me with a sense of unease, being unable to get a bearing on my surroundings. I wanted to know how big this place was, how many homes and businesses and people. At least, though, this meant that my arrival would go unnoticed for the time being.

I stuck close to Nathan's dark shape as he led me to what I thought was the first building on the left side of the street. He clasped a hand around my elbow to help me up the slick steps and ushered me in the door quickly. Once he'd wrestled the door closed, he pulled off his hat and rolled the gaiter back down. Nathan was a large man, scruffy, exactly the type one would expect to find in a place like this. If he'd told me he was a lumberjack, I wouldn't have been at all surprised.