When The Night Falls Book 2 of When Good Things End trilogy

CHAPTER 31

My breath was turned into puffs of white as I woke up. The crack through the fabric shielding us from the cold of the early morning. It was warm with Laurent's arms around me. I didn't move, trying not to wake him up.
He was watching the like streak from outside as I looked up at him. A contemplating expression whirling around in his eyes.
"Good morning, how long have you been awake?" I asked, yawing as I stretched over him and snuggled into the cloak. The weather's giving me goosebumps.
He wasn't as fazed by the cold as he smiled. "Good morning." He kissed my forehead, gently pushing back my hair behind my ear. "I wasn't up for to long."
I laid my head back down, craving to stay like this with him for a while longer. "You think the guy's still alive?"
"We'll have to check," he chuckled.
I rubbed my sore arms as I got up. "Guess you have to head out now." It didn't feel like the best time with such cold, but the longer we stay, the longer we might worry the others.
Laurent made me keep the cloak on as we headed outside. Beautiful, bad news was waiting for us as we stepped out.
Snow.
It was cold enough for snow?
My boots crunched down on freshly fallen white powder. Taking the cloak I wrapped it around me a bit tighter. Laurent pulled the hood over my head as the snow fell over us. I went to go check on the bandit as he went back to the wagon.
The guy was curled up under a matching cloak. I poked at him. He groaned, waking up with a sore throat. His face looked somewhat swollen.
"We're you crying?" I poked again.
"Don't touch me woman. Let me die in peace," he said, wiggling deeper into the wagon.
"Come on," Laurent called. Jumping into the wagon after the guy, his makeshift cloak blocking my view so I stepped back. He got out with the guy close by. Ripping down the canopies of the wagon he tied them around his shoulders and made another layer over himself.
Smart guy.
"Which ways back to my place?" Laurent asked as the other guy shivered from the wind.
He didn't seem happy being woken up so roughly. "How am I supposed to remember? It was dark and I didn't really care."
Laurent threatened to take his sword out making the guy back up. I smeared some snow out of my way, using the road underneath to point us in the general direction of the way we needed to go.
"It's over this way. We could of just looked at what direction the wagons were pointed," I said.
Laurent at the guys left while I was on his right. He took his time as we moved. The wound he had must of making things difficult for him.
I want to be sympathetic with him, but what he did to me was much worse than his situation. Besides, its not like I'm controlling his torture. Nature just decided to dump the earth with a bunch of snow.
Traveling under the trees was easier. The roots were slippery but there wasn't as much cold wind targeting at me.
"Do you think there's a storm coming this way?" I asked, noticing the shift in weather in comparison to a few hours ago.
The man nodded with me, squinting up at the sky as if he knew how to predict the weather. "I'd be better if we wait it out. My feet are killing me."
"Well have to find some place to stay," Laurent said without protest. He had noticed the wind picking up. I didn't notice how he change his position in the group until I slipped up. I barreled into him as I steadied myself.
"We need to find a place soon," I said. My nose is going to fall off. I cant even feel my fingers let alone my feet.
The ground started getting steeper to climb. I dug a bit into the snow, trying to check if we were still following the road.
"Laurent?"
"What's up?"
"I think were lost."
The wind had blown snow into the small cave but didn't reach all the way to the back were we sat. I had brought in any wood I could find, and now was just waiting for Laurent to come back.
"So, how is your day going?" The bandit asked from the other side of the corner.
I glared at him, faking a smile as I talked. "I think it's wonderful considering earlier this week I was kidnapped and almost killed by some guys."
"That why your face so messed up?"
My eye twitched. This guy really can't grasp how badly he's digging his own grave. What's the capital punishment for assault, kidnapping, and forced all the other crimes he's committed.
Laurent brushed off the snow on his cloak once he set down the fire wood he had found. We didnt have any fire starters besides using our daggers to light small sparks that died out to quickly on the wet wood.
"How far did we travel?" I asked, poking at the guy again as Laurent tried once more to  light a flame.
He shrugged away from me. "I warned you to stop doing that already!"
"Or else what?" Laurent taunted, dagger still in hand.
"We were heading north east towards Ezroth. The mountains are just a part of the trip," he answered reluctantly.
"Why?" I poked at the guy, wanting to bother him and annoy him to death.
He glared at me, unable to do anything about my behavior. "Because my girlfriend would have to finally come over and talk to me."
"You did all this just to see your girlfriend?" I asked, a roil of anger winding up my chest.
"Ann," Laurent warned. "He won't be let go unpunished for this. Try waiting until we get home to beat him up."
He laid a hand on my shoulder as I unclenched my fists. "How would capturing us and taking us to Ezroth make your girl come after us? Why would she even care?"
"Zina is an angel, she wouldn't just let her friends-"
"Zina? She's the girl your talking about?" I fumed. Was this her doing? Did she ask him to kidnap us? That doesn't even sound like something she would do!
He nodded self righteously.
"Does she even know who you are?" Laurent questioned. He ripped off parts of his cloak, using it for the fire.
The question seemed to hit a nerve. "Of course she knows me! She's just been purposefully avoiding me so I had to take some measures into me own hands."
"What clan are you from?" Laurent asked as I helped him feed the fire. "The west has it's own sanctions, so which clan are you from?"
"Decoda," the man answered.
Laurent didn't seem to care much about the name. "So not a big one. I'm guessing you didn't want to stay in Ezroth then?"
"That's none of your business. Since when has this kidnapping become a interview?"
I warmed up by the fire, the guy was left alone for the few hours we stayed at the cave. It got cold inside once we ran out of wood so we decided to keep going. The weather slowly shifted back to a clear sky and the forest changed into one that I was much more familiar with.
"I think they found us," Laurent sighed. Sitting down on the wet ground and patting the space next to him.
I couldn't understand why he would think that. Our kidnapper also seemed confused. Shrugging I sat down, needing the rest anyways. I was hungry and tired so there wasn't much point in fighting a short rest period.
Laurent pointed up as a large shadow flew overhead. "No point in running now," he called out as the guy started to panic.
He didn't make it far before he was forced down by one of the birds. Zina waved at the both of us as the other scouts landed.
"You guys good?" She called.
"Been better," Laurent said. Helping me up and making his way over to one of the guards. "Take him in to court, he's no longer aloud to roam around causing chaos everywhere he goes."
"You have a boyfriend?" I asked Zina as she pat the bird.
Her smile turned sour. "Ex, he's just lost his mind over the breakup." Her summary was enough for me to not question it.
"Let's go home." Laurent reached out for me once he saddled one of the birds. I took his hand, glad we both would be able enjoy a nice hot meal back at his place.
Zina's ex wasn't that lucky. He flew in the claws of the bird yelling the whole way back.