Forged in Frost

The Cabin

Despite the desperation of the message, General Asher orders the troops to wait. Evelyn's horse paws the ground as if sensing the nervous tension in the air. Her heart pounds. Ilvara is under attack. Why in Hades are they waiting?

Asher speaks privately with the messenger, then sends him off in the direction of Ralik.

Unable to stop herself, Evelyn rides to Asher's side. "Shouldn't we get there as soon as possible? Won't they need us?"

"We need our other troops more," Asher says. To Evelyn's shock, he dismounts. "And we need to formulate a proper defense plan."

"What if Lockmire is a pile of rubble by the time we arrive?" Evelyn marches her horse up to him, following as he leads his to the nearby stream.

"It won't be," says the general. "Just because there are enemies around Lockmire doesn't mean they're attacking this instant. They must organize, set up equipment to breach the walls, things like that. Honestly, revealing themselves so soon was a stupid move when all the soldiers are nearby, ready to flank them."

Temper calmed by his unbothered attitude, Evelyn dismounts as well to water her horse. Several other men follow suit. The waiting is the worst part. Evelyn breaks sticks apart and tosses them into the stream, adjusts and readjusts her armour and weapons, paces the stream bed. The other men take sits on the riverside, removing their boots to soak their sweating feet. It's agony knowing they may have hours before Caius' troops rejoin them, longer still if he and Asher need to work out a defense plan. She wants to be there now, defending Ilvara now.

Unable to sit still any longer, Evelyn ties her horse to a tree and walks alone into the woods. Further down this same stream, Caius kissed her. Evelyn crosses it on large, flat rocks and heads deeper into the forest, keeping a mental note of the direction of the troops. Perhaps she shouldn't wander off at a time like this, but knowing Ilvara could be in danger, and she's not there to help... She just needs the sanctity of the quiet forest to calm her thoughts.

She spots something through the trees. Her heart at once flips over, but it's not an enemy structure. It's just a small cabin, with cracked wooden walls, a sagging roof, the door crooked and warped. Weeds grow around in great number, with two posts of a fence on the side, indicating there may have been a garden here at some point. Evelyn hesitates, then moves toward it. She knocks on the door, gently. No reply. She knocks again. Then, with a firm grip on the handle, she pushes inside.

The door scrapes as she pushes, raising a puff of dust. She coughs and waves a hand. Sunlight spills into the grey interior, giving life to things probably unseen for years. An old, ragged bed with naught but a threadbare blanket, neatly folded. A shelf with various dishes and cookware, slung in cobwebs. A table and chair. An empty fireplace.

Evelyn steps over rat droppings and dust and pulls back the covers on the single window, letting in more light. After a good cleaning and some repairs, it wouldn't be such a bad place. She wonders who lived here.

"Wandering off?"

Evelyn leaps in fright, her dagger out in a moment. But she re-sheathes it when she sees Leo in the doorway.

"Gods above, I could've killed you," Evelyn says.

"Not likely," Leo laughs. Then he looks around. "What's this place?"

"I'm not sure," Evelyn says. "I just came across it."

"Think there are any treasures?" Leo walks in and opens a cupboard, then slams it closed again with a sound of disgust. "Other than dead rats?"

Evelyn chuckles. She lifts the corner of a cloth covering a plate. But whatever it was covering has long rotted—or been eaten—away.

"I wanted to get away, too," Leo says from the other side of the room. "Can't just sit there when something is finally happening."