Erin (book 1 of Erin Series)

ninteen

We have been riding for a long time, or what feels like a long time. There are almost no trees around us anymore, and the snow is almost to the horses knees. They have to travel slower because of it.
"There should be a path head that has thickened snow on it, so we will travel on it. Not far off that path is a cabin that welcomes travelers. We will stay there for the night. That is, if we reach it before nightfall." Rune speaks.
I have been shivering for a good while, though my body is beginning to tolerate the cold and shivering. Rune looks back at me when I don't answer him. His face turns concerned.
"Erin, you're pale." He stops his horse beside mine.
"I'm fine." I say through my shivers.
He brings a hand to my cheek then my forehead.
"You are hot. Very. We need to get you to that cabin quickly. Come on." He says in an almost panicked tone.
I know I had been shivering and been cold, but I did not think I have had a fever. Though I have never been sick before, for I have never traveled in such harsh conditions with no tents to stay in to keep us warm.
"It's ok. We don't have to rush, I'll be alright." Just saying that causes me to feel out of breath, and my vision blurs. I blink a few times and my vision is fine once more. Rune is looking at me with great intensity. He quickly grabs his canteen and hands it to me.
"Here. Drink some more water."
I take it and let the almost frozen water flow down my throat into my stomach. My stomach tightens and I suddenly feel nauseous.
"Keep drinking it. We need to get to the cabin fast." He grabs the reigns of my horse and ties it to his horse then we move out faster than we were once traveling.
Dakota nudges my foot and I look down at her.
"Listen to him. He's right. You look very ill. And there is nothing I can do."
I give her a confused look. I felt fine this morning. I don't understand what is happening.
"Neither do I. He does. I'll help sniff out the trail, there's bound to have been other travelers on it, which I can smell out." With that she barks a couple times and heads out sniffing the snow on her way. She turns back to make sure Rune is following then continues to sniff again.
Rune turns back to me.
"She's going to help find the path. She can sniff it out, if there have been recent travelers." I say in a weak tone. I feel angry that I sound so weak, but my body feels weak as well. He nods and leads his horse after Dakota.
It feels like we have been searching for this path for hours. I can tell Rune is getting frustrated, and I am not so sure that we should have trusted her. She could be leading us somewhere else.
Snowflakes begin to fall softly and Rune looks up to the skies and behind us. He curses under his breath.
"What?" I ask him.
He turns to me. "There is a storm coming. From behind us. If we don't find this cabin soon, we will be stuck out here until the storm passes, with out a fire."
I see the panic in his face but for some reason I can not feel any panic. I feel exhausted and just want to lay down. I start to close my eyes.
"Stay awake." Rune causes me to open my eyes once more. "You must stay awake until we get there. Can you do that?" He asks.
I look at him blinking a few times, but nod none the less. He nods back and turns back to Dakota, kicking his horse to catch up with her.
The moutain we travel on is getting steeper, and I have to hold onto the horse tighter to not fall backwards.
"The path will loop us around, so we won't be traveling in the steep parts once we find it. Just hold on." I look up to see Rune is looking back at me again. "Tell me about the first time you got to train with the mercenaries." I know he is making me talk so I stay awake.
"I was almost eight I think, and one of the kids, a bit older than me thought it would be funny to hand me a dagger and see what I had in me. We practiced a little bit, but started to get out of hand, he was getting too competitive, and he cut my leg. I fell and started crying. The captain came over and scolded the boy and wrapped my leg up. He asked what we were doing and the boy said we were practicing. The captain asked if that was what I really wanted. I had fun other than the fact that I got hurt and nodded my head. He pulled me to to my feet and told me to stop crying. For if I wanted to be one of them I had to be strong and take a hit. He practiced with me from there out, going easier on me, but made sure I learned. Eventually he had to go hard on me, and he was fighting with everything he had and I took him down. I was about fourteen at the time. And I became a true mercenary, after I had my test and passed it with a higher score than most mercenaries did." My voice is getting scratchy and I stop speaking to take a drink. I am out of breath.
"I bet you couldn't beat me." Rune teases looking at me with a smirk on his face.
"Is that a challenge?" I ask.
"Hmm. I guess it is."
"Well," I start to speak but start coughing suddenly. My body shivers painfully, my head feels light and I feel like I am swaying. I hear Rune has jumped off his horse and runs to my side.
All of a sudden I am in his arms and not on the horse anymore. How did that happen? I look up at him and shiver again. He holds me close to him and turns away.
"Have you found any traces yet??" He shouts. I don't see Dakota, but I know he's talking to her. She barks and Rune rushes back to his horse setting me on it then hopping on himself behind me. He wraps his cloak around the both of us.
I feel the warm heat from his body but I continue to shiver harshly. He places a hand on my cheek again and sighs.
"You haven't even broken out in a sweat yet." He whispers and looks ahead. I look as well, and realize that Dakota has found the path. The horses get up to the path and we walk evenly once more. Rune kicks his horse to make it start running, the horses trailing behind him. The last horse slows us down because of the weight of all our belongings and I hear Rune grunt in frustration.
I try to speak and tell him it will be alright, but I end up going into a coughing fit again. He holds me closer to him and I rest my head back into him once the coughing settles down. I close my eyes again and start to drift to sleep but Rune wakes me up.
"Don't sleep, Erin. We are almost there."
I open my eyes to look at him. The snow has started to fall much thicker and it's hard to see far away. The wind has picked up and Runes hood is covered in snow. I look forward to see Dakota is jogging in front of us.
"Just a little bit longer." Rune whispers, I'm not sure if it's to motivate me or himself.
We travel for a bit longer, and the snow only gets worse. The temperature has dropped, and the wind has picked up causing me to shiver even worse than before. I can't feel my feet anymore. The world around us is darkening, and I feel Runes chest rise and fall faster. He's getting nervous. I don't understand why. After another long while, what felt like another hour or so Rune sighs.
"There it is." I look up and see a very dim light through the white snow. The sun is almost gone, and it is hard to see. The wind makes it even hard to breath. The snow starts to fall heavier, and the light slowly fades away.
"Dammit!" Rune yells. He kicks his horse to try and force it to run faster but the last horse can not go any faster than it already is. "I can't see anything!" He growls through his teeth.
I start to wonder if we will have to pull aside and wait out the storm, or if we will find it through this heavy snow. It's a blizzard out, and I want to help but there is nothing I can do.