Highland Bear (Book 4)

Chapter 37

AN - hi, sorry it has taken so long, there has been some things going off in my private life that have meant I have not had a lot of time to write recently. So glad that you have waited so patiently for it, I hope it was worth it.

And dedicated to my mum on mother's day, hope everyone else out there who is a mum had a wonderful day! xx

Az

Chapter 37

Frozen to the bone, and sodden clothes clinging to freezing limbs, Artair had to stop and think that maybe this escape plan was not the best one Kendrick had ever come up with. It was extremely obvious the main reasons why nobody travelled further than was needed in the midst of winter. The problem came when the distance needed took them into the very depths of snow which could freeze you to death if you were not careful.

For just a moment, however, he was thinking that it may have been worse for them at that very moment, travelling through this frozen barren waste land. Than those who succumbed to the chill. At least then the wet shivering mess the entire entourage had become would be out of their misery. But all he had to do was look at the uncomplaining, pink cheeked Rohesia who sat securely in his numb arms for him to throw that thought out of his mind almost immediately, each and every time it creeped to the front of his mind.

He had lost the feelings in his fingers and toes and knew that it would be at least another day before he could fully feel them once more. What had him more worried, however, was the rather large trail they were leaving behind them, which would be a rather large signal to anyone who wished to follow them. Therefore the whole plan they had concocted may be for naught in the end. All he could hope was that they were not missed in the city before the next big snow fall.

The major disadvantage…apart from the obvious, of this travel, was that conversation with Rohesia had been at a minimal. The angle to which she had to sit to ‘read’ his words was not the most comfortable for either of them, and it was not fair to ask it of her, so he would have to wait until they stopped once more before he could speak with her again. And he found that her conversation was something he looked forward to. Something he wished to do more than anything else at that moment…and he had never wished to speak with any other woman like this. All he could think was that it must be a good sign if he was feeling that way.

Looking at the three other people who were in exactly the same position as he and Rohesia were in right at this moment, he was a little proud of their hardy highland heritage, for Kendrick’s two men who had come along had not uttered a word of complaint. In fact the only one who had uttered a complaint of any kind was Alfred. To which their companions had rolled their eyes and mouthed “weak skinned Sassenach”. He had had to stop his lips from twitching upwards at these times, even Rohesia who was Sassenach had been accepted by these hardy highlanders because of her capacity to take these hardships in her stride.

Taking a deep, burning breath, of the sharp clear air, he watched as it misted and fogged before his face when he exhaled. His throat a little raw from the cold, and his legs were starting to burn, they had already been through the stage where they were numb to their surroundings, now it seemed that the pain was still to come. The monotony of the journey and the never ending sea of white did not help with the movement of time nor took the mind off the pain setting in and the ache in the muscles. It was just a never ending, never breaking agony of forward motion. It would have been broken with a little conversation but the two males from Kendrick’s clan were not ones he had spent a lot of time with since being in Edinburgh. And he really did not wish to speak with Alfred…on anything at the moment.