she met his snout with the Thinblade, stabbing down through the top of his head and dropping him in an instant, sweeping the blade up his spine, spilling blood and entrails across the snow.
The rest were suddenly more skittish about this prey, dancing farther away but snarling and growling just the same. Abigail sheathed the Thinblade and drew her bow, killing the nearest wolf with a single arrow through the skull. The rest turned and fled.
She sat down heavily in the snow, blood oozing from the puncture wounds in her leg. She grimaced in pain while she gingerly pulled her pant leg up and inspected the wound. “This is going to slow me down,” she muttered.
Anatoly went to work wrapping her leg. “I should have guessed those wolves hadn’t given up on us,” he said.
“Didn’t occur to me either.” She sucked in a quick breath, clenching her eyes in pain when Anatoly secured the bandage. “Like to make a coat out of ’em.”
He chuckled, getting to his feet and offering her his hand. She stood, testing the strength of her leg and wincing. “We’ll be lucky if we make it back before dark.”
“Put your arm around my shoulder, I’ll help you.”
They set out, leaving the wolves where they lay, walking into the wind and finally arriving at the cave several hours after dark. Abigail was numb from the cold, except for her leg which burned with pain, every step a jolt of agony. She carefully sat next to the fire and began unwrapping her wound while Anatoly went to work adding wood to the fire and putting water on to boil.
Magda came awake at the commotion, as did Ixabrax, but he only opened his eye, took in the situation and closed it again.
“What happened?”
“Wolves,” Abigail said, pouring some water from her waterskin onto a strip of cloth and gently cleaning the area around the wound. After she rewrapped her bandage and had a cup of hot tea and something to eat, she went to work on the snowbell vine, stripping the flowers and crushing it slightly before cooking it down into a pulp. After removing the fibers, she set it aside to let it cool and thicken.
She applied a generous quantity to Magda’s wound first and then dabbed a smaller amount onto her leg. There was enough of the salve left for a few more applications, but she suspected Magda would need it all before her wound was fully healed. It wasn’t long before a deep tiredness came over her and she slipped into a dreamless sleep. Anatoly was still awake the following morning. He looked exhausted.
“Did you stay up all night?”
He nodded wearily. “I was afraid the wolves might have followed us, and we have no way of knowing if the soldiers found our trail. How’s your leg?”
“Much better but still a bit tender. Snowbell definitely works, but nowhere near as well as Lucky’s salve. Get some sleep, I’ll keep watch.”
He nodded, going to his bedroll without a word. Before long he was breathing as deeply and evenly as Magda. Abigail got to her feet, carefully testing her leg and, satisfied with her strength, limped over to the cave mouth. She smiled at the sight of a foot of new-fallen snow blanketing the mountainside. The sky was overcast and the air was cold, but more importantly, their trail was completely gone.
Alexander appeared next to her without a word.
“I was wondering when you’d show up again. Is everything all right?”
“I wouldn’t go that far, but it could easily be worse. What happened to your leg?”
“Had a disagreement with a wolf,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s nothing that won’t heal. The snowbell seems to work. Magda should be ready to travel in a few days, a week at the outside.”
“Good, I’ll do some looking around Zuhl’s fortress and see if I can come up with a viable plan of attack.”
Abigail nodded. “Some soldiers were snooping around town looking for me. Any chance you could see if they’re headed this way?”
“I’ll be back in a couple of minutes,” he said, vanishing.
Abigail went back to the fire and started heating water for tea. Before it came to a boil, Alexander was back.
“Looks like they’re searching closer to town. They’ve divided up into squads and seem to be looking for any sign of your trail.”
“I doubt they’ll find it after last night’s snowstorm.
“Probably not. I think you’re safe for now. I’ll be back in a few days.”