Chapter Eighteen #6
He led her to a towering tree, its trunk thick enough that six men could not have encircled it.
Maxi trudged behind him, her boots squelching with each step.
He tied the reins under a leafy branch before scooping her up with one arm.
Maxi was so exhausted that she did not even have the energy to ask him to let her down.
He strode over to where there was a cave-like space in the trunk.
Riftan placed Maxi gently inside the hollow and crawled in beside her.
Maxi slumped over like a wilted cabbage leaf, her head tipping to one side.
Her body kept alternating between sweating and shivering as if it did not know whether to feel hot or cold.
After slipping off his breastplate and propping it up to one side, Riftan pulled her against his chest. The warmth that seeped through their wet clothes made Maxi’s remaining tension and fear melt away.
Despite the fact that they were huddled inside a tree trunk like bedraggled forest creatures seeking shelter from the rain, Maxi felt as safe as if she were in a fortress.
She shifted as close as possible to Riftan and laid her head on his muscled shoulder.
Riftan removed his gauntlet and vambrace, laying them beside his breastplate, then ran his warm hand over her shoulders and back. “We will have to start out again as soon as the rain stops, so try to get some sleep.”
“D-Do you think the others are all right? Wh-What if the goblins attacked them—”
“Goblins hate water, so the others will be fine while it rains. They should be making their way down the mountain by now.” Riftan slid his hand inside her tunic and caressed her cold skin. “Stop the needless worry and go to sleep.”
Cocooned within Riftan’s embrace, Maxi let out a drowsy sigh as a feverish warmth seeped into her skin.
Riftan stared silently into the trees. Maxi looked up through the raindrops in her drooping eyelashes and watched the water drip down from his hair until she could no longer keep her eyes open.
Feeling consciousness slip away, she listened to the wind blowing through the leaves.
She felt Riftan shift her onto his lap, and she nuzzled closer to his chest. As drowsy exhaustion overtook her and she drifted off to sleep, her last memory was of him pulling off her soaked shoes and socks and massaging her swollen feet with wet hands.
—
The rain was lighter when she finally awoke.
She watched the drizzle with bleary eyes before turning her gaze up at Riftan.
He lay against the tree as still as stone with his eyes closed.
Maxi’s chest tightened. She placed a hand beneath his nose.
It was faint, but she could feel gentle breaths.
Sighing in relief, Maxi gingerly brushed the hair out of his eyes.
He must have been tired after all, which was understandable after marching for days without proper rest.
Wishing she could soothe away his exhaustion, Maxi let her hand graze down his cheek. His eyes shot open, lucid and so dark she could barely see his pupils. Maxi pulled her hand back, worried that he was still avoiding her touch, but instead of recoiling, he lowered his head and kissed her.
Maxi pulled back, surprised at his change of heart, but his tongue flicked over her lips as if to reassure her that he was sure. His warm, strong hand steadied the back of her neck. It felt as though a hound that had been lounging at her feet had lunged at her throat without warning.
Only she had been missing this hound. Maxi gripped his arm to ground herself and moaned.
He responded with a sigh and cupped her breast. She lost herself in the black depths of his eyes before sinking entirely into the feeling of his tongue pushing deeper into her mouth, hungrily sucking on her tongue.
Having just experienced drowning, Maxi could recognize the feeling as she lost her breath to their kiss.
When Riftan pulled away, his breath was ragged as well. It was the first time she had seen him breathe heavily the entire brutal journey. He looked beyond her, and when he spoke, Maxi was still in such a heady daze that she did not immediately register his words.
“The rain has stopped.” He appeared torn, but after a long moment, he sighed and lowered her off his lap. “We should go. It will be dark soon.”
He gathered his discarded armor and crawled out of the hollow.
The enveloping warmth of his presence evaporated instantly, and Maxi felt herself snap back to the reality of their circumstances.
This was not the time to be getting comfortable.
They were, after all, alone in a mountain overrun with monsters.
Maxi hastily forced her feet into her damp shoes. When she stepped out of the tree trunk, Riftan was fully armored again, untying the horses from the branch where he had left them.
“Do you think you can walk?”
He sounded so collected that it was hard to believe he was the same man who had, only moments before, been trying to devour her. She gave him a sour look and nodded slowly.
“I-I have had enough rest.”
“Keep close. We are almost to the downslope. It will be much easier from there.”
Riftan began to climb, his feet making no sound on the muddy trail. Maxi followed, just trying not to slip. The heat had thankfully broken with the rain, but it was hard to appreciate the cool breeze when she was soaking wet. Maxi hugged herself, trying to rub warmth into her arms.
Riftan noticed her shivering and his face softened. “I’ll find a place for us to camp soon.”
Maxi glanced nervously around at the rapidly darkening mountainside. “Y-You intend for us…to spend the night out here?”
“It will be dark soon.”
“Th-That’s true…but would it not be better for us to hurry dow—”
His face grew grave. “Climbing down a mountain in the dark is extremely dangerous. It would be far safer for us to find somewhere to rest until daybreak.”
Maxi nodded stiffly. Though she was slightly worried about spending the night in the mountains by themselves, she had no choice but to follow his decision.
She hung her head sullenly. Had he been alone, Riftan would have cleared this mountain and reached the village by now.
The thought that she had slowed down the knights made her heart sink like a rock.
“W-Was I…g-going the wrong way?”
Riftan, who had been weaving through the trees, paused and turned to look at her. “You were planning on getting out of the mountains by yourself?”
“I-I was told that there was a village…at the bottom of this mountain, so…” Maxi trailed off, afraid that he would get angry at her recklessness.
Riftan narrowed his eyes. Instead of yelling at her, he stared down the dark forest path and said flatly, “You were going the right way. This path leads to the village.”
Her heart felt a little lighter at his words.
They traveled in silence until it was too dark to see the path. Riftan found a small cave and, after inspecting it for any creatures lurking in the shadows, beckoned for her to enter. Maxi eyed the cave warily before crawling inside on her hands and knees.
“I will unsaddle the horses,” he said. “Wait here, it will not take long.”
Maxi hugged her knees and nodded. Riftan crawled out of the cave, but stayed in view to tie the horses. When he returned, he carried a saddlebag and pulled out a blanket.
“It might be a little damp, but it’s not wet,” he said as he held it out to her. “Take off your clothes and wrap yourself in this.”
Maxi’s eyes grew round. “H-Here?”
“It gets cold at night. You will catch a chill if you sleep in those wet clothes.”
He shoved the blanket into her hands and turned his back to her, apparently his way of prompting her to do as instructed.
She did not move at first, staring instead at the dark ceiling, then into the forest, now bathed in the blue of twilight.
Finally, unable to withstand the cold any longer, Maxi undressed.
She felt considerably more comfortable after peeling off her wet clothes and wrapping herself in the blanket. Taking off her boots as well, she tugged the blanket down to her ankles.
“I-I am done.”
Riftan looked over his shoulder to check, then quickly busied himself pulling out more items from the bag.
Maxi quietly crouched down next to him, curious.
He tore off the sleeve of his tunic and crumpled it into a ball.
Unsheathing a dagger as long as his forearm, he struck it against a flintstone, sending sparks at the cloth that died instantly against the damp.
“Shall I…l-light the fire with magic?” Maxi offered cautiously.
“No. Don’t waste your mana unnecessarily.” Riftan continued to strike the flint in silence. After several attempts, faint smoke began to rise from the cloth. He blew gently on the glowing fire to grow the flame, and piled on fast-burning pinecones from his saddlebag.
“I will go look for some tinder to get us through the night. You stay right here.”
Maxi did not know where she would go in such a state anyway. With the blanket wrapped tightly around her, she hugged her knees and watched as he stepped into the dark forest. He never left her field of vision and soon returned with an armful of broken branches.
“They are wet…w-will they catch?”
“They are not soaked through. Once I scrape off the bark, they should be usable.”
He crouched at one side of the cave and skillfully peeled off the bark with his dagger. The tinder now looked white. He broke them into short logs and stacked them around the pinecone flame, poking it here and there until it was a blaze that lit up the cave.
“Pass me your wet clothes,” he said.
Maxi handed him the crumpled pile of clothes she had discarded on the ground. After wringing the garments, Riftan gave them a brisk flap and placed them near the heat to dry. He then propped her boots upside down.