Page 91 of Mates for the Raskarrans #1-6

Vantos keeps moving, descending another sharp incline at a pace I can’t keep up with.

I snatch my hand back, teetering at the edge, ready to pick my way gingerly down to the bottom.

But Vantos reaches up and grabs me, lifting me down.

I let out a squeak of surprise, but before I can even recover, his hand is in mine again, tugging me onward.

About five minutes into this mad flight across the forest, the rain starts.

Not the usual sudden rains I’m used to. It starts slower, just a few heavy drops breaking through the canopy of leaves.

When one of them strikes the exposed skin of my neck, I flinch at how cold it is.

Vantos grips my hand tighter, urging me to go faster.

When we reach the next dip in the ground, he swings me up into his arms, and doesn’t set me down again, carrying me across the uneven terrain far faster than I could navigate it, breaking into a run as soon as we’re back on flatter ground.

I grip my arms round his neck as he sprints through the trees, so fast I’m not sure how he’s avoiding crashing into them.

The rain starts to fall thicker, more drops breaking through the canopy to strike us.

It’s not long before I’m soaked, shivering as I nestle closer to Vantos’ warmth.

And I wonder if this is the ‘big rains’ they keep talking about.

If we’re too late to make it to the other tribe and now need to find our way back to the village in this downpour.

The terrain takes a turn for the worse, growing more uneven and rocky.

Ahead, there’s a cluster of cave openings in the side of a particularly steep, craggy incline, and Vantos angles for them, scaling slippery looking rocks with ease.

He sets me down, close enough to the rock face that I’m somewhat sheltered, then heads into the cave.

A moment later, he emerges, grabbing my hand and dragging me inside after him.

For a moment, we just stand there, both of us panting. The cold rainfall has permeated all my clothing, reaching the skin beneath, chilling me down to the bone. I shiver, my teeth rattling together, and Vantos reaches for me, rubbing his hands over my arms before guiding me deeper into the cave.

The path turns, taking us round a corner.

It cuts out the majority of the wind, and most of the noise of the rain.

I can still hear it, but it’s softer, a soothing background sound.

The air in the cave feels warmer, taking the edge off my chill.

Vantos sets his pack down, digging through for the furs.

I shuck off my pack, removing my shoes and my sodden trousers.

I open my pack, meaning to change into my nightclothes, but find everything inside is as soaked through as I am, the little bag not as good against the elements as Vantos’ more heavy duty pack.

I hold the dripping garments up to him, pouting, and he reaches into his pack, pulling out one of his tops and handing it to me.

I take it, and don’t hesitate to wriggle out of my own soaked top, pulling his dry one on instead.

I feel warmer instantly. And not just because the cold rain water is no longer being held against my skin by my clothing, but because his top smells of him, the scent surrounding me.

I want to bury my nose in the oversized sleeves and breathe deep.

I resist the temptation, rolling the sleeves up until my hands emerge from the bottom.

Vantos wraps the furs round my shoulders - both mine and his - and I sit there, steaming slightly as I warm up, while he sets a fire in a pit at one side of the cave.

It’s obviously been used by travellers before - a supply of dry wood stacked in one corner that lights far easier than the damp fresh wood we’ve been collecting each evening.

Soon Vantos has the fire blazing, probably building it a little too high for his comfort, but he watches me as he does it, beckoning me closer.

I shuffle forward, basking in the heat until the last of my shivers have passed.

“I’m okay,” I say as he comes to me, brushing my hair from my face, placing his hand against my cheek. “Nice and warm now.”

I smile at him, pushing his hand away from me before I do something stupid, like lean into him, or sigh dreamily. Vantos nods, his face fixed in a familiar serious expression.

He rises, heading back to the far corner of the cave.

Besides the wood, there are some other supplies.

Baskets stacked in a neat pile. The raskarrans must have caves like this across their territories.

Ellie and Anghar rested in one while they were off on their own in the woods.

Hers had clothing and food, but what Vantos brings back is neither.

It’s a contraption made of wood. It starts off flat, but when he folds it out, it becomes something he can hang items of clothing on - like the drying racks used in the textile factories, only smaller.

I beam at him as I reach for my bag, but he only catches my hand, pushing me back to a seated position.

He adjusts the furs around my shoulders, making sure I’m still wrapped up like a little parcel, then takes my bag himself, pulling out my clothes one at a time and hanging them on the rack.

When he gets to the little bag of supplies Sally gave me, I let out a squeak and grab it off him, stuffing it back in the bag.

Doesn’t matter if they’re soaked through, anyway.

Not like I’m going to need them.

Vantos gives me a bemused look, then turns his attention to the clothes I’ve just stripped off, picking them up off the floor and hanging them. Then he strips down to his loincloth, hanging up his own sodden clothes, before changing into dry ones. I try not to stare, I really do.

When he’s done, I try to shuffle out of one of the furs, meaning to hand it over to him, but he just scowls and tucks me up again.

I’m plenty warm enough now, between the fire and the furs, but Vantos apparently won’t be satisfied until I’m overheating.

I suppose I am very pale compared to the other girls and the raskarrans.

I must look deathly to him, even when I’m perfectly healthy.

“I’m alright now, really,” I say, trying to smile and look happy.

Vantos remains stern as he touches a hand to my cheek again. Taking my temperature, I realise, when he nods, a satisfied look coming into his expression. I loosen the second layer of furs, stretching out the corner towards him.

Then a bright light illuminates the cave - so brilliant that for a moment I can’t actually see - and a deafening boom splits the night in half, like something just outside the cave entrance exploded.

And instead of handing Vantos the furs, I scream and launch myself into his arms.