Wolfen One: gusty winds, drift
Wolfen One Halloween Drabble 2
"It's too early for snow." Duo looked up at the sky in disbelief. "That can't be snow. It can't."
The wolf by his ankle made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle.
"Oh shut up," Duo snapped. "You've got your coat at least. Damn it. We were supposed to be in the South before it started to snow!"
He hitched the pack on his back into a more secure position and glared at the white flakes drifting past his nose. "And not an inn or a town in sight."
Heero nudged Duo's leg with his nose and yipped questioningly. "I don't know what to do. We didn't pass anything that looked like shelter- and if this gets bad-" He shivered as a gust of wind tried to tug his coat off. "Correction- with this wind it is going to be bad-"
Heero bounded ahead a little ways and glanced back.
"You're going to look for shelter?" Duo asked.
Heero nodded.
"Good." Heero could cover a lot more ground- he might be able to find something they could use.
Heero ran off and Duo tucked himself more firmly into his coat. "Why is it we always mean to leave before it gets cold up here and yet never do?" He muttered with a shiver. He knew why, of course, they'd lost their horse in the last hunt and hadn't found a replacement yet, which had slowed their progress down considerably.
Duo trudged along, getting colder and colder as the flakes fell in an ever-increasing dance and then winds seemed to blow right through his thick coat.
If they'd been in a forest, he could've made a shelter, but they were in mountainous country and all the trees were stubbed and gnarled. Maybe if he used some of the bushes? Tossed one of the blankets over the top and used a few underneath? Heero was always warm- and he'd be willing to share his heat...
He bent his head against the wind and pressed on.
It was past cold and well into freezing now. Damn. How had this storm sprung up so fast? How long had Heero been gone? Duo tried to lift his head, but the wind was too fierce, the snow stinging needles against his skin.
A sharp bark made him glance up. Heero was beside the road, his fur coated with ice. Shaking himself, he barked again and then bounded over to push against the backs of Duo's legs.
"I'm hurrying," Duo muttered at him through chapped lips. "I am."
Heero didn't seem inclined to agree. He pushed Duo off the road and toward the mountainside. Duo couldn't look up, all he could do was watch his feet and hope that he didn't trip.
Then, the ground under his feet was no longer dotted with snow and he dared to look up.
Heero had found a cave- just big enough to stand up in and long enough to stretch out. There were some dried branches on the floor and the remains of a fire-pit. Someone had used this place before.
Moving slowly, his limbs still stiff from the cold, Duo took his pack off and pulled out his tinderbox. Fire first.
Once the fire was going, he sat and stared at it. It seemed very small and inadequate. Was he ever going to be warm again?
"Come on love," warm fingers tugged at his coat, pulled his soaked clothes off. "You're freezing."
Gentle hands wrapped him in blankets, dried his hair and smoothed balm on his wind-chapped lips and nose. Duo lifted a corner of his blankets and Heero slid in beside him. His warmth finally chased away the last of the cold that lingered in Duo's skin.
"It's not supposed to be snowing," Duo finally managed and Heero chuckled.
"Of course not. It's just our winter luck kicking in. The cold always has to find you."
OWARI
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