Page 71 of A Land So Wide
What time was it?
The sky above was dark but not quite fully. The air had a soft, velvety quality, stained a rich navy, not black. The sun had set, but twilight hadn’t yet turned to dusk.
“Who are you?” Greer asked, squinting to make out the figure sitting on the opposite side of the fire.
His face was obscured by waves of heat and dancing shoots of flame, but Greer could see that this man was not Ellis. He sat taller, stretched wider, and took up space with more confidence than Ellis would have dared.
Dark eyebrows hooded over equally dark eyes. If Ellis Beaufort was autumn—warm and burnished gold with laughter and heat—then this stranger was winter itself, harsh lines, sharp shadows, and the eerie stillness that grabbed hold of the world after a deep snowfall.
“Who are you?” Greer repeated, tilting her head to see through the flames. She caught a glimpse of sharp cheekbones, a long nose, and a thin mouth.
“How’s your head?” the stranger asked instead of answering her. “You took quite a spill. I’ve never seen starlings attack like that.”
“They weren’t attacking. I slipped.”
I slipped making my way down to you,she wanted to add, but it didn’t seem right to blame this stranger for her accident, not when he’d clearlytried to help her, building this fire, covering her with a blanket she only now realized she’d sunk her fingers into. It was wonderfully warm.
Beaver pelts,she thought absently, feeling the soft and bristly fur against her skin.
Her bare skin—
In alarm, Greer searched the campfire for her mittens. Had she lost them in the fall? A quick inspection showed that her fingers were fine, without even a trace of frostbite, but she couldn’t hope to continue her journey without them.
“You fell into a snowdrift,” the stranger said, missing nothing. “Your mittens and cloak were soaked by the time I reached you. They’re drying there.” He jerked his chin, gesturing toward a fallen log where her articles of clothing were laid out with thoughtful care.
Only then did Greer realize her cloak had been removed. Squirreled away under the furred blanket, she’d not suffered its absence.
“Thank you,” she said stiffly. “I…I’m Greer.”
The stranger nodded.
A feeling of unease spread over Greer. She’d studied the map until its lines were imprinted across her memory. She could recall each bend of the river, every small lake, every rocky crag. There hadn’t been a dotted town, a settlement, or even a trading post marked anywhere near Mistaken. The closest sign of life was the village of Kennebrinlette, and that had been miles away, nestled at an inlet on the coast. Greer hadn’t been able to make out even a glimpse of the ocean from her vantage point before she fell.
So where had this stranger come from?
And how, with so many untold acres of wilderness, had he come across her just as she needed help?
“I suppose I’m quite lucky you saw me,” she began, straining to keep her voice even, to not show fear.
He grunted in acknowledgment, then picked up a long stick propped beside him and poked at the fire, pushing a log toward the middle of the inferno.
“I didn’t think there were any settlements this far inland,” she tried again, trying to avoid framing her curiosity as an actual question.
“No?” he asked, finally speaking.
“Or north,” she prodded.
His expression changed, slipping into the smallest of smiles. “We certainly are north.”
Greer shifted, pretending to stretch, while letting her eyes roam, searching for her belongings. Her cloak and mittens were on the log, and she spotted her rucksack, laying on its side just out of the stranger’s reach. She wondered if he’d gone through it while she’d been unconscious. Running her hands over her body, she was relieved to find she still wore the beaded necklace, but was alarmed when she realized her knife was missing.
Had the stranger removed it?
Or had it been lost in the fall?
Gingerly, she touched the back of her head, feeling at the goose egg, which ached with a pulsing, tender throb. She was surprised to find there were no wounds, no lacerations.
“No blood,” the stranger spoke, noticing her examination. “That’s good. You’ve no idea the kind of creatures out here that would be drawn to the scent of your blood.”
