“Rest in peace, Finn,” she said and turned, recalling Nettle saying something about the tables the dead men rested on lay close to each other. A few steps and she touched an empty table. Even with the commotion the pool of blood had caused, wouldn’t someone have seen the body being removed from the hut.

She heard sniffs and low growls and called out to Thaw. “What is it, Thaw? What have you found?”

She followed his sounds and found him in one of the corners of the hut, digging. She was about to lean down to find out what he was up to when she heard a slight crack. She reached out and touched the crudely built wall, that did little to keep out the cold, and the section moved against her hand. She pushed at it and the section fell away.

Thaw gave a yap and scurried past her leg.

“Thaw,” she called and followed after him.

She had only taken a few steps when Thaw returned to her and gave her hem a tug. He wanted her to follow him and without thought, she did.

When a branch brushed her cheek, she knew he had taken her into the woods and she stopped, realizing her mistake. “Thaw, we need to go back and get Tarass.”

He barked, then tugged at her hem again.

He was desperate to show her something and she was desperate to alert Tarass to her whereabouts.

“You can show me, Thaw, but first…” She cupped her hands together so her voice would carry far, and shouted, “Tarass! Tarass!” She hoped he heard her and she planned to call out to him again, but first she took a cautious step forward to appease Thaw, who was tugging wildly at her hem.

Her foot hit something and she crouched down, her hand reaching out to touch a body.

Thaw started growling low and deep as he made his way around her and climbed up on the body to position himself protectively in front of her.

Something or someone was there with them.

His growling intensified, letting her know that whatever it was… was drawing nearer.

“Snow! Snow!” came her husband’s frantic calls.

Thaw barked repeatedly while Snow shouted to her husband, “Tarass! Tarass!”

She was relieved to hear pounding footfalls, but she also heard a scurrying of sorts.

“Snow!” Tarass shouted when he caught sight of her and snatched her up off the ground to hug her tight.

Thaw kept barking.

“I’m here, Thaw, Snow is safe,” Tarass assured him.

“He’s letting you know someone was here and ran off,” Snow said.

“Search the woods!” Tarass commanded and his warriors trailing him took off, though two remained behind, aware their lord and lady were not to be left unprotected.