She had felt helpless many times since turning blind, but never as helpless as she felt now. It wasn’t a far distance between Macardle keep and McHenry keep, the clan that Slatter was now chieftain of and Willow and he called home. But she had no idea of direction and to strike out blindly would be foolish.

“I don’t know what to do, Thaw,” she said, and the pup reached up and licked her face. She kissed the top of his snout. “I love you so much, Thaw.” He licked her cheek again, showing her he felt the same.

Snow thought of her sister Sorrell. She would have been on the move already, battling through the snow. but then she had her sight. No matter what she thought others would do, it didn’t matter since she had her blindness to contend with.

Think, Snow, think, she challenged herself.

She got a sudden thought. The horses. They knew the way home, hopefully they would instinctively take her there. If she could find them, she could get home.

“We need to find the horses, Thaw. They’re our only hope,” she said, silently praying they would find them.

Thaw barked and wiggled in her arms.

“You can’t go too far from me,” she warned and hope he understood.

He barked again and she placed him on the ground. “Find the horses, Thaw.”

Snow took careful steps, keeping her arms stretched out in front of her and following Thaw’s barks. Every now and again, he’d return and grab the hem of her tunic and take her in a different direction.

After what seemed like a senseless hunt, Thaw started barking non-stop and hope soared in Snow that he’d found the horses. She headed in the direction of his bark, though it was difficult to tell the true direction with the wind swirling the snow furiously around her.

She was relieved to feel him at her hem again, though this time he scurried in front of her and began to growl.

Her heart felt as if it stopped beating for a moment. He was warning whatever stood not far from her to stay away from her. She couldn’t see anything. Was it an animal? A person? Whatever it was Thaw had sensed it was dangerous, and she stood blind before it.

Thaw’s growl deepened in warning and that’s when Snow saw it. A large, shadowy blur nearly on top of her. It had to be a person, but who could it be? A traveler caught unaware in the snowstorm like her and Finn? And would he help her or be of danger to her?

The blur drew closer and Thaw’s growls increased, though he didn’t attack. He kept a protective stance in front of her.