Free Empress Aurora Trilogy Quest For the Kingdom Parts I, II, and III Revised With Index (Quest For the Kingdom Set) by L. M. Roth Page B

north of Valerium, a fierce snowstorm blew up without warning,
hurling snow at them, blinding their eyes, and freezing the breath in their
lungs.
    They
dismounted from their horses, as the poor creatures struggled for footing on
the road that grew suddenly slick with ice, and led them by their reigns.
Marcus and Felix buried their faces into the hoods of their cloaks as much as
was possible, but an occasional icy blast of wind blew the hoods off of their
heads and down their backs.
    Realizing they
would perish if they stayed out in the storm, they searched for shelter. It was
Felix who spotted an old house on the horizon, that of a humble farmer. Surely
they would take them in to protect them from the ferocity of the storm!
    They went to
the door and knocked gently. No one answered. They knocked again, this time
with more urgency. Still no answer. Finally, on the third knock the door opened
slightly to reveal an old woman who peered out at them with a suspicious gaze.
    “What do you
want?” she asked in a gruff voice, as a strand of gray hair slipped from the
bandeau that was wound around her head.
    “Please, my
good woman, we need shelter for ourselves and stabling for our horses,” Marcus
explained.
    Seeing that
she continued to look with suspicion upon them, he tried another tactic.
    “We will pay
you handsomely,” he smiled at her.
    “Go away, I
don’t take care of strangers,” the old woman huffed, preparing to shut the
door.
    “Oh, please,”
Marcus begged, “the storm is ferocious and we will perish if we do not find
shelter.”
    “No!” the old
woman exclaimed and shut the door with finality.
    They looked in
unbelief at the door in front of them.
    “Do you
believe it, Marcus?” Felix wondered. “I have never heard of anyone refusing
shelter in a storm like this!”
    “Well, there
is nothing that can be done about it, Felix, so we may as well try to find
another solution,” Marcus stated, but with bitter disappointment in his heart.
    He also was
stunned that anyone could shut someone out in a storm to take their chances of
life or death. But there was nothing they could do.
    They traveled
on taking their horses with them, at times doubling over from the frigid blasts
of wind. It was Marcus who at last came up with the idea.
    “Felix! I
cannot believe how obtuse I am!” he exclaimed.
    Felix looked
at him with eyes staring blankly from misery, and teeth chattering with cold.
He did not respond to Marcus’ exclamation.
    “We need to
find some trees and a hill, and quickly!” he urged.
    They surveyed
the landscape around them, and spied a small hillock surrounded by a few trees
not far away. They made for it rapidly, and after slogging about fifteen
minutes in the relentless storm, came to it at last.
    Marcus crowed
in triumph, and motioned for Felix to help him tear down some low-lying branches
from the pine trees that encircled the hill. After they had gathered several,
Marcus struggled up the slope of the small embankment and started pushing snow
down the hill with the aid of the branches. Felix caught on to his plan and
eagerly assisted.
    When they had
scooped the hilltop nearly bare, they descended to the bottom and began packing
the snow that they sent to the bottom into hard blocks that they placed firmly
against the hill on either side of it until they had formed a small semi-circle,
large enough to encompass them and their two horses. They created a primitive
roof by gathering more branches and weaving the limbs together until they
interlocked and could be placed atop the blocks of snow. Over the limbs they
threw some woolen hangings they had brought to be used for tenting, which they
held in place by winding rope over the roof and down the blocks to entwine
around pegs which they drove into the ground. 
    In this manner
they soon had a little hut that blocked them from the worst brunt of the wind.
Marcus told Felix that his father had told him of this crude form of cover that
his troops