Chapter 32
SEREH
Sereh was beyond relieved to see Erann alive if unconscious. Whatever had brought about his release from his snowy prison (and she didn’t want to think about that right now), she wished it’d somehow managed to lift him from the deep hole he was in.
She looked about frantically, but could think of no way to haul him out. Neither was there anyone else on the entire glacier as far as the eye could see who’d be able to help her. The day was quiet, cold and deserted.
The hole Erann lay in was taller than she was. The steep sides meant she’d had to slide down, landing in a gangly heap near his head. He was pale and sweaty, shivering in his sleep. He needed a fire.
She touched him hesitantly, eager to know he breathed. ‘Erann.’
Something shot between them, and she felt it in the tremble of her hands, even though he didn’t respond and his face was slick with sweat.
His injuries looked to be many and painful.
His face was covered in scratches. There was a huge gash under his right eye, already swollen shut.
There was another deep cut on the side of his neck.
She traced his swollen eye with her small finger and again felt a jolt through her body.
He was unresponsive, but somehow, being near him thrilled her.
The last she’d seen of him, he’d fallen facedown. But the sheer force of the moving wall of snow must have tumbled him over and over. He now lay sprawled on top of his backpack. She wondered what other, less visible injuries he’d sustained.
Glancing upwards to the lip of the hole, she saw Arrow, looking at them quizzically, head tilted to one side, both ears alert. In the quietness of the day, she was very aware of her and Arrow’s laboured breathing. Erann’s was harder to hear.
Arrow’s face was so intense and filled with concern, Sereh felt as though she could hear Arrow’s thoughts.
‘I know, girl. I’ve no idea how we’re going to get him out of here, either.’ She stood on her tiptoes, examining the sides of the hole. ‘I think the only thing for it is to carry him.’ Sereh patted her leg. ‘Arrow, come, girl. I need your help.’
Arrow joined her with a scrabble of claws, a whoosh of air and a gentle shower of yet more snow.
‘Here, can you support him from behind, and I’ll get his arms.’ She put Arrow where she wanted her, and somehow, Arrow seemed to understand. Between them, they pulled Erann into a sitting position and leaned him upright, Arrow at his back. He groaned but didn’t wake.
‘Erann,’ Sereh murmured, hoping he might open his eyes, but he didn’t.
Fumbling, she threaded one arm and then the other out of his crushed backpack, holding tight to him. Gripping him so he wouldn’t fall, she turned to the wolf-dog.
‘Arrow, carry this back to the cave.’ Arrow gripped the backpack in her powerful jaw, and, using her powerful legs to brace herself against the steep sides, dragged it backwards out of the hole.
‘Good girl,’ she called to the wolf-dog, as she disappeared from sight. Sereh could hear her paws scampering over the surface of disturbed snow, ice and rocks.
‘Now if only it was as easy to get you out of here.’ She gritted her teeth and put her arms around Erann’s waist, and managed to stand while holding on to him.
‘By the Gods, you’re heavy,’ she huffed.
There was no way she’d be able to carry him alone.
Not with the steep sides of the hole. Neither would Arrow be able to pull something as heavy as Erann straight up.
She gently laid him down again, taking care of his bruised head, and turned to the side of the hole.
Maybe if she constructed some snow steps, she’d be able to haul him up with the help of Arrow.
She looked more carefully. One side of the hole was at a slightly more shallow angle than the other. She started to fashion footholds for herself in a gradient up the side, only semi-aware her hands didn’t become numb with cold while she worked.
By the time Sereh reached the top, she was hot, sweaty and thoroughly fed up. Just doing that had taken all her energy, and she still needed to get Erann out.
Arrow had returned during her exertions.
She’d sat and watched her work from Erann’s side, her head tilting from side to side as she tried to make sense of what Sereh was doing.
Sereh was grateful for the show of moral support and for the warmth Arrow gave to Erann.
She was also glad her wolf-dog had thought better of helping her.
She’d have simply gotten cross and frustrated with her for being in the way.
Her paws were good for digging, not for construction.
She needed to focus on getting Erann out and warming him properly with the aid of a fire.
From below, Arrow emitted a small whimper. Sereh jumped back to the bottom of the hole, jarring her legs and feet once more.
‘Let’s try again,’ Sereh decided, panting with exertion. She pulled Erann into a sitting position and then to standing, resting him against the side of the snow wall.
‘Erann,’ she said, but he remained unresponsive. ‘Right. Come on then.’
She bent and managed to get him over her shoulder.
This was the best way to try to carry him, but he was a dead weight.
Within moments, her arms and legs were trembling.
She felt hot and sweaty all over again. She staggered towards her improvised steps, pressing against the slippery sides of the hole to stay upright.
She was overwhelmed with a feeling of failure and disappointment. There was no way she could do this.
Arrow let out a strangled yelp. Sereh felt rather than heard the boom. She glanced fearfully at the mountains around her, or what she could see of them from this angle. She couldn’t see another avalanche gathering on any of the slopes, but even so she didn’t want to wait around to find out.
She got her foot on the first step, and then the next. Suddenly, Erann didn’t feel so heavy any more. She was doing it. She wondered if she was having a moment of incredible strength in response to the emergency. She’d heard of it happening to other people before.
Step by step, gritting her teeth with the exertion, she heaved Erann up the side of the hole.
At last, she lurched out onto the remains of the avalanche, still gripping Erann tightly.
She gazed towards the cave. The surface was uneven, littered with twisted dead branches and hidden stones.
It would be easier to pull him than carry him, but that would take too long.
No, she’d managed so far. She’d carry him.
Digging her feet into the surface, she took a staggering step and then another.
Sereh finally reached the cave entrance, her chest burning, her legs wobbling, his weight seeming to more than double as she stepped within.
As carefully as she could, which with hindsight wasn’t very careful, she managed to bend to her knees, to grip his head, and then to lower him to the ground.
She rolled away from him, and allowed herself time to catch her breath, to still her drumming heartbeat.
Only then did she get to her feet and rummage through her backpack, pull out two more furs and cover him with them before returning outside.
He still hadn’t stirred and that worried her.
The avalanche had ripped up the few sparse trees that survived on the mountainside and dragged them with it.
They were littered everywhere. She quickly gathered an armload of broken branches and piled them back in a sheltered corner of the cave away from the mouth.
She found the heatstone in Erann’s backpack and used it to light a fire.
‘Water,’ she gasped next. She grabbed both wooden cups and went outside to gather some snow to leave it to melt by the side of the fire. She’d make them tea. There was still some left over from the last time they met.
Although the fire had only just caught, Sereh felt too warm from her exertions.
She removed another fur and laid it over Erann as well.
He looked terrible and hadn’t moved since she’d brought him to safety, aside from his shivering.
He lay where she’d placed him; his arms by his side, his legs stretched out as well.
Arrow sprawled to his other side, once more keeping him warm where the fire couldn’t reach.
He’d been buried for a long time. She didn’t like to think about how close he’d come to dying. Or how it might still happen.
To distract herself, she upended the backpack filled with food from his steading.
She took hold of a tunic and, gritting her teeth, ripped it.
With the snow melted, she dipped a corner into the water and used it to endeavour to clear away the blood from his face.
She winced at the sight of his swelling eye, but he didn’t so much as stir when she pressed against it.
Content she’d done all she could, and not wanting to move any of the furs, she hurried to refill the cup with snow and placed it to melt once more.
Then she sat beside Erann, watching him, willing him to come back to her.
She hoped the building warmth from the fire, and the collection of furs over him, would stop his shivering and return his beautiful face to a healthier colour. But in spite of all the furs, he continued to shiver uncontrollably, his face bluer than ever.
‘Erann,’ she murmured again, but there was no response. ‘Erann, please wake up.’