27. Ellis
Chapter twenty-seven
Ellis
Seeing Cara cowering in the snow, crying and hurt, made my heart feel like it was being squeezed by a screw press.
My primal instincts roared and screamed at me to get up and protect my family. I would help Cara, find Riley, then take them both to safety, no matter the cost.
Determined, I took her hand. “You said it’s not much farther, right?”
Cara nodded, desperately trying to wipe away the tears that kept coming. I glanced over to my gentle gelding, Jupiter, who stood beside us, weathering the storm like a rock. He looked strong and sturdy, and Cara surely couldn’t weigh very much.
“Come on, I’ll help you to get up.”
Before Cara could protest, I wrapped my arms around her body and heaved her into a standing position. “We’ll both ride on Jupiter,” I said. “And he will take us to the waterfall, and we’ll find Riley.”
“He might not even be there,” Cara cried, clenching her fingers into my jacket.
“I know he’s there. I just feel it. And besides, what other choice do we have? Sitting in the snow until we freeze to death?”
Cara sniffed. “Okay,” she said, her voice shaky. “But you’ll have to help me mount Jupiter.”
It was a bit of a production, but after a few tries, I heaved Cara onto the horse and climbed up myself, sitting behind her in the saddle. It wasn’t comfortable for either of us, but it would do. At least Jupiter did well. If the extra weight was bothering him, he showed no signs.
“You know the way, so you take the reins,” I said to Cara. “Where do we need to go next?”
She looked around, squinting her eyes against the snowstorm, trying to orient herself. “If I’m not completely mistaken, we should find the river that the waterfall feeds in that direction very soon.”
I wrapped my arms around her stomach and rested my chin on her shoulder.
“Okay,” I whispered in her ear, “You lead the way. Let’s go find our son.”
Cara nodded determinedly, and I was relieved to see her resolve had returned.
I signaled Jupiter to get going. We couldn’t see much through the heavy snow, so the horse had to do most of the work himself. Jupiter kept a slow pace, steadily placing his hooves on the treacherous ground, and I silently thanked Terry for picking such a reliable, steadfast horse for me.
After only a few minutes, we reached a fast-flowing river. It looked too deep to cross by horse and ice floes were rushing past. We needed to keep a safe distance because we couldn’t risk Jupiter losing his footing here. Falling into that river during this kind of weather would surely mean our deaths.
“What now?” I asked.
“We follow the river upstream. Hold on tight. The terrain is getting steeper from here on out.”
I tightened my grip and nodded.
Jupiter fought his way through the storm, putting one hoof in front of the other, showing no signs of tiring, no signs of fear. Slowly but surely, he carried us up the snow-covered hills, alongside the roaring river, until a rock formation came into view.
“Hear that noise?” Cara’s tears had dried, and her expression had returned to the steely determination she’d had when we left the ranch. “That’s the waterfall. We’re close. We’re getting close to Riley!”
We started calling out his name as we made the last mile toward the waterfall.
Everyone had been right. It was a majestic sight, and on any other day, I might have thought it beautiful, but in that moment, the only thing that mattered to me was finding my son.
We kept yelling his name, but our voice barely carried over the storm, and we got no response.
When we reached the roaring waterfall, Cara steered Jupiter toward a cluster of pine trees that provided at least some shelter from the wind. She brought Jupiter to a halt and jumped off, but when her feet hit the ground, she winced in pain.
“Shit, I nearly forgot my foot is messed up,” she cursed. “We need to look for Riley. Or at least for signs of him.”
I dismounted and handed her the reins. “You stay here, and I’ll look around. Riley said the entrance to the cave was behind a fallen tree trunk. Can you point me in the right direction?”
“Over there. Right next to the waterfall. Be careful. The rocks are wet in summer and probably completely frozen now.”
I cautiously navigated through the snow-covered undergrowth, each step crunching beneath my boots, until I finally reached the tree trunk Cara had pointed me at.
There was indeed an opening in the rock cliff, large enough for a boy of Riley’s size, but so small I had to duck my head as I entered the cave.
I peeked inside and found no sign of Riley. I called out for him, but only my own echo responded.
My stomach sank. Had we come to the wrong place? What if he wasn’t here? My heart hammered in my chest as I tried to fight back my rising panic. We needed to find him. After everything we’d been through to get there, I couldn’t return to Cara with bad news.
Where could he be? Somehow, I was still sure he was nearby, but if he wasn’t in that cave, where else could he have hidden from the blizzard?
I looked around. To my left was the waterfall and the ice-covered pond it flowed into. In front of me was a harsh gray rock wall, at least twenty feet high, too steep and too smooth to climb. To the right were pine trees, bushes, and some deadwood.
When I glanced over the small forest to my right, I spotted a couple of broken branches on the bushes. Maybe Riley had broken them off as he fought his way through?
Hope sparked again, and I followed the trail of snapped and splintered branches into the forest, nearly falling several times. With the ground entirely blanketed in snow, avoiding tripping on roots and boulders was a challenge.
The trail of bent branches led me along the cliff, then I saw another opening between the rocks. I nearly walked past it the first time because the trees stood so dense, but there clearly was a gash in the cliff, much larger than the hole next to the waterfall. Another way into the cave? I pushed forward, fighting my way toward it.
As I got closer, I caught a distinct smell: horse.
My heart was pounding when I stepped through the opening between the rocks and found myself in a cave much larger than I’d expected. It was so dark that I could barely see beyond the tip of my nose.
Very carefully, putting one foot in front of the other, I ventured in deeper while my eyes adjusted to the darkness.
“Riley?” I called out, my voice echoing from the stone walls. “Riley, are you in here?”
Then I heard a sniffing sound.
A moment later, a small, pale face appeared in front of me.
“Ellis?”
It was Riley.
The wave of relief that hit me was indescribable. Warm happiness flooded my body and momentarily overpowered the cold and exhaustion.
I’d found him.
Riley staggered toward me, shivering and stumbling. I spread out my arms and caught him just in time. He clung to me like a shipwreck survivor to a life buoy, and I pressed his small, trembling body tight against my chest.
He sobbed into my jacket, trying to say something, but I just gently brushed his hair and patted his back. “Shh, it’s okay. We’re here. I’m here.”
A soft neigh made me look up. I realized Riley hadn’t been alone in the cave. Despite the dire situation, I couldn’t suppress a chuckle.
“That’s Atticus, right?”
Riley wiped his nose with his sleeve and nodded. “I couldn’t leave him outside in the storm.”
“So that’s why you didn’t use the first entrance, the one close to the waterfall?”
“I knew the cave had a tunnel going off in that direction, but I never went deep enough into the forest to find out if it had a connection to the outside. Lucky for me and Atticus, it did.”
“And lucky for you, I found it too.”
“What are you doing here, anyway?” Riley wiped his tears off his cheeks and looked a little calmer. “I’m glad you here, but I expected Terry or Wyatt or maybe my mom come looking for me.”
“Oh, they’re all looking for you. Your mom is nearby. She hurt her ankle when she fell off her horse.”
“What? Is she okay?” Riley’s eyes went wide with fear. “This is all my fault. This was a stupid idea. I—”
“The important thing is that we are all safe. I’m going to go get your mom now, then we are going to stay here until the blizzard eases off. Relax, Riley. The worst is over. You’re safe now.”