Bonds

by Susan Copperfield

  I concentrated on the water until I found a new fish, which I brought to shore with my magic. It, too, resembled some prehistoric monster with a lot of teeth, but it wasn’t the same type of fish. “And this?”

  “That would be a pike.”

  I regarded the fish, which looked ready and willing to take a bite out of me, with doubt. “Is it edible?”

  “With a knife and some time, yes.”

  I scanned the water, which contained a lot of fish of varying sizes, and I swept a bunch to shore and let her pick. One earned a delighted cry, so I decided on it and gave it to her. “What’s this one?”

  “Walleye.” Melody claimed breakfast and the knife and went to work cutting it open while I gathered grapes and leaves to make breakfast.

  Kevin finally eased out of the tent, and he grimaced as he moved.

  “Throbbing?” I guessed.

  “On days like today, I wish Melody was more focused on bone trauma,” the RPS agent replied. “I’ll be all right. She’ll take another turn with me after breakfast, which will help a lot. It’s not the first time I’ve broken something while on duty. She’ll have me as good as new within two weeks. She may not be a bone specialist, but she can help some.”

  “I’d say a two week recovery time for that severe of a break is more than just helping some.”

  The RPS agent shot me a look, which I interpreted as an annoyed request to drop the subject. “How’s our situation looking?”

  “We have a hundred mile hike to civilization, and we’re in Canada.”

  Kevin’s eyes widened. “How do you know?”

  “My phone’s GPS works, so I got the coordinates out of my phone and plugged them into yours to see where we were on the map.”

  According to Kevin’s expression, he longed to dig a hole and bury himself. “That is not an oversight I should have made. Also, I’m impressed you figured it out. You were having trouble enough with my phone last night.”

  “I didn’t want to wake anyone, so I figured it out. I want to make sure we’re able to get Melody’s cat to a vet before she runs out of his medicine.”

  “I think she’s coming to terms that he probably won’t make it out of here, Jack. He’s old. He won’t live forever.”

  “That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t at least try. As long as she’s willing to carry him, I’m willing to plan around him. We have Sparrow to worry about, too.” I scowled, and I regarded the supplies I’d have to pack up and prepare for our hike. “On the bright side of things, I’ll be getting all the physical therapy she could ever want. We’re going to be doing a lot of hiking.”

  “We’re really a hundred miles from the nearest town?”

  “Thereabouts. Fortunately, the nearest road isn’t too far from the nearest town.” I pointed at the lake. “That’d be the only way someone would be getting people back here; it doesn’t look like there’s anywhere helicopters could land even if they wanted to. It’s all forest and scrag. A bush plane with floaters can land in the lake, but that’s only if they figure out which lake we crashed at. Canada really is a land of lakes. There are twenty similar lakes nearby. And at a distance of a hundred miles, I really doubt anyone saw smoke from the crash. Even if someone did, it would have given them a direction and little else.”

  Thanks to my magic, the plane had stopped smoldering early. Without any smoke to help searchers, I doubted anyone would find the crash site for a while.

  Until we could figure out who wanted us dead, it worked out for the best.

  “We’ll make do,” Kevin said, and he eyed our supplies with resigned weariness. “Carrying this is going to be a bitch, isn’t it?”

  “It sure is. You have one job, and that’s to avoid getting an infection. If you want to get sick, wait until we reach civilization.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  It took Melody a lot longer to work with Kevin than I was expecting, which left me with the job of walking the cats. Sparrow took to her harness and leash better than I expected, and I did most of the walking for Mr. Asshole, setting him down when he wiggled and seemed interested in something. The lake remained quiet, and while I spotted a few ducks, geese, and jumping fish, the lack of other wildlife startled me.

  I’d expected something in the woods with us, not that I wanted to put to use any of the various animal repellants Kevin had included in the survival kit.

  I took my time exploring, gathering more grapes and leaves to take with us before returning to our camp. Melody tapped her foot until I came close. “You took a while.”

  “I thought Kevin might appreciate a private torture session.” I handed over Mr. Asshole, who purred up a storm and nuzzled his owner. “How’s he doing?”

  “The break is set nicely, and I strengthened the bone some. I also did some acceleration on the muscle recovery and worked on the busted veins. The damage isn’t quite as bad as I thought after my initial look yesterday—either that, or you just did a damned good job of setting the bone. He won’t be out of the sling anytime soon, but unless something goes really wrong, it shouldn’t become infected.”

  “You’re still getting your antibiotics on schedule,” I told the RPS agent.

  Both laughed.

  “Melody thought you’d say that, and I already had my next dose; she took care of it since you were out with the cats. Find anything interesting?”

  “Not a thing, which is good at this point.”

  The princess lifted her chin and I wondered what had gotten her riled up. She engaged me in a staring contest, and I waited, curiosity eating away at me. “Kevin said it’s a hundred miles to the nearest town?”

  “Yes, roughly. It’ll be a long walk, but we have all the supplies we need to make it. We just need to be careful.” Unfortunately, I had no idea what sort of dangers the Canadian wilderness had to offer, especially in terms of venomous snakes and predators. I guessed bears were an issue, as the survival kit had several deterrents designed for them. “Ten miles a day will be rough, but it is feasible. If we try for eight, we’ll reach the town in plenty of time to get Mr. Asshole his medications.”

  “Won’t he slow us down, though?”

  I hated the worry and guilt in her tone, and I shook my head. While it wasn’t fair of me to blame Kevin, I pointed at the RPS agent anyway. “He’ll slow us down far more than our cats will. And even then, we’re not leaving your cat behind. That’s not fair to you or the cat. And since we’re talking about it, we’re definitely not leaving Sparrow behind.”

  I’d fight them both over it if necessary.

  Kevin cleared his throat. “Jack, she’s been told all of her life that if something like this happened, she’d have to abandon any pets to preserve the interests of the kingdom.”

  “I’m taking that rule and shoving it up someone’s ass. The pets aren’t a liability. Now, if we were in the middle of a house fire, and you couldn’t immediately snag your pet, you have to do what you have to do, but we are in control of this situation, and we’re not leaving any of our pets behind.”

  Melody grinned. “Well, I have no doubt of your opinion, Jack. Even without his medication, I can help some. It just takes a lot of effort.”

  With my talent and skills, we could live off the land until winter showed up. At that point, the cats would have a better chance of survival than we would.

  “In any case, we need to push as hard as we can safely until we’re out of this mess. I’d like to be somewhere sane before it starts to snow.” I did a final check over the gear and the little we’d have to leave behind, which included the metal case the gear had been in. I loaded it up with the items we weren’t taking and took it to the wrecked plane and tossed it inside. Melody followed me, her expression confused.

  Since she didn’t ask what I was doing, I waited until I returned to the camp and finished packing up everything we were taking before saying, “I’m going to wipe out the evidence we were here.”

  “You are?” Kevin asked. “But how?”

&
nbsp; I removed the suppressors, gave them to Melody, and pointed at the lake. “I’m going to wash away the trail. The only real clue is if they check the survival kit and know what you had packed in it.”

  “And since you put some of the gear back, they might not think it was a packed kit?” The RPS agent chuckled and shook his head. “I’ll admit, it shames me I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “You’re distracted right now, and this is more up my alley than yours. You just worry about making sure you can keep up and carrying what you can.”

  “I think I’ll be all right with the pack you jury rigged last night. I don’t need my arm to haul a pack.”

  “Melody, just keep an eye on him, please.”

  The princess snorted. “I’ll be keeping an eye on you both, and don’t you think I’ve forgotten you had a severe case of talent exertion, you. You’re probably at higher risk than he is, especially since you keep having to use your damned talent.”

  “This won’t take much to do, promise. I’m not manifesting water. I’m just making a few waves to remove our tracks.” I could make waves all day without it bothering me.

  Ice was what caused me the real issues.

  “Take it easy,” she ordered.

  After a moment of thought, I determined it wasn’t a wise idea to tell her I’d do whatever was necessary to get her and Kevin to civilization alive and to Montana. If I had to exert myself to the point of death, I would.

  That was my job.

  As though reading my mind and not liking what she discovered, my kitten howled protests in her carrier.

  I crouched beside my kitten. “It’ll be okay, little baby. I know you don’t want to be in the box, but we’ll take you out to play when we have lunch.”

  She pawed at the carrier door, and I spent ten minutes with her on my lap to soothe her before I put her back and did the rest of my work so we could make some distance.

  I should’ve known things would go to hell when I flared making waves, resulting in the entire shore being hosed down with water rather than the section between the old camp and the plane. I supposed it worked for the best, although my display earned me a glare and a literal slap on the wrists when the princess returned the suppressors where they belonged.

  We hiked for several hours, and I checked our position on my phone to confirm we were headed in the right direction. When we stopped for lunch, the blue sky turned an ugly shade of gray, and a chill wind cut through the trees. I wanted to find somewhere alone and quiet so I could mourn the turn of our luck.

  “Please tell me it doesn’t start snowing until later in the year,” I begged.

  Melody and Kevin glanced at each other, and both refused to look at me.

  I sighed. “Okay. Let me rephrase that. Should I be preparing the camp tonight anticipating snow?”

  Kevin sighed. “We’re in Canada, Jack. It’s not uncommon for snow to start early here, and we’re north enough that it’s possible we can get some snow. More likely, it’ll be a cold rain. Late October is the earliest the bad snowfalls start up around these parts.”

  Considering September had come and gone and October was well under way, we were close enough to late October to worry me. “Define late October for me.”

  “Last week of October, and it would only snow an inch or two unless there was a freak storm. We should be safe, but the temperature can dive dangerously low,” he replied. “Come November, the storms can start in earnest, but the real danger is in January and February for the big blows.”

  I checked Kevin’s phone for the nearest water source, pleased to discover we were within a mile of a lake. “All right. There’s a lake not far from here, so let’s head for there, and we’ll set up a camp, and I’ll do it pretending we might get a freak snowstorm.”

  “Are all search and rescue folks paranoid about the weather?” Kevin asked.

  “Yes,” I replied without hesitation. “Especially when I have to protect three people and two cats from it. Those are not happy clouds, and the temperature is already dropping. We’re not exactly dressed for this weather.”

  Fortunately, we all had pants or jeans in our bags, but it wouldn’t be enough to protect us against a severe storm. A good shelter would make the difference, and I’d need to draw out moisture from wood to help make it burn if push came to shove, using more magic than Melody would like.

  “We’re tough,” Melody announced. “Although I’m concerned about you; Europeans are so delicate comparatively.”

  I narrowed my eyes and arched a brow at the princess. “Are you calling me delicate?”

  “Fragile, even. So fragile. It must be so hard having lived among dainty Europeans for so long. It’s just a little snow, Jack. We wade through it every winter. Sometimes, I’ll do so in shorts because I can.”

  “It’s true. She does it specifically to annoy His Majesty,” Kevin replied, and he grinned.

  “Please don’t do that. That’s how you get hypothermia,” I said. “And frostbite. Possibly pneumonia.” I could think of at least ten things that could go wrong with Melody running outside in shorts during the winter. “Why would you do that?”

  “It’s fun watching people freak out. I like the cold, Jack. A little time in the snow in shorts won’t kill me. I do put on shoes. I didn’t used to.”

  I doubted I would ever understand the princess. “Why would you go out in the snow without shoes?”

  “Dad started a snowball fight with Mom, and I wasn’t waiting to get in on that. It’s not my fault Mom keeps the palace sweltering during the winter. I was in my pajamas, which are shorts in the winter because it’s too damned hot for anything other than shorts in the palace.”

  “That doesn’t sound healthy,” I muttered.

  “But it was fun, and I won. My parents were so shocked I came out without my shoes and in my pajamas that they forgot they were supposed to fling snow at me. I hit them both a few times and retreated back inside before they came to their senses.”

  “Please tell me she’s joking, Kevin.”

  “She would never joke about giving her agents gray hair and pneumonia. We’re more likely to get ill than she is, and we have to go where she goes, and she loves winter more than is necessarily wise.”

  “Mean,” Melody complained, stomping her foot. “So we have another mile to hike before we stop for a while?”

  “I was planning on doing lunch and then looking at the lake for the night.” We’d done better than I expected, covering six miles since we left the lake in only a few hours; the forest transitioned to pine, which made for sparse undergrowth, and the trees were old enough we didn’t have to duck many branches while we walked.

  “Let’s have lunch at the lake. It’s only a mile. You game, Kevin?”

  “I’m game, but we should let the cats out for a little while first.”

  Melody set Mr. Asshole down, unzipped his carrier enough she could reach her hand in and clip his leash to his harness, and released the beast. I followed her example, giving Sparrow a chance to stretch her legs.

  The cats immediately went to work digging in the pine needles to do their business, and I strategically placed myself upwind of the felines to dodge the stench.

  I bet both cats were making deliberate attempts at revenge for having been contained in their carriers for so long.

  At least they took the time to hide the evidence of their misdeeds. Once certain I wouldn’t be exposed to the smell, I pet my kitten and apologized for the necessity of putting her in the carrier before locking her up so she wouldn’t get lost in the woods.

  If either cat gave us the slip, I doubted we’d be able to retrieve them. Not safely.

  “Don’t look so worried, Jack. Everything will be just fine,” Melody said while she returned Mr. Asshole to his carrier. “Kevin’s arm is healing fine, you’re doing well, too, and even Mr. Asshole is doing okay. Oddly, I think all the excitement has been good for him. He’s pretty happy.”

  I bet the old cat was happy to be with hi
s owner. In more than a few ways, I was envious of him. All he had to do to get her attention was mew. The instant he mewed, Melody showered him with her affection. Rather than share my thoughts with her, I made certain I knew exactly which way we needed to go to find the next lake so we could add another mile to our journey and camp for the night.

  All I could do was hope the weather held and we made it through the next few weeks of our lives unscathed.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The next time I travelled anywhere, I would check the weather. I wouldn’t just check the weather where I was at or where I was going, I’d check everywhere in between, too.

  In a way, a blizzard would’ve been better than the howling winds, the stinging rain that fringed on hail, and the crashing thunder and lightning that set the sky ablaze. The fear of a blizzard had put me into emergency mode, which spared us—and our supplies—from the storm’s fury.

  Then, because I dared to think a blizzard might’ve been better, the weather delivered. As night fell, the rain turned to snow and ice. Drumming my fingers, I peeked out of the tent at the lake, wondering how I’d cope with a blizzard without being forced to manipulate more damned ice.

  The last thing we needed was a blizzard, but when push came to shove, I could handle just about anything nature threw at me. It would make reaching civilization difficult, especially if the snow stuck. If I ignored the symptoms of talent exertion and pushed, I could make it happen.

  I’d have to wait and see.

  “It’s snowing, isn’t it?” Melody asked, her tone concerned. She held her cat on her lap while mine batted at one of the interior tent ties.

  “It’s graduated to a blizzard. In good news, as long as the temperature doesn’t dive too low, we’ll be all right. With my talent, I can keep us sheltered, dry out wood, and catch fish. It won’t be pleasant, and we’ll have to be on watch for symptoms of hypothermia, but it’s survivable.”

  “But how?”

  “My talent can take care of most of it.”

  “Talent exertion,” she warned. “You’re still not recovered from the incident with the oil tanker. Your body weight is low, your pulse spikes whenever you use your magic, and your body is still pillaging muscle mass to cover your heightened requirements. You gorging at the stadium helped, but you haven’t healed yet.”