by M J Porter
Forgetting for the time being who he was amongst his own people he began to dig with his huge front claws, throwing huge quantities of snow and ice aside. Only when he had nearly excavated a path to the cave opening, did he remember that the girl would not be able to see him and that she might be terrified of a sudden opening forming in front of her cave. He needed to do something so that the debris would be cleared away without her knowing he had done it. Looking urgently around his eyes alighted on a large boulder balanced precariously above the ledge of the cave. He wondered if he caused it to fall if the cave entrance would be cleared. That way the girl, and hopefully Erann, would be able to escape.
Flying up to the boulder he snapped his wings shut and leant against it. It was large and heavy but no match for his bulk and sheer determination. Greeneyes felt movement and the boulder slowly shifted to land exactly where he had hoped it would. He felt a spark of recognition as the crash of the boulder momentarily awakened Erann from his delirium. Greeneyes instantly felt a little more helpful. He heard a distant scream and then nothing Peering over the ledge, his front claws hooked on to aid his balance, he peered into the cave. There was not yet much light inside and so he used his front claws to wipe more of the snow away in order to let the sunlight into the cave.
He heard an exclamation of surprise and kept to his place as he watched the girl stagger out from the cave and into the late evening sunset. He felt nothing further from Erann and realised, belatedly, that they must have been separated by the avalanche.
She emerged blinking into the sunlight, her wolf by her side. Greeneyes could see her frantically searching. She climbed onto the pile of snow a few body lengths from the entrance to the cave very unsteadily and started to dig with her hands in a wild and uncontrolled way. She was followed by her wolf who also began to dig albeit with a little more skill. The girl was sobbing and repeating Erann’s name over and over again.
Greeneyes watched her. If she was digging there then he reasoned that she must think that Erann was buried there, and as she was the last person to see him before the avalanche she was the only lead he had to go on. He knew he would be able to dig more effectively than her but how to do it so that she wasn’t aware? He needed her to stay because she would need to care for Erann if they found him alive, yet he needed her to leave so that he could dig instead of letting her ineffectually scrap around with her hands and the wolf’s paws.
He realised that he was thinking, “Go away. Go away” over and over in his head at the same time as he saw the girl look up and away down the slope of the avalanche. Quickly, she shook her head and resumed digging. Had he imagined it? Again he thought, “Go away, go away” and she again glanced up apprehensively before returning to her task.
Could his thoughts influence her actions? And if so, he needed to do something that would make her move instead of just thinking about moving. Just then the wolf barked and caught his attention. That was it. Earlier he’d had more success seeing the wolf’s mind.
He ‘thought’ at the wolf, “Go and dig near the cave. Bark and go and dig near the cave”. He received a confused image from the wolf’s mind before it did exactly what he had told it to do. Greeneyes looked on in wonderment as the girl leapt to where the wolf was now digging.
Quickly Greeneyes moved near to where Sereh had been digging, his wings snapping in place, and instead of digging himself blew a stream of boiling hot air downwards. It was much quicker than digging and he was only too aware of how important it had become to find Erann now. There was a loud crack and the snow and ice evaporated in the intense heat. At the loud noise he was aware that the girl lifted her eyes from her task and glanced apprehensively at the mountain above her. However, she did not look towards him.
Greeneyes risked peeking downwards and was relieved to see that Erann lay, unmoving but breathing at the bottom of the cleared area. Moving away quickly he thought, “Come back” and watched first the wolf and then the girl return to the now snow free area. She looked around in shock and then leapt down next to Erann and gently touched his face. Tears were streaming down her own face as she carefully ran her hands over his. Then she looked about uncertainly.
Relieved that Erann was no longer trapped Greeneyes decided to wait some distance away even though there was no chance of her seeing him. Somehow he just felt it would be safer. He’d interfered enough for one day. With a snap of his wings, he took to the air.
From his vantage point above the cave he kept vigil. As he hovered he looked over the land around him. Only a few weeks before this view would have been denied him. Now he absorbed the view, paying particular attention to the extent of his land and the main natural features he could discern. His eye was caught by the largest of the Southern Volcanoes as it delicately coughed out more smoke and ash. The images he had studied in his pool, had not mentioned these strange phenomena other than to note their existence. Surely some reference should have been made to the earth tremors, and smoking volcanoes? Had these violent shakings not occurred before? Since the tremor that had resulted in his predecessor’s death he had experienced at least another three tremors. This was only over a mere few weeks. How could his people not have noted these events before and why had he never experienced them in his own lifetime? He had a feeling they were not a good sign.
Awakening
She was inordinately relieved to see Erann alive if unconscious. Whatever had affected his exposure (and she really didn’t want to think about that now) she wished it had somehow managed to free him from the deep hole that he now lay in.
She looked about frantically, and with some trepidation, but could think of no way to haul him out and there was no one else on the entire glacier as far as the eye could see who would be able to help her lift him out. The day was now quiet, cold and deserted, with no hint of the total chaos that had happened earlier.
The hole Erann lay in was at least twice her own height and the steep sides meant she had to jump down, jarring her aching legs and feet as she landed near his head. He was pale and sweaty whilst shivering in his sleep and she needed to get a fire going and him near to it. She touched him hesitantly and spoke his name. His face was slicked in sweat and he did not respond when she called his name. She needed to see his injuries, which looked to be many and painful. His beautiful face was covered in scratches. There was a huge gash under his right eye that was already almost swollen shut on his beautiful jade eye and there was another deep cut on the side of his neck. She traced his swollen eye with her small finger and felt a current jolt through her body. He was unresponsive and still being near him thrilled her.
The last she had seen of him, he had been falling onto his front. The sheer force of the moving wall of snow must have turned him over and over and he lay sprawled on top of his back pack. She wondered what other, less visible injuries had been done to his well-formed body.
Looking back up the hole towards sunlight, she could make out Arrow’s head, looking at her quizzically. In the quietness of the day she was very aware of her own and Arrow’s laboured breathing. Erann’s was a little more difficult to hear. Arrow’s face was so intense and concerned that Sereh felt as though she could hear Arrow’s thoughts and she found herself saying out loud,
“I know girl, I have no idea how we’re going to get him out of here either”.
She quickly resolved herself to the fact that there was no other option than to carry him out. She could not hope to dig a further tunnel through the detritus of the avalanche. Erann was firmly in the middle of it. The miraculous revelation of him was just that, miraculous. Calling to Arrow to jump down she managed to get her to pull Erann into a sitting position. He groaned in his sleep. She slipped his backpack from his shoulders, or rather shoved it off aggressively as it was firmly wedged on his back, and motioned to Arrow that she was to carry it. Arrow obliged by dragging the backpack backwards out of the hole using her powerful back legs to brace herself.
Sereh then grabbed Erann and gritting her teeth managed t
o stand whilst holding him. She was immediately aware that she would not be able to carry him out. Not with the steep sides of the hole as they were. She gently laid him down again and turned to the side of the hole. Maybe if she constructed some snow steps she would be able to haul him up with the help of Arrow? She turned to the less steep of the sides, not that there was much in it, and started to fashion some sort of foot holds for herself in a gradient up the side of the tunnel. Using her hands, she fashioned the steps marvelling that her hands did not become numb with cold whilst she worked. The snow felt slightly warm, which she thought slightly odd, before disregarding the idea.
It seemed to take a long time to reach the top and by then she was hot, sweaty and thoroughly disgruntled. Just doing that had taken all her effort and she still needed to get Erann out.
Arrow had returned during her exertions and had simply sat and watched her work from Erann’s side. Sereh was grateful for the show of moral support and for the warmth that Arrow gave to Erann. She was also glad that her wolf had thought better of helping her. She would 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 warm but she was finding it hard to concentrate on anything other than his close proximity and the wonder of his survival.
From below her Arrow let out a small whimper and Sereh jumped back to the bottom of the hole again jarring her legs and feet. With the help of Arrow she pulled Erann into a sitting position and then bent him and managed to get him over her shoulder. She had decided that this was the best way to try and carry him. But he was a dead weight in her arms and within moments, her arms were trembling and she felt hot and sweaty all over again. She took a staggering step towards her improvised steps, having to grasp the slippery sides of the tunnel to stay upright, and was assailed with a feeling of failure and disappointment. There was no way she could do this.
At that moment, Arrow let out a strange yelping sort of noise and Sereh felt rather than heard a boom. She glanced fearfully at the mountain behind her, or what she could see of it from so far down. She couldn’t make out another avalanche on its face and feeling renewed determination got her foot on the first step she had made. Erann did not feel so heavy any more and she wondered if she was having a moment of unimaginable strength in response to the emergency she found herself in. She had heard of it happening to other people before.
She trudged her way slowly up her steps, staggering and sweating but determined. Eventually she staggered out onto the remains of the avalanche. The surface was not smooth and she avoided pitfalls of twisted branches and stones and headed for her former cave where she had been trapped by the avalanche. Arrow followed her and walked besides her with a wolfish smile on her face, her grey ears cocked at odd angles to her face.
In no time at all, Sereh had Erann in the cave. She lay him down carefully in the spot she had slept in. Her fur was discarded there and she further rooted around for her own backpack. Arrow had abandoned Erann’s by hers. It was crushed and out of shape. She pulled out the furs inside and covered him with them. Then she went back outside. The avalanche had ripped up the sparse trees from the mountain side and dragged them with it. They were littered everywhere. She quickly gathered an armload of broken branches and returned to Erann’s side. She pulled the heat stone from his backpack and used it to light a fire, before gathering some snow in her wooden pot and leaving it to melt by the side of the fire. She was incredibly thirsty after her efforts.
Although the fire had only just caught Sereh felt warm and so removed her own furs and lay them over Erann as well. He still looked terrible and he had not moved since she had brought him to safety. He lay where she had placed him; his arms by his side but his legs were at odd, disjointed angles. She had hoped that the warmth would stop his shivering and would return his beautiful face to a healthier colour. Instead he still shivered, uncontrollably and his face looked blue. The only improvement was that his breathing now seemed less feeble than before. She felt helpless. She had no herb law and knew that she could not leave him to fend for himself whilst she went in search of an herb woman. The only one she knew was at Rankil’s home and she did relish going there. It was also a journey of at least two sunrises and she would then need to get back to him. She did not think that he would last another four sunrises without some form of help and ministration to his injuries.
Arrow had now made herself comfortable against Erann’s left side and Sereh thought that was probably a good idea. Using the now warm water to make a tea she slowly dribbled it between his lips before swallowing the rest herself. She refilled her pot outside and shivered herself as her sweat dried on her skin and the slight chill wind blew across the destroyed landscape. Leaving it by the fire she went to Arrow’s side so that she could lie by him as well. Arrow realised what she was doing and made room for her by getting up and going to lie over his feet instead. Erann whimpered in his sleep and Sereh felt sure that he must have a broken foot or leg. She did not look now feeling it would be better if they all slept for a while. She felt exhausted. She would eat when she woke.
* * *
He was aware that he was no longer trapped and he was aware that he was being moved. The arms that held him felt huge and small at the same time. He desperately tried to open his eyes to see who it was. They would not cooperate. He sensed there might still be rocks on his eyes preventing them from opening. He used all his self-control and slowly he felt his eyes open, or at least one of them. It shut again immediately.
Again he used all his self-command and his one eye opened. The other would not open even a slit. He glanced at the person carrying him and recognised, gratefully, the face of Sereh. She couldn’t be carrying him alone. And so he looked around wildly with his one eye. He tried to look around him, to see who was helping her. He was greeted with a vision of the biggest green eyes he had ever seen. His eye slammed shut in response and his mind closed down again, unable to comprehend what he had seen.
He drifted.
He saw the land stretched out in front of him for distances he could not comprehend. He could see the peaks of the mountains shrouded in cloud and was amazed to realise that he looked down on them and not up. The vision was awe inspiring.
In the blink of an eye he could see the Eastern Sea stretching out endlessly and in another blink he could see the peaks of Odadahraun. He could turn his head to look at Lang Jokull and turn it again to view the volcanoes of the south. He looked directly down and he could see Vatna Jokull which he had been walking around for many sunrises. It all appeared no bigger than his father’s journal.
He knew that he should hold on tightly to the images he saw. Instead his head swam and he lost the images as once again, he drifted.
* * *
She was nervously running her hands through her hair when Erann gave a gasp and abruptly attempted to sit up. He managed about half way. He glanced wildly at Sereh as she sat by his side, where she had again being trying to dribble water through his closed lips until only moments before and then turned to peer out of their cave. She felt her heart leap with happiness that he was finally awake.
She thought he was about to speak. Instead he continued to stare at something and slowly a small smile lit his bruised and greening face. Sereh attempted to follow his gaze but could see nothing to smile about, just the scene of utter devastation that the avalanche had caused. He licked his lips.
When Erann spoke to her she jumped a little, so caught up in her thoughts of what might have been, and relief that it had not been.
“Sorry Erann what did you say?”
“I take it that I have you and Arrow to thank for saving my life again?”
She expected his voice to be raw from his experiences, instead it sounded strong and amused,
“Well, yes mostly you do.”
Sereh expected him to question her words. He didn’t and the small smile remained in place. She wondered what was making him smile, unless
it was just the sheer exuberance of finding himself alive when he thought he was dead.
“I don’t suppose there’s some water is there?”
Almost falling over herself in her haste to reach the pot with the melted snow, she passed it to Erann and couldn’t help noticing that her hand shook. She wondered if she was suffering from shock and hoped that she wasn’t. She needed to be strong for Erann and nurse him back to health. She would not be able to look after herself and him if she went to pieces now.
He either didn’t notice or chose not to comment on her wobbles. Whichever, she was grateful. He drank the water greedily and handed the now empty cup back to her with an apologetic grin,
“Don’t suppose I could have some more, could I?” Again she rushed to do his bidding whilst Arrow looked on, almost in amusement. Sereh thought to herself that she really needed to calm down. Her behaviour seemed inappropriate to the circumstances.
“I guess I owe you thanks as well.” She called lightly from just outside the cave. She was busily refilling the pot with snow. She was relieved that her voice sounded strong, because she felt a little bit giddy.
“If it wasn’t for you pushing me out of the way then I’d have been buried as well.” She turned back to him at that moment and saw that his merry smile had been replaced with a small tight grin. She wasn’t sure what it meant. He replied in a soft voice,
“I’m just glad I got you out of the way. As the snow fell over me it was a relief to know that you, at least, were safe.”
Whatever the look before had meant, there was no denying the catch in his voice. Sereh looked at him in surprise and he met her gaze unflinchingly.