Braxton Snow P.I. (The Snow Adventures Book 1)

by Danny C Estes

  If I could somehow get the wood lit, the little heat would help once the wind died down. I looked at Joann and bit my lip. Her eyes were closed and face turned to avoid the worst of the wind. She was right about surviving less than three days. I grieved inside. If she survives this night at all. If this wind keeps up, she and Clair will be gone before sunset tomorrow. My eyes locked on the crate, willing it to go ablaze to grant her some warmth. Any amount to grant us more time. Ten minutes passed before a tickle of an idea granted me a spark of hope. The crate had nails! “I'm such a fool,” I said aloud. “Joann.” When she failed to answer I yelled, “Joann!”

  She raised her head slightly.

  “The crate. Do you have the strength to move it over to me?”

  She looked at the crate only centimeters {inches} from her pads. She glanced at me and nodded.

  “Good. I need the nails from the hinges. If I break it up, you could use your pads to lift up a board to my muzzle. I can chew off what I don't need. Afterward I can use the nails to pick the locks of my wrist shackles.”

  The light in Joann's eyes, which had grown dull, sparked to life as she heard my plan. Though hungry and cold, Joann mustered her strength and worked the crate under me. Although Joann's legs held the most power, I wished to save her energy. Thus I started in on the crate. I adjusted to hold my wrist chains in my paws and stomped down with my left pad. After several failed attempts, the crate cracked. When at last I'd busted the lid and side, I worked the crate over to her. Joann mustered herself and separated a piece small enough for me to work with.

  With her nimble toes and renewed hope, Joann shifted her body my way and doubling up, held the piece in front of my muzzle. As quickly as I could I gnawed at the wood and metal until I had two nails. When I nodded I had what I needed, Joann virtually collapsed from the strain of holding up her lower body.

  “Hold on, Joann,” I begged. A little manipulation of my tongue and I strained in using only my wrists to haul my dead weight up to take a look at the keyhole. With an idea how to pick the lock, I lowered enough so my right paw fingers could take up one of the nails. The other I left in my mouth. After this was accomplished, I relaxed to give my wrists and biceps a rest while I took several deep breaths. I prepared my mind. I closed my eyes. I flexed my left paw to work out any cold and stiffness. Satisfied, I took up the chain using only my left arm and pulled my body up. Once my elbow was fully bent, I pulled it into my chest. I lowered my muzzle to look at my paw. Shaking with the strain of supporting my body, still pelted by the wind, I carefully inserted the first nail. My eyes went wide when my shaking almost shook out the nail. In haste I nabbed it back with my lips. I realized my stupidity and relaxed to where I hung once more. I can't allow my weakness to rake my body so. I need to steady up.

  I laid my head back on the wall and sought my inner animal. The true strength that made me an Alpha Male. I'd touched it so often of late it was there under the surface, installed in the cage I'd made for its home all those years ago. Tail wagging like a dog and ears laid back, it waited. Ready to act on my bidding. But it had to be controlled. The animal was wild with wants and desires. I could see it in its glistening eyes. It wanted total control. Like it had when it got out after I'd unknowingly drunk the loco-weed-laced water. Firmly I held the door to that cage and only slowly opened it so it wouldn't lunge out but seep out, that my intelligence could lay reins on its desires. Breathing deeply, I made the animal mine ever so slowly. I let it fill my soul and heat up my blood.

  When at last I opened my eyes, completely entwined, the night had come and gone and the wind had died to a mere breeze. Though panic sought to raise up that I'd let Joann and Clair freeze to death during those hours, the animal stomped on it. Snarling, it, I, forced my panic back and took up the chain so I could pull myself up without the merest shake. Elbow bent and pulled into my chest, I worked the nail in place. My fingers took up the last nail from my teeth and I manipulated them together. Short seconds passed before the telltale sound of a click filled my ears. Eyes aflame, I lowered myself and shook out my left arm and paw.

  Out of a moment of weakness, I reached across and caressed Joann's face. “Joann. Joann, it won't be long now.”

  She didn't answer. She didn't even look up. Panic reinserted itself into my chest, but again my animal forced the emotion down, reasoning rightly, Nothing can be done until I'm free. With a will I closed my eyes to clear my mind. Once I reopened them I worked at the other shackle. Freed at last, the animal wanted to howl at the moon, even though it wasn't presently out as yet. Giddy in freedom at last, the animal was hard to control. Yet I was an Alpha. That knowledge made all the difference.

  In short order I freed Joann, Clair and Oscar, and carried them to the other side of the wall to get them out of the breeze. Next came the crate and the hunt for any others. Disregarding the pain in my right leg, I soon smashed the two crates into kindling and scraped the metal parts on the stone wall, raining sparks on the wood. After an interminable time, the wood caught. Soon a blessed blaze was lit. This pile will not last out the day. Perhaps only three hours or more if we're lucky. It'll have to do. I rubbed arms and legs on all animals. Oscar was first to stir, having more protection from the cold. After I gained his help, I pulled Joann into me and rubbed her from head to toe. Oscar did likewise with Clair. Both Jackrabbits soon responded by latching onto whoever held them for warmth.

  “Oh, love…” Joann murmured softly. “I shouldn't have doubted you.”

  I kissed her forehead. “You had every right.” I sighed within and held her close. Clair's reaction to who'd revived her was another matter.

  “No! Let go! I'd rather freeze to death…”

  I turned to the ruckus and saw Clair weakly slapping and kicking Oscar.

  “What the hell? Clair, stop it. You need the warmth,” I called over.

  “Clair, please…” Oscar pleaded. “Can you not forgive me and accept my aid?”

  Clair kneed him in the groin to get free.

  Oscar let go and she scrambled, fell, rolled until she hit my side and latched on.

  “Clair, what's eating you?” I questioned, grimacing as she hit my bad leg. “He said he was sorry.”

  She looked up into my eyes then buried her face in my fur, mumbling obscenities.

  I looked at Oscar. “Did something else happen to her while I was out on my run?”

  Oscar gained his feet and straightened out his clothes.

  “Hardly.” He busied his tail between his paws. “She maybe still upset over my suggestion the two of them lay with me as a token of appreciation in saving their lives, but as I didn't force the issue, I don't know why she's acting so.” By the firelight, Oscar's features looked composed. There was no guilt written in face, tone or body.

  “Oscar,” Joann spoke up, shifting her head to look at him. “You need not tell him. That was between you and us.”

  Clair's antics rolled over in my mind until I realized he'd posed the question to both Jackrabbits. That meant he propositioned Joann as well. When I stiffened, Joann felt it and grabbed my muzzle.

  “Braxton, don't! We need your warmth more than your chivalry.”

  A snarl escaped my lips. The Alpha male was enraged. Had our circumstances been anything other, I might have gotten up and beaten the shit out of him for seeking to have sex with my fiancée.

  Joann slapped my face. “Braxton! You've nothing to avenge your pride on. Nothing happened. The fox accepted our refusals and left us alone.”

  “Speak for yourself, sister…” Clair spoke up. “I want my pound of flesh.”

  Joann slapped her sister. “Don't you go encouraging him. We don't need this.”

  The two argued as I watched Oscar with eyes that saw everything. He knew he'd overstepped his boundaries. Yet how could I really blame him? Joann was a lovely white-tail jackrabbit and Clair was no eyesore either.

  The fire was dying. By the sun's position I guessed the time to be oh-six hundred hours. To keep himself
apart as I calmed down and acknowledged nothing happened to warrant physical harm, Oscar involved himself in the stone wall, examining every exposed inch.

  For myself, I held Joann and Clair while I worked out how far we might be out on the ice. Though I'd done the twenty-day run in its entirety as a youth, I only knew the approximate location of the hairless apes' wall from the birch tree and not as a straight shot out from the clan. An average animal unencumbered on the ice could walk three to five kilometers an hour. {2 to 2½ miles} The clan wolves, twice that. A bit further, if on level ground. However, the glacier is anything but level. I nuzzled Joann as I continued to work it out. Encumbered as they were with slowing to Joann and Clair's pace as they lugged out the two crates, I estimate the wolves walked twelve hours a day for six days. Best guess, we're fifty-eight kilometers on the ice. {36 miles} Clair had fallen asleep at my side. Joann looked to be awake, but remained still with her head on my chest. I looked at the fire. Perhaps another hour left. I eyed the distance. We're halfway into May. Another day or so and the sun will sit on the horizon, giving off some light all twenty-four hours in the day. I closed my eyes to bring up a picture of the glacier. If I'm right, the ice should have receded some, south of us. Still, we've five or six days to walk on freezing ice during the heat of the day while the evening finds us without the sun's heat to chase away the cold. I sighed.

  Joann stirred. “Braxton, what are we to do? We're days from civilization.”

  “I'm working that out, love.”

  “You two best work that out soon. This fire can't last much longer,” Clair added.

  “By the maker!” Oscar said out loud on the other side of the wall. “I never thought!”

  My ears swiveled and I raised my eyes up and right to hear Oscar's antics on the other side. Joann did the same, though I had to push one or her ears out of my eye.

  Oscar came around the wall at a fast walk. “You'll never believe this. It's not far. Perhaps four to five days, at a guess.” Oscar was like a little kid, bouncing around as if his pads were on fire. “Braxton, it's the discovery of a lifetime. We have to go!”

  “What are you on about?” I asked.

  “Paradise, Braxton. Paradise. According to the old language, northeast of us is a stretch of land the old book referred to as Cleo Baker Two.” He looked around the wall as if he could see that far. “It's referred to as the last best hope. A place to gather and commence a life-changing event.”

  “You're talking of that book you stole from the Cat-A-Mite Museum.”

  Oscar's ears dropped and he look hurt. “Stole is such an ugly word. Besides, I didn't steal it. I liberated it to keep certain parties from getting their paws on it.”

  The conversation wasn't advancing the cause to save ourselves, but it gave us a distraction from our plight. I decided it might help Clair's morale to argue with him. Besides, my primitive self wanted ever so much to pound on him for propositioning Joann. An outcome that felt ever so right for his wish to violate my chosen Alpha Female. “Tomato, Tomatto, same difference.”

  “Not so. Those animals wanted to destroy the book with all its hidden knowledge.” Oscar's ears fell back and his tail twitched.

  “So where is it?”

  Oscar's lips curled back as shame covered his face. “Burnt to ashes in my very own home by my accursed nephew, right before my eyes.” Oscar's eyes filled with feverish fire. “But not before I'd already committed it to memory.” Oscar slapped the wall. “This marvelous structure was featured in the book as 'Guide post one.' A marker in the ice to point the way.” He pointed northeast along the length of the wall. “We need to go that way.”

  “That direction leads deeper onto the glacier. It's not possible. As it is, Joann and Clair will have a bad time of it heading south, where I think we'll come out some kilometers from Whisker Falls.” I took a deep breath, as that made up my mind. “With luck, before then we'll find some kind of game we both can eat to fortify our bodies in further aiding them.” I stopped there. I didn't want to fill the air with the likely possibility my leg was infected and I'd be in no shape to hunt by then. Hell, I hate to think it. But we may be dependent on Oscar to scare up game. As for the frozen meat on the other side of the wall, it would do us no good. With no way to light a fire to thaw the surface enough for or teeth to penetrate, it would only be a burden on our trek out.

  Oscar let his head fall back on his neck and said some curse words. He found new words to throw at me and said, “You're not looking at the big picture.” He raised his paw. “A few days and we'll uncover the last hold-out for the hairless apes. After hundreds of years of speculation, the facts will be there for us to discover. We'll finally know what happened to them and possibly what turn of events caused animals such as us to stand up on our hind legs and take their place.”

  “No, Oscar.”

  The fox clinched his paws. “Damn it, wolf! I'll never get this chance again. Your clan, along with eleven or twelve others, guard this glacier. Don't you want to know why? Aren't you just the least bit curious? Your own father was a part of this mystery. Now your sisters are involved. Would it not be self-serving to join me and seek these answers so you can reclaim your rightful place in the clan and know why you're guarding this glacier?”

  Regretfully I stirred both Joann and Clair. “We needs be moving. The fire has given all it's going to.”

  “I'm not following him, if that's your intention,” Clair clarified in a huff.

  “Padding deeper onto the ice is far from my thoughts,” I assured her.

  Oscar stood rigid and took a stand. “You're not going anywhere but with me.”

  I put my arms around Joann and Clair to offer up some heat from my body. However, Joann noticed my face belied my pain and I favored the leg the polar bear mauled. She looked down and really took notice of my leg.

  “Love, you're hurt!” Joann touched the area and I winced.

  “Yeah, that tends to happen when a polar bear gets the jump on you.”

  “Polar bear?” Oscar inquired, his ears going active.

  “How long ago?” Joann asked.

  “Can't say, I've lost track of time.”

  Joann slapped my arm, hard. “You idiot, I see it's hurting you. If it's not properly treated, you could lose the leg or worse yet, your life. Then what's to become of me…” The intent was clear in her eyes but with a sideways glance on her sister, she added,”…and Clair?”

  “Believe me, you two are all I think about,” I confessed.

  Joann's ears stiffened behind her, showing she was mad, agitated and worried. “You need to sit and let me look at it.”

  “We need to get moving.”

  Joann pointed to the ground. “Sit.”

  I looked in her beautiful but stern eyes. Even shivering as she was, she looked adamant.

  As arguing would squander more energy than she had to spare, with her help and that of the wall, I sat, for in truth I knew her to be right.

  “Clair, I'm going to need your help.” Joann looked up at Oscar. “You too, fox.”

  “Are you sure?” Oscar asked.

  “He's not going to hurt you but I will if you don't help,” Joann threatened.

  Oscar held up his paws in surrender. “Okay, okay.”

  The fox made it a point to be on the other side of Clair while Joann unwound my makeshift bandage. I grimaced to even her light touch, showing off my teeth in an involuntary snarl.

  “It's infected, alright.” Joann's worried words found my ears. Clair was holding my right arm while Oscar held my left shoulder and arm. Joann rotated my right leg, examining the calf. “I'll have to reopen the wounds and bleed them.”

  “Is that really necessary?” Oscar asked nervously. “Could we not just help him along until we find shelter to properly attend to his leg?”

  Joann ignored Oscar. “Love, this is really going to hurt.” She rolled up my ripped-up pant leg and gave it to me. “Here, bite down on this.”

  “Thanks…” I did as bi
dden.

  Clair and Oscar hunkered down and held onto me. Joann swallowed, extended her claws, and gave me one more worried look before I nodded. Ears laid back, she tore my leg apart. It took all I had not harm her, Oscar and Clair. My animal screamed and fought to tear out of their hold to stop her ill treatment of my calf. Yet despite the snarls and growls that escaped my clinched teeth, Joann was thorough. Each puncture the bear left in my calf she reopened, and using her claws she widened and deepened each to make certain blood flowed to aid in cleaning out the infection and bad blood trapped inside. When at last I thought she was through, Joann snapped her fingers at Clair and asked her to get any remaining brand still left in our near-dead fire. My eyes went wide—she was going to cauterize the wounds. I watched the brand being given over and I learned, though only minutely, how an animal felt being burned alive.

  Some moments passed. I think I passed out. I blinked to see Joann wrapping my leg with strips cut from her own pants. Still hurting, I scolded. “You should have used my pants for that.”

  Her worried but big sympathetic gray eyes looked into mine. “Don't be silly. Your pants are too filthy. Though I've cauterized the wounds, there's still a chance they could get infected. Mine were the cleanest between Clair and I.”

  I rolled my head. Oscar stood some centimeters away, examining his arm.

  “You broke free of his hold and grabbed his arm,” Joann enlightened me.

  “Oh…” I looked at my paw and saw the eggshell-colored nails held drops of blood. “Sorry,” I said lamely.

  Oscar glanced my way, moving his arm and flexing his fingers. Pragmatically he said, “No harm done.”