“You have to turn your skis to stop,” Vivi calls after me. “Otherwise you’re going to keep going.”
“I am simply testing them,” I call back to her.
“Of course you are, babe.” Her laughter is sweet on the air, taking the sting out of her words.
I finally figure out how to turn my skis and when I do, I flop over onto the ground. Hmph. I will need to work on that part. I suppose I cannot be amazing at everything right away. Getting back on my feet proves to be a bigger challenge than the hill. By the time I manage to get upright again, Nadine is down the hill and standing with Vivi. I slide my way back to them and I have to admit, it does let me move across the snow quickly.
Vivi’s eyes are bright with excitement. “Let’s try going across the snow down here and go cross-country for a bit. I want to give the skis a real workout before we call them a success.”
We ski for a bit longer, but then one of Nadine’s blades breaks, and then the two women spend a long time examining the broken piece, looking for flaws and discussing how to make it stronger for the future. “I should head back anyhow,” Nadine says, glancing up at the suns and their position in the sky. “Thrand and Deenie are going to be wondering where I am.”
“We’re going to stay out for a bit longer,” my mate says. “If the weather holds, I want to ski out to one of the supply caves. Don’t wait up for us.”
“Oooh, a sexy honeymoon. You know I won’t.” She winks at us and then waves, picking up the broken pieces and hiking back up the snowy hill to the trail that leads back to the beach camp below.
“We are staying out for longer?” I ask Vivi, surprised. “For a sexy honeymoon?”
My mate moves closer to me, skiing to my side. She bumps into me and grins, and then adjusts the scarf around my neck again. “Not exactly. We’re partners, right?”
“Right…?”
She gazes up at me. “Do you trust me?”
“You know I would follow you anywhere.”
Vivi pats my chest. “Good, because I’m about to ask you something crazy.”
Chapter Thirty
VIVI
I see the tracks again.
The moment I landed at the base of the hill, I noticed the heavy drag mark next to the paw prints, and I realize the same snow-cat that followed us across the mountains is still in the area. I forget all about the skis and the weeklong project I’ve been buried in.
A plan forms in my head.
Part of me knows we should be getting back to camp. Sabrina is organizing things for Flor and I’rec’s wedding feast, and I should go back to help cook, or tend the fire, whichever way I can contribute. But if this snow-cat has a busted leg, he deserves our help. I’ve been thinking about this ever since my finger broke and healed up so quickly thanks to the khui. If his leg is broken, it likely healed wrong. This means that I can re-set his leg and it will heal properly and he can go back to being a normal snow-cat.
I don’t know why, but it’s important to me that I help it. I just need to get Skarr on my side to see that what we’re doing is right.
“There’s an injured snow-cat out here and we should help it,” I tell him. “I think it has a broken leg. I want to fix it.”
“You want to…hunt it?” he corrects.
“No, I want to help it. I want to re-set its broken leg as best we can so it has a chance of surviving.”
Skarr gazes down at me, a frown of disapproval on his face. “But it is a fierce animal. Everyone says that snow-cats are dangerous. I brought no weapons, and I do not like the idea of you going near a wounded creature.”
“We’re partners, remember? You have to trust that I know my limits. And my idea is a simple one. Hannah showed me this herb that grows nearby on the cliffs. It makes you sleepy and you pass out. We can pull a kill from a cache, stuff it full of the herbs and wait for the cat to eat it. Once it’s asleep, we tie him up and fix his leg, and then we release him again.”
“But how do you know he will eat it?”
“If he’s got a busted leg, he’s probably starving. He’ll eat it,” I say confidently, even though I have no idea if my plan will work or not. I’m just winging it, but I also don’t want to sit back and do nothing and wait for someone else to kill it. The sitting-back-and-feeling-sorry-for-myself phase of my life is over, just like my old life. I’m Vivi now, and Vivi doesn’t wait for shit.
Vivi makes shit happen.
“Come on,” I tell him, adjusting my poles. “Nadine showed me where the closest hunter cave is.” I point at a distant peak. “If we get to the other side of that, there’s a cliff that has a fat double rock on top of it, and the cave is just underneath. We’ll supply there and get weapons, and then track the cat.”
“You’re sure this will work?”
“Not in the slightest, but we’re doing it anyhow,” I tell him confidently.
I wait for him to object. For him to tell me that my plan is stupid, or that he thinks we should leave it alone. That messing with a predator is dangerous. Instead, a slow smile curves his mouth and he grins at me. “I love it when you’re bossy.”
That’s good, because I like being bossy.
The skis make traveling easier. We glide over the snow, avoiding hills when we can and just hauling ourselves over the mostly level terrain in the valleys. I pause a few times to gather leaves at the plant Hannah showed me. It’s easy to pick out because the leaves have a gray underside with a V pattern, and they’re plentiful. I fill my belt-pouch with them and we continue on. We’re still sweaty and winded by the time we make it to the supply cave, but the light is just starting to fade when we find it. Nadine told me that it was at least a day’s travel away from the camp. That means we crossed nearly a day within a few hours.
I like it. The skis held up, too, though they’re showing a bit of wear. I’m pleased.
We find the fat double rock and comb the cliffs until we see the entrance to the cave. Just as Nadine described, there are supplies in here, though they’re not put away as neatly as she said. They look as if they’ve been rummaged through, and I’m guessing that whatever hunter was here last was a slob.
Doesn’t matter. I spy several bone spears in the back of the cave, a basket full of fuel cakes, and furs. The temperature is dropping with encroaching nightfall, and I’m reminded again that Skarr needs warmth. I’ve been checking with him all day to ensure that he’s not too cold, but he’s been fine. The extra layers I’ve added to his leathers this last week have helped, along with the tail-sock. His tail isn’t thin and whip-like like the sa-khui. His is thick and meaty and has a lot of mass, and he loses a lot of warmth when it’s naked in the cold.
I’m not risking him for a snow-cat, no matter how much helping it means to me. “We’ll build a fire and I’ll work on getting some snow to melt while you take care of it. Do you need help with setting up blankets?”
“No.” He flexes his hands and lifts his arms, flexing his biceps. “Your fierce warrior has plenty of energy.”
I don’t bat an eye at his showing off. “It’s not your energy I’m worried about but your temperature.”
He lowers his arms. “It’s much warmer today. Nothing aches.”
“You’d tell me if it did? So I can prepare accordingly as your partner?”
Skarr nods. “The only thing troubling me today is resonance.”
Me, too. I focused on skiing for the last few days because it helped to have a purpose, a goal in mind. But skiing with Skarr today reminded me how strong he is. I’m sweating and winded after all that skiing but he just looks warmed up. He could probably go all night, and the graceful way that he handled his poles after a bit of practice? It made me weak in the knees. Even now, I’m staring at him a little too hard.