Chapter 16

The following morning, Sarah and Twin Bird woke together. They decided to let the others sleep. They went climbing up to a ridge on a hill not far from the camp. Suddenly, a rock shifted under Twin Birds foot. It was falling, and so was she. She frantically grabbed for a handhold, but missed. Twin Bird and the small avalanche she was in, fell straight on Sarah. Within seconds, they were both mostly buried in rock.

"John" followed by feedback in his ear, stood John on his toes.

"Art, you guys have to stop doing that."

"John, I only do it with good cause. Sarah and Twin Bird are hurt badly. The vehicle and trailer are on their way. You and Little Doe need to go dig them out."

John woke Little Doe, and grabbed his pants. He put his boots on, and ran toward the ridge.

"Oh my God, there must be hundreds of pounds of rocks on them."

They were both unconscious, for which John gave thanks. John started lifting some of the larger stones off of them, while Little Doe worked on the smaller ones. Before long Twin Bird was uncovered, from the angle of her arm and leg, it was obvious that both were broken. John lifted her and carried her back to camp. He returned to help finish digging Sarah out. She was badly bruised, but it didn't look like she had any broken limbs.

They had every thing packed, by the time the vehicle and trailer got there. They laid out the sleeping bags on the trailer to be pads, and put the injured ladies on them. They hastily threw the rest of their stuff into the back of the SUV. John ordered Art to drive back as quickly as possible.

The trip back seemed to take forever. John was thankful that either girl regained consciousness on the way back. At home, the garage door was standing open. So was the door on the clinic trailer. They carried Twin Bird in, followed by Sarah. Before they could get out of the way, the pink light came on. This froze them in their tracks.

The bruising and distention of Sarah's abdomen went down first. Then Twin Bird's broken leg. After that it seemed to alternate fixing something on each of them. After what must have been hours, John and Little Doe found them selves able to move again. John left the trailer to go get blankets and pillows while Little Doe went to get some food.

"Art, what just happened? How bad was it?"

"Several of Sarah internal organs were ruptured by the rocks that hit her abdomen. There was already a lot of internal bleeding. I thought you would prefer temporary paralysis to the loss of Sarah. I even cheated and made the vehicle go faster than it was designed to go."

"Remind me when I get mad at you, that you really do have our best interests at heart. You just paid your dues, today. How long before they wake up?"

"Twin Bird will wake soon. Sarah will not wake until the morning. She really was badly damaged."

"How soon can we expect some of the people who winter near here to show up?"

"The closest group should be here in two weeks. Your group will be here in three and a half."

"Art this is a real open ended question. Is there anything I need to know, that I should have already figured out, that you can tell me?"

"Well, the only advice I can give you right now, is that when you add up how many people you need to work here and protect it, you probably want to double that number."

John spent the day in his bedroom. He knew he couldn't help them heal but he felt better being there. By late afternoon, he noticed Twin Bird twitch. He moved to where he could hold her hand.

She opened her eye and saw him sitting there staring into them. She smiled up at him. It felt good to be cared for. Suddenly she remembered, "Sarah, what happened to her. Is she dead? Oh, no! It's all my fault."

He reached out and held her in his arms, forcing her to be still.

"Quiet, Twin Bird. Sarah will be all right. She is on the other side of the bed. She should wake, tomorrow. It's not your fault. It was an accident. The rocks were unstable. You had no way of knowing. When you calm down you might want to thank Art. He broke some rules getting you two back here as fast as he did, and he healed both of you. You might have lived but Sarah would have died."

The evening meal was subdued. Twin Bird's happy personality was not back, yet, as everyone was still worried about Sarah. That night to get his mind off things John started to work some rod stock into a basic knife form. There was nothing like beating metal into a desired shape, to relieve stress.

The next morning Sarah was the first one awake. When she awoke, she found herself in the center of a four person smuggle in the bed. John was holding her closely in some intimate spots, but she loved it. She could feel the love flowing between all four of them. It was wonderful. When she tried to extricate herself from John's hold, he woke up. He clung to her a minute and rained kisses on her face. "I love you."

"I love you, too; but if you don't let go, we will be in a very wet bed."

He watched her as she left the room.

'Tonight we will hear Twin Bird's story and then tomorrow mine, ' he thought to himself.

He spent some time planning, and then got up.

He spent the day making more knife forms. At lunch, he asked his wives to check how many antlers they had. If they didn't have many, would they look around outside a little for some? He spent the afternoon in the smithy.