Reckless Rescue (27 page)

He handed Marlee her clothes, all except her dress, which he couldn’t reach, and dressed under the quilt as hastily as he could. With his exposed skin covered, he sat up and stared in disbelief at the jumble of wood, thatch and snow in front of him, blocking the only exit.

Thank goodness they hadn’t been directly under the fall. Considering their complete lack of clothing, that wouldn’t have gone well at all.

The covers moved next to him as Marlee pulled on all her extra layers. Then she dragged the quilt around her over the top of her clothes. Even so, she still shivered intermittently. Tyris put his arms around her and rubbed her shoulders vigorously through the covers. “Are you okay?” he asked. He edged over closer to the fire, but even the flames did little to compete with the wind.

“I think so.” Marlee’s shivering lessened, and she leaned against him as though gathering strength. Then she turned towards the snow, her back straightening. “What are we going to do?”

To cover the fact that he had no idea, Tyris regarded the snow seriously for a few minutes. “We could try to dig our way out, but I’m concerned about bringing down more snow.”

He really, really didn’t want to be buried in snow again this winter. Or ever.

“Can we get out the window?” Marlee asked.

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Tyris jumped up to check the one window he could still access, pulling back the woollen curtain and pushing at the shutters. 

They didn’t move so much as an inch. “The snow’s covering them outside, it must be higher than I thought.”

Another shiver ran through Marlee. “We’re trapped.”

Tyris stared around the room, fighting the feeling of helplessness that threatened to overcome him. Why had the house been built with only one door? He examined the blockage, trying to determine how deep it was and what his chances of digging their way out were. 

The main roof brace that joined the wall just above the door had snapped under the weight of the snow, breaking again just above the middle of the room, where it was held up by two supporting beams. The whole thing still creaked and groaned. The beam in front of him, jammed in by the snow, was holding them up, but if he tried to move it, he could bring the roof down on their heads. And the many smaller supports that ran off the centre beam were still attached, blocking them from the rest of the room.

Through the gaps, he could see piles of snow between them and the door, waist high and littered with smaller roof supports and thatch. He reached out to tug on the beam gently. How tightly was it still attached? Another shower of snow rained down from above. He retreated, muttering in frustration.

Marlee watched him silently, so he took a deep breath. He had to remain optimistic, for her sake. “We need something to reinforce the roof or more snow will come down when I start digging.”

Marlee’s face immediately brightened, and she moved around the house with purpose. Tyris turned his attention to the snow in front of him.

The roof met in an apex above his head. That was where they needed the support. But it was the highest point of the roof. They didn’t have anything that could reach that sort of distance. Nothing at all. Anything useful, including the few tools Marlee owned, lived in the cupboard near the door that was now as inaccessible as the exit.

Marlee disappeared into the bedroom. He had no idea what she thought she might find in there, but while she was gone...

He took a deep breath and pulled as hard as he could on the broken support. It gave way under a shower of snow and thatch. The roof above groaned under the load. At any moment, it could give way. He pulled on the beam, now half buried under the snow.

“What are you doing?” Marlee appeared back in the living room, her eyes wide.

“Stay back,” Tyris ordered. He pulled on the beam, trying to dislodge it from the snow.

Then Marlee was beside him, adding her strength to his. “If you were going to try something like this, you should’ve waited until I was here to help you.”

Tyris hid a smile. No point in telling her he had been trying to protect her. That wouldn’t go over well. “Sorry,” he said.

The beam moved, then came free with a suddenness that sent them tumbling backwards. Tyris caught his balance then without pausing, he hefted the beam up, standing it under the remainder of the centre beam and wedged it in.

Snow blew in from the now open gap between them and the rest of the house, settling over everything in the room like a white blanket. But they had a clear path to the door.

Tyris watched the roof for a moment, looking for any signs of movement, but it seemed to be holding. For how long he couldn’t be sure. “Head for the door.”

“But I need to get some clothes, and…” Marlee looked back towards the bedroom.

“There isn’t time,” Tyris said urgently. Now that he’d stopped moving, the cold was already starting to numb his cheeks and toes. In front of him, the snow grew deeper by the minute.

Marlee took one last look around the house then followed him to the edge of the snow, looking out over the expanse doubtfully.

Broken roof struts and thatch littered the loosely packed snow. How were they going to get across? And even if they made it to the door, it’d be nearly impossible to open it with the snow piled up against it.

Tyris stepped up the sloping snow, watching where he put his feet. His socks were soaked in minutes. Hopefully he’d find their boots as he cleared the snow away.

He took a few steps, sinking up to his knees in the snow. The areas of thick thatch were more stable, he didn’t sink as far there, but he was still concerned about stepping on sharp pieces of broken beams. “Follow behind me,” he told Marlee.

He fought his way to the door, squinting his eyes against the windblown snow. If it was this bad within the protection of the still standing walls, what would it be like once they stepped outside?

He stopped a few feet short of the door and took a deep breath. With the snow height above the floor, the walls ended not too far above his head, but it was still too high to climb. They’d have to dig their way out.

Only an arm’s length away lay the cupboard where the snow shovel was kept. But its doors were blocked by as much snow as the front door. There was no other option. He began to dig into the snow with his hands. He heard shuffling behind him and turned to see Marlee retreating back across the snow. “What are you doing?” he yelled over the wind.

But she didn’t hear him. Tyris was torn between going back for her and getting the door open. The urgent need to get out of the house won, and he continued digging.

His fingers moved past the numb stage into pain, and he’d still barely made enough room to open the door a finger width. He sat back on his knees, staring at the door. The cold of melted snow seeped in through his trousers making him chillingly aware that they didn’t have long before frostbite set in.

Marlee shuffled up beside him, and held out a large wooden serving bowl. She held another one in her other hands. Tyris took it, his brain too fuzzy to follow. Why was she bringing him a serving bowl at a time like this?

As she dug the edge of the bowl into the soft snow and threw it over her shoulder, understanding dawned. He began to dig with renewed hope.

Time stood still as they dug feverishly side by side. The door opened wide enough to get their hands out, and as they pulled, snow fell into the gap from the outside where it was higher.

Tyris bit his lip, and laughed hysterically when he realised that it was so cold he couldn’t even feel it.

Marlee stared at him, the wind whipping her hair around her face. “Tyris?” The wind tore the words out of her mouth. Her face was deathly pale, and her lips held a hint of blue.

He sobered. He needed to hold himself together. To get her to safety. He nodded, and continued digging.

He pulled on the door one last time and threw the bowl aside. “Come on, that’ll have to do.” He slipped into the gap sideways, pushing as hard as he could. The bulky clothes he wore wedged him in for a few moments. Marlee pushed him from the other side. He slipped through with a suddenness that sent him tumbling into the snow.

He shoved away as much as the snow as he could from this side then reached his hand back and pulled Marlee through.

Adrenalin rushed through his veins. They’d made it!

Then reality set in. Wind howled around them, the snow was still waist height, and he couldn’t see past the end of his hand. He’d best save his relief until they were actually safe.

Holding Marlee’s hand, he struggled through the snow in the general direction of Beren’s house. How far away was it? Surely they must be nearly there. He couldn’t feel his fingers or toes. It took him a moment to realise that Marlee’s hand wasn’t in his anymore. Where was she?

He turned and felt a moment’s relief that his back was to the wind. He hadn’t realised how much snow was blowing in his eyes. He rubbed them and stared back into the snow. Marlee slumped in a heap just a few steps back. He stumbled back through the snow and pulled at her. “Marlee!” The wind tore the words from his mouth, but she looked up.

She reached out a hand and it took everything he had to pull her to her feet. They stumbled on.

Worry seeped into Tyris’s fuzzy brain. They should have reached Beren’s house by now. If they’d been turned around in the blizzard, they could end up anywhere. He stopped, and tugged on Marlee’s hand. She sunk into the snow at his feet. He stared all around them, looking for anything that stood out in the swirling snow, anything that might give him a clue which way to go.

There. Was that a light? He strained his eyes. To the right, there seemed to be a faint glow. If it wasn’t just his imagination. He turned, and headed in that direction pulling Marlee with him.

The light grew. He hadn’t imagined it. He was too exhausted and cold to even feel relief. He just focused on putting one foot in front of the other, over and over. Marlee began to shout next to him, and while his brain cheered her actions, his mouth wouldn’t join her.

He heard a door open and voices rise. And a few moments later, hands pulled them inside the house.
Now they were safe.
He collapsed onto the floor, not even having enough energy to make it to a chair.

“What happened?” Rejan asked, his voice high.

Tyris tried to focus. What was Rejan doing here? They must have missed Beren’s house in the snow, and gone past it to Rejan and Jenka’s. “Roof… collapsed.” he managed. “Had to… dig… our way out…” His voice gave out.

“We need warm water and blankets.” Jenka’s voice sounded distant to his ears, much quieter than his racing heart. Now that he’d stopped moving, shivers wracked his body. He couldn’t stop them, no matter how hard he tried. He wanted to lift his head. Wanted to check that Marlee was okay. But he couldn’t make his muscles obey.

Blankets covered him, and someone began to pull of his wet clothing. Tyris struggled to sit up to help. “Take it easy,” Rejan said. He put his hands under Tyris’s shoulders and helped him into a sitting position, wrapping a blanket around his shoulders.

Now that he was upright, he could see Marlee receiving similar treatment from Jenka beside him. She smiled weakly at him. Her face was still white, and she couldn’t stop shivering either.

Tyris looked down to where Rejan was pulling off his socks. His toes were white, and when Rejan pressed on them gently, he couldn’t feel anything. He shivered more violently. The blanket slipped from his shoulders, and his frozen fingers wouldn’t obey him enough to hold onto it.

He didn’t dare ask if there was permanent damage. Rejan covered his feet with a wet towel, though Tyris couldn’t feel if it was cold or warm. Next Rejan wrapped his hands in another wet towel and adjusted the blanket around his shoulders. “It may take a while for your fingers to warm up again, but the skin is still soft. The damage doesn’t look too severe. I don’t want to risk warming them too fast without Karla around.”

“Should we try to get to Karla?” Jenka asked, her voice worried.

Rejan shook his head. “Not in this weather. As soon as the storm eases, I’ll fetch her, but for now, our first aid will have to do.”

The crease between Jenka’s eyebrows didn’t disappear, but she hurried to the fire and bought back two cups of tea. Tyris reached out his hand for one, but Rejan took it instead. “When you have feeling back in your fingers you can feed yourself, until then, I’m not going to risk you spilling it.”

Another shiver shook Tyris, and he had to concede to the wisdom in Rejan’s words. When the man held the cup up to his lips, he drank gratefully.

Rejan helped him up into one of the chairs that had been pulled back from the fire. Tyris tugged the blanket around his shoulders as he watched Rejan pick up Marlee and sit her in the chair next to him. His fingers and toes began to sting and itch, but when he moved to scratch one instinctively, Jenka stopped him. “Don’t scratch or rub, you could break the skin and let infection in.” She replaced the warm towel around his hands, examining them briefly as she did so.

“How’s Marlee?” he asked quietly.

Jenka smiled. “She’s no worse than you are,” she assured him. “A little warmth, and a good sleep, and I’m sure you’ll both feel a lot better.”

Tyris nodded and looked around the room. The house was smaller than Marlee’s and all in one room. The bed stood at the end furthest from the fire, a small cradle beside it. Water dripped from the roof into a bowl on the table, and a wooden bucket caught another drip in a corner.

Despite the lack of room, Rejan pulled a pallet out, and Jenka spread a quilt from their own bed over it. They had so little, yet they shared what they had without question.

A cry went up from the cradle, and Jenka hurried over to lift up her daughter. She sat on the end of the bed and lifted up her top. Tyris averted his eyes quickly. Jenka chatted to Marlee, not even noticing his discomfort. “I hope Lianna doesn’t wake you during the night. She sleeps in the bed with us, and she doesn’t cry much.”

“We won’t mind if she does,” Marlee assured her. “We’re sorry to impose on you, as soon as the storm clears, we’ll find somewhere else to stay.”