Digging myself out of the snow had proved to be harder then finding a needle in a haystack. The snow had compacted around our bodies like we were human snowmen. It felt as though I had snow compacted into areas of my body that I didn't even know had openings. One thing was for sure, I knew that I had to find my way out of the darkened encloser and locate my other two comrades. I felt that Mark would have fewer problems then Princess if only because of his extra size and weight. Besides the cry that I last heard from Princess was beyond blood curdling, and somehow I knew that Mark would lay the blame on me.
Reaching the light from the sun I coughed vigorously to extract the snow from my mouth and nose. When I accomplished this, I searched over the snow covered ground to see if I could spot either Mark or Princess. When I had noticed Mark, he was allready on his way to help me in the search for Princess.
Suddenly he shouted my name and pointed to a gloved hand extending beyond the snow. I rushed over to him and we quickly tried to pull her out. My mind filled with anguish and blame as it seemed to take forever to pull her out. When we finally had her safely out of the snow, the worst had only begun. For her face had turned a light blue and her chest seemed to barely breath below her suit.
Tears began to fill my eyes as I quickly started to perform CPR. I had never really been sure if there was a higher power of some sort, but in this moment I prayed that each compression, and breath that I expelled from my lungs would be the life saving one. This too had seemed to take longer then my mind had wanted it too. Not that I would ever give up, I just was starting to loose all hope in her recovery. Mental images of funerals and cemeteries began to fill my brain when suddenly I felt the movement that I had been praying for. Her chest rose for the first time on its own. Sighing and feeling the tears flow freely down my face I turned to face Mark.
“She’s going to be ok, Mark. She’s breathing again.”
We both seemed to be trying to find our strength to carry out the next task at hand. For it seemed that the snow had picked up to a blizzard like state and if we remained in the open we would surely be covered again.
Mark was the first to break the silence “It’s getting dark. We’d better transmute and find some shelter. We must be miles away from the lodge.” Coming over he picked up the still unconscience Swan and began to search for shelter, it wasn't long before I followed suit.
Again it took forever for us to find any shelter and it felt as if this nightmare was never going to end. Glancing over at Mark I noticed that he held Princess rather tightly againest his chest and seemed to be speaking to her in an almost silent voice. Now some might say that it was only to keep her warm from the beating snow. I found it to be an unspoken message of him trying to keep her safely away from me, as long as he remembers whos own breath brought life back into hers.
Back into my own thoughts I kept chastising myself for possibly being the reason that we were in this situation. Then I remembered the whole day and I felt that even though it may have been the last event that caused us to be off the beaten path. It was also Marks actions that had caused me to want to take the forest in the first place. Ohh how I knew that this would end up being an extremly long night.
I was just about to ask Mark if he needed a break from carrying Princess when I noticed a cave in the distance. I tried to shout over the high winds but it sounded muted. “Look over there!” When Mark noticed what I had seen the two of us began trugging through the deepening snow to it's entrance.
Once inside Mark finally laid a still unconscience Swan on the floor of the cave.Turning back towards me he made this command “Here, Jase, take care of Princess while I try to block the mouth of the cave. We need to keep the wind out.”
Instead of trying to comment on the way that Mark delivered an obvious order I turned my full attention to my injured comrade. Looking over her body still inclosed in its snowsuit, I could find nothing out of the ordinary. Although her lack of being conscience had me a bit dumbfounded. I would have thought that the time we spent looking for this cave would have been enough of a time to recover.Looking up I see that Mark has finished blocking the entrance and is coming to check on us.
“How is she?” Mark asked while I saw his eyes fill with question.
I wanted to give him a happy report but I knew that he would be able to read what my eyes were actually saying. So I laid the truth on the line. “Still unconscious.” I answered grimly. “We really need to get her to a doctor. She may have internal injuries.”
I knew that this moment would come and when I finished my synopsis of her condition I saw the flash of anger fill his eyes as he responded loudly.
“What kind of paramedic are you?” Mark grumbled. ”It’s your fault we’re in this mess! If you wouldn’t have led her off the trail…”
I felt the anger from the whole days events coming back to me as I countered my attack “ It's not like we could've escaped that avalanche or did you fail to realize the size of that thing!” I argued back sarcastically. “Besides, unless you have a first aid kit, and medical equipment on you I’d suggest you back off, Commander!” I arose to my feet and silently challanged him to counter attack.
He shot me his usual dirty glare but instead of countering he bent down and whispered something to Princess. It was then that he seemed to sink onto the ground and turn his attention to her.
I took this moment to find a quiet place and try to recount what had gone wrong and if there was anything that I could possibly do to help her. Finding nothing in my vast knowledge of training I took out some of my anger on the cave wall. Normally in a situation like this there was always a "bad" guy so to speak, so the focus could turn to hurting them. Now it seemed that the only one to blame was myself, and that was not a good thing. I pulled a feather shirikan out of my cape and threw it hard towards the opposite wall. When I saw that it inbedded deep into the earth, I felt a release from the blame that had been filling up inside. This time, when I pulled one out, I placed it firmly in my mouth and began to review my medical training again. Searching for any possibilities that may have been overlooked.
When thirty minutes or so had passed I glanced over to see Mark still beside Princess,with his head turned.
I walked over to his side and tried to give him the most reassuring comment that I could. "It'll be ok, Skip. Her implants will heal her and she'll be fine. You'll see." Placing my hand on his shoulder we both watched the Swan intently for any sign of improvement. It seemed that for the time being, all of our energy was focused on the Swans recovery.