I was having trouble catching up to her.I was having trouble catching up to her... she was really speeding down the easier hills. She disappeared around a corner. I turned the corner myself and she was nowhere to be seen. This section of trail was wide... there was no way she could have been that far enough ahead of me to be out of sight. Not without rockets.. I pushed my skis left, coming to a stop. "Sara?" There was no reply. "SARA?" I shouted. I scanned the large expanse of trail where I stood. There were no other skiers around me. I found a single ski trail leading off the path and into wide stand of trees to my right. I poled over and followed the trail into the woods, calling. "Sara!" "Grandfa?" Her voice was weak and full of pain, in front of me, somewhere. "I'm cold." I followed the trail a little further and found her. I could still see the open slope from where she lay, propped up against a tree. Still, something about her looked.... wrong. With a quick flip of the locks I was free of the skis and ran over to her. "Are you okay?" "I'm hurt...oh! My leg... I think, maybe, I broke it?" "How bad does it hurt?" "Really bad," she said, plaintively. There were tears in her eyes. It must have hurt. She hadn't even cried when I'd pulled one of her cubbing teeth. "This one?" I asked. "Yeh," she said, panting hard. Her eyes were wide and frightened. Those damned Mustela Lutra eyes. "Sara," I said, "talk to me. Stay awake. You might go into shock, and out here that's not a good idea. Can you hear me?" "I hear you, Granfa. It hurts!" "I know, I know sweetheart. Just breathe easy. Take deep, slow breaths. Got that?" "I understand," she said, putting a hand to her chest and counting her breaths. Dammit, Mustel legs are not supposed to be easy to break... the bones are at least as heavy as humans', and I should know. I figured that, being so short, with that bent-knee gait, they would need a heavier bone structure. "Take it easy." There was snow all through her fur- she was going to be losing body heat fast. I had to get her to a lodge as soon as possible. |