Her Emergency Knight

by Alison Roberts

  ‘Don’t judge me when you don’t even know me.’ Jennifer had her hands tucked inside her jacket, hugging her body for warmth.

  ‘I know your type,’ Guy told her mercilessly. ‘For God’s sake, go back. I’ll be a lot quicker without you. I’ll send help.’

  ‘No. I’m not going back.’

  ‘I can’t carry you out of here. It’s simply not possible.’

  ‘I’m not asking you to.’

  ‘I’m not going to sit and wait for you every time you fall behind.’

  ‘I’m not asking you to do that either. I’ll keep up.’

  ‘It’s going to get a damned sight harder than what you’ve managed so far.’

  He saw the flash of fear. She turned her head to glance downwards and shut her eyes briefly as though it was too much to contemplate.

  Great. She was scared out of her wits already. What was going to happen when they reached some real rock-climbing that had to be faced? Or a swollen river that needed crossing?

  Then he caught another glimpse of clear blue eyes as Jennifer turned her gaze upwards, covering the route she had just taken to follow him as far as she had. Her chin came up and gaze met his squarely.

  ‘I can do this,’ she stated quietly. ‘Just watch.’

  Guy snorted. ‘I’ll be looking ahead,’ he said. ‘Not over my shoulder.’

  ‘Fine.’ Jennifer’s gaze was as unrelenting as he knew his must be. ‘What are you waiting for, then?’

  They had to get across the snow-covered slope at least once more. Below that, clumps of tussocks broke through and there were areas of rock that were clear of snow.

  ‘Dig your heels in,’ Guy ordered. ‘And keep your weight over your feet. You’ll lose your balance if you lean in towards the slope.’

  He moved forward doggedly, kicking steps that he only hoped she had the sense to use herself. It was impossible not to keep glancing back, and every time he did, he found she was only a metre or two behind. She had her gaze fixed firmly on the ground in front of her feet and her face was set in grim lines. She was determined, he had to give her that.

  The silence seemed to get louder as it stretched on. Kicking steps in snow was hard work, and Guy was forced to stop and catch his breath when they were only halfway through the next leg of this descent. He cleared his throat.

  ‘If you fall,’ he said, ‘you’ll have to do something to save yourself pretty quickly or you’ll be history. Roll onto your stomach and dig your hands in if you need to in order to face uphill. You lift yourself into a “press-up” position and then dig your hands and feet into the snow as hard as you can.’

  ‘Cool.’ Jennifer was also trying to catch her breath but her tone indicated a valiant attempt to sound nonchalant. ‘Just as well they taught press-ups in my Pilates class, isn’t it?’

  By the time they were on the last leg of traversing the snow-covered gully, Jennifer’s confidence had grown considerably.

  She could do this. She could see past the rocks bordering the sides at the base of the gully now, and before long they would reach an area that looked inviting by comparison. The rock face was a far more gentle slope created by an uneven series of steps, with patches of grass and even the cheerful bloom of mountain buttercups. The sun was shining brightly now and Jennifer actually felt too hot in her multiple layers of clothing.

  They’d be able to stop for a well-earned rest, melt snow for water and maybe finish the packet of chocolate biscuits stuffed into the pocket of her oversized outer anorak. Optimism bloomed as cheerfully as the clumps of flowers ahead, and Jennifer turned her head to look back up the gully. Some self-congratulation was surely overdue considering how terrifying it had been to begin this journey and how well she had coped so far.

  Looking up was a big mistake. Her foot missed the print Guy had left, the rock beneath the thinner patch of snow she trod on was as slippery as ice and Jennifer fell so quickly she had no idea what had happened until she hit the ground.

  There was a slope of only about ten to fifteen metres to where the ground levelled out, but it was too far to slide at speed without injuring oneself badly on the rocks below. Jennifer dug her hands into the snow and cried out at the pain that shot up her left arm. She still forced it to take her weight, however, as she remembered Guy’s advice and tried to push herself up and get her body off the snow. She bent her feet as well, driving her toes down.

  Snow filled her open mouth, went up her nose and scorched her cheeks. Then her hip bumped painfully on something solid, but her slide was arrested. Jennifer found herself on her knees a second later, spitting out snow and scrubbing at her eyes to clear her vision.

  What she saw was Guy turning back to the path he was taking. He must have stopped on hearing her cry out, watched long enough to confirm she hadn’t caused herself any grievous bodily harm and now he was pressing on without taking the time to see whether she needed any help. He’d meant what he’d said, hadn’t he? He wasn’t going to stop and wait for her every time she fell behind. She was an unwanted liability and if he’d had any choice he would have made sure she’d stayed behind with the plane wreckage.

  Jennifer sat on the snow for several seconds, watching Guy pick his way cautiously across the remaining slope. She looked down. A manageable-looking gradient ended with a large, flat-sided rock several metres below where the snow petered out. With only a momentary hesitation, Jennifer stuck her feet out and pushed off with her good hand. The speed she gathered was no more than her bent legs could easily absorb when she reached the rock and then she could get to her feet and start walking. She would actually be ahead of Guy by the time he reached the flatter ground, which suited her just fine.

  He hadn’t been going to wait for her. He clearly didn’t give a damn whether she’d been injured or not by her fall. He would probably be glad of an excuse to just leave her behind and press on by himself. Well, he had a thing or two to learn, didn’t he? He had no idea how tough she was and he had no right to despise her ‘type’—whatever the hell he’d meant by that. Waiting for Guy to catch up with her right now was quite possibly the most satisfying moment in her life. She even tossed back a few strands of damp blonde hair.

  ‘What took you so long, then?’

  The look Jennifer received could only be described as withering. Then Guy snorted softly and shook his head. He unhooked the coil of rope that held the tarpaulin to his shoulder and set the bundle down on top of the nearest rock.

  ‘I’m going to melt some snow,’ he said. ‘Eating it isn’t a good idea. It can give you abdominal pain and dry out your mouth.’

  Jennifer made no response to what appeared to be an oblique reference to her fall. Guy was undoing the rope.

  ‘I’ve got a bit of black plastic in here from the survival kit. It’ll melt snow in this sunshine in no time.’ He positioned the billy, put a handful of snow onto the plastic and then glanced up at Jennifer. ‘Come and hold this,’ he instructed. ‘Point it down at the corner so the melting snow goes into the billy.’

  ‘OK.’ It looked ingenious to Jennifer. ‘I’ve got the rest of the biscuits. Do you want one?’

  ‘In a minute.’ Guy pushed back the sleeve of his jacket to unbuckle his wristwatch. ‘I’m going to try and figure out what direction we need to head in.’

  The billy was half full by the time Guy stopped squinting at the sun, adjusting his hold on the wristwatch and staring off towards the horizon.

  ‘I think I might have a rough idea of where we are,’ he said.

  ‘Great,’ Jennifer responded. ‘Where are we?’

  ‘Somewhere in the Balfour Range, I think. On the western side toward Cook Valley. The Copland Range should be somewhere south of where we are.’ Guy’s hand swung to a point at right angles to where he had indicated south. ‘That’s Mount Cook you can see way over there.’

  ‘It’s a very long way away.’ Jennifer stared at the section of the Southern Alps visible over the endless spurs and ridges that filled the immediate horizon.
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  ‘We’re not heading that way. If we head south, we might come across a track. Even a hut, if we’re lucky. Some of the trampers’ huts have radios. They all have logbooks and maps anyway, so at least we’d know exactly where we were.’ He rubbed a hand over his chin, staring off into the distance again. ‘Not that we’ll be able to take a direct route and I won’t be able to navigate by the stars as well as I can with the sun and my watch, so we’ll have to stop once it gets dark.’ He reached for the billy. ‘Have you had something to drink?’

  ‘Yes, thanks.’ Jennifer’s gaze was fixed on Guy. Had he really intended to keep walking, day and night, without stopping to rest properly? She couldn’t have done that, no matter how determined she might be.

  ‘We should both get at least a litre on board before we head off again. We won’t find so much snow soon and we’ll have to hope we come across a lake or stream to get more water.’

  Guy drank and Jennifer found herself watching the movement of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed. His chin and neck were already roughened by dark stubble and he had lost none of the grime and streaks of blood since yesterday. He looked as though he could spend time tramping day and night over mountains just for fun, and his expression, as he lowered the billy, was as grim as the surrounding terrain. If he was a stranger that Jennifer was seeing for the first time, she decided, he’d be terrifying. Then, unexpectedly, Guy’s lips curved to one side and even half a smile softened his features so dramatically Jennifer found herself smiling back.

  ‘I hope you haven’t scoffed all those Tim Tams,’ he said. ‘I’m starving.’

  The renewed energy provided by the shared but totally inadequate meal was short-lived. Jennifer had to keep pushing herself not to fall too far behind. Guy led the way towards the next spur. And the next. Her arm hurt. Her feet started to hurt as well. Shirley’s shoes may have been far better than her high heels for this trek, but the other woman’s feet were at least two sizes bigger than her own and her feet slipped inside the suede lace-ups as she walked.

  Blisters were forming and Jennifer had to simply ignore the pain and carry on. If Guy could keep up this kind of pace with only a minimal limp from favouring what had to be at the very least a badly sprained ankle, she could just imagine what his reaction would be if she complained of a blister. It would probably rank alongside a broken fingernail as an injury someone of her ‘type’ would find ridiculously significant.

  Every so often she had the chance to close the gap between them a little because Guy would pause and tie a knot in a tussock.

  ‘Why are you doing that?’ Jennifer asked on the second occasion.

  ‘I’m marking our route.’ Guy twisted the tough mountain grass and then tugged it into a thick bundle. ‘The prints we left in the snow will be clearly visible if it doesn’t snow again. If a search and rescue team gets winched in to follow us, I want to make sure they come the right way.’

  Jennifer wouldn’t have thought of that. The only lore for those lost in the wild she had retained was that you stayed put, and they had broken that rule some time ago. She wondered what other survival gems Guy had available, but the exchange about the knotted grass was the only conversation that took place for a very long stretch of time.

  The silence as they walked was almost as distressing as any physical discomfort. Jennifer worked very long hours in one of the busiest emergency departments in the country. She lived in a central city apartment above a trendy shopping precinct that never completely closed. Her world was never silent and never lonely, and that was exactly the way she liked it.

  The oppressive quiet of their surroundings and any lack of companionship didn’t seem to bother Guy at all. Even when they stopped for a short rest, he simply dropped the bundle he was carrying beside Jennifer and then walked off to do his thing with his watch and the sun again.

  Jennifer’s voice sounded loud in the silence. ‘So how do you navigate by using your watch?’

  ‘You point the figure 12 towards the sun. True north is approximately halfway between 12 and the hour hand.’

  ‘Too bad if you’ve got a digital watch, then.’

  The raised eyebrows were enough to make Jennifer realise she’d missed the point. She sighed. ‘OK. I guess as long as you have the correct time, you know where the hands should be.’

  Guy’s expression and brief nod were the kind of acknowledgement a parent might make to a child who had said something unexpectedly clever. Jennifer found herself increasingly annoyed by his condescension as she once again trailed in Guy’s footsteps. He had some nerve!

  They both knew how dependent she currently was on his skills. Wasn’t that enough to allow him to feel superior without taking other opportunities to put her down? He’d already made it clear he didn’t like her and she wasn’t that thrilled with his personality either, but it shouldn’t matter what they thought of each other on a personal or professional level.

  They were in this together, and it would be nice to be recognised as an active participant and not simply a passenger. Surely she deserved some credit for keeping up? It had to be time for another rest. Hours had passed since they’d eaten the biscuits, and shadows in the valley were lengthening. The temperature dropped steadily as the sun lowered but still Guy went steadily on.

  When he did stop, it was abruptly enough for Jennifer not to notice until she bumped into him.

  ‘Sorry!’

  His arm had caught hers, which was just enough to stop her toppling from exhaustion. ‘You can stop for a bit,’ he said. ‘I think we’ve found a good place to camp for the night. Look at that!’

  Jennifer’s gaze had been on Guy’s back or the track in front of her feet for so long she had to blink to focus. Then her jaw dropped.

  ‘It’s gorgeous!’ she exclaimed.

  The mountain lake ahead was so still it reflected the surrounding peaks absolute perfectly. Trees grew close to one side where a stream led into the bush line.

  ‘We’ll head for that stream,’ Guy announced. ‘We’ll build a shelter among the big boulders and I should be able to get a fire going with some fuel from the bush.’

  It sounded like heaven to Jennifer, but having stopped it was an effort to force her feet to move again and when she did it was impossible not to limp.

  Guy said nothing until they had gone another five hundred metres to where huge boulders were overhung by the branches of massive trees.

  ‘I’ll start collecting some wood, shall I?’ Jennifer offered. ‘For the fire?’

  Guy shook his head. ‘Sit down,’ he ordered. ‘I want to look at your feet.’

  ‘I’m fine,’ Jennifer protested. Then she looked up and caught Guy’s expression and she was suddenly way too tired and sore to try arguing. Or even to care that she was so dependent on this man who thought she was a waste of space. She sat.

  Guy pulled at the wet laces on her shoes. ‘These things are like boats on your feet,’ he said. ‘I don’t know how you’ve managed to walk as far as you have today.’

  ‘How far do you think we’ve come?’

  Guy eased a shoe off. ‘Somewhere between ten and fifteen kilometres. A good distance over this kind of terrain anyway. Especially for someone who isn’t used to this kind of thing.’ He pulled a sock off before he glanced up. ‘Well done, Jenna. I’m impressed.’

  The glow of pride created almost as much warmth as her feet were generating under the cool touch of Guy’s hands.

  ‘What a mess!’ he said in disgust.

  Jennifer had to agree. Her feet were bright red, alarmingly swollen and had angry raw patches where blisters had long since popped and rubbed away.

  ‘Soak them in the stream for a minute or two,’ Guy suggested. ‘We’ve got extra dressings and bandages and hopefully we’ll have a fire going soon so we can warm you up if they get too cold.’

  Jennifer sat on a rock, easing her burning feet by degrees into what felt like liquid ice as she watched Guy gather materials for a fire. He disappeared into the bush
briefly and came back with an armload of twigs and bark. He gathered small pieces of driftwood from the stony edge of the lake and then glanced towards Jennifer.

  ‘I’ll just go and find some bigger pieces,’ he told her. ‘Won’t be long.’

  The sound of him moving through the undergrowth ceased astonishingly quickly. Jennifer heard the loud snap of a branch from further away and then only silence. She twisted to look at the forest but it was becoming rapidly dark and forbidding. Twisting further, she turned her gaze to the mirror created by the small lake, and she could see the sunset gilding the mountain peaks without raising her eyes any further.

  For a moment the thought of Guy somewhere in the forest behind her vanished, and Jennifer realised she was more alone than she had ever been in her life. Strangely, it wasn’t frightening. The beauty around her was awe-inspiring and the sense of being so insignificant ceased to matter because she wasn’t trying to impose herself on this landscape in any way. She was simply a part of it for those few minutes. A part of something breathtakingly magnificent. And what should have been overwhelming enough to inspire fear gave Jennifer a sense of utter peace instead.

  The moment was lost as she heard Guy return and saw his arms laden with wood.

  ‘You look exhausted,’ he said.

  ‘I think I must be.’ Jennifer summoned a smile. ‘I was actually enjoying the view.’

  Guy just grunted. He crouched low and started arranging his supplies. With the pocket knife he’d used last night to harvest grass, he shaved fine slivers from a piece of driftwood, covering a handful of dead leaves. He used a cigarette lighter to start the fire.

  ‘Someone must be on our side,’ he murmured. ‘This would be so much harder if it had been raining.’

  Jennifer watched the smoke curling up from the leaves, then the tiny flicker of flames reaching for the kindling Guy added slowly. When he was satisfied the fire was well alight, he filled the billy with water from the stream and balanced it on top of the fire. Then he turned his attention to Jennifer’s feet.