Carrying so much excess weight severely hampered their progress. Murdoch was burdened with the vast majority of the load as Julia's ankle was still smarting. At this rate, it would take about three days to get back into town, a prospect Murdoch was less than thrilled about given the soreness of his body. To make matters worse, the Yukon heat was present in fine form, so that not long after his clothing had dried it was once again drenched; this time in sweat. Though Julia's back was only lightly ladened, she was fairing no better than him, and together, they made quite the tableau, as if they were travel worn desert wanderers, seeking salvation at a miraculous mirage.

What he wouldn't give for another rainstorm! They had water supplies all right but they were less than half of what they originally started with (since losing Mina they had just one container) and there was no telling when they would next come across a stream for a refill (neither had paid much attention to such things on the way out). In other words, and to both of their dismay, they were forced to heavily ration the precious commodity.

Their misadventures thus far made one point painfully clear; they had been spoiled in civilized society for far too long to really be able to develop any survival skills. At least their gun skills had served them well enough. Murdoch shivered to think what would have happened to them otherwise. How could he have been so foolish as to take off into the wild without a guide? And how could he have put his fiancee, the woman of his dreams, the love and light of his life, in mortal peril? What had he- what had they been thinking? The answer was simple. They hadn't. They had been captivated by the sheer awesome majesty of the Yukon, so unlike Toronto, and had thought themselves explorers, willing and ready for anything. And they had been dead wrong. Thankfully the dead part was left out of the equation...for now anyway.

Stop it William!

He would have conversed with Julia in order to escape his less than productive thoughts, except that they were both so exhausted and trying their best to conserve energy, that they had previously deemed speech an unnecessary strain, one to only be attempted if absolutely essential. Eventually they could go on no longer and they stopped out in the open plains and wearily set up the tent for the night. The wind was strong out in this exposed area but the tent pegs were more than enough of a match to combat it. After a hurried supper of slightly salted beef and stale bread, (the water had tarnished both of their staple foods) they collapsed into their too warm sleeping bags, and then atop them and quickly drifted off to sleep, consumed with twisted thoughts of the unforgettable day and oblivious to the continuously raging wind against their enclosure.


Come morning, he felt like a new man. He turned on his side to watch his beloved sleep and was startled to find her space unoccupied! Given the previous day his mind went into overdrive, a cascade of competing horrors freezing him to the spot. Finally he came to his senses and peeked his head through the flaps of the tent. Immediately his mind was put at rest, and a huge smile crossed his features as he gazed upon Julia. She was busy brushing out her rain and windswept hair with her fingers, (as her brush was no more, as well as all of her other feminine supplies) quietly humming her favourite tune to herself and quite unaware of the terror she had caused him. As far as he was concerned, she was a vision; one to be forever immortalized by a master painter, with no colour or shade left untouched; and not for the first time in his life, wished he possessed even the slightest modicum of drawing ability. But for all his other talents, he knew that dream would never come true. Unfortunately he couldn't even capture this moment with a photo, as his camera had been destroyed from the deluge.

So instead he satisfied himself with taking in the sight for as long as possible, afraid to move a muscle, lest he alert her to his presence and shatter this breathtaking moment in time. It was no matter. Soon she cocked her head in his direction and raised an eyebrow at him, a slight smile curving the edges of her luscious lips.

"William, what are you doing?" The smile increased in size, "And why are you gawking at me like that?"

It was only then that he realized his jaw had dropped while he had been watching her.

Quickly closing it he said, "I was simply admiring the scenery."

Giving him a knowing look, she replied, "Yes, the scenery here is quite handsome."

Murdoch walked over to her and embraced her from behind, wrapping his arms around her tiny waist.

"Good morning," he mumbled as he kissed her neck a few times. "How are you fairing today? Is your ankle any better?"

"Much. I believe I will be able to shoulder more of the burden today."

He nodded into her clavicle. "Thank you. That would be most appreciated."

Then she turned around to face him, gently placing her dirt clogged hand to his chest. "And you? How are your wounds?"

Smiling, "Barely notice the pain anymore. You're a miracle worker."

She returned the gesture. "Be that as it may, I still want to take another look at it. The last thing we want is for it to get infected through unnecessary neglect."

Without further ado, he removed his shirt, she unwrapped his soiled bandages and promptly frowned.

"Something the matter, Julia?"

Silence for a bit. "I would have liked this wound to look better than this by now."

"It hasn't even been one day, Julia. Surely you couldn't have expected it to be fully healed?"

She squeezed her lips together and glanced away. "I know, William, but I hate seeing you injured."

He lifted her chin up in order to get her attention and catch her eyes with his own. "As do I you... but we're both still here. Something as trivial as a wolverine attack can't stop us."

She grinned at that and then he claimed her lips for a short blissful distraction. Afterwards she used the tiniest amount of water to get the caked dirt off her hands. Satisfied with their relative cleanliness, she commenced cleaning his wound and re-bandaged it with the last of the fresh supplies. From here on out, he would have to make due with this set of cloth and nothing else. Hopefully his injury wouldn't ooze quite as much over the next few days or the dressings would be incredibly gross by the time they got back to civilization.

With everything packed once more, they shared a grim sort of smile and ventured forth. By all accounts the day was looking up; the sun was shining but it wasn't frying them; the weight was more evenly distributed so it wasn't as taxing on Murdoch's strength; the wind had died down and was playing softly against their faces in a soothing way; birds were chirping all around giving them something pleasant to listen to; and they had yet to spot a ferocious animal of any sort in the distance.

All in all, their minds were at ease, and happily smiling at one another, clasped hands as they trekked across the tundra. Now this is more what he had had in mind when he pitched the idea to Julia. No death and destruction, just sightseeing and wonder, as had been the case so many times before, closer to town.

They continued in this idyllic manner for several more hours until they came for a stop, in order to get some rest and have lunch. This time it was wrinkled apples and stale bread. Not the most appetizing but better than nothing and absolutely necessary if they were to carry on.

"I suppose now is as good a time as any to discuss our future plans," he said after he took a bite of a golden delicious, that was far from delicious.

"Wedding plans!?" blurted out Julia excitedly, almost dropping her food on the ground.

He looked apologetic. "No, that's not what I meant." Her face fell. "I was just wondering what we would do once we got back into town. Do you wish to stay longer or have you had enough of this place?"

"I think you know the answer to that, William," she said a little coldly.

Ignoring her tone he said, "And once we leave the Yukon, where would you like to go?"

Surprised, "I just assumed we would go back to Toronto."

"There are other options. For instance we could travel to British Colombia to see my half brother and father." She didn't say anything. "Or the badlands," he said hastily, "that would be on the way back!"

Narrowing her eyes, "You aren't by any chance trying to avoid the inevitable are you?" She took his hand and her eyes softened. "I would completely understand if that were the case."

He sighed. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't anxious about my judgement. What if Stockton locks me up and throws away the key?"

Caressing his face, "We both know that's not going to happen, William. There's no definitive proof against you. You made sure of that."

"I suppose I did," he said, still uncertain, "but I wasn't thinking clearly then, I could have overlooked something."

It was Julia's turn to sigh in an exasperated manner. "William, we've been through this many times now! The chief constable will have his suspicions, and you've most certainly lost all good faith with him forever, but there's nothing to worry about. Besides, I'm sure Thomas would vouch for you if Stockton decided to cause a stink, and he's not likely to go against the word of two highly acclaimed police men."

"You don't know him like I do," he muttered darkly, thinking back to the last time they had spoken. Stockton had wanted to ship him off to Winnipeg for doing his duty! What would he do now that he had broken the law? Murdoch couldn't bear to be separated from Julia ever again. But how could he avoid ever going back?

Things could be worse. At least Giles did not have the final say so. That man was first and foremost an arbitrator of the law, everything else played second fiddle. And there was a large amount of bad blood between them, possibly even more so than with Stockton. It wasn't long ago that the man had arrested him for murder!

"What was that?" she enquired sharply.

Not wanting to get into a pointless fight he said, "I'm sure you're right, Julia."

Eyeing him suspiciously for several seconds she finally said, "I'm glad we're in agreement."

The rest of their lunch was eaten in silence and then it was marching time again.