A Way Out
For some time Anayah lay where she had fallen after diving into the cave. Though she would not confide this fact to anyone for some time, at this particular moment she was about as afraid as she had ever been in her entire life. Outside, the avalanche continued to roar until, after what seemed an eternity, the world became silent once more.
She sat in the darkness, afraid to move and waiting for her heart to slow to a more normal rate. After a few moments, Anayah got up and walked towards the entrance of the cave. In the total darkness, and after she had just had several lifetimes (figuratively speaking) scared right out of her, it took a few heartbeats of time before her elvish glow and other elvish senses could kick into high gear. Unfortunately, in the time it took for high gear to be reached, she managed to run into a chair, hit her head on an object hanging from the ceiling and fall cutting her hand on some unknown object on the floor.
"Now I know why I was never named Grace!" She remarked to herself sarcastically.
A soft chuckle could be heard from where, in her haste to escape the avalanche, she had unceremoniously dropped Legolas. Quickly crawling to where her friend lay, she was relieved to see that his eyes were open. He raised one hand weakly toward her face but before he could speak, he began to cough violently, wrapping his arms around his ribs and pulling his knees toward his chest in an attempt to lessen his pain. Placing her hand on the injured elf's diaphragm, she provided passive resistance to the injured muscles and ribs which helped lessen the pain he felt when he coughed. When the coughing spasm finally stopped, he motioned toward his throat with a shaking hand. Rummaging in her pack, Anayah found her water bottle and lifting his head, helped him take a few sips.
As she sat the water bottle down, he finally managed to speak though it was a mere whisper.
"My throat was dry ... sorry."
"Sh. Be still." Worriedly she smoothed the dirt encrusted hair back from his face. Exhausted by his days of captivity and the wounds he had received, his eyes closed once more. As the survivalist in her started to revive, Anayah started to make a mental list of what the two of them would need to survive. Oxygen, water, food, escape ... Oh, and did I forget to mention ... escape? She knew she was being sarcastic but it helped to lighten her mood. Suddenly a thought hit her and for a moment she thought she was going to be ill - she couldn't hear any noise from outside the cave! Getting to her feet and walking to the entrance, she patted the opening of the cave. Her heart skip a beat when she discovered that where the doorway should have been, there was now a solid wall of hard packed snow.
"Well, this is a fine winter thing we have going on here," she said out loud. For a moment she leaned her forehead against the cold, impassable wall. Then she felt the barest touch of a breeze coming from a point somewhere over head. Stepping back from the door, she looked at the point where she believed the breeze came from. She thought she saw something ... just barely.
Looking back over her shoulder she called her friend's name. "Legolas." There was no answer. "Legolas!" she called a bit louder. Still nothing.
Satisfied that her friend was resting, she turned back to the door. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she cleared her mind of all thoughts and stood perfectly still. Within moments her glow started to intensify - to brighten. Soon the door could be plainly seen ... as could the gap at the top.
"Yes!!!" she said excitedly, then glanced back over her shoulder at the injured elf, hoping that in her excitement, she had not disturbed him. He was still unconscious. Taking advantage of the extra light produced by her glow, she looked around the room and saw several items she would need in the immediate future. Other things, she would find or fashion later.
After lighting an oil lamp that had been hanging on the wall, she lowered her own glow back to normal then kneeling beside Legolas, she began a thorough examination to determine the extent and severity of his injuries. She had to know just how badly he was hurt before she could even begin making a plan to get the two of them out of the cave.
She frowned. There were several injuries, some of which were cause for concern, all of which appeared to be in different stages of the healing process. He was thinner than normal and severely dehydrated and Anayah concluded that he had been beaten, starved and denied water since the time he had been captured.
"Those sadistic ..." she began. Legolas moaned and weakly tried to grab her arm when she inadvertently pressed too hard on a bruised area of his rib cage. She stopped her examination until she had full control of her emotions.
Both of his shoulders were swollen, probably from having been tied in such an awkward position and having had to bear his weight for so long. The right shoulder rotated fine but the left shoulder, when touched, caused the elf to moan. It was dislocated and would have to be the first thing she would fix. Rolling him slightly to her left, Anayah straddled his body and wedged her right knee against his back and her left knee against his chest. With her hand she felt for the top of the dislocated bone so she would know which way the arm would have to be rotated. Grabbing his arm with both hands and leaning back slightly, she pulled then rotated the arm until she heard a soft pop. Legolas moaned at the new pain but quieted quickly. There was also a stab wound on his left thigh that had not been tended at all and though it had long since ceased to bleed, it still showed signs of infection.
It was the strange wound in his side that bothered Anayah the most. Although the edges of the wound had been sewed together, the wound itself had not been properly cleaned which resulted in a potentially life-threatening and infected abscess. It would have to be the wound she treated first.
There was a small fire pit in the cave and Anayah quickly had a fire going and water boiling. There was a large barrel of relatively clean water in the cave although Anayah still decided to strain it to remove possible contaminants.
While the water was heating, she assembled her medical supplies and herbs. Although she had prepared a sleeping/pain draught, Legolas remained deeply unconscious. Gathering soft cloths, a cooling water-athelas solution and her now disinfected dagger, then setting the light closer to Legolas, she bent down over the wound in his side.
Gripping the blade of the dagger between her thumb and forefinger and gently placing the three remaining fingers to the right of the wound to help guide and steady her hand, she made a shallow cut about half the length of her thumb. As the infected liquid gushed from the wound, the painful pressure on other organs was relieved and the elf sighed in relief. Taking the athelas water, she poured it into the wound then pressed gently on the outside until that liquid was also expelled. After repeating this process twice more, she placed a narrow piece of soft linen from one of her Ada's medical packs inside the wound to act as a "wick" to help prevent buildup of more infected liquid. The wound was left unstitched so the wick could be changed without having to reopen the wound. Carefully, she placed a loose bandage over the site of the incision to keep it as clean as possible.
She made quick work of treating the rest of the elf's wounds and was soon able to sit back and take a deep breath, allowing herself to relax for just a moment.
* * * * * *
Anayah had found a freight sled in the back of the cave that would be perfect for transporting Legolas in. Taking several candles from the supply shelf, she used them to apply wax to the runners of the sled. She also found a large piece of canvas, lengths of rope and unused furs. Taking a pick that she had found hanging on the wall, she quickly managed to carve an opening large enough to get elf, sled and supplies through as well as some crudely chiseled steps. Grabbing handfuls of dirt from the floor of the cave she threw them on the icy "steps" to provide better traction.
Crawling outside, she stood for a moment looking carefully at the altered landscape. The floor of the canyon looked like a lumpy mass of white. It would be difficult to pull a loaded sled over the many small moguls but it would not be impossible.
Then she looked at the sky and became alarmed as flakes of snow fell on her upturned face. For a moment she felt dejected. Her shoulders slumped and her head hung down. The storm was here. There was no more time to try to outrun it and she could not stay where she was. She had to get Legolas back to Rivendell. This was not going to be a fun trip. Her only hope lay in Elias and Shakir. Could they make it back to Rivendell and bring help before it was too late?
She brought the sled and supplies out of the cave then after carefully retreating and rebandaging his wounds, she woke Legolas and helped him walk out of the cave while he leaned heavily on her shoulders. She helped him lay down in the sled on a pile of soft furs then pulled more furs up to his shoulders. He looked at her then smiling weakly, lost consciousness again. Packing the rest of the supplies in the sled around the elf's body and pulling the makeshift tent over the top, Anayah was finally ready.
She hung Huan over the quiver on her back then walking to the front of the sled she picked up then draped the makeshift rope harness over her shoulder and started the long road home.
TBC