A/N

Music for this one, 'To the Water' by Moya Brennan. Moya is the singer of Clannad who were behind the main song 'I Will Find You' from The Last of the Mohicans.

/

The water drenched them both in an icy blast and then, suddenly, they were falling through cold, dry air, hands staying connected through Erin's own strong will and biting metal. She could hear Uncas' cries of fear and distress, they sounded like a long low drawn out musical note, while her own was a high-pitched shriek. Their voices joined in with the steady pulsing rhythm that consumed all senses, and it felt to Erin that they could have been falling for many hours or mere seconds. Time seemed to lose meaning and importance as they sailed through that chill blackness, the wind whipping around their heavy falling forms, streaming clothing and hair in an endless rippling of plummeting movement.

Without any warning, Erin abruptly felt her body jolt against unforgiving rock, then an unpleasant taste of iron tang in her mouth as she came to fuzzily understand she'd bitten her tongue in the rough impact. But, she was still awake, she hadn't passed out like the first time, although it suddenly felt like a battle against encroaching shadows to keep her wits. Her eyelids fluttered, eyes rolling for a moment as she pushed forward through the haze and tried to will herself into full consciousness.

'Open your eyes!' her mind wailed, and with mental exertion, Erin forced her vision to focus and look upon her surroundings.

Green leaf and brown bark met her gaze in a gentle ripple of calm growing twilight, she guessed sunset had only happened a very short time ago. She took a small selfish moment to wonder at the sky above, full of wisps of summer cloud lazily drifting past, still too light for any stars to been seen, and the barest hint of a ghostly moon glowing somewhere behind gentle swaying lush branches.

Erin jarringly realized she was breathing hard and tried to gain control of her own body before forcing her stiff neck to turn and look to the side of her. Her eyes expected, for a fleeting moment, to be greeted with bare cold rock, the sight of emptiness mocking her that all she had done had been useless, and Uncas was still back in 1757, slowly dying... But no, he was there, lying on his back, eyes closed, hand still connected to hers, blood oozing steadily between skin and metal. She watched him in frozen silence, eyes terrified and wide, and then a small intake of breath passed his lips, his chest rising, and she was elated.

Erin wanted to laugh, or maybe even sob, but instead she forced her body to sit up, all her muscles working overtime. She could feel a thick trickle of warm liquid somewhere across her upper back, along with a sharp throb of pain, and could only assume it was some new injury; but didn't have time to give it more thought as a greater overt pain shuddered through all her nerve endings, pulsing stingingly in her palm, the metal still clasped tightly into flesh, connecting her physically to Uncas.

She took in a deep breath, rallying all her courage and began to carefully prise the thing from his hand, blood slick between her seeking, gentle fingers until it finally came free, releasing his palm and leaving a ripple of red liquid in its wake. She pulled and wrenched it with rushed clumsiness from her own skin and then threw it carelessly towards the water, hearing it skitter across stone. She mentally made a note that when help was on the way she'd have to put it somewhere safe, somewhere it could be found...

She took in a few deep gulps of air, pushing back a strong sudden sensation of nausea and then her mind flared with renewed panic, Uncas hadn't stirred once through all that pain and blood. She reached for him with her uninjured hand, a whisper of a touch to brush away damp hair from cheeks.

"Uncas?" Her voice rasped with the effort of pushing any words past her dry throat.

She smoothed her thumb against his lips, willing him to speak, to tell her he was still with her, but he remained as still as stone.

"Uncas?!" She pressed both her palms to his cheeks, her lungs straining in gasps of fresh alarm, as she could no longer tell if he was still breathing at all, uncaring of the streaks of blood she left with each touch of her injured hand. Her eyes flicked to each feature, willing him to open his eyes, for his chest to noticeably rise again, but he was stone and grey and still. She pressed her ear to his chest and waited, straining, listening. A slow steady thump and a shallow intake of breath met her hearing, then a laboured rattle resounded somewhere deep within his chest, and the sudden real danger he was in shocked her body and mind back into full action. She placed both hands upon his shoulders and gently shook him. "Uncas?!" He gave a little weak groan of response but did not fully wake, but that small sign of encouragement was really all she needed to spur her onwards.

Erin reached into her pocket and pulled out the smooth hard form of her phone. Dismay washed across all her senses as she saw cracks splintering across the screen; it must have happened in the fall, she should have wrapped it in some cloth for protection, but there was no time to lament what she hadn't done, only time to try.

She pushed a button with her thumb pad and felt relief flood through her body like a ripple of warmth as the screen lit up.

7%.

"It's going to be okay." Her voice sounded high and full of anxiety, and she knew he may not even hear her, but it felt like the words were more for her own benefit.

Erin pushed at the numbers with numb fingers and pressed the green button before holding the phone to her ear, her breathing speeding up again with fearful apprehension. What if there was no signal? What if no one picked up? What if-

"911, what's your emergency?"

"Help!" Erin's strangled voice was hoarse. "We need help!"

"Okay, can you tell me how you need help?"

"A man, he's badly injured. He needs medical attention right now! An ambulance. Please!" She'd hoped to be calmer, to make more sense, but all she wanted was for someone to come and save him.

"Okay, where are you? Can you tell me?"

"I'm in the woods, near the Big Circle Re-enactment, at the waterfall. I'm at the waterfall! The triple falls! They are nicknamed 'The Three Sisters'... off the main road... damn it! I don't know the exact road names, I didn't drive here!" Her mind lurched and pushed forward a name. "Cameron's Grove, it's near Cameron's Grove!"

"It's okay, stay calm. I know the place. Help will be on the way soon."

"Okay... okay." Erin tried to take in some deep breaths, her hand going to Uncas' and slipping into his limp grasp for comfort.

"Can you tell me your name?"

"Erin, I'm Erin."

"You're doing great, Erin."

The praise made Erin feel a little soothed.

"Okay, so a man is injured, how is he injured, Erin?"

"He had a wound, he was stabbed! It's a really bad wound, it went bad. I think he's got blood poisoning? I don't know, but he's so sick! He's so weak. He has a fever. I think he's dying!" The tears came hot and startling, making her feel so much more than just physical pain. "Can you get here fast?"

"We're on our way to you. Is he with you now?"

"Yes!"

"You said he was stabbed?"

"Yes! But it was a few days ago, he didn't get it treated properly and it's gone bad, he got sick, so sick, he won't wake up!" Having to explain it all again, made Erin's panic flare and her voice was high.

"Is he still bleeding?" The calm voice didn't change its rhythm.

"No, no! Are you listening? It's stitched up, but really infected! Like I can see the veins, like in the movies, when someone has blood poisoning, I think," Erin rambled hoping any of this made sense

"Erin, I want you take a deep breath, Okay?"

"Okay," Erin shakily dragged in as deep a breath as her tense lungs would allow, "sorry. I didn't mean to snap."

"It's fine. I just need you to be calm, because we need to help him. Okay?"

"Yes," Erin said closing her eyes briefly willing the composure she needed into her mind.

"Is he conscious?" the calm voice asked.

"No, maybe, I don't think so. He groaned a little when I shook him, but he wouldn't wake up."

"How is his breathing?"

Erin checked him again, the slow rise and fall of his chest. "It's okay, steady, a little shallow maybe."

"Okay, that's good. Has he vomited or is there any blood around his mouth?"

Erin opened Uncas' mouth gently and peered inside. "No, it's clear."

"Good," the soothing voice said, each word making Erin feel more and more like she was in the best hands. "Do you know what the recovery position is?"

"Yes!" Erin clung to the positive reply like it would be the answer for everything. "But... I've not done it since high school." She felt suddenly helpless again.

"Okay, that's fine, we are going to put him in the recovery position, I'll help you. Let's do that now, together."

"Alright," Erin said, letting go of Uncas' hand and switching the phone to speaker. "I don't know how long my phone will last, the battery is really low."

"That's okay. Help is coming right to you. Are you kneeling beside him and is he on his back?"

"Yes," Erin said, having something to do was calming her, helping her get through each second.

"Can you straighten out his legs?"

Erin moved him gently, the actions coming back to her like an old song she hadn't heard for many years, but she still felt reassured to be getting a step by step guide. "Yes, I did that."

"Great. Now we are going to fold his arm, the one closest to you, across his chest. To keep the arm close to his chest, just press your thigh nice and close to his arm, that should help keep it steady. Does that make sense?""

"Yes. Okay." Erin did so, following all the instructions as best she could.

"Good. Now stretch his other arm out at a straight angle 90 degree to his body, them bend his elbow with his palm facing up.

"Okay," Erin repeated once she had finished.

"Now, we are going to go ahead and bend his knee, the leg closest to you, so his knee is in the air and the sole of his foot is flat on the ground."

"I've done that too."

"Okay good. Now, you are going to take his bent knee, support his neck with your other hand and use your thigh as leverage, gently roll him away from you, onto his side."

Erin did as she was instructed, carefully and slowly rolling Uncas onto his side, he let out a little groan of protest but complied fairly easily. "Okay, I did that."

"Make sure the leg that was bent is still bent, move it a little higher so it's at a 90 degree angle, he should feel steady, like he can't roll onto his stomach."

"Okay," Erin's voice shivered with nervous energy, unsure if she was truly doing any of this right, but Uncas was steady and looked just like all the factsheets she'd seen in her teens.

"Are his airways still clear?"

Erin gently moved Uncas and studied him with a careful eye, "yes."

"He's still breathing?"

"Yes," Erin watched as his chest rose and fell in a wonderful regularity.

"Good. Now tilt his head back gently, just a little, so he can breathe easier."

Erin did so. "Done," she almost wanted to shout out the word in triumph.

"Great job, Erin. I want you to keep an eye on his breathing. If at any point it changes or stops, I want you to tell me so we can help him."

"Okay," Erin said, holding Uncas to her tenderly, and keeping her eyes on his face for any changes.

"Do you know how old he is?"

Erin's mind buzzed, she didn't, not exactly. In the book he was said to be in his twenties. "He's in his early or mid-twenties, maybe, I think, I don't know."

"That's fine."

"Are they coming? Will they be here soon?!" Erin hadn't realized she had still been crying this whole time and wiped at her face, sniffing loudly.

"Yes, very soon. You're doing great. Do you know his name?"

"Yes," Erin smoothed a hand across his shoulder, hoping he could feel the comfort, "his name is Uncas..."

/

A/N

Hello, welcome again to another Friday.

So, here we are on the other side and I leave you on a small cliff-hanger as to Uncas' fate and what the story will next bring.

I am sorry if the 911 call seemed tedious at all, but I've read so many published books that skirt over such details as unimportant, but I remember reading a book as a teenager that had some great details and facts that did help me in sticky situations later, so I really wanted to include it. Plus my friend, who is a nurse, would kill me if I just skimmed over it, so...

I also thought it kinda contrasted nicely with how frantic Erin felt to have someone giving calm helpful modern instructions, it felt like a nice way to slip back into her own time. I hope you enjoyed.

I am pausing the story for now, hopefully just for the next week, as I take care of a family member after earlier than expected minor surgery. I thought it would happen after I finished uploading, but you have to take any win.

I will be back, and I want to reassure my readers again, this story IS finished and will be uploaded, it is just in need of some much needed spelling and grammar correcting when I find the time between work and life.

There is an end and it is coming. What that will bring is yet to be seen.

What ending are you hoping for dear reader? Uncas' survival? For him to travel home? Or another ending? I can't promise you that it will be what you want, but I am hopeful it will at least be something enjoyable.