A Whole Lot of Blood
Ylva gripped a handful of her own hair and stared at the knife sticking out from just above Cathryn’s right hip. ‘You should have just let me save the pup,’ she said. ‘Now look what you’ve done.’
‘Uh-huh,’ Cathryn grunted. ‘Or you could have just done as I asked.’
‘Are you saying this is my fault?’ Ylva’s thoughts were a terrible muddle. ‘This isn’t my fault. It isn’t.’ She turned away from Cathryn. ‘You should’ve just let me save the pup and then we could go back to the horse and find Seatun and . . .’ She balled her free hand into a fist and thumped it against the side of her head. ‘This isn’t my fault.’
‘All right.’ Cathryn’s voice was quiet. ‘It’s not anyone’s fault. I’m sorry if I sounded angry. This isn’t your fault.’
Ylva took a deep breath and turned back to Cathryn. ‘Really?’
‘Really. But I need you to help me. Can you do that?’
‘Yes.’ Ylva nodded. ‘Yes, I’ll help you.’ She came closer and dropped to her knees beside Cathryn. ‘What can I do?’ She reached out with both hands but stopped short of touching the knife handle. ‘I can’t take it out yet. We have to be ready.’
‘Right . . .’ Cathryn caught her breath. ‘If you take it out, there’ll be . . .’ She grimaced. ‘A whole lot of blood. If there are any more wolves, they’ll pick up the scent from halfway across the forest. The bear will smell it from even further. But I’d be lucky not to bleed to death before either of them get here.’
Ylva looked around. ‘So what do we do?’
‘Get the horse.’
‘Horse. Yes.’ Ylva jumped to her feet and hurried back to the horse. She unhitched it and led it back to the clearing. She threw the reins over a nearby branch and went straight to Cathryn.
‘Now help me sit up.’ Cathryn grabbed Ylva’s arm with her left hand and gripped hard. ‘Do it quick.’ She pulled against Ylva who dug her heels into the snow and leant back as Cathryn sat up from the waist. Cathryn sucked in a breath and held on to Ylva to stop from falling back.
After a while, Cathryn opened her eyes and nodded at her. ‘Good,’ she said. ‘Good. Now I need to stand up. You ready?’
‘Not really.’ Ylva shook her head, making Cathryn force a smile.
‘Me neither,’ Cathryn said. ‘But here goes.’ Once again, she pulled against Ylva and Ylva pulled back with all her weight as Cathryn shifted her legs and manoeuvred into a position from which she could get to her feet.
Once that was done, she wrapped her good arm around Ylva’s shoulders and hung her head while she caught her breath. ‘Went right under my armour,’ she said. ‘I can feel it against my rib. Doesn’t hurt too much right now, but the pain will come. Later.’
Ylva said nothing.
‘All right. Get me on the horse.’
‘With that?’ Ylva looked at the knife handle, the blade disappearing into the side of Cathryn’s cloak.
‘For now.’
So Ylva supported Cathryn as she limped to the horse, and she helped her struggle into the saddle, using her shoulder to push her up.
‘Now go back and do for that pup,’ Cathryn said. ‘It’s the kindest thing.’
‘What? No. I won’t.’
‘Stubborn child,’ Cathryn said. ‘I can see that once you’ve set your mind to something, there’s nothing will change it.’
‘There’s no sense in making up your mind if you keep changing it.’
‘Unless there’s good reason.’
‘That’s what Mother used to say.’
‘I like her more and more.’
Ylva strode back into the glade where the pup was still nestled against his mother’s stomach. She grabbed him with both hands, tucked him inside her cloak, and returned to the horse.
When she climbed up, Cathryn didn’t say anything. She just nudged the horse and they left the glade behind.