Black Bear Rising: A BWWM Paranormal Romance (Black Bear Saga Book 1) (38 page)

Once she was off the glacier Lana started to run back along the path towards the cabin. With each step she got closer to the uncertainty that lay ahead. Please let Einar be ok she pleaded as her feet kicked up sprays of loose gravel. She turned the bend and she could see the cabin and the dirt lot in front of it. Einar wasn’t there. A trail of blood snaked across the ground to the cabins front door. At the cabin door Lana paused with her hand in mid air, not wanting to push the door open and face what was to come.She swallowed hard, a dry dusty lump in her throat. She entered the cabin.

Einar sat propped up on the bed on blood stained sheets, his head slumped on his chest. His skin was as pale as milk.The contents of the first aid kit lay scattered across the bed. He’s dead Lana thought to herself frozen in the doorway. Einar raised his head and looked over at Lana. He smiled at her crookedly. Her heart nearly exploded in her chest as she ran over to the bed. He raised up a half drunk bottle of black death booze and said, “Medicine.” Lana rained down kisses on his cheeks, his neck and his lips. She didn’t want to separate from him, didn’t want to know how badly he was injured for just a moment longer, before everything crashed down around her destroying her last chance at happiness. Tears ran down her cheeks as she kissed him. “I got the bullet out of my leg, the one in my shoulder went clean through,” he said with a slight slur. He took another swig from the bottle and asked, “Is he dead?”

Lana nodded and said, “He fell through the ice. He has a way out for me, a phone number that will end this nightmare. I’ll have to go back and get it from him.”

Einar looked at her and smiled broadly and then winced in pain. He took another swig from the bottle and passed it to Lana. She downed a sizeable shot and grimaced as the harsh booze burnt the back of her throat. Einar took her hand and held it in his. He said a few words in Icelandic to her.

“What does it mean,” she asked.

“It's an old Icelandic saying, it means roughly my heart belongs to you,’ he said sitting up straighter in bed. “Lana I have never met anyone like you before. This last week with you has been the best of my life. Lana would you marry me?” he asked.

Lana knew what she was going to say even before the words left her mouth. Their love had been forged in the crucible of fire. Einar knew the worst things about her and he had accepted it with no judgement. He was a strong and compassionate man who didn't see showing his emotions as a weakness. This last week she had spent with him she had never felt closer to anyone in her life. Right now sitting on the bed looking into Einar's eyes she couldn't imagine another day of her life without him by her side. “Yes,” she said leaning in to kiss him. As they kissed deeply Lana could feel her old life peel away and scatter in the wind like loose pages of an old and dusty book. She could finally look forward and imagine a happy life with Einar, free of the trappings of her old one which had nearly pulled her into the cold black earth and destroyed her.

When the kiss finally ended Einar lay back on the pile of pillows with a huge smile across his face. “I’ve never been happier,” he said.

“Hopefully this is the last time you get shot for me,” Lana said and winced at her bad joke.

“Too soon,” Einar said and smiled up at her. “We can go and get the phone tomorrow morning,” he said swinging his legs onto the floor. Lana hooked her arm around his waist as he stood up unsteadily. “I need to sleep,” he said as they hobbled over to the double bed in the corner of the cabin. He climbed in and Lana got in beside him and lay her hand on his chest. She pressed herself tight against him and quickly drifted off into an exhausted sleep as she dreamt about her husband to be.

The thin strips of bacon sizzled in the pan and Lana poured out two large cups of coffee. She heard movement from the corner of the room and looked over. Einar was sitting up, his skin looked pale and blotchy. He smiled when he saw her looking over at him.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

“Like I’ve been shot,” he said and laughed. He clutched his shoulder and let out a moan, “How are you?”

“Exhausted. Happy this is all nearly over. I need to go and get the phone from the crevasse. Do you have a way that I could climb down?” she asked.

“There are some climbing supplies in the shed attached to the cabin. I should have an ice ladder. You hammer in a couple of pegs into the ice and attach the ladder. Throw it over the edge of the crevasse and climb in. It’s designed for rescue operations so set up is fairly easy.” He flexed his leg and grimaced in pain. “I’m not going anywhere like this, so you will have to do it solo.”

Lana nodded her head. If I have survived all this she thought to herself I am not going to let the trivial matter of retrieving a phone stop her. One final hardship and she could start to look forward as her past deeds faded away.

After breakfast she set off. This time she was better equipped for travel on the glacier. Her ice crampons on her boots would dig into the ice as she walked making her progress easier than yesterday. Slung on her back was a large canvas bag with the ladder and her tools. She climbed the ice steps and as her head raised above the edge of the glacier she half expected to see her attacker crawling across the icy surface towards her. The glacier was barren. The sky above was a darkening grey and the bright jewel like ice of yesterday was gone and replaced with a dull desolate expanse.
 

Lana walked on digging her crampons into the ice in the rocking motion Einar had thought her. Chips of ice sprayed out from her feet with each step and the only noises in the canyon were the thud and glassy smash of her crampons. Her legs burned from the effort as she trudged along. Lana stopped and covered her eyes with a hand and stared ahead. A black hole like a creepy smile was exposed in the ice up ahead. This is my attackers final resting place she thought to herself. She walked on. When she was a couple of metres away she stopped. She felt like she was being watched from somewhere, a secret hiding place she wasn’t aware of. The glacier was empty. Both mountains on either side of the glacial tongue looked devoid of life. Pull yourself together she thought to herself. The sound of her own voice made her jump when she called out, “Hello,” in a weak and frightened tone. She stood in the all encompassing silence. Not even a bird was singing. She dropped her bag on the ice and walked towards the edge of the crevasse. When she got close she lay down on the frozen surface and edged closer to the cracks edge. What if he is gone she thought to herself before she looked over the edge. His body lay crumpled on the ice shelf, his head slumped on his chest. Blood had run over the edge and a dark red streak ran down the ice and into the pitch black depths of the crevasse.
 

The body glistened and twinkled from a layer of ice crystals covering it. She knew he was dead and yet she still expected him to look up at her any second with frozen dead eyes. She pulled herself back from the edge and returned to her bag. Within a few minutes she had hammered the ice stakes into the surface and attached the rope ladder to them. She unrolled it and threw it over the edge. She clipped on a safety harness and attached it to the ladder. Lana looked around one final time, there was no one around. She lay on the ground and swung her legs out into space and then quickly found the first rung of the ladder. She took another rung down and lowered herself fully inside of the crevasse. The air was chilled and her breath came out in curling white clouds. The ladder hung close to the frozen body and she would not have to stretch very far to reach his pockets. She looked down and beyond the ice shelf below everything quickly faded into an endless black. She swallowed hard as images of the black sands of the beach swallowing her whole flashed through her mind. Keep it together she told herself and pressed on. Five more rungs down and she would be close enough to reach him.

Lana concentrated on moving one foot after the other as she lowered herself into the frozen heart of the earth. She was breathing deeply when she drew parallel to his frozen body. She hooked her arm into the ladders frame and reached out to him with her left hand. His head was twisted and facing away from her and she was glad she couldn’t see his frozen and dead face. She touched his jacket and peeled it back to reveal his inside pocket. The top of a phone stuck out from it. The dead mans head shifted and rolled back as if he was trying to get one last look at the sky above. Lana jerked her hand back in fright and her foot slipped off the rung and slammed into the ice shelf. Her foot swung wildly as she tried to find her footing again, her arms ached as she clung to the ladder. Her foot found the rung and she breathed again for what felt like the first time in hours.

A wrenching crack echoed back and forth off the ice walls of the crevasse. The frozen body began to slide away from her as the ice shelf started to crack and break away. She shot out her hand reaching for the body as it slowly began to angle away from her. Her fingers fumbled at his inside pocket and she felt them brush across the top of the phone. The ice shelf collapsed and the body disappeared into the hungry dark below. A great sound wave of cracking ice reverberated up through the crevasse. Lana’s right arm hung in open space above the spot where the body had been seconds before. Between her index and middle finger she gripped the corner of the phone. Her arm shook as she brought it closer to her, the phone twitching as she barely gripped it with her fingertips. She was sure that it would drop into the inky blackness below and stared at it for a few seconds with incomprehension as it sat in the middle of her palm. She barely felt the icy cold of the phones metal back as she looked at her salvation. She slipped it into her pocket, zipped it up and climbed out of the hole.

Everything about her return journey seemed easier. Her legs didn't ache and complain as she dug the crampons into the ice. The bag on her back seemed to barely weigh a thing as she moved across the ice at a fast pace. She tapped the pocket with the phone as she went, this was no lucky charm she thought, the phone was the start of a new life for her and Einar.

As soon as she opened the door to the cabin Einar propped himself up in bed and said, “Did you get it?”

He didn't need an answer from her as she ran over to the bed and showered him with gentle kisses. She held the phone up high for him to see and he cheered. “Here give it to me,” he said taking it. He popped the phone under the blankets and said, “Warm it up before we try to turn it on. The battery mightn't work if the thing is frozen. Are you ok?” he asked.

“I can’t believe this is all nearly over,” she said in a raspy voice. They held hands in silence, drawing strength from each other as they waited to switch the phone on.

The phones screen lit up and Lana pressed the icon for the address book. It contained one number and no name. She checked the signal strength and showed it to Einar. “That should be fine. People get a signal all the time up on the glacier. We have a few dozen tourists every year calling search and rescue when they get stuck up on the ice.”

She nodded and typed in the word firetruck. The text progress bar filled and the phone vibrated in her hand to signify that it was sent. The two of them sat transfixed to the illuminated screen in her hand. Neither of them dared to take their eyes off it. Lana could feel a panicked uneasiness grow inside her. What if her attacker had lied, what if this was all some sort of trap. The phone vibrated in her hand and a message notification displayed on screen. She had one message, probably the most important one of her life. She hit the icon. Five words flashed up on screen. She could feel the hot tears spill onto her cheeks as soon as she read them.
 
The message read, Good work. See you stateside. She dropped the phone on the bed and wrapped her arms around Einar. She buried her face in his neck and cried against him as relief washed over her. She couldn’t let herself believe that it was all over. She sobbed against him as the tears flowed and her body shook. “I can’t believe it” she cried holding him tight and never wanting to let him go.

She pulled back and looked at him and his eyes glistened with tears. “I love you,” she said.

He didn't hesitate and said, “I love you too Lana.”

He pulled her against his body and the tears slowly subsided and all Lana could think was I am happy, I am truly and completely happy with this man.

The doors to the sports hall where wide open and people in their best clothes streamed in. A stage was erected at one end of the hall and a band from Reykjavik was setting up to play. People waved and greeted each other as the crowd slowly moved into the hall. Long tables had been set up and filled with a selection of food. Huge platters of smoked lamb on dark flat breads, bowls of potato salad studded with green peas, and fresh fish prepared in a myriad of ways. Across from the tables of food was a simple bar serving beers brewed by a micro brewery situated in a farm close to Vik. Beside the bottles of beer stood several tall thin bottles each with a birch branch inside it to flavour the traditional schnapps the branch soaked in.
 

At a table close to the stage Einar and Lana sat hand in hand, his leg in a splint and sticking straight out in front of him. The towns doctor came over to them and shook both of their hands and said something in Icelandic to Einar.

“He was asking how the healing was going. The doc said I’m as strong as a ram and should have the splint off in a few days,” Einar said turning to Lana.

She kissed the back of his hand and nodded. They had been inseparable the last week, holed up in his farmhouse as they recovered from the ordeal. They had slid into a bubble of the sweetest domesticity. After all they had been through the simple delights of early morning breakfasts on the front porch, afternoon horse riding sessions along the beach while Einar sat in a folding chair cheering her on and an evening beer while relaxing in the hot tub made the past feel more and more faint the further they moved away from it. When Einar held Lana late at night as they made love she felt connected to him and to the country, Iceland was going to be her new home and discovering all it had to offer excited her.