SAVE ME

The snow cascades softly from the heavens, burying the mountainous terrain under a thickening, white blanket. Behind the waterfalling snow, we glimpse magical forests and ragged mountain peaks embedded in the canvas of a vast, and overwhelming silence.

Strangely, this breathtaking scene foreshadows our brutal demise, because for days, the glacial freeze has been breaking our will, stealing our hope.

“They find us?” Ila asks.

My mind, dulled by the merciless cold, struggles to understand.

I manage, "soon."

Staring into the flames, Ila says, “these warriors torture captured women.”

“IF they find,” she says softly, “save me. Take life.”

The woman I never imagined finding during my lonely existence as a trapper, the only woman I have ever loved, has asked me to save her by ending her life.

I close my eyes, nod my assent.

****

At dusk, I see ghostly movements within the streaming snow, and a bolt of terror flares in my chest. Crouching shadows, heading in our direction, move stealthily between the trees.

Frost-bitten hands fumble for the pistol hugging the merciful bullet.

“We together soon,” she says nodding gently, looking into my eyes with warmth, and love. She turns slowly away, trusting me to send her to the warm fires of our camp in the next life.

The scene erupts with wild screams shredding the silence as arrows whisper past, punch into my shrieking horse. A searing pain bursts in my chest.

I fire.

****

My beloved Ila.....is home.