After a moment of paralyzing fear, she dared to grab the rope with one hand and then the other. She held on with both hands as Storm pulled her to safety with the aid of his horse.
But just as she got on solid ground, stretched out on her back, breathing hard, she felt as though the earth was rocking and heaving beneath her.
It gave a sharp turn, and seemed to keep right on turning. When she looked around, everything seemed to be upside down, the sky under her.
And then she fell into a black void of unconsciousness.
“Shoshana?” Storm gasped when he saw her eyes suddenly close. It was then that he saw a large lump on her brow and realized that she had apparently hit the rock face as she fell.
Fortunately, she had managed to remain conscious long enough to help in her rescue.
Forgetting the soldiers down below and even the panther, Storm swept Shoshana up into his arms and carried her away from the edge of the cliff. He laid her down on the path where they had been riding.
The moon’s glow provided enough light for him to inspect the wound on her brow more carefully. It was a nasty lump, oozing blood.
He tried to get her awake. But she didn’t respond.
Afraid to leave her for long, with the panther still nearby, yet wanting to find an herb that his people used for restoring consciousness, Storm went into the edge of the thicket a few feet away and searched until he found what he was looking for.
With the hope of arousing her, he took the plant back to her. Slowly, he waved it back and forth beneath her nose.
To his utter disappointment, it didn’t work. She was still unconscious.
Deciding to forget about the panther for now, so that he could take Shoshana to his stronghold where the shaman could see to her wound, Storm hurried away from her and tied her horse’s reins to his own, thankful that the animal had settled down and not run off.
Before getting Shoshana, Storm checked the wolf pup and found that it was in a deep sleep. He lifted and carried Shoshana to his horse, soon having her positioned on his lap as he settled himself in the saddle.
He rode onward.
He was disappointed that he had lost the chance to finally kill the deadly panther; he had also given up the opportunity to finally stop the evil of the scalp hunter.
But there would come another time for both. He was more concerned about Shoshana now than anything else.
He was worried that she was still unconscious. He hoped that once he got her in the hands of his shaman, the medicine man would know how to revive her.
He saw the wolf pup stirring in the bag. He reached a hand down and stroked its wiry fur. “You will be all right,” he reassured it. “But you must learn to live without your mother. Do not fear, I will protect you. No man will ever get near enough to harm you!”
With Shoshana’s horse trailing behind his, Storm rode onward up an even narrower pass, past a series of waterfalls that cut through ponderosa pine and aspen.
As the night wore on, clouds marred the face of the moon, and lightning played among the mountain peaks. Soon thunder heralded the arrival of a black-walled rainstorm.
Almost blinded by the rain, and deafened by hailstones ringing on the rocks, rocketing about in all directions, Storm trundled down to safety, to a cave where he had found dry shelter many times before.
He secured the horses just inside the cave entrance, hung his bag with the wolf pup in it over his left arm, then carried Shoshana to the back of the cave where he had left equipment, blankets, and wood for fires.
Storm set down the bag with the wolf pup, glad that it had slept through the storm and rain, protected by the lid of the buckskin bag.
It still slept soundly, and Shoshana was still unconscious.
Storm made Shoshana as comfortable as possible in her wet clothes on blankets, then built a fire, the smoke escaping through a fissure in the cave’s ceiling.
Storm made another pallet of blankets and carried Shoshana to them so she could be closer to the fire. He knew it was best that her clothes dry quickly to keep her from getting chilled.
He sat down beside her, already feeling the warmth of the fire through his own wet attire. He wanted the warmth of a blanket around his shoulders, but knew that he must endure the wet coldness for a while longer in order to get his clothes dry.
He checked the bag and saw that the wolf pup was still sleeping soundly. Then he looked again at Shoshana, his heart skipping an anxious beat when he saw her stir, and then awaken.
Shoshana raised herself up on an elbow.