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Hunter couldn't stand to move his injured leg, so he was much less successful this time, but Alanna hurriedly placed the pine branches beneath him. When she stood back to assess their progress, she was almost pleased. She had managed to create a thick rectangular mattress of branches, and Hunter was stretched across it diagonally. They had failed to provide enough support for his injured leg, and she thought it ought to be propped up slightly, rather than lower than the rest of his body.
"Will it hurt you too badly, if I shift your leg up onto the branches?"
Already resting far more comfortably, Hunter tried to smile. "Just do it."
Cradling his knee in one hand and ankle in the other, Alanna lifted his leg and slid it onto the pine-scented bed. Hunter didn't cry out, but she felt a wave of pain roll through him.
"I'm sorry. I wish there were more that I could do. I don't think I can find my way back to the trading post for help. Is there another settlement near here?"
Hunter managed to shake his head, but, swimming in dizziness, he passed out again. Alanna reached out to smooth his hair off his forehead, unconsciously petting him as though he were a sleeping child. She had only just begun to fish when he had awakened, and, committed to providing something for him to eat when he felt up to it, she returned to the water's edge, where she had left his line. As a child, she had fished off the dock with her cousins, and thoughts of them brought a painful tightness in her chest she had no time to assuage with tears. If she and Hunter were to survive, it was up to her.
She baited her hook with a worm and tossed it out into Lake Sacandaga with a determination born of desperation.
* * *
It was the savory aroma of Alanna's roasting catch that coaxed Hunter awake. He knew she must be rightly proud that she had not only caught half a dozen trout and built a fire to cook them, but her achievements made him feel like a helpless fool. He tried not to sulk, or at least to hide that he was.
"You're not only strong, but smart," he greeted her.
"I was hoping you'd be awake soon. I've carved a wooden cup. It isn't pretty, but it does hold water." She carried it down to the lake and returned with a drink for him.
Hunter was somewhat cheered by the crude nature of her handiwork, but he was too thirsty to tease her about it. "Thank you," he remembered to say this time.
"Do you want more?"
"Maybe later."
Alanna didn't know how to phrase her next question delicately, but tried her best not to embarrass him. "If only we had a chamber pot, you could use it. Since we don't, can I help you in some way?"
Rather than being appalled by the sensitive nature of her inquiry, Hunter was merely amused. He laughed, and then, seeing how stricken she looked, tried to behave more like a gentleman. "Find me a sturdy stick to use as a cane, and I can get up to take care of myself. Not that your offer isn't appealing, it is, but I don't feel up to returning any favors as yet."
Alanna had not been offering as intimate a service as Hunter clearly thought she had, and her face filled with a bright blush as she turned back toward the fire. He was as adept at flirting as Melissa had been, but coming from a man, she saw his teasing as a blatant request for more than she wished to give.
Recalling the kiss he had placed in her palm, she rubbed her hand lightly to rid herself of any lingering trace of his touch.
She had watched him construct a sturdy wooden rack to roast their breakfast over coals, and had done her best to create a similar structure out of good-sized sticks. Like the cup, it wasn't much to look at, but while it had grown charred, it hadn't caught fire before the fish were done, and she thought that was all that mattered. Again a handful of broad leaves served as a plate.
"I hope this is done. If it isn't, just say so."
Hunter looked at the crispy tail and fins of the roasted trout and thought it was probably overcooked rather than underdone, but he dared not criticize her cooking, when he wasn't strong enough to handle that chore himself. "This is fine," he assured her without taking a bite. "I was tired of my own cooking."
He used his knife to fillet the fish and, while the meat wasn't as tender and flaky as he had served that morning, it was still good. "I think I am lucky to be stranded here with you."
Alanna waited for him to add another thought, but he remained silent as he ate the rest of his dinner. They each had three trout, and Alanna feared she had eaten too much, while he hadn't had nearly enough. "I'm sorry, I should have given you another trout."
"Why? You're the one who's done most of the work today. It seems you've become my slave after all."
"I certainly don't feel enslaved," Alanna argued.
"Good, then you'll have no trouble being obedient."
"That isn't funny, Hunter. Our situation could scarcely be worse. What if Blind Snake and those men weren't the only Abenaki traveling this way? What if we wake to find three more, or six more, or God knows how many others storming through our camp tomorrow morning?"
"I think you better stay up tonight to make us a canoe, so we can escape them on the lake."
In no mood to appreciate teasing, Alanna lost all patience with him. "Elliott's dead, and you can't find anything better to do than make jokes?" She got to her feet and, although the light was now fading, she sent a searching glance around the camp. "I'll go find you a stick to use for a cane, but I'm warning you now, if you keep laughing at me, I may use it to beat some manners into you."
Her curls bounced across her shoulders as she stomped off, and Hunter could not hold in his laughter. She was right. Things were bad for them, but he liked her so much, he wasn't truly worried. It wasn't until she returned and handed him a sturdy branch, that he realized he was going to have to follow through on his promise and force himself to stand.
