Page 45 of Mountain Men Heroes

“We’re here.”

“Grab what you need, and be quick so we can be on our way. We’re way too exposed out here.” Every word came with a struggle. He grunted as he pulled to a stop and narrowed his eyes on the horizon where the trees still stood in deep shadow, the fog impenetrable.

Glass rattled. “Shit.”

“It’s okay, baby. You don’t need to be nervous,” he rasped, unable to swallow. Black spots clouded his vision as he lowered himself to his good leg to try to rest before the even longer hike to his brothers.

“I know. I know. It’s just I don’t have many bullets left and what if, you know…” She slid those sexy black-rimmed glasses up the bridge of her nose for the fifth time in as little minutes. It drove him mad and made his finger itch to pluck them off her face and kiss her worry away.

He laid his staff down and moved in closer. “Let me help.” Everything became blurry and he shook his head to clear the cloudy images.

“No. You come in contact with this water anymore and I’ll be lugging your dead ass up the hill. Not a good idea. The mist off the water is already affecting you and me.”

“Not really. I’m okay. Scout’s honor.”

“Liar. Not the time to be brave. Let me get the test tubes filled and labeled then we can go.”

Remy set out three empty containers followed by three more containing a yellow solution that bubbled when moved. A purple one that turned blue when it came in contact with the water she dripped into it and a clear one that turned black when it came into contact with the same water. To him, it all looked like a collection of magical potions rather than what a wildlife vet would keep on hand.

“I didn’t know you could test on the go? Hell, I didn’t know you were an apothecary.”

“A person can have knowledge of more than one topic, no? And normally we can’t test on the go, as you say, but my grandmother and I created a portable system that can help test if water is potable for humans to consume. Let me back up. My grandmother was the apothecary. She taught me everything she knew. I think that is why my mother loves flowers so much, come to think of it. Anyway, one time, outside Vancouver on the U.S. side we ran into a case where several animals died because of water pollution. It could have all been prevented if we could test the water right then and there. A bunch of government red tape and paperwork. So, my grandmother devised a concoction from plants and herbs that helps me do on the spot testing for contaminants or poisons. Obviously, it’s not foolproof. The water I tested in the last months must not have had enough of the poison for my kit to pick up the small traces.” She tsked and fell silent a moment before continuing. “You’d be surprised by what the natives in Africa use to clean wounds and purify water.”

The soft tone of her voice lulled his eyelids closed. She carried on, but his brain checked out as her sweet voice carried on the soft current of cool air coming off the water. She talked when she was nervous. He smiled.

Dew coated the grass where he reclined. Small shallow breaths came and went until his eyes drifted shut. Ten minutes. That was all he needed.

“Ethan, wake up. Wake up, damn it.” Fear in Remy’s voice lured him from the blackness that cocooned around him, locking him in place. Roars of anger rattled in his head but his body refused to respond.

Fire stung his cheek and his eyes shot wide. Stark light drove spikes deep into his pupils.

“What the hell, Remy.” He sputtered and choked as she poured some kind of nasty-tasting liquid down his throat.

“Swallow. All of it.”

She poured. He worked his throat. That or drown.

The more he drank the less he felt like a jackhammer replaced his heart and the clearer his mind became.

“It looked like you stopped breathing. We have to move away from the water. The mist from the lake is poisoned and we’re breathing it in.”

The morning mist collected on his skin and burned his eyes. It had to be doing the same to her. “Step back from the water. Go. I’ll take care of myself.”

What did she give him? He inhaled and nearly vomited from the vileness that oozed down the back of his throat.

“You have to move now, Ethan. The medicine I gave you isn’t strong enough to counter what you already have in your bloodstream and what you’re breathing in, too. You need more and if we stay here you’re going to die. Do you hear me? Now move!”

Medicine? It was more like acid.

“What did you give me?” He gritted through the pain and forced himself to his knees.

“Fireweed and yarrow, now can we move?”

His eyes watered from the burn and it took every ounce of strength inside him to pry his eyelids open.

“Come on, aren’t you a fucking badass mountain man?” Arms braced beneath his arms, she hastily lifted. Bless her for trying. No way his sweet little woman could lift him.

“Water.” He pulled his shirt off as she poured some from a bottle she carried in her pack over his wadded shirt and helped him clean the poison from his eyes and then did hers. A few more swipes across his face and breathing became a little easier.

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