Jax splashed across the stream at the edge of the village.
After his initial burst of speed, when he left Piper and Benji on the mountain, he’d been jogging at a steady pace for hours through the dark forest.
Finally, at the village, he ran to the drum hanging at the doorway to the cookhouse. Even as he fought to catch his breath, he started beating out a loud, urgent rhythm.
Cats came running after waking up to the drum beats, even though it was the middle of the night.
The cats staying in the shelters were the first to arrive.
“What’s going on!” Zelli said, wide eyed but still not fully awake.
“Hang on until everyone gets here,” Jax told her.
It took a few more minutes for the cats living in the cabins that were farther out to arrive.
“Okay, I’ll make this quick and simple,” Jax said to the surrounding cats.
“Benji was caught in a rock slide. Piper and I uncovered him, but one of his legs is pinned by a huge boulder. He was unconscious when we found him, but he did wake up for a moment before passing out again. Piper is still with him.”
“It looks like the only way to get him out is to dig out underneath the boulder. The whole area is unstable, so while we’re digging, we’ll need to keep the boulder from moving.”
“We’ll need ropes, levers, and anything else you think we might need.”
“Any questions?” he asked, looking around the group.
“How badly was he hurt?” Cassy asked, standing next to Baxter.
“Oh, Cassy, I’m glad you’re here,” Jax said. “When I last saw him, he had a strong pulse and was breathing okay. We didn’t see any blood, but we couldn’t get a good view of his trapped leg.”
“It’s going to take a while to get him free, but we’ll want either you or Isis there when we do.”
“What do you think?” Cassy asked Isis, who had arrived with Cisco.
“You grab whatever you think you’ll need right away,” Isis said, “and I’ll follow with everything that we might need to get him back to the village.”
“I’ll go get my stuff together,” Cassy said, then turning to Baxter, “You’ll have to carry some of what I’ll need.”
“Okay, get that together while I round up what I’m going to take,” Baxter told her.
“I know you all want to come with me right now,” Jax said, facing the rest of the cats. “But there’s only so much room up on the slope, and we have to be careful not to set off another slide.”
“Baxter and three of the strongest cats come with me now, plus Cassy for medical and Zelli as a runner.”
“The next group can come up in the morning. I’ll send Zelli back down to show you the trail.”
“That’s all I can think of,” Jax said. “Gather back here when you’re ready to go.”
Del and Vitto were standing a few steps back, watching as the cats scattered to get their stuff ready to go.
“These cats really know how to get things done, don’t they?” Vitto said. “I’m just trying to think of what we can do to help.”
“One thing we can do is let Chantel know what’s going on,” Del said. “I’m pretty sure she’s already up at the cave, working with the drawings.”
“You’re right, she’ll want to know,” Vitto replied. “I’ll go with you to tell her.”
Del looked around and spotted Kyron talking with Taniki. “It looks like those two know what they need to do to help. Let’s let Isis know that we’re going to let Chantel know what’s going on.”
Taniki brought Jax a plate of dried fish and some water while he sat and waited for the cats to gather again.
“Thanks, Taniki, you’re always thinking,” Jax gave her a tired smile.
“You’re going to need the energy for when your body starts to come down from the excitement,” she said.
“Kyron and I are planning to bring up some food tomorrow. All you cats working up there are going to need to be fed.”
“That’s why I love being part of this group. We take care of each other,” Jax said.
“Yeah, I feel the same way,” she said, getting up to leave. “You just relax and eat your fish; you’ve got a long night ahead of you.”
The cats traveled in a line, following Jax through the forest. It was slow going, hiking with full loads in the dark. They finally found the campsite at the base of the mountain.
Jax dropped his pack and reached in to find his bright shiner. He walked away from the group who were dropping their loads and talking about what they were going to do when it got light enough.
Jax shook his shiner to full brightness and waved it slowly back and forth as he looked up to where Piper was waiting. He kept it up for as long as he thought it would take for Piper to get out her own shiner. Getting no response, he tried covering and uncovering the window on the shiner, sending a blinking light toward the mountain.
Finally, he saw a flashing light up on the mountain.
“Come over here,” he called to the cats. “See the light up there? That’s where Piper and Benji are.”
One of the cats drove stakes in the ground in line with where they saw the light to make it easier to spot again.
Not willing to wait, Jax slowly made his way up the slope to where Piper was waiting for him. The other cats would wait for daylight.
“You were taking a chance coming up here in the dark,” Piper said, “but I’m really glad you’re here. It’s been a long night.”
“How’s he doing?” Jax asked, as he cautiously made his way over to stand beside her.
“Mostly unconscious, but starting to come around more often in the last few hours,” she said, shining her light down at the cat lying on the rocks.
“Has there been any more movement in the slide while I was gone?”
“Just an occasional small rock bouncing down the slope, but no major shift,” Piper replied, “I don’t trust this place, though.”
She looked off down the slope. “I take it you brought help.”
Jax waved toward the camp. “I brought Baxter, Stony, Juni, and Breezy to work on getting Benji loose. Then there’s Cassy with her medical kit, and Zelli to be our runner. She’ll head back down at daylight to bring up the next group.”
“Just make sure they stay off the slide when they climb up here,” Piper said. “We’ve got the help. If we go slow and careful, we can get this done.”
“One more thing,” Piper said with a catch in her voice. “I could really use a hug.”
They stood for a long time just holding each other.
When it was light enough, Jax went down to guide the four cats up the slope without disturbing the slide. Then they carefully crossed over to where Piper waited with Benji.
“Damn, what a mess. It’s a miracle that you found him,” Baxter said, looking at the jumbled pile of rocks.
Turning to the group, Jax said, “Baxter, right now, I’m totally beat. It’s been a long night. I want you to take charge and decide how to handle this.”
“Okay, you heard him,” Baxter told the other three cats. “Let’s see just what we have here… carefully.”
After looking over the situation and talking to Juni, Breezy, and Stony, Baxter summed it up.
“It looks to me like we’re going to need ropes and levers.”
“We’ll use the levers to hold that big boulder in place. We can’t move it, but that doesn’t mean it won’t move on its own. We can’t have that. We’ll have the strongest cats on the levers.”
“I want a rope tied around Benji’s chest so we can pull him free when we get him loose or when things decide to start moving again. I think that’s going to be your job, Jax.”
“Piper, I want you to keep an eye on Benji to make sure he’s doing alright. You might need to help Jax when it’s time to pull him out.”
“Finally, the cats who aren’t on the levers can carefully, and let me repeat that, carefully start pulling rocks out from under the boulder. Don’t hurry; think about every move.”
“Okay, let’s get the levers in place,” Baxter said, choosing a strong wooden pole. “Who’s going to be on the levers with me?”
“I’ll do it,” Breezy said, picking up another pole. “If the rock movers need a break, we can always trade off.”
With the levers in place, Juni and Stony started digging out the rocks from beneath the boulder. It was slow going but they made steady progress. Piper kept a close watch on Benji, who would occasionally wake enough to mumble something and then fade out again.
And Jax? Well, as the sun warmed the slope, as exhausted as he was, he finally nodded off to sleep.
“Piper, take a look at Jax,” Baxter called to her.
“Yeah, I see him. He used up everything he had,” Piper said. “No harm in letting him sleep.”
“How are they doing under the boulder?” Breezy asked from where she was leaning into her lever.
“They’re making progress, but there’s still a lot of rocks to move,” Piper replied.
“Actually, we might almost be there,” Stony said from the hole. “We don’t have to move all the rocks; just the ones keeping him trapped.”
An hour or so later, Juni called from the hole. “You two on the levers, take strain. We’re working on what looks like the last rock. We don’t want that big sucker moving when we pull it out.”
“Okay, we’re leaning into it,” Baxter called out.
Piper reached back and rapped Jax on the leg. “Wake up, Sunshine, we’re ready to pull him out.”
“What? Oh, damn. Okay, where’s the rope? Give me a second.” Fully awake now, Jax said, “Alright, I’m ready.”
“Okay, Stony, Juni,” Piper said, “we’re all in place and ready. Do your thing.”
“We’re starting on that last rock,” Stony called. “Come on, Juni, easy now.”
With a grunt and a groan, they eased the rock out of the hole.
“Okay, Jax and Piper, try pulling him out,” Juni called. “Easy, easy, that leg doesn’t look good.”
Pulling and carefully moving back, they slid Benji clear of the boulder.
“Baxter and Breezy, stay on those levers,” Jax called, “Stony and Juni, ease your way out of that hole.”
“We’re clear,” Juni said.
“Alright, Baxter and Breezy, listen before you do anything,” Jax ordered. “Breezy’s the farthest away, so I want her to slowly ease off on her lever and cross down below Baxter to get clear of the boulder. Then Baxter, you can ease off and get back out of the way in case that big rock starts to go.”
“Okay, do it now, Breezy.”
“Now you, Baxter, ease off…”
“It’s going! Jump back! It’s sliding!”
“Everyone, look up, watch the slope!”
The boulder slid down another 20 feet and stuck again. Except for a few small rocks, nothing else moved.
When nothing changed after a minute, Jax said, “Let’s pull this big guy over to a clear area, then we can get Cassy up here to tell us what to do.”
Standing in a fairly level spot away from the slide, the cats waited for Jax to decide what to do next.
“I want to keep you four up here to help bring Benji down after Cassy gets him ready to move.”
“Piper, you’ve stayed with him this long,” Jax said, “I imagine you want to stay with him until he’s safe off the mountain.”
“I’d like to, but are you up to going down and bringing Cassy back up here?” Piper asked.
“Well, since you guys let me take a nap while you did all the work,” Jax replied with a grin, “I think I’m good to go.”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he cautioned. “Just remember to keep an eye up the slope; we don’t want to be surprised again.”
When Jax got down to the camp, he was surprised to see so many cats.
Zelli had returned with the second group of cats. Isis and Cisco were at the edge of the woods lashing something together. Taniki and Kyron were there with enough food for everyone, and of course, Chantel was there.
When she saw Jax, she just stood there waiting for him to give them the news.
He gave her a smile and said, “It’s okay, we got him out. He definitely got banged up, and he’s still unconscious, but I didn’t see any bleeding or broken bones.”
“I know you’re worried, but right now, I’ve got to get Cassy up there to check him over.”
“Of course, you’re right,” Chantel said. “Go, take care of him. I can wait.”
Jax picked up Cassy’s medical kit and led her up the slope to where the other cats were waiting.
She got right to work. She had them unwrap the robe that Jax had put around him the night before. She listened to his breathing and pried his eyelids up to look at his pupils. Then she started running her hands along his legs and arms, stopping and carefully reexamining the leg that had been pinned.
“There’s something wrong here,” she said. “It’s not broken, but something with the knee isn’t right.”
“His pupils look okay, but the fact that he’s unconscious means he must have got a smack on the head.”
“I don’t think he’s in immediate danger, but we need to get him down off this mountain.”
“Isis and Cisco were putting together some sort of a stretcher sled thingy,” she said. “We’ll strap him onto that to slide him down.”
“While we wait for them to bring that thing up here. I want to see if I can do something about that knee.”
She knelt back down and felt around Benji’s knee again, then she nodded and started giving orders.
“Baxter, I want you to hold his shoulders down. Breezy and Juni, get on each side and hold his hips down. Stony, hold his other leg out straight.”
Cassy positioned herself, kneeling with one hand on Benji’s knee and the other gripping his ankle. She flexed the knee, paying attention to what she was feeling. She rotated his ankle and flexed the knee again. She seemed satisfied, so, with the knee flexed, she gave the ankle even more of a twist and snapped the leg out straight.
Running her hand along the knee again, she sat back and smiled. “Well, there you go. Everything’s back where it’s supposed to be.”
“You guys can let go now. Thanks for the help.”
“Piper, would you get in my bag and find some of the wide strips of cloth?”
“I want to keep that knee stable for the trip down the mountain, so I want to strap his legs together. That should give his knee enough support.”
Piper helped her use the strips to tie Benji’s legs together, making sure not to tie the strips too tight.
By the time they were done, Cisco had managed to climb the slope dragging the stretcher sled behind him.
After that, it was a simple matter of maneuvering the still-unconscious Benji onto the stretcher and slowly letting him slide down the slope. It took four cats holding onto the attached ropes to keep him from rocketing to the bottom.
“Wow!” Isis said running to greet them, “The sled thingy worked!”
“It’s almost like we knew what we were doing,” she laughed.
Then more seriously, she asked, “So, how is he?”
Chantel rushed over. “He’s not moving! Why’s he tied down like that?”
Cassy took her by the hand and looked her in the eyes. “He’s going to be okay… Really.”
“He’s unconscious because he took a blow to the head, but his pupils look okay, so he should come out of it just fine. He’ll need some quiet rest for the next few days. Other than some scrapes and bruises, his knee was out of place, but we fixed that before we brought him down.”
“Damn! I was so worried,” Chantel said, taking an angry swipe at her tears.
“It’s okay, Honey,” Cassy said, giving her a hug. “It comes with the territory. Let’s go get him comfortable.”
Now that everybody was down off the mountain, things started to settle down.
Taniki and Kyron had a fire going and were putting together a meal for all the cats.
“That really smells good,” Baxter said, taking a big sniff. “I hadn’t thought about it, but we’ve been going nonstop since last night. No wonder I’m hungry.”
“Look out, everyone!” Stony said. “Baxter’s hungry; don’t get between him and the food.”
While the other cats were starting to relax and joking around, Chantel left Benji’s side and went over to where Jax and Piper were sitting.
“Thanks so much for taking care of Benji. He means so much to me.”
“He means a lot to all of us,” Piper replied. “And so do you.”
“But yes, we know you and Benji have something special.”
“He’s safe now, so relax,” Jax said. “When he wakes up, you can give him hell for getting hurt.”
That brought a laugh from Chantel. “You can bet I will.”
Zelli helped Chantel gather some soft foliage to make a bed for Benji. They covered it with one of the robes and then had Baxter and Stony help them move him onto it. Once he was settled, Chantel settled close to keep an eye on him.
Once the meal was ready, Taniki brought a plate over to Chantel. “Better eat up,” Taniki said, handing her the plate. “Worrying can take it right out of you.”
“I’m still too worked up to know whether I’m hungry or not,” Chantel replied. “But thanks for the food, it does look delicious.”
“Let me know if you want more,” Taniki said, heading back to where Kyron was busy dishing up the food.
“Thanks, Kyron, you’re spoiling me with all your help,” Taniki said, taking plates from him to hand out to the rest of the cats.
“Save some for you and me,” she said over her shoulder.
Just after first light the next morning, Benji opened his eyes.
With a soft groan, he tried to lift his head to look around, but quickly gave up on the effort.
He slowly rolled his head to the side and saw Chantel sleeping with her head on his arm.
He reached up, touching her cheek. She started awake, looking at him.
He gave her a weak smile and spoke in a whisper, “Hey, Honey, what are you doing here?”
She reached up, holding his hand to her cheek, “You’re finally awake.”
Putting his hand down, she quietly told him, “You just stay still while I go get Cassy.”
“Yeah, I’m feeling kind of tired,” he said, closing his eyes again.
Cassy stood with Chantel, looking down at him. “I hate to wake him again, but I really want to know how he is… you know, mentally.”
Chantel put her hand on his shoulder and said, “Cassy’s here, Benji, she wants to talk to you.”
He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Chantel with a smile, “I was dreaming,” he whispered, “you were there, it was nice.”
Cassy leaned forward, “Benji, it’s Cassy, do you know where you are?”
Benji thought for a minute, then said, “I’m pretty sure I’m not on the mountain anymore.”
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
Benji was quiet again while he tried to remember. Then, his voice getting stronger, he said, “I heard a noise and felt the rocks start to move. I made a jump for the clear area. Something hit me in the head, my vision started to narrow down. I kept trying to move forward, but then I was rolling, and everything went black.”
“That sounds terrifying,” Chantel said.
“Well, compared to being dead, I guess it wasn’t so bad,” he said with a weak grin.
“He doesn’t seem to have lost anything mental wise,” Cassy commented wryly.
“Yeah, well, I don’t think he gained anything either,” Chantel replied with a grin.
“Hey, I’m right here,” Benji laughed, then groaned, settling back.
“Whatever you say, Dear,” Chantel laughed.
“Oh yeah, I got you something while I was gone,” he said.
Chantel gave Cassy a worried look—maybe that blow to the head had affected him.
He motioned for her to lean closer.
Then he whispered in her ear, “I found the History Tree.”
She rose up with wide eyes. As she was about to say something, he stopped her, raising a finger to his lips.
“What did he say?” Cassy asked.
“Uh, I think it’s a secret,” Chantel said, “I’ll ask him when he’s feeling better.”
“Okay,” Cassy said, a little skeptically, “just keep an eye on him. I’m going to try to catch a few more hours sleep.”
Chantel watched her go, then settled down next to Benji as he drifted off to sleep again. The smile on his face was matched by her own.