Blood Feather Read Online Free PDF Page A

lay still unmoving. Gabe bit the bear’s rib cage, and the bear did not move. It was dead.
    Joshua passed out.
    His eyes opened, and he saw millions of stars over his head, smelled the putrid smell of a rotting human body, and fainted again. He heard Gabe whinny softly nearby and smiled in his unconsciousness. He knew the horse was alive, so far.
    Strongheart opened his eyes and blinked at the bright sunlight, then realized he could barely see. He reached and felt dried blood all over his face and neck. Something pushed his back and startled him, and he grinned realizing that Gabe had nuzzled him with his nose. He smiled and reached up to pet the wonderful horse’s jaw and neck. Strongheart looked at the horse’s chest and saw dried blood where the bear had raked his chest. It would be too late to do anything, and there would surely be proud flesh later. There was also dried blood that had been obviously running down Gabe’s left foreleg.
    The monstrous bruin lay nearby, and only then did Joshua realize the true size, the enormity, of his foe. He also was starting to realize the enormity of his predicament, and then it grew even worse because he saw that Gabe could barely walk. Joshua crawled slowly and grabbed a stirrup with his good hand, and pushing on his good leg, he slowly stood. This took several minutes. Before checking himself out, he checked Gabe’s leg, and saw that the grizzly had smacked the leg and maybe bit it, too. There was dried blood all the way down the leg. Strongheart felt and massaged the muscles and checked the joints. He then collapsed in a faint.
    When he opened his eyes, he could tell only a few minutes had passed. He raised himself up again holding the stirrup, and knew he would have to doctor himself first or he could do Gabriel no good. He reached his canteen and swished water around in his mouth, recalling biting the bear’s tongue. His mouth had a putrid taste. He then swallowed water, and it had never tasted so good, and he poured some also on the back and top of his head.
    Joshua pulled his shaving mirror and his razor out of his saddlebag. He looked at his face and was shocked. It was completely covered in dried blood, his own. He knew that facial wounds bleed a lot, so he did not get too concerned. Joshua pulled materials out of his saddlebags and grabbed several nearby sticks for splinting his broken forearm. He tried cleaning his leg as best he could and then bandaged it and did the same with his head. After getting his face cleaned off a little, he saw giant bite marks; his nose was broken, and both eyes were swollen almost shut. He had bites and claw rips all over his torso and arms, as well as much biting on the leg.
    Fortunately, this ridge ran off Lookout Mountain, which he was intimately familiar with. Strongheart knew that if he could make it along this ridge and down one draw, there was an active spring with plenty of green grass around it for Gabe, as well as some rock overhangs. There, he could try to nurse Gabe and would have plenty of fresh springwater to clean both him and his horse, and he’d also be able to make a sufficient shelter.
    Several of the fangs had gone in deep, and the pain in his leg was excruciating, but he was not sure if it was broken or not. He did not find by feel or probing any place where the bone was broken all the way through, so instead of splinting, he tried wrapping it tight with bandages made from the big towel he carried in his bedroll. He then tried putting his weight on it and promptly fell down in excruciating pain. To be safe, he gathered a few more stout sticks and crafted a splint for the leg, too. Although his left arm was broken, he was able to use his hand and fingers since he had set the bone and placed the splint on it. Joshua found a stout green branch, which he chopped up with his razor-sharp knife and made a crutch with.
    Leaving his antelope-skin shirt on what was left of Blackjack’s face, he got his