Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick Page A

to be something else she could use as a weapon. Alex’s eyes raked the tree, looking for something, anything . She saw that the dogs were fording the river now, carefully crossing over rocks, keeping one eye on them and the other on where they were going. She had to hurry .
    â€œWhat about your knife?” Ellie’s voice was breathless with terror. “Can you use your knife?”
    â€œNot enough reach.” The blade wasn’t long and all a dog had to do was dodge and grab her wrist, and then it was over.
    Drop into the river? Alex was a good swimmer. She eyed the water, saw the gush. That current was pretty fast. The rocks were slippery and the water deep and, probably incredibly cold. She might make it, but she didn’t think Ellie would, not with boots and a parka and clothes to drag her down. And dogs could swim, too; she knew that. Even if Alex got her feet under her, one slip and those dogs would swarm in and she’d be done.
    Groping beneath the tree trunk, she wrapped her hand around a branch as thick around as her wrist and pulled. The branch bent, squealed, and Alex tugged harder, heard a snap and then a splintery sound, and gasped as the branch gave so quickly that she slipped. Still clutching the branch, she squeezed her thighs around the trunk; felt her chin bang wood and then pain, red and hot as a brand, as her teeth drove into her tongue.
    â€œAlex!”
    â€œI’m okay,” Alex said, swallowing a ball of blood. Her mouth sang with pain. Her fingers knotted around the stick in a death grip. “Go back the way you came. Down that great big branch, the one you were fishing from. Hurry. ” Alex waited until Ellie had shimmied off the main trunk and begun inching onto the branch before following. She listened to the crackle of branches, holding her breath each time. Please, God, just get us down there.
    â€œAlex, how … how much farther do you want me to go?”
    Alex flicked a glance. The branch was thick and stout, as big around as Ellie, and she was at the midway point. The branch bowed in a slight, gentle curve, but Ellie wasn’t swaying and Alex thought it was strong enough. “That’s good. Stay right there. I’m coming.”
    â€œBut what are you doing? What are we going to do ?”
    Alex didn’t answer. She wouldn’t need to go far, just enough so the dogs had only one way of getting at them. A funnel leading to a chute, like the rocks on the mountain. If she was far enough from the V, the dogs would have to come single file, and that she could defend. She butted against the V, then hugged the tree as she swung her left leg up and around. There was a solid thunk as the side of her boot knocked wood, and then she was hitching up her hips, thinking, I never was any good at balance beam.
    â€œYou’re almost there,” Ellie said. “Scooch up your butt.”
    Alex did, dropping onto the branch hard enough that she felt the bang ripple up her spine. Beneath her legs, the branch groaned and bent, like an archer’s bow being drawn, and Alex held her breath, waiting for the break, the crack, the sharp razor of a rock slicing the back of her head …
    The limb swayed, creaked like a step in a haunted house, but did not break.
    She felt the tiniest squeak of relief. “Ellie, can you give me some more room?”
    â€œYes.” The wood shuddered in Alex’s arms as Ellie scooted back, and then Alex saw the bark ripple and buckle. This time, the limb protested with a loud squall that reminded Alex of forcing open a wooden door, swollen with humidity, on a hot summer day.
    â€œThat’s far enough.” Maybe too far, but at least she had some maneuvering room now. She looked left, saw that the very big mutt was already across and eyeing the trunk. Then her head swiveled right, and she saw with a sudden, sickening jolt that the hound was already halfway to the V—just twenty feet away. “Hang on,