They rode harder.
The storm worsened as they climbed.
Wind swept loose snow from the ridge in great sheets, swallowing trees only yards away.
Emily could barely see Nathan, except when his coat appeared dark against the white, the coat she had made him.
He kept turning to check that she remained behind him.
Every time Emily lifted one hand.
Still here.
Near dusk, they found the crooked pine.
Nathan stopped beneath it.
Emily could hear him breathing.
"Cabin should be below us."
They dismounted because the slope had become too dangerous to ride.
Nathan tied both horses beneath sheltering trees and took the rope and blankets.
Emily carried the lantern.
They descended on foot.
Snow reached nearly to Emily's knees in places.
Nathan broke the path ahead of her, his large body taking the worst of the wind.
Then he disappeared.
Emily screamed his name.
She dropped to her knees.
"Nathan!"
His hand appeared from below the snow.
He had stepped into a hidden washout and slid several feet down.
"I'm all right."
Emily crawled toward him.
Nathan climbed out using a pine root, snow covering half his coat.
He looked at Emily.
"You were supposed to stop."
"You disappeared."
"That was the reason to stop."
"Next time, announce it first."
He stared at her, then reached out and brushed snow from her hat.
The gesture was so unexpected that neither spoke afterward.
They kept moving.
Minutes later, Nathan stopped again.
Emily nearly walked into him.
Through the blowing snow stood a dark shape.
A cabin, or what remained of one.
The roof sagged heavily beneath the storm.
One sidewall leaned outward.
Part of the chimney had fallen, scattering stones across the snow.
Nathan shouted.
"Lucy!"
Nothing.
They stumbled closer.
Emily lifted the lantern.
Near the door lay a flower sack, empty.
Nathan dropped beside it.
"Lucy."
A sound came from inside, faint, then louder.
"Uncle Nathan."
Nathan lunged toward the doorway.
Emily caught his sleeve.
"Wait."
The roof groaned.
A deep wooden crack sounded somewhere inside.
Nathan looked up.
Snow had bowed the rafters.
"Lucy," Emily shouted. "Where are you?"
"Back here."
Her voice broke into a scream.
"Something fell. I can't get out."
Nathan pushed through the doorway.
Emily followed.
The cabin smelled of damp timber, old ashes, and snow.
Their lantern showed a fallen support blocking the rear half of the room.
Beyond it, Lucy crouched against the wall beneath a blanket.
The wooden horse was clutched to her chest.
"Emily, I'm here."
Lucy tried crawling forward.
"Stay where you are," Nathan ordered.
Another crack sounded overhead.
Dust and snow sifted between the roof boards.
Nathan studied the fallen timber.
There was only one narrow opening beneath it, too small for him.
Emily could fit, but the beam above that opening was already bending.
Nathan removed his gloves.
"Nathan."
He stepped beneath the center support and placed both hands against the sagging timber.
Emily understood.
"No."
"You're going under. That roof could come down."
"Not while I'm holding it."
"You don't know that."
Nathan looked at Lucy, then at Emily.
His voice became strangely calm.
"She's 9 years old."
The roof groaned again.
Nathan planted his boots wider.
"Get her out."
Emily stared at the enormous man beneath the failing timber.
All his life, people had stepped away from his size.
Now, in that ruined cabin beneath Black Ridge, his size was the only thing standing between them and the roof.
Nathan pushed upward.
The beam lifted barely an inch.
"Enough."
"Now, Emily."
She dropped to her knees.
Lucy screamed her name from the darkness beyond him.
Emily crawled toward her, and above Nathan Reed's shoulders, the roof began to split.
The sound was sharp as a rifle crack.
Nathan grunted.
"Keep moving."
Emily flattened herself beneath the sagging timber and dragged forward on her elbows.
Snow sifted through the roof seams, melting against her neck.
Behind her came the slow scrape of Nathan's boots as the weight above him increased.
Lucy was 6 feet away.
It might as well have been 60.
"Look at me, sweetheart."
Lucy's face was pale in the lantern glow.
"I'm sorry."
"Later."
"I shouldn't have come."
"Later, Lucy."
Emily reached through the opening.
"Give me your hand."
Lucy tried.
Her boot caught beneath a fallen board.
"I can't."
Emily crawled farther.
The timber pressed against her back.
Now behind her, Nathan's breathing changed.
Shorter, harder.
Emily found Lucy's ankle and pulled away enough debris to free the boot again.
Lucy scrambled forward.
Emily caught her beneath the arms.
"Got you."
The girl buried her face against Emily's shoulder.
Nathan's voice came through clenched teeth.
"Out."
Emily wrapped the blanket tighter around Lucy.
"Go under your uncle."
Lucy stared at the giant shape holding the beam.
"I can't leave him."
"He's coming behind us."
Nathan looked down.