FROZEN

WHAT IT IS

It is not the thing one normally sees on a frozen lake, but there it was, a helicopter on fire, a large hole in the ice, some dazed individuals trying to stay warm and a column of black smoke rushing to the heavens, acting as a beacon for rescue crews to follow. CO Micheals was first on the scene, quickly followed by police and fire fighters. Word came from some local ice fishermen on the lake that a helicopter was flying erratically and within seconds of appearing over the lake had gone down at the far end.

Miles Hobbson, sporting minor cuts and bruises, was repeating his story for the third time to the lead investigator. Hobbson was a last minute fill in for a pilot friend who asked him to pick up a man and a dog, fly them to this small lake, pick up a Peter Lehman and a Melena Schulz, and fly all four to a lodge near Lake Temagami. A soon as Lehman and Schulz were aboard, all hell broke loose with the dog going for Lehman’s jugular,  and then,  as they struggled the door flew open and they both fell crashing through the ice below, the dog still in a death grip around Lehman’s throat. While all this was unfolding Schulz went for a handgun, but was shot by the dog’s companion with the bullet passing through her shoulder then hitting the helicopter’s console causing Hobbson to lose control .The helicopter spiraled out of control, slammed into the ice and burst into flames and as the fire spread,  Hobbson dragged the man out of the wreckage to safety but when he went back for Schulz, she had already gotten out and was snowshoeing across the lake.

Waiting to be rescued, the man confessed to Hobbson that he and the dog were retired police from the Boston Police Service and they had been on the hunt for Lehman for some months. Lehman had killed a prominent member of the Boston Canine Unit and his partner vowed retribution, and on this day the punishment was extracted, although the cost to the canine had been high.

WHAT IT IS NOT

The fairy of Ellesmere Island granted Feather and Hammer ten days of enlightened passage where all their travelling obstacles would be reduced to a mere pittance as they made their way from the mid Atlantic state of Pennsylvania northward to the High Arctic. Approaching the 50^th parallel with winter coming on, meant the two knights would have difficult days ahead but they remained hesitant to use the fairy’s gift because the days nearing the final destination would be most brutal.

Hammer was supposed to be the tough, brawny one but his numerous diversions during this week’s travel only served to set them back. On Monday morning they broke camp early near Devil’s Mountain only to find a snowy owl snared in some barbed wire and a couple hours of painstakingly cutting wire was required in order set the creature free. Later that same week Hammer spotted a red fox staggering around the forest with an ice cream pale stuck on its head and not far from there he stopped to help a women with a gunshot wound to her shoulder.