Elizabeth didn’t see it until it was too late.
One moment she was planning a painting of the snowy scene, then the dogsled she was riding in careened around the corner. The play of shadows and light, the glittering frost on the trees, vanished when a team of dogs slammed into theirs.
Papa shouted as he fell off the back of their sled, “Hang on!”
She held tight to her sister Victoria. Their sled ran off the trail, rolled onto its side, and the icy snow surrounded her. Dogs yelped. Victoria cried out.
The stinging cold took Elizabeth’s breath away. They fell into the thick alders.
Elizabeth untangled herself from a fur robe and pulled Victoria out of the branches. Her fur hat was askew, but she looked more frightened than hurt.
“Are you all right, Sis?” Elizabeth brushed the snow from her sister’s dark curly hair.
Victoria looked up at her, blinking tears from her eyes. “I think so.”
A young man’s voice rose over the dogs yelping and barking. “Are you all right?”
“I don’t know yet,” she called over her shoulder. She turned back to Victoria. “Nothing hurts?”
Victoria shook her head. “No.”
Elizabeth took a shuddering breath. The barking grew louder, and she turned to see the dogs lunging at each other. The teams had to be separated before they injured each other. She ran as quickly as she could through the deep snow, raising her long wool skirts out of the way. A man in a fur parka stood in the midst of the flurry of fur and snarls, trying to untangle the teams by tugging at their lines.
“Why weren’t you on the right side of the trail?” she called to the man, irritation rough in her voice.
“I’m sorry, Miss.”
