“The best solution would be for Salukh to run to the other cave and you guys can just leave your rations with us and—“
“I will not leave you,” Salukh growls at me. “Do not even suggest it.”
A little quiver of pleasure shoots through me at his indignation. “But—“
“No,” Salukh says again. “I will not leave your side.”
I shouldn’t be so ridiculously pleased, but I am. I look over at Josie. “I just worry it’s too dangerous for you.”
She rolls her eyes. “Didn’t everyone say this was the easiest hike in the area? That all the sa-khui kits walk here as their training wheels? Am I less competent than a kid?”
Taushen opens his mouth.
I shoot him a look.
He closes it again. “I will go to the South cave and I will leave this evening,” he says, handing his freshly-hunted kill over to Salukh. He looks at Josie. “Do you know the way to the tribal cave?”
“Vaguely. But I was a girl scout. I can make a compass with a bit of metal and as long as I know what direction it’s in, I’ll just keep heading that way. It’ll be fine.”
I bite my lip. It doesn’t sound fine. I shoot a pleading look over to Salukh again, but he shakes his head at me. “I am not leaving your side, Tee-fah-nee.”
“Then it’s settled,” Josie says, and claps her hands. “I’ll go to the tribal cave, and Taushen will go to the south cave. Tiff and Salukh will stay here.”
• • •
SALUKH
“I hope she’s going to be okay,” my woman murmurs as we stand in the entrance to the Elders Cave. It is morning, and Jo-see’s small form is retreating in the distance, bundled in her furs and Tee-fah-nee’s heavy outer cloak. According to her and Tee-fah-nee’s information, she will be just ahead of the storm if she keeps a good pace. We are both worried for Jo-see, but she is insistent on going. Her footsteps are quick despite the snowshoes on her small feet, and her com-pahs in her hand. I didn’t understand why she rubbed a sliver of metal with fur and then floated it in water, but both she and Tee-fah-nee assure me it will point the way.
“She will be fine,” I assure my woman. “It is an easy walk to the tribal cave.”
“Yes, but she waited for daylight and already the wind is picking up.” Tee-fah-nee frowns at the skies. “The weather is going to be on her before she gets there. I feel like she should have left last night like Taushen.”
“In the daylight, she is safe. At night she is prey to many beasts that hunt. She will be fine,” I reassure her again. “Come away from the door.” She is shivering, her clothing not thick enough for the strong wind that rushes into the Elders Cave.
I help her hobble back to the seat near the fire pit. When she is comfortable, I crouch near her leg and put my hand on her knee. “Will you be safe if I leave for a few hours?”
“I will be fine,” she assures me, and it’s strangely erotic to hear her speaking in my tongue instead of the choppy, harsh human tongue. She pulls a fur blanket into her lap. “I shall keep the fire going.”
“Let it burn low,” I warn her. “We must conserve our fuel if this large snow is truly going to come.” The com-pew-turr says it and it knows many things, so it must be true. “I will go out and collect more and hunt what I can to last us.”
She bites her plump lower lip and looks worried. “Will you be safe?”
I reach up and caress her cheek. “Nothing could keep me from returning to your side.”
A smile curves her mouth then, and she puts her hand over mine. She leans into my palm and nuzzles it, and a bolt of lust shoots through my body. “Hurry back. We will have much to talk about, you and I.”
“I shall be the swiftest of hunters.”
• • •
Though I would like nothing more than to return to Tee-fah-nee’s side and bask the day away, there is much to be done. I find Jo-see’s footsteps and follow her for a time, picking up frozen dung chips and the occasional bit of wood for a fire. I do not let Jo-see know that I follow her, hanging back just enough to stay out of her sights. I just want to make sure that she can truly do as she says. The little human huffs along in the snow, shuffling at a brisk pace and singing to herself in a breathless voice. She has the bone knife I gave her out in one hand, and her strange cam-pahs in the other. Every so often, she pauses, adds water to the cup she keeps the cam-pahs in, and checks the direction. She is going the correct way, though, so I eventually break off from her trail and set to hunting.