People of the Wolf(107)

"Come on, lean on me. Another couple of hours won't kill you if you've made it this far."

"Ought to rest, sleep."

Green Water pulled her mitten off, reaching down the front of Dancing Fox's parka, feeling the skin of her chest, reaching around to an armpit.

"No, you're walking, girl You rest now, you won't get up. You're too cold. Lost too much heat. Come on, up."

Green Water grunted, struggling with Fox's weight.

"Where's your other snowshoe? Why's this one tied to your pack?''

"Other one broke. When I fell. Tough to walk on one snowshoe. Other ankle hurts like a rock-smashed thumb."

"Here, hold on to me. I'll tie this on your good foot. You lean on me. Three feet is better than one, huh?"

Together, they turned, the last of the gray twilight fading in the southwest.

Teeth gritted, Green Water took the woman's weight. "You'll make it. You can do it."

Dancing Fox mumbled under her breath, "Nothing left. Only me."

"That's right. Keep going."

"Blessed Star People, that ankle hurts!" Fox groaned. "Why do we do this? Huh? Why do we suffer so? What's the reason? What's in living but hurt and pain and misery. People shouldn't have to ... to live ... in this kind of—"

"Hush," Green Water chided. "Save your energy for walking. That's it, one step at a time."

Even as she spoke, the breath grated in and out of her throat. Fire burned up her trembling legs, but they continued, Green Water reading the way from the stars.

How long? How many lifetimes did she spend out there?

Vaguely, she remembered One Who Cries calling. A dismembered recollection of him emerging out of the darkness, grabbing her up, hugging her gently and bending over Dancing Fox before bellowing into the storm. Then came hands, more walking, and finally the rocky descent to their shelter in the bottom of the valley.

As she huddled next to the fire, they brought Dancing Fox in, removing her ice-caked parka, rubbing her limbs and trunk, massaging her in the warm heat of the shelter before Singing Wolf cut the long boot from her left leg.

Green Water caught her breath at the size of Dancing Fox's ankle. Mottled and swollen; it hurt just to look at it.

"And she walked a week on that?" One Who Cries was astonished.

"Tough woman." Green Water sighed. "I don't know anyone else who could have done it."

Dancing Fox groaned and turned her head. "I didn't have any choice. There was only me out there . . . only me." And she closed her eyes tightly.





Chapter 44



Raven Hunter watched Three Falls as he looked away. The older hunters always looked away, even Three Falls, who had lost so many of his kin. The younger men, however, watched eagerly as the newest of the warriors of the People bent over the captive Other, leaning down as the man struggled, the skin of his chest gleaming in the firelight.

Crow Caller stroked a bone wand up and down a grooved caribou antler, singing his Dream of Power into the gathering. He chanted to the hollow zizzing of the bone. The warriors swayed back and forth, carried away by the Power of the moment, feeling the strength of their souls.

Raven Hunter smiled to himself, then leaned over the naked man, glaring into the captive's eyes.

"Kill me!" the Other demanded. "You hear? Kill me!"

"You'll die, but not just yet." Raven Hunter nodded his approval to an eager young warrior who'd shown exceptional bravery on the war trail, Crow Foot. The youth trotted forward.

"He's yours," Raven Hunter cooed in praise.

Crow Foot smiled suddenly, gazing hungrily at the captive.

"Take him."

Bending down, the boy traced an obsidian blade along the , Other's chest, watching him writhe as blood streamed hotly. Stifled whimpers escaped the man's clamped teeth. A tear crept past the Other's eyes to trickle down his cheek as Crow Foot moved the sharp edge lower, tracing it around the man's genitals.

"No Other should breed children to fight against us," the boy blurted violently.

Muscles knotting and sliding under sweat-shiny skin, the warrior thrashed and shrieked as the glass edge cut his manhood from his body. A roar of approval erupted from the watching warriors. The youth held the garish prize high, heedless of the blood that trickled down his arm.

Three Falls backed away in disgust, elbowing through the press, ducking through the door flap and into the darkness.

Raven Hunter followed patiently, ducking under behind Three Falls.

"I hate this!" the old warrior gritted through clenched teeth.

"It gives our young men heart." Raven Hunter walked to stand before him, wishing the light was better so he could see Three Falls' eyes. "Such rituals bind us more tightly than if we'd used mammoth sinew. It's a sharing of honor in there."