"I'm going," Singing Wolf said.
"I knew you would." Wolf Dreamer gave him a grateful smile. "Jumping Hare will stay and hunt. Green Water will help him as will some of the others. They can keep the bears off. Keep our people safe."
Wolf Dreamer's serene gaze lit on One Who Cries and he seemed to fold in upon himself. He looked out over the plain before them and stifled a cry. The land called to him, its song sweet, trilling, that of a young woman to a lover. In the distance, he could see a family group of mammoth, their huge bodies mere dots as they used their long tusks to sweep the snow free of the sedges, grasses, and bushes.
"When will you leave?"
"The sooner the better," Wolf Dreamer responded. "The Long Light is growing. We can't know when the water will begin running again."
"You mean—"
"I mean it could begin tomorrow and forever close that hole."
In the silence, the three men met each other's eyes in turn.
"Green Water will want you to go," Singing Wolf murmured, eyeing his cousin askance.
"Of course she will," One Who Cries lamented. "Why couldn't I have married one of the whimpery ones who'd demand I stay and tend to her. Instead I had to marry rocksteady Green Water, who will nod her acceptance, hug me tight, and shove me down the mouth of the monster." But in his mind, he imagined the knowing, loving look she'd give him as he bravely set off back through the horrible hole in the ice—and his heart warmed.
With an almost physical pang, he turned away from the vision of the vast game-filled meadows. "Well, let's hurry, then."
Moon Water waited, seeing no movement. Her eyes darted to the powerful Dreamer, fearful he might have had visions of her plans. But he slept so still he seemed dead. Heart in her throat, she carefully placed each foot, fear making her movements lissome. She bent over him, easing the hide covers aside to lift the ground-stone lamp. Not even daring to breathe, she plucked up the straps for the pack that carried the all-important fat. Step-by-step she backed away. Like smoke, she drifted across the camp and into the darkness.
Taking care to hide her tracks, she lifted a flat stone from an abandoned burrow she'd found earlier and hid the items, carefully resettling the stone in place.
Quietly, she returned to her robes on the other side of Jumping Hare's woman. Soon Wolf Dreamer would return to his people on the other side of the Big Ice. Then she would be free to go herself, to return to her own people. Desperate longing filled her breast as she closed her eyes. Oh, they'd search for the lamp—but who'd believe she'd stolen it? They would search all the bundles, all the possessions, but Moon Water planned well, as befitted the great Singer's daughter. When she went, no one would know the secret of the passage to this wondrous land went with her. No one would know she carried salvation to the Mammoth People.
Chapter 48
Dancing Fox applied pressure to the stone scraper, tearing the last bits of tissue from the fine golden caribou hide. Wan sunlight warmed her beautiful face, glinting blue from her fluttering hair. Overhead, fluffy clouds drifted lazily through the azure sky, their shadows roving the undulating hills like living creatures.
"Moon Water's gone.''
She looked up to see Curlew Song. The young woman's round face had pinched with disgust. Dancing Fox shrugged. "She's been waiting her chance for weeks. I thought everyone knew that from the way she skulked around at night."
"You've seen her up when we were asleep?"
"Many times."
"Why didn't you say something? Maybe we could have—"
"Tied her to the nearest tree? That would have just made her worse. She's not meant to be one of the People."
Curlew Song gave her a harsh look. "New women make the People stronger. They bring new blood."
"Only if they learn to accept their fate. Some never do-like Moon Water."
"Well," Curlew Song sighed gruffly, "maybe if she'd stayed longer—"
"When did she leave? I didn't see her go." And I was up half the night, just like every night, weighing my future, trying to decide my path.
"Jumping Hare stayed out last night to watch his rabbit traps. Thought he'd try and get the wolf that's been raiding them. She was there when I went to sleep last night. When I got up, her robes were gone. She'd taken her pack, too. I just made a circle of camp. Thought maybe she'd gone out to pout somewhere."
Dancing Fox stood, wringing the cramps out of her fingers. "Well, I guess we know where the lamp went, don't we."
Curlew stared, wide-eyed. "You don't think she'd—"
"Of course. She's headed home. She'll need it."
"To cross through the hole? Alone?" Curlew shook her head with disbelief. "No. She's not that brave."