She's made her choice. His guts fell, like intestines out of a belly-slit mammoth.
"Don't say it," he whispered harshly. "It won't do either one of us any good."
She took three quick steps forward, tears in her eyes, and before he knew it, wrapped her arms around his waist, pillowing her face against his chest. "Will you mark a trail for me? Maybe if I can—"
"I'll mark a trail." Futility swept him; Crow Caller would never let her get away. He crushed her frail body against him. Through the heavy layers of hide, he felt her uneven breathing.
Gently, she pushed back, staring feverishly past him to the top of the drift. "I must go. He'll be looking for me."
Reluctantly, he released her. She stepped backward, eyes going over him as if for the last time. She worked her fingers nervously in the tattered greasy mittens.
"If you can get away . . . come."
"I will." She nodded hurriedly, throwing him a final look as she raced over the drift.
He stared at her footprints for a long moment, before muttering to himself, "Stop being a fool. You know she can't." Shaking his head, he whispered, "And I'm not sure I really want her to. What if my Dream isn't ..." He couldn't finish it.
He sucked in a deep breath and looked out over the waves of frozen snow. Streaks of dark brown reared where Wind Woman had scoured the ridge tops clear. Those rocky ridges would be his trail to the south, ever higher along the wind-worried—
"Touching."
Runs In Light whirled, seeing Raven Hunter rising to his feet. "Why, I thought for a moment she'd break, take a chance that Crow Caller's vengeance was weaker than her love for you."
"What do you want?" Runs In Light demanded.
"Why . . ."Raven Hunter spread his arms. "I'm saying
farewell, idiot brother. That's a family right, isn't it? To make a final act of charity and goodwill toward a brother.''
"Why?"
"I don't know myself," Raven Hunter said, cocking his head. "You were always the strange one. I never understood why Seal Paw and Seagull fawned over you when I did so much better, learned tracking, could repeat the stories. But they always admired you."
Runs In Light swallowed, an unease taking him. He staggered as if dizzy. Involuntary words choked his throat as the world hazed shimmery before his eyes.
"You . . . you and me, brother. We're the future. Don't do what you're planning. Or in the end, one of us will have to destroy the other.''
Raven Hunter's hard laugh broke the spell, shattering it like a sheet of ice dropped on jagged rock. "Are you threatening me?"
"The fight will tear the world in two."
"You'd best hope it never comes to that, brother." Raven Hunter smirked, leaning forward so his hard hot eyes bored into Runs In Light's. "I'm stronger, meaner, and don't suffer your flaws of mercy and compassion. Threaten me? You're crazier than I thought you were!"
"I—I'm not crazy," he whispered uncertainly. "It's in my head, the visions—"
"I won't forget your little warning, brother. Someday, you'll wish you hadn't threatened. Indeed, you will. I'll take something of yours for that and maybe even toss you a bone when I leave you behind. Hmm?"
He turned, laughing again as he climbed the drift, tramping over Dancing Fox's footprints, leaving them nothing more than gouged holes in the snow.
Drowning his fear in the Wolf Dream, Runs In Light closed his eyes and heard again the spirit's words, "This is the way, man of the People. I show you. ..."
A prickle ran up his spine. He squinted at the circling ravens, then out across the undulating whiteness, eyes searching. "I hear you, Wolf."
Turning, he climbed over the top to where his own group gathered. Broken Branch waved to him, grinning.
From across camp, Crow Caller shouted, "Come on!" to his small band.
Runs In Light's eyes drifted over his own group. "So many?"
"Ha-heee! Wolf Dream!" Broken Branch chortled, waddling to the south, pack hanging down her back from a tump line that dented her ancient forehead. Her rickety legs pumped ferociously as she took the lead.
A bittersweet smile touched his lips. They believe I can save them. Can I? His eyes sought Dancing Fox where she gathered things together for her journey northward. Emptiness filled him.
A hard fist landed against his shoulder, making him stumble backward. "Quit that," Green Water reprimanded.
"What?"
"Looking like she's lost," she whispered. "Unless Grandfather White Bear gets her, you'll see her again."
He opened his mouth to ask how she knew but stopped himself. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and asked, "Are you having Dreams, too?"