"She slowed here," Fox decided, looking at the tracks. A thick puddle of blood had formed. She looked up, measuring the height of the sun off the horizon with her hand. Three handsbreadths of light left? It might be close. The thought of losing the moose to wolves hurt something deep inside.
"She's not far," Talon added, pointing. "Look there. Frothy. That dripped out of her nose. She's dead as we speak."
"That or laid down."
"In which case, she's as good as dead. They lie down, they bleed out inside, stiffen up. We've got her."
They walked on, eyes to the tracks and ever-increasing blood as the cow had hobbled along, the calf crisscrossing behind her.
"You've made it longer than I thought you would." Talon eyed her askance.
Fox looked over, squinting against the westering light. "And I'll make it longer still."
"I'm a little surprised. I didn't expect you to be this strong. I thought you'd run back to the band in a week."
"Then why'd you come with me?"
Talon smiled wryly. "Oh, I don't know. I guess I wanted to see how you'd do. Been a long time since a woman left to be on her own. Been a couple of men every now and then who took off. But a woman? Heron was the last and that's been over twenty Long Lights ago."
Fox nodded slowly, wishing she had Heron's reputed Dreaming talents so she'd know if she'd made the right choice. Things were going to be a lot harder from now on. "I couldn't stay," she said simply.
"You don't like Raven Hunter, do you?"
She started to shake her head then stopped. "I . . .To tell you the truth, I don't know. I don't really hate him." She puffed derision through her nostrils. "Can you believe that? He dragged me back to Crow Caller to be humiliated. He used me just about every night he could until you moved into my robes. I ... I don't know just what I think of him.”
"So that's why you're out here?"
She nodded and finally smiled. "And for the first time in my life, Grandmother, I'm free!"
"You go back and you won't be."
Dancing Fox lifted a shoulder. "Runs In Light will be coming to the Renewal."
"If he lives."
She bit her lip, a coldness within. "Yes, if he lives."
"You going to try and marry him?"
"I don't know if he still wants me."
"Well, you can find out. But, remember, Raven Hunter will be there, too. Along with Crow Caller." Talon's withered brow furrowed deeper. "Why'd that old fake live when so many good ones froze?"
Dancing Fox shook her head. "Bad luck."
Talon studied her from the corner of her eye. "No one will hold it against you. A woman has the right to run off from a man who's abusing her. And Crow Caller was abusing you. Everyone knows that now."
Fox lifted her hands helplessly, feeling the cool of the evening rising out of the land like a vapor. The deepening slant of sunlight cast long black shadows across the tundra, glinting silver from the new leaves on the sedges and wormwood.
"Do you think I did the right thing?"
Talon sighed. "Don't ask me, child. I can't pass judgment. I'm here on borrowed time. You kept me alive out there in the snow. You got a claim on my soul while it's still with my body. But, to be honest, I'm curious and happy to follow my nose for the while. We get eaten by a bear, so be it. There's honor in that. You'll pray me to the Star People if I die and that's enough for me."
"It's enough for me now, too."
Talon eyed her seriously. "You won't get away with this for long, you know? Someday, some man'll get you. Plant some kid in that belly of yours and you'll need people around. That's the curse of women. Always got some man driving his shaft into you. Either they're scared stiff of your bleeding and don't want you around . . .or they're parting your legs and climbing on." She shook her head.
"Well, so long as Raven Hunter doesn't find me, I'm free
of both," Fox said hopefully, watching the disappearing curve of the sun as it slid beneath the horizon.
In the blue-shadow afterglow of sunset, Talon studied the gently rolling terrain, muttering under her breath. "Where'd that moose go?"
"Down there." Dancing Fox pointed to where the ground • had been ripped up. A thick pool of blood soaked into the gravelly soil. Tracks angled off for a hollow to the right.
' 'And there she is,'' Talon breathed, a frail finger pointing.
Fox squinted, seeing the long head, the lowered ears. The calf stood to one side, looking back and forth between them and its prostrate mother.
"I'd hoped she'd be dead. How long until we're out of light?"
"Not long. But . . . wait. Her head just dropped. Wait.
Ha! She's not getting up again." Talon's old legs trembled