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.'All right.' Skyfire set her cap straight with a hard look at her junior.'If you dare to trackyour elders, then you can act like one.'Sapling's face lighted up.'! can stay?''That's for Stonethrower to decide.' Skyfire hooked her bow over her shoulder.'Now,come on.'Dawn brightened steadily as the two elves followed the trail of the others.Cloudslowered over the blown tops of the trees, and the air smelled of storm.Wisely, theWolfriders had chosen to sleep out the day in a hollow by a frozen waterfall.By the timeSkyfire and her companion found them, an enterprising elder had broken the ice to huntfor fish.The others had rolled in their furs, pressed close to the wolves for warmth, exceptfor Stonethrower.'You dallied, but not to hunt game this time,' he commented as Skyfire appeared withSapling in tow.Yet his sarcasm was wasted on Huntress Skyfire.Woodbiter had not answered her call,and a swift review of the pack revealed the fact that he was not present.Owl pellets, shethought; with Sapling now under her care, the last thing she needed was that wolf gettinginto another scrape.Feeling the cold, the hunger, and all the weariness of the night'smarch, she met Stonethrower's dark glance.'Woodbiter's not with the pack.'aaTTnnssFFffooDDrrPPmmYYeeYYrrBB22.BBAAClick here to buyClick here to buywwmmwwoowwcc.AAYYBBYYBB r rThe older elf shrugged.'He ran off ahead of the others.Like you so often will.'Skyfire bit back a retort.Instead, she closed her eyes and sent, seeking that pattern ofawareness that was uniquely Woodbiter's.She found nothing.Alarmed, she put urgencyinto her call; and the wolf-consciousness that answered showed a thicket of briar andhazel, shot through with fear and the terrible, burning pain of a pinched leg.'Woodbiter's in trouble!' Skyfire freed her bow.She tensed like a wild thing, ready to runand aid her wolf.But Stonethrower stepped squarely in her path.'There's a storm coming.You gave Two-Spear your word that you wouldn't be going off alone.'At this, Skyfire felt a soft nudge from Sapling.Warmed suddenly by the presence of afriend, she smiled.'But ~won't be alone.Sapling will come with me.'Stonethrower narrowed his eyes, and sent, ':' ':'She doesn't belong here.* *ú 'I know,':":' Skyfire returned.':":'What are you going to do about it?':":'$tonethrower considered the young elf at the Huntress's side; he also thought uponother instructions that Two-Spear had given concerning the sister who always found waysto evade the will of her chief.'I'll go with you,' he said at last.In other circumstances, Skyfire would surely have argued against taking her brother'shenchman along.But Woodbiter was in pain; for that she would brook no delay.Shesprang into the forest, Sapling a shadow at her heels, even as Stonethrower moved togather his weapons.He had to run to catch up.Though day was fully come, the woodseemed dim, gray with the threat of a gathering storm.Gusts rattled the branches like bones overhead, and the first flakes whirled and stungthe faces of the elves who hastened to Woodbiter's aid.Soon the snow fell more thickly, thesurrounding trees veiled in white; even $tonethrower appreciated the forest instincts forwhich Huntress Skyfire was renowned.She led her companions without error through atortuous maze of ravines.Once her keen ears caught the chuckle of current beneath an ice-covered stream; and only swift reflex saved Sapling from a dunking.Although$tonethrower questioned the wisdom of7oaaTTnnssFFffooDDrrPPmmYYeeYYrrBB22.BBAAClick here to buyClick here to buywwmmwwoowwcc.AAYYBBYYBB r rcontinuing with the weather against them, a glance at Skyfire's face forestailed anycomment.The green of her eyes shone with a clear, fierce anger that elves who huntedwith her had seen only once before, and that the time Woodbiter's mate had been killed bya human hunter.For by now they had come far enough that the wolf's sending became clear enough tointerpret.Skyfire gripped her bow until her knuckles whitened and said, 'He is caught in atrap, the sort that humans set to break the legs of foxes.' She paused, and as anafterthought added, 'We have not far to go.'Skyfire drew ahead, then, despite the efforts of Sapling and Stonethrower to keep up.They followed breathlessly, twisting past trees gray and scabbed with ice, through hollowswhere the wind howled like a mad thing, and over snowdrifts spread like snares forunwary feet.Sooner than either elf thought possible, they came upon the Huntress, bentupon one knee in a depressionbetween a steep bank and the roots of a twisted tree.'Look,' she said without turning.Stonethrower and Sapling crowded closer, and saw the track of a huge beast, oval-shaped, with evidence of a pointy claw at one end.The snow fell less thickly in the shelterof the draw; the track, though not fresh, was plainly discernible as something not made bychance.'What is it?' asked Sapling, more than a little scared.The track was wider than fourhandspans, and half as long as her spear.Skyfire frowned, and Stonethrower knuckled his beard, a habit he had when somethingdistressed him.No Wolfrider had ever seen anything like such tracks, and quick sendingamong them established understanding they were troubled.A beast that size was bound tobe dangerous.Stonethrower quietly suggested they turn back.Frightened herself, but driven by loyalty to Woodbiter, Skyfire regarded him with thecontempt she usually reserved for humans.'Why should we? Are you afraid to go on?'Swirling snow and the wail of wind through the draw filled a tense interval.Then,without speaking, Skyfire whirled and continued on.Sapling accompanied her.Left anuntenable implication, Stonethrower followed after; but under his breath he muttered thatSkyfire's belief that Two-Spear's reckless ways would eventually lead the tribe to ruin wasan unbalanced accusation at best.In the7IaaTTnnssFFffooDDrrPPmmYYeeYYrrBB22.BBAAClick here to buyClick here to buywwmmwwoowwcc.AAYYBBYYBB r ropinion of the older elf, the sister was as stubborn as the brother, which was precisely whythe two were continually at odds.The draw deepened, narrowing into a defile where snow fell thinly, and then only whendriven by odd eddies of wind.The prints of the strange beast showed plainly upon thefaces of the drifts.Skyfire followed, nervous, but insistent the place of Woodbiter'scaptivity lay very near at hand.The elves labored through deeper and deeper drifts,sometimes sinking to their waists.The terrible tracks kept pace with them, even when thecleft of the gully widened and they found the wolf, crouched in the open and chewing at hisbloody right hind pad.No one rushed forward with joy.The tracks here were many, and thickest, and plainlyassociated with the snare.Perhaps they were made by monstrous, splayfooted humans, orbears with terrible cubming.But Skyfire refused to be cowed.She scouted the area with athoroughness even Stonethrower respected.Then, borrowing Sapling's spear, sheadvanced into the clearing and bent at the side of the injured wolf.**Steady,** she sent.Woodbiter whined, but he stopped struggling as his companionknelt at his side.Gently she scraped away the snow, felt through wet and matted hair toassess the injuries to her friend.The trap which held him was primitive
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