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crying, she told herself. Screwing her eyes shut, she went on blowing.
She awoke to find herself floating in beautiful heat. The snow was as warm and
soft as reindeer skins. She snuggled into it, so drowsy that she couldn t even lift her
eyelids... much too drowsy to crawl into her sleeping-sack ...
Voices dragged her awake. Fin-Kedinn and Saeunn had come to visit her.
I wish they d let me sleep, she thought hazily.
Her brother was sneering, as he always did. Why did she make it so small? Why
can t she ever do things properly?
Hord, that s not true, said Fin-Kedinn. She did her best.
Still, said Saeunn, she could have made a better door.
I was too tired, mumbled Renn.
Just then, the door blew open, scattering ice all over her. Shut the door! she
protested.
One of the camp dogs jumped on top of her, showering her with snow, and nudging
his cold nose under her chin.
She batted him away. Bad dog! Go way!
Wake up, Renn! Torak shouted in her ear.
I m asleep, murmured Renn, burying her face in the snow.
No you re not! shouted Torak. He was longing for sleep himself, but first he had
to make room for him and Wolf and waken Renn. If she fell asleep now, it would
be forever. Renn, come on! He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. Wake up!
Leave me alone, she said. I m fine.
But she wasn t. Her face was blotched and inflamed by the flying ice, her eyes
almost swollen shut. The fingers on her right hand were hard and waxy,
unnervingly like those of the Red Deer corpse.
As Torak hacked at the snow, he wondered how much longer she would have lasted
if Wolf hadn t found her; and how much longer he and Wolf would have lasted if
they hadn t found her snow cave. Torak was nearly worn out; he d never have had
the strength to start one afresh.
Of the three of them, Wolf was holding up the best. His fur was so thick that the
snow lay on top of it without even melting. One good shake, and the snow flew off
showering them all.
Swaying with exhaustion, Torak finished enlarging the snow cave, and walled up
the entrance again, leaving a gap at the top to let out the smoke from the fire he d
promised himself. Then he knelt beside Renn, and after several attempts, dragged
her sleeping-sack out from behind her.
Get into this, he growled.
She kicked it away.
Scooping snow between his frozen fists, he rubbed it into her face and hands.
Ow! she yelped.
Wake up or I ll kill you, he snarled.
You are killing me, she snapped.
Knowing he had to make a fire soon, he rubbed his own hands in the snow, then
tried to warm them in his armpits. As feeling returned, so did pain. Ow, he
moaned. Ow, ow, it hurts.
What did you say? said Renn, sitting up and banging her head on the ceiling.
Nothing.
Yes you did, you were talking to yourself.
I was talking to myself? You were chatting to your entire clan!
I was not, she retorted indignantly.
You were, he said with a grin. She was waking up at last.
He d never been so glad to be having an argument.
Somehow, between them, they managed to make a fire. Fire needs warmth as well
as air, so they used some of their firewood to make a little platform to keep the rest
off the snow - and this time, instead of fumbling with his strikefire, Torak
remembered the fire-roll in his pack. At first the fire in the birch-bark roll refused
to wake up, even when he blew on it coaxingly, and Renn fed it morsels of tinder
warmed in her hands. Eventually it flared, rewarding their efforts with a small but
cheering blaze.
With dripping hair and chattering teeth, they huddled over it, moaning as it thawed
their hands and blistered their faces. But the flames gave them comfort greater than
heat. Every night of their lives they d gone to sleep to that crackling hiss and that
bittersweet tang of woodsmoke. The fire was a little piece of the Forest.
Torak found his last roll of dried deer meat and shared it between the three of them.
Renn gave him the waterskin. He hadn t known he was thirsty, but as he took a
long drink, he felt strength returning.
How did you find me? Renn asked.
I didn t, he replied. Wolf did. I don t know how.
She considered that. I think I do. She showed him the grouse-bone whistle.
Torak thought of her blowing that silent whistle in the dark. He wondered what it
had been like, all alone. At least he d had Wolf.
He told her about the Red Deer corpse, and finding the third part of the Nanuak. He
didn t mention the awful moment when he d considered not trying to find her. He
felt too ashamed.
A stone lamp, murmured Renn. I wouldn t have thought of that.
Do you want to see it?
She shook her head. After a while she said, If it had been me, I d have thought
twice about leaving the snow cave. You were risking the Nanuak.
Torak was silent. Then he said, I did think twice. I thought about staying, and not
going to look for you.
She went quiet. Well, she said. I d have done the same.
Torak didn t know if he felt better or worse for telling her. But what would you
have done? he asked. Would you have stayed? Or gone to look for me?
Renn wiped her nose on the back of her hand. Then she flashed him her sharp-
toothed grin. Who knows? But maybe - it was another kind of test? Not whether
you could find the third piece of the Nanuak. But whether you could risk it for a
friend.
Torak awoke to a hushed blue glow. He didn t know where he was.
Storm s over, said Renn. And I ve got a crick in my neck.
So had Torak. Huddled in his sleeping-sack, he turned to face her.
Her eyes were no longer swollen, but her face was red and peeling. When she
smiled, it obviously hurt. Ow! she croaked. We survived!
He grinned back, then wished he hadn t. His face felt as if it had been scrubbed
with sand. He probably looked just like Renn. Now all we ve got to do is get off
the ice river, he said.
Wolf was whining to be let out. Torak groped for his axe and hacked a hole. Light
streamed in, and Wolf shot out. Torak crawled after him.
He emerged into a glittering world of snow hills and wind-carved ridges. The sky
was intensely blue, as if it had been washed clean. The stillness was absolute. The
ice river had gone back to sleep.
Without warning, Wolf pounced on him, knocking him into a snowdrift. Before he
could get up, Wolf leapt onto his chest, grinning and wagging his tail. Laughing,
Torak lunged for him, but Wolf dodged out of his reach, then spun round in mid-air
and bowed down with his tail curled over his back. Let s play!
Torak went down on his forearms. Come on then!
Wolf launched himself at Torak, and together they rolled over and over, Wolf play-
biting and tearing at Torak s hair, and Torak muzzle-grabbing and tugging at his
scruff. Finally, Torak tossed a snowball high, and Wolf made one of his amazing
twisting leaps and snapped it up, landing in a snowdrift, and surfacing with a neat
pile of snow on top of his nose.
As Torak struggled breathlessly to his feet, he heard Renn making her way out of
the snow cave. I hope, she yawned, it s not too far to the Forest. What happened
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