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VIRGA STIRRED So him sharply and repeatedly in the ribs

He rolled over from his curled-up position on the dirty floor and after a few seconds recognized Zark standing over hia in the side with the toe of his boot Zark bent down and put a a&039;s hand "Here," he said, "this&039;ll wake you up"

Michael was already awake, drinking fro his clothes off a rack above the stove where he had hung thee, finding it to be a brackish black beer, and saw that the Eskione He&039;d barely been able to sleep for the noise they hadrack like a couple of wild beasts But he was grateful in one respect for having been able to find out so about Zark: before the irl in the bearskins Virga had caught a glimpse of his broad naked back Across it was a beautiful tattoo of the head of a Chinese ancient, done with such clarity and grace that it would have

"Where&039;s the girl?" he asked

"Her husband caer black slab he&039;d taken from an ice-packed oil drum at the rear of the hut "They&039;re always a little jealous theafter You ever try walrus a and Michael took the pieces of black, tough-grained meat that Zark had cut for them Michael ate his wholeheartedly, but the taste of it coupled with the beer was al set so in his sto he felt pretty damned proud of himself, but shook his head when Zark offered hied and tore into it hi covered with canvas? Prefab materials in a crate?"

"No," Michael said "It&039;s so everything you own I walked out there and took a look at that junk the Eskie You didn&039;t plan to move very fast, did you?"

"We carried as necessary"

"Necessary, hell All a s and he can go to the Pole and back, living off the land You can forget about the prefabs and build ice shelters like the old hunters did But you&039;re kraslunas and you don&039;t even knohat I&039;a "What kind of doctor are you?"

"A professor Of theology"

"What&039;s that?"

"Religious concepts"

"You live by the Book, huh?"

"I suppose I do," Virga said, "in a "

Zark nodded "Yeah, there&039;s always more room in the world for another holy man" He took the leftover walrusabout things you don&039;t even understand yourselves You look at so and say it&039;s bad in the name of God because you don&039;t like it" He took the dru it in the ice amid other bundles "You use God as an excuse" He snapped the lid shut

Virga felt that this urunted and shifted his attention to Michael He said, "And I suppose you use God as an excuse too, huh?"

"No," said Michael, his eyes glittering in the di into his face as if he were not quite certain of what he was seeing His nostrils flared briefly, catching a scent Then he shtly and said, "You ever killed anyone, boy?"

"Not to e,"

"You look like you could You look like you could shoot aaany other kind of animal, not really Especially if he&039;s about to kill you Does talk about killing a a said

"Good," Zark said "That&039;s good"

Michael said, "You won&039;t reconsider about taking us into the Northeast froo harness the teaear of yours up onto the sledge when I get back" He went through the doorway, ada and Michael could hear his as he worked with thea asked "Go back to Avatik and pay so to lose three days"

"Yes, three days Perhaps too late" He looked directly at the other man "But if I&039;o on What will you do?"

"I don&039;t know I haven&039;t read a newspaper or heard a newscast in two days I&039;"

"The worst," Michael said softly "Always prepare for the worst"

"How did you coa asked "How can you, how can we, do anything to stop him short of murder?"

"We must find him first Then I&039;ll deal with Baal in ain and Zark said, "All right I need soether to lift the shrouded crate onto Zark&039;s weather-beaten sledge He cursed violently and said, "You&039;re going to break the backs of !"

They lashed down the rest of the scattered equipather up a few ripped flare gun and stored a Then he tied up a hunk of the walrus meat and checked one of the la Michael said, "You&039;re taking an ice-axe?"

"Yes," Zark said "Why?"

Michael gathered his parka hood around his head without answering

Outside, Zark rubbed snow all along the sledge runners and Virga had an opportunity to appraise his dogs as they stood in the glare of the lamp They were broad and thick, powerful beasts that even now tugged at their rope leaders The lead dog was a one-eyed black with nuave hi each other, never bared a tooth in his direction