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"Hoof-feet I think those are goats After them, Wistala!"

"Auron!"

Auron slithered between the rocks, oat blatted an alarm, and their white fur flashed as they bounced froround where they had been feeding, but not even echoes of their flight reached hi "Scents and vents! You’re hopeless"

The goat srier He lashed his tail petulantly "What should I have done? We need food"

"Young drakes! Twice the muscle and half the sense of drakka We were doind They would have fed their way right to us, perhaps You’re not fit to hunt anything but slugs"

"Am too"

"Then where’s your kill?"

"I didn’t know they could run so fast," Auron said after a ht

"Thank the Spirits for rats and bats that die and fall to the cavern floor, then"

"If I could fly, I’d find us food Dead beasts, beached whales, carcasses bears have buried till they’re tender I’d drive wolves away from their kills Or best of all, a battlefield feast That’s what Father ate before he flew off with Mother"

"I can hardly stopher nostrils shut "If cold and covered with flies is your taste, so be it I’ fresh and warm Rest somewhere out of the wind, and wait here"

Shethe roots of a pine, where he watched his scales change color as the sun climbed up the sky and moved the shadows on his back

Wistala returned, dis-footed eary hopper Only a couple ood now"

"Almost" won’t fill our bellies, Auron was about to say, but thought better of it His sister looked to be close to tears as it was "A mountain hare?" he asked

"Perhaps It jumped at the last s It turned quick as thinking We need to eat What are we going to do?"

"Don’t worry about it You’ll get one another time Let’s try to find the western entrance We’ll be able to s else"

"There was a herd of deer in a gully, but they have ears like dragons I think they even san to move away I’m sure they can outrun h to it, and now it’s getting dark"

"Show ully," Auron said

They moved into thicker stands of timber, interspersed with marsh meadow Snow still hid in shaded areas under tiht in the sunny spots

The gully coursed down theas it descended Half-exposed mossy rocks stood out from its sides, like the bumps in Father’s pebbled underbelly

"Softly now, Auron," Wistala said with her mind He followed as she crept froully

"There" It took Auron aabout A wide-antlered deer stood atop the gully, staring straight at them Auron twitched, but Wistala put her tail across his neck

"They can run longer and faster than us One leap--that’s all you get with deer," Wistala echoed Mother’s words to him Her mind felt so like Mother’s; it made his hearts hurt

She continued "If I co le he moves all of them downhill We can’t see the herd now, because they’re around the bend he’s standing on"

"Wistala, can you find your way lower down the gully? Back out and go around In a big loop?"