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Jondalar glanced uneasily at the sky; it was a deep azure bowl inverted over them, with only a few scattered clouds in the distance It didn’t appear that a storet Thonolan, and get out No one else seemed to have any inclination to leave, now that the rhinos were in sight He wondered if their lore included the forecasting of snow by the northward movement of the woollies, but he doubted it

It had been his idea to go hunting, and he’d had little difficulty coet hi to explain that a snowstorm was on the hen there was hardly a cloud in the sky, and he couldn’t speak the language? He shook his head; they’d have to kill a rhino first

When they drew nearer, Jondalar dashed ahead, trying to outdistance the last straggler—a young rhino, not full grown and having a little trouble keeping up When the tall et the anister, pushing forward toward the north with the sanored theany of the faster than he thought

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Jetaht up with him, and he was surprised Her limp was more noticeable, but she moved with speed Jondalar nodded his head in unconscious approval The rest of the hunting party wereto surround one animal and stampede the others But rhinoceroses were not herd ani upon large numbers for safety—and survival of their kind Woolly rhinos were independent, cantankerous creatures, who seldoerously unpredictable Hunters were smart to be wary around them

By tacit agree behind, but the shouts of the rapidly closing group neither slowed hiot his attention when she took off her hood and waved it at him He slowed, turned the side of his head toward the flutter, and seemed decidedly undecided

It gave the hunters a chance to catch up They deployed the in closer, those with light spears for an outer circle, ready to rush to the defense of the more heavily armed, if necessary The rhino came to a stop; he see ahead Then he started out at a rather slow run, veering toward the hood fluttering in the wind Jondalarthe same

Then a young nized as one who stayed on the boat, waved his hood and rushed in front of the run toward the young wo his direction, started after the et was easier to follow even with liht; the presence of so etting close, another running figure darted between hi to decide which et to follow

He changed direction and charged after the second as so tantalizingly close But then another hunter interceded, flapping a large fur cloak, and, when the young rhino neared it, still another ran past, so close he gave the long reddish fur on his face a yank The rhinoceros was getting ry He snorted, pawed the ground, and, when he saw another of those disconcerting running figures, tore after it at top speed

The youngahead, and, when he swerved, the rhino swerved in fast pursuit But the ani one after another of the vexatious runners, back and forth, unable to catch up with any When yet another hood-waving hunter dashed in front of the woolly beast, he stopped, lowered his head until his large front horn touched the ground, and concentrated on the li just beyond his reach

Jondalar raced toward theh He needed to ht his breath Dolando, approaching from another direction, had the sa in Jeta to keep the animal’s interest Jondalar hoped he was as exhausted as he seemed

Everyone’s attention was riveted on Jetamio and the rhino Jondalar wasn’t sure what caused him to look north—perhaps a peripheralforward “From the north, a rhino!”

But his actions seemed inexplicable to the others; they didn’t understand his shouts And they didn’t see the enraged fe down on them full tilt

“Jeta his ar his spear

She looked north, the way he was pointing, and she screa The rest of the one for the moment It may have been that he was rested, or that the scent of the charging fea hood so provocatively close

Jetamio was lucky he was so close He didn’t have tian his advance snapped her attention back, and Jondalar’s as well She threw herself back, dodging the rhino’s horn, and ran behind him

The rhinoceros slowed, looking for the target that had slipped away, and wasn’t focusing on the tallstrides And then it was too late The small eye lost all ability to focus Jondalar ra and sht disappeared when the young woman thrust her spear into the rhino’s other eye The animal seemed surprised, then stumbled, fell to his knees, and, as life ceased to sustain hiround

There was a shout The two hunters looked up and sprinted away at full speed in different directions The full-grown fe toward the one, overran a few paces before she halted, then turned back to the youngout of each eye She nudged hiet up Then she turned her head froht fro to make up her mind

Soet her attention, flapped hoods and cloaks at her, but she didn’t see or chose to ignore theain, and then, in answer to some deeper instinct, turned north once more

“I will tell you, Thonolan, it was close But that feo north—she didn’t want to stay at all”

“You think snow is on the way?” Thonolan asked, glancing down at his poultice, then back to his worried brother

Jondalar nodded “But I don’t kno to tell Dolando that we’d better leave before the storm comes, when there’s hardly a cloud in the sky … even if I could speak their language”

“I’ve been s up to a big one”

Jondalar was sure the te when he had to break a thin film of ice in a cup of tea that had been left near the fire He tried again to coly without success, and nervously watched the sky

for e He would have been relieved when he saw curdled clouds pouring over theup the blue bowl of the sky, if it weren’t for the imminent threat they posed

At the first sign that they were breaking camp, he struck his own tent and packed his and Thonolan’s backframes Dolando smiled and nodded at his readiness, then motioned him toward the river, but there was a nervousness to the man’s srehen he saw the swirling river and the wooden craft bobbing and jerking, straining at the ropes

The expressions of the men who took his packs and stowed them near the cut-up frozen carcass of the rhino were eet away, he was by no means comfortable about the et Thonolan into the boat, and he went back to see if he could help

Jondalar watched as the ca that sometimes the best assistance one could offer was siun to notice certain details in clothing that differentiated those who had set up shelters on land, and referred to themselves as Shamudoi, from the Ramudoi, the men who stayed on the boat Yet they didn’t quite seem like different tribes

There was an ease of co, and none of the elaborate courtesies that usually indicated underlying tensions when two different peoples e, shared all their h, that on land Dolando seee, while the men on the boat looked to another man for direction

The healer e Thonolan on an ingenious stretcher Two shafts frorove of alder trees on the knoll ound over and around with extra rope fro a support between them to which the wounded man was securely lashed Jondalar hurried toward the down the tall circular tent Her nervous glances toward the sky and the river convinced Jondalar she was not looking forward to the trip any more than he was