He turned to the girl,
contented. 'There is much work to do.' He reached above and
behind her on the rockface to the place where he had set the pelt to
dry. 'Have you ever worked with leather or fur?'
'Yes, a little.'
'Good. Take my knife and see if you can cut four long strands from
the skin, each about as wide as your smallest finger. They need not be
straight; they are only for binding wooden poles. I go to the valley to
fetch them. Do not leave here until I return.' He began to descend,
remembered himself. 'The sword.....' He passed her and reentered
their tiny island of space, emerged with the sword, unsheathed. Its
well-preserved edges looked sharp in the sunlight.
'Be careful,' she said.
'I am always careful. Akar will come with me.' He took a lock of
her hair in his fingers, and would have kissed her if he knew how. He
whistled for the wolf and started down.
'Kalus?' He turned. 'Won't you need an ax to cut the
wood?' He could not hide his smile in answering.
'I don't have to cut it. I steal it from the beaver.'
The two hunters met on the broader ledge and descended into the shadows
of the gorge, leaving the girl with only the large rabbit pelt and
Kalus' jagged knife, in truth not much improved from the museum
relics she had studied as a child.
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