He must leave this safe place and hunt. And though
under present circumstances the odds against him were appalling, he knew
he had to try. If the reserves of salted meat were tapped too soon, the
sebreum not rationed, they would all starve in the cold heart of Winter.
Trust, and wishing it otherwise, could not alter the fact.
'I must go,' he told her. 'Keep the door shut and bolted until
I return. This is a dangerous time.'
'Why? I thought most of the predators were gone.'
'There are always stragglers, and outcasts. They do well for a time,
but with the coming of deep snow find they cannot hunt, or even retreat.
Near starvation makes them desperate, and they will attack almost
anything.' These words, along with the anxious body language she had
learned to read in him---taut expression and deep, determined
breathing---frightened her.
'Be careful.'
'Of course. I will take Kamela, if she will come.' He put on his
heavy winter robe of buffalo skin, buckled the sword around it, and went
to the door.
Kamela rose to follow, but Akar limped down from his place beside the
altar and tried to interpose his body between her and the way she wished
to go. Words passed between them which could not be understood by the
others. Kalus saw only that Akar sensed some danger, to Kamela in
particular, and did not wish them to go.
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