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Leadem, Christopher

"The Mantooth"

' Understanding, the wolf simply lowered his head in
acknowledgment. Then he gestured toward the door.
'I guess he really has to go,' said Sylviana. Again she embraced
and caressed him, so reluctant now to let go. Then straightened
resolutely and went to the door. She opened it herself, and without
further ceremony he went out into the Wild, leaving a stream of memories
behind him.
The young man and woman remained silent in the doorway, watching him
disappear slowly into a mist of half-lit snow, lost in thought. Because
they realized that a page had been turned in their lives, just as one
day their lives would end and the book continue. And feeling this to
its depths, all veils torn aside, they knew what it was to be human.
Sylviana recalled the poignant line from the Shakespeare sonnet:
'To love that which you fear to lose.'
Then their thoughts once more focused on each other.

*

'You're not going to try to hunt today?' Kalus had begun to
dress heavily, and even now wrapped the sword-belt around him. Though
his eyes were determined, as they had been on the day of Kamela's
death, there was something in his manner that was not at all the same.
He was less tense, and his breathing more regular. Small comfort that
it was. 'You're in no condition.


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