Free Daughter of the Moon (The Moon People, Book Two) by Claudia King Page A

rose to her feet in anger. "What will we offer the other packs when the gathering comes? We have nothing!"
    "We have our lives," Fern said timidly, clinging to Wren to keep the small girl warm.
    "And for how long?" The den mother grimaced, stepping away from the fire in spite of the cold. "The other packs will be upon us eventually, even if we weather this winter. They have the power of hunters and warriors. Our power is in our knowledge, our magic. Without it we are wandering blind through a forest of demons." She bared her teeth, fingers curling into her palms in frustration. For the first time in many weeks, Netya heard her mentor's voice crack with emotion. "The spirits have been against us at every turn of this journey."
    More uncomfortable silence lingered in the wake of Adel's words, broken only by the sounds of Netya weeping. No one had the heart to point the finger of blame at her for leading them to the cave. They all shared responsibility for overlooking the pool's frozen outlet.
    "Perhaps the water will stop," Selo, one of the other seers, ventured.
    "It will," Adel said. "And then this will happen again. Look at the riverbed. The water must come every year, if not every few months. That is why no other animal was foolish enough to make its den here."
    After a pause, Selo asked the terrible question that lingered on everyone's lips. "What will we do now?"
    Adel shook her head, staring into the flames of the fire. "I do not know."

 
    —6—
    A Dark Season
     
     
    That winter was among the most miserable of Netya's life. Fern and the other scouts had come across no other suitable place to make shelter in their travels, and to venture deeper into the forest would mean several days of walking without supplies, with no promise of respite ahead of them. It was too late in the season to begin travelling again. Most packs would already be huddled within their winter dens, several months of food gathered and stored away to see them through the cold months. Adel and her group had nothing.
    The next few days were spent feeding their fire, drying out clothing, and salvaging what they could from the flooded cave, all the while praying that rain or snow would not extinguish their one source of warmth. As soon as they had pieced together the remnants of their belongings, Adel had half the group begin fishing the lake and hunting in the woods nearby, while the rest worked tirelessly to build a shelter near the base of the ridge. The few good hand axes they had left were chipped and retouched by Briar several times over as they hacked down branches and small trees, layering them together in an inverted V shape up against the rocks.
    The seers had not the knowledge or skill to build a proper earth lodge, but they worked with what they had to make something resembling one. They had to hope their shelter would prove sturdy and insulating enough to keep them alive through the winter, despite its faults. Evergreen pine branches were layered on top of the roof, covered with earth, and then more branches and more soil on top of that until a thick covering had been created.
    Parts of the shelter collapsed several times as the weight became too much for the structure to bear. The bindings between the logs snapped, and the roof sagged inwards. There was no time for them to start over, so improvised repairs were made until most of the holes had been plugged and sagging supports were propped back up. Even with a fire burning inside, the shelter was still cold and drafty. One of the ragged hide coverings of their tents lined the area where they would sleep, putting a small but necessary barrier between them and the frozen ground, while another hung over the entrance, weighted down with rocks at night to keep out as much of the wind as possible.
    The others worked diligently, driven by the need for survival and Adel's stern guidance. The flood had undone all of the den mother's plans, but she was not the kind of woman to give in to despair.