Free The Eye of the Hunter by Dennis L. McKiernan Page A

opposite side, and so when he slung his waterskin and shouldered his pack, he was ready to set forth.
    Faeril, too, prepared herself, waterskin and frame pack, the damman already bristling with knives crisscrossing her torso. She turned to B’arr when she was ready and held out her hands. “Oh, B’arr, do take care. We shall miss you, you know.”
    B’arr knelt down and squeezed the she-
Mygga
’s hands. “Already I miss you, little one. I know
Mygga
and
Fé
must go now. I worry you not safe. We come back when”—B’arr gestured to the night sky and groped for a word—“when star with tail gone. You stay safe till then, eh? Then we run happy back to Innuk, yes? Summer come, we fish.”
    Faeril managed a wistful smile and nodded and kissed the sledmaster on the cheek, then turned away.
    Gwylly, too, said good-bye to B’arr, then stepped to each of the teams and ruffled the fur of Garr and Laska and Shlee, whispering something to each, his words heard by none else.
    Aravan and Riatha bade each of the sledmasters farewell, and then all four—Riatha, Aravan, Gwylly, and Faeril—set forth up slope, heading deeper into the shadow-wrapped canyon, while the skies above grew dim.B’arr watched them go, and for a long time he did not move. And he glanced down at his bone-bladed spear and wondered what perilous game, what deadly foe, the four of them pursued, a foe so dangerous that it would require weapons of steel and silver and starlight and crystal to slay it.
    At last he looked up at the darkening skies, then signalled to Tchuka and Ruluk. As had been commanded, they would go back to the ruins two days north and wait until the strange star was gone from the skies. Then would they come back for the
Mygga
and
Fé
. Grasping his sled by the handlebar,
“Hypp! Hypp!”
he called, the dogs lunging ahead in response.
“Venstre, Shlee, venstre!”
Slowly the team wheeled leftward, until they were heading down slope.
“Strak! Strak!”
and down the course they fared, back the way they had come, Shlee’s
span
running hard, Laska’s and Garr’s
spans
just as swift behind.
    * * *
    Night fell as up the rift they hiked, Gwylly and Faeril setting the pace for Riatha and Aravan. The Moon rose unseen, shielded by the ice-clad canyon walls. Overhead, stars wheeled in slow procession, and the four comrades knew that somewhere above the hidden horizon the Eye of the Hunter streamed.
    Up the slope they walked, twisting deeper and deeper into the defile, its sheer walls looming closer in the darkness, the snow-covered floor of the vale rising up to meet them.
    And now and again the earth shuddered, and snow sifted down from above, along with clattering rocks and jagged slabs of shattered ice, hammering onto the canyon floor at the base of the steep ramparts.
    It was after one of these rumblings that Gwylly asked, “Hoy, Aravan, tell me about Dragons and about this Black Kalgalath. How be was slain and all.”
    The Elf looked down at the Waerling and smiled, There’s much to tell and little, for the life of any given Dragon is not well known. Even so, much is known concerning Dragons taken altogether.
    “They are a mighty Folk, and perilous. Capable of speech. Covetous of wealth, gathering hoards unto themselves. They live in remote fastnesses, coming now and again upon their deadly raids, usually to steal cattle andother livestock, though I ween they think of it as hunting. ‘All must aid when Dragons raid,’ so goes the eld saying. Yet I deem that nought can be done when Dragons raid, and so the saying simply means to give shelter and comfort to those afflicted by a Drake’s comings and goings.
    “They sleep for a thousand years and waken for two thousand. At this time Dragons are awake, and have been so for some five hundred years.
    “There are two strains of Dragons, though once there was but one. Fire-drakes and Cold-drakes they are now called: the breath of Fire-drakes a devastating flame; the breath of Cold-drakes a