Page 51 of Feast

“Okay, great,” Muk said. “Then we can follow. Let’s catch a ride on this chunk of ice—“

The youngest ukkur was already preparing to jump onto the passing ice-raft, but Thusar caught him by the arm.

“Easy, boy,” Thusar said. “That will take too long. Now listen—we know she’s on the river. And she’ll have to come to shore eventually. When she does, she’ll leave tracks.”

“What do you propose?” Gunnar asked.

“We split up,” Thusar said. “Two of us on each side. Two will stick closer to the river, and two will venture farther inland. That way we can cover more ground and find her more quickly. As soon as one of us finds her, he will call out to the others.”

“Good plan,” Gunnar said. “But look.”

He gestured toward the western sky. A storm front was rolling in. Thick, gray, snow-laden clouds that would soon blot out the sun.

“We must make haste,” Thusar said. “We must find her before that storm does. Slaine, Muk, you two take the far shore.”

“Aye,” Muk answered.

The youngster leapt, landing lightly on the huge chunk of ice drifting past, and immediately jumped again, arcing over the rippling dark water to land in the snow on the far shore. Slaine repeated the maneuver.

“I’ll go farther inland,” Muk said. “You follow closer to the river. Understand, Slaine?”

Slaine grunted, nodded, and then sprinted in the direction that the river was flowing.

He did not feel the cold wind biting at his skin. He did not smell the snow or the bitter odors of the needled trees. He did not even feel the rapid pounding of his own heart battering at the cage of his ribs like an enraged prisoner.

There was only room in Slaine’s obsessed brain for one thought.

Ika.

He had to find her.

He had to get her back.

And when he did, he would never let her out of his sight ever again.

CHAPTER 17

Ika was beginning to doubt the wisdom of her plan.

Even with the thick cloak of fur, she was freezing. Numb fingers and toes. Chattering teeth. Shivering muscles. She had underestimated just how cold it was when she set out this morning, and now with thick clouds blotting the sun, it was just getting colder.

Ika had also underestimated how long the trip would take.

She was still very far from Rolf’s den. The river was flowing sluggishly, dragging her icy raft along at a numbingly slow pace. In some places, the water was shallow enough that Ika could use the long spear to push along the riverbed. But soon her bare hands grew achingly cold, and she was forced to tuck them back inside her cloak.

At this rate, it wouldn’t matter that she was leaving no tracks.

Eventually, the ukkur would wake up, and sooner or later they would figure out Ika’s plan and follow her downstream. At the pace she was going, they would catch up with her before she got anywhere near Rolf’s den.

Rot.

Ika huddled and watched the silent trees slowly drifting past on the shore. As she did so, her thoughts began drifting too.

The farther she got from the ukkur, the stronger and more painful that tug at her heart became.

It didn’t make any sense. She shouldn’t miss those awful brutes. After all, they had taken her captive and held her prisoner against her will. Not to mention the other things they had done to her.

Beneath her cloak, Ika’s fingers worried the steel ring dangling around her neck.