.

"My father sent me--to look for a certain herb whose power is greatest
when the moon is full."

He barked disdainfully. "Gathering herbs when the snow is up to your
knees?"

"It grows under the snow."

He brought his face so close to hers that his black eyes seemed to fill
the world.

"You cannot lie to me, Redbird. I see what you are doing. You are going
to _him_."

"No, no, I am looking for herbs."

"What is _this_?" With his free hand he tore away the blanket roll she
had tied to her back and threw it into the snow. "And _this_?" He jerked
on the water skin so hard that the strap broke, and he threw that down,
too.

"Do you need those things to help you find herbs?" he shouted.

Trembling from head to foot, she felt herself starting to cry. She hated
herself for showing such weakness in front of Wolf Paw. If she was to
die, she wanted to be strong.

To her surprise, the sense that she was being watched from a distance
came back again. There was someone else out here in the frozen darkness
besides herself and Wolf Paw.

"It is death to interfere with a spirit quest," Wolf Paw growled. "The
shaman's daughter of all people should know better than to break a holy
law."

Her fear made her feel as cold, as breathless, as if she were already
plunged into black, freezing water, swept along, an enormous weight of
ice between her and the air.

"I have done nothing."

"You meant to. That is as bad."

She saw the hunting knife at Wolf Paw's belt. She could make a grab for
it, try to stab him.

No, he was one of the tribe's mightiest braves. He would be too quick
and strong for her. And, at least, up to now she had done no harm to
anyone but herself. To try to murder the son of the war leader would be
a great crime.

His grip on her arm still cruelly tight, he gestured back behind him
toward the snow-covered camp. "Think of your mother's weeping over what
I caught you doing. Your father, his heart torn in his chest. But he,
the shaman, would have to say that you must be killed."

Hopelessness crushed her. Now she would never be able to help Gray
Cloud. He was going to die. And she was caught by Wolf Paw and would be
dishonored before the whole tribe and then killed.

She hung her head.

"But it is true, Redbird, you have done nothing," Wolf Paw said more
softly. "I am the only one who knows that you were about to break the
law."

_Sun Woman knows. But Wolf Paw will never learn that from me._

"