m. On her snowshoes she
pressed on behind him.

Even though the snowshoes helped her, her legs ached. She wanted to
throw down her burdens of blanket roll and water skin, but they were too
valuable for her to let them be lost out here. Merciless pain shot up
from her shins through her knees to her hips. Still, the miseries felt
by her body could not touch the joy of her spirit. Gray Cloud lived.

A wall of fur coated with white snow loomed up before her. As Gray Cloud
lumbered along, she quickly stepped to the side and hurried around him.

She turned for a closer look at him. His steaming breath obscured his
face. He stopped. He swayed, and the bear's skull fell back from his
lolling head. She screamed, a sound that rang distantly in her ears.

Gray Cloud dropped to his knees, then fell forward on his face, sending
up a great puff of powdery snow that glittered in the moonlit air.

The silence after his fall was as stunning as thunder. Redbird felt
tears stream from her eyes--and freeze at once on her cheeks. That he
should have lived through two nights of blizzard and cold, that he
should come down alive from the sacred cave, only to die within sight of
the village under her very eyes, was more than she could stand.

"Oh, no!" she whispered. "He must not die."

She fell to her knees beside him.

He lay face down, half buried. She put her hands under his shoulder and
pushed to raise his head. He was heavy, but her fear and her love for
him made her strong enough to move him. She lifted his upper body and
turned him on his side, and she saw the beloved features, frost-white.
Hope made her heart beat faster as little clouds of warm air puffed from
his nostrils. But his breathing was ragged and shallow. She had to get
him in out of the cold. Gasping with the effort, she rolled him over on
his back.

She would have to try to drag him to the village.

Sobbing with near-exhaustion, she sat by his head, shoved her hands
under his shoulders and tried to stand, pulling him up with her.

All at once there was no weight on her arms. Someone else was there,
lifting Gray Cloud.

She looked up, thankful, yet afraid she might see Wolf Paw returned to
do them harm.

No, it was Iron Knife.

Seeing the broad face of her half brother, a cry of relief burst from
her throat.

"Oh, Iron Knife! It is so good you are here."

He smiled grimly, grunting as he hauled Gray Cloud to his feet. Gray
Cloud's eyes were shut, his mou