ere gone without his knowing when they
disappeared into his body.

His stomach heaved once and he thought with terror that he might fail
this first small test. But he held his breath and slowly the sick
feeling died away.

The last light faded from the sky, and the far horizon across the river
vanished. Blackness fell upon him like a blanket, thick, impenetrable.
It pressed against his face, suffocating him.

The notches in Owl Carver's talking stick, which the shaman had taught
Gray Cloud to count, said that tonight the full moon would rise. It
would make no difference. Gray Cloud would not see the moon in this sky
filled with clouds.

A small spot of cold struck his face, then another and another. His nose
and cheeks felt wet.

Snow.

The snow would fall while he sat here, and he would freeze to death.

He must overcome his fear. He must enter the other world. There, Owl
Carver had promised him, he would be safe. Without his spirit in his
body, he could not be hurt by the cold. But if fear kept him tied to
this world, the cold would kill him.

He heard something.

A thumping and scraping behind him in the cave.

Something heavy shuffling around that bend. He felt his heart beating
hard and fast in his chest.

There _was_ something in the cave. He had smelled it when he first
entered. All the magic in the world could not save him now.

He heard breath being drawn through huge nostrils. Long, slow breaths of
a creature whose chest took a long time to fill with air. He heard a
grunting, low and determined.

The grunting changed to a rumbling growl that made the floor of the cave
tremble beneath him.

Gray Cloud's breath came in gasps. He wanted to leap up and run, but Owl
Carver had said it was forbidden to move once he seated himself in the
cave. Only his spirit was permitted to move.

Perhaps if he did everything exactly as Owl Carver had told him, he
would be safe. But Owl Carver had not told him to expect such a thing as
this.

He must not look up.

The scratching of those giant claws was right behind him now. He could
not breathe at all. There was a bright light all around him, and yet he
could not see anything.

He felt--

A heavy hand--no, _paw!_--weighing down on his shoulder and gripping it.

He did not willingly turn his head, but his head turned. He did not mean
to lift his gaze, but his eyes looked up.

He saw something like a vast white tree trunk beside his head. It was
covered