ng body.

Ross held his own weapon ready. He leaped from a half crouch, and his
dagger sank cleanly home behind the short ribs. One of their blows must
have reached the animal's heart. With an almost human cry the wolf
stiffened convulsively. Then it was still. Ashe squatted near it,
methodically driving his dagger into the moist soil to clean the blade.

A red rivulet trickled down his thigh where the lower edge of his
kilt-tunic had been ripped up to the link belt. He was breathing hard,
but otherwise he was as composed as always. "These sometimes hunt in
pairs at this season," he observed. "Be ready with your bow--"

Ross strung his with the cord he had been keeping dry within the breast
folds of his tunic. He fitted an arrow to the string, grateful to be a
passable marksman. The slash on his arm smarted in protest as he moved,
and he noted that Ashe did not try to get up.

"A bad one?" Ross indicated the blood now thickening into a stream along
Ashe's thigh.

Ashe pulled away the torn tunic and exposed a nasty looking gash on the
outside of his hip. He pressed his palm against the gaping wound and
motioned Ross to scout ahead. "See if the cave is clear. We can't do
anything until we know that."

Reluctantly Ross followed the stream until he found the cave, a
snug-looking place with an overhang to keep it dry. The unpleasant smell
of a lair hung about its mouth. He chose a stone from the stream,
chucked it into the dark opening, and waited. The stone rattled as it
struck an inner wall, but there was no other sound. A second stone from
a different angle followed the first, with the same results. Ross was
now certain that the cave was unoccupied. Once they were inside with a
fire going at the entrance, they could hope to keep it free of
intruders. A little heartened, he cast about a bit upstream and then
turned back to where he had left Ashe.

"No male?" the other greeted him. "This is a female, and she was close
to whelping--" He nudged the white wolf with his toe. His hands held a
pad of rags against his hip, and his face was shaded with pain.

"Nothing in the cave anyway. Let's see about this...." Ross laid aside
the bow and kneeled to examine Ashe's thigh wound. His own slash was
more of a smarting graze, but this tear was deep and ugly.

"Second plate--belt--" Ashe got the words out between set teeth, and
Ross clicked open the hidden recess in the other's bronze belt to bring
out a small packet. Ashe mad