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.The sun rose over the eastern ridge, and still he lay motionless.Then urgency returned, and he sat up in panic.He sensed instinctively that today was his last chance.If he could not feed himself and his brother, they would not experience another dawn.He grabbed his bow and arrows, strapped his sword to his back, and allowed himself the luxury of one woolen cloak from the pile that sheltered Kith-Kanan.He made his way down the cliff with almost reckless haste.Only after he nearly slipped fifty feet above the valley floor did he calm himself, forcing his feet to move with more precision.He pushed toward the water hole, feeling sensation return to his limbs and anticipation and tension fill his heart.Finally he reached the place opposite where the sheep came to drink.He didn’t allow himself to ponder a distinct possibility: What if the sheep didn’t return here today? If they didn’t, he and his brother would die.It was a simple as that.Urgently he swept a shallow excavation in the snow, fearful that the sheep might already be on their way.He swung his eyes to the southern ridge, to the slope the sheep had descended on each of the two previous days, but he saw no sign of movement.In minutes, Sithas cleared the space he desired.A quick check showed no sign of the sheep.Trembling with tension, he freed his bow and arrows and laid them before him in the snow.Next he knelt, forcing his feet into the powdery fluff behind him.He took the cloak he had brought and lay it before him, before stretching, belly down, on top.The last thing was the hardest to do.He pulled snow from each side into the excavation, burying his thighs, buttocks, and torso.Only his shoulders, arms, and head remained exposed.Feeling the chill settle into his bones as he pressed deeper into the snowy cushion, he twisted to the side and pulled still more of the winter powder onto him.His bow, with several arrows ready, he covered with a faint dusting of snow directly in front of him.Finally he buried his head, leaving an opening no more than two inches in diameter before his face.From this tiny slot, he could see the water hole and he could get enough air to breathe.At last his trap was ready.Now he had only to wait.And wait.And wait some more.The sun passed the zenith, the hour when the sheep had come to water on each of the previous days, with no sign of the creatures.Cold numbness crept into Sithas’s bones.His fingers and toes burned from frostbite, which was bad enough, but gradually he became aware that he was losing feeling in them altogether.Frantically he wiggled and stretched as much as he could within the limitations of his confinement.Where were the accursed sheep?An hour of the afternoon passed, and another began.He could no longer keep any sensation in his fingers.Another few hours, he knew, and he would freeze to death.But then he became aware of strange sensations deep within his snowy cocoon.Slowly, inexplicably, he began to grow warm.The burning returned to his fingertips.The snow around his body formed a cavity, slightly larger than Sithas himself, and he noticed that this snow was wet.It packed tightly, giving him room to move.He noticed wetness in his hair, on his back.He was actually warm! The cavity had trapped his body heat, melting the snow and warming him with the trapped energy.The narrow slot had solidified before him, and it was with a sense of exhilaration that he realized he could wait here safely for some time.But the arrival of twilight confirmed his worst fears-the sheep had not come to drink that day.Bitter with the sense of his failure, he tried to ignore the gnawing in his belly as he gathered more water and made the return to the ledge, arriving just as full darkness settled around them.Had the sheep seen his trap? Had the flock moved on to some distant valley, following the course of some winter migration? He could not know.All he could do was try the same plan tomorrow and hope he lived long enough for the effort.Sithas had to lean close to Kith-Kanan just to hear his brother’s breathing.“Please, Kith, don’t die!” he whispered.Those words were the only ones he spoke before he fell asleep.His hunger was painful when he awoke.Once again the day was clear and still, but how long could this last? Grimly he repeated his process of the previous day, making his way to the stream bank, settling himself in with his bow and arrows, and trying to conceal any sign of his presence.If the sheep didn’t come today, he knew that he would be too weak to try on the morrow.Exhausted, despairing, and starving, he passed from consciousness into an exhausted sleep.Perhaps the snow insulated him from sound, or maybe his sleep was deeper than he thought.In any event, he heard nothing as his quarry approached.It wasn’t until the sheep had reached the water hole that he woke suddenly.They had come! They weren’t twenty feet away!Not daring to breathe, Sithas studied the ram.The creature was even more magnificent up close.The swirled horns were more than a foot in diameter [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]