hesitation, he sat down again.
There were more wolf-howls. Fangslayer and Rainbow answered back. The hunting party had been gone for three days. A few moments later, Freefoot and Starflower, Fairheart and Moonblossom came through the trees from the upstream, western end of the cliff.
They and their wolves looked tired, and well they might be, for on the back of each of the wolves was an antelope, each nearly as big as an elf, caught out on the prairie to the north of the forest. The waiting elders greeted the hunters and helped take the carcasses down from the tired backs of the wolves. There would be feasting tonight.
'The antelope are doing well this year,' Fairheart said. 'Can you believe it, these are the weaklings.'
Suretrail and Graywing began to butcher one of the antelopes while Fangslayer and Rainbow started on another. Then there was a crashing in the brush on the other side of the stream, and four very young elves came racing across the stones set in the water. Dreamsnake, who had been tending them, came a moment later.
The cublings-Dayshine, Warble, Starbright, and Feather- hurried up to where the elders were carefully skinning the antelopes, and begged for treats. Suretrail and Fangslayer handed out bits of rich liver. It was all they could do to keep the cublings from offering more 'assistance' than was good for them, or for the antelopes.
Freefoot spread out one of the skins, on which Fangslayer and Rainbow placed the meat as they cut it from the bones. Fairheart hacked off the horns and hooves and put them aside. Graywing carefully split the leg bones, not only to remove the marrow but also to save the bones themselves for javelin points, awls, fine scrapers, and other tools.
Catcher was the first of the other elves to arrive. She greeted the hunters cheerfully and displayed a brace of ravvits, which she had taken from the traps that only she knew how to make.
A moment later Glade and Fernhare came from downstream. Glade glanced up to the top of the cliff, where his son Greentwig and his friends were still sitting with Shadow-flash. They should have come down to help with the butchery. Instead they just sat, rather sullen and grumpy about something. Not Shadowflash; he was his usual cheerful self.
Starflower and Moonblossom carefully separated the edible organs from the intestines. These Freefoot and Catcher took down to the stream to wash. Later they would be stretched and dried for cord, bowstrings, and thread.
Two-Wolves and Grazer joined the group. Two-Wolves took the job of prying the teeth from the antelopes' skulls. Grazer, who was a full head taller than any other elf, helped keep the children busy while the butchery was finished. Blue-sky came last.
At last Shadowflash and the four young elves came down from the top of the cliff. Antelope was not that common a meal, and just enough different from deer to make it special.
Graywing, Bluesky, and Catcher passed around chunks of meat, choice pieces of liver, kidney, lungs, and brain.
Four antelopes proved to be just barely enough. It was fortunate that so many of the other members of the tribe had gone off on hunting expeditions of their own. All those present were able to eat their fill, and by the time Fairheart found it necessary to bring out fire for lights, there was nothing left of the antelope but belches, smiles, and some greasy faces.
By then the children were getting sleepy. Fairheart and Moonblossom collected their daughter Starbright and went off to their den at the downstream end of the cliff. Warble's father was one of those out hunting, so Dreamsnake took her to her place. Dayshine's parents, too, were away, so she went to sleep with her grandmother Bluesky. That left only Feather.
Freefoot reached down to pick up his cubling son and hold him for a moment, then handed him to Starflower.
'Aren't you coming?' his mate asked.
'In a bit.' He pointed to where Brightmist, Crystalmoss, Deerstorm, and Greentwig were sitting by the stream, dangling their feet into the water. 'There's something wrong and I want to find out what it is.'
'They've been awfully quiet this evening,' Starflower said.
'And they've been avoiding Suretrail,' he told her. He nuzzled his son again, and then Starflower took Feather away.
Freefoot waited until all the others had gone off for the night before he went over to join the four young elves. 'Why don't we take a little walk,' he suggested.
They seemed pleased to see him, almost as if they had been hoping he would come to their rescue. They got to their feet and walked with him downstream, away from the cliff.
It was almost full dark, and the sounds of night had begun.
Beside them the stream gurgled pleasantly. Somewhere an owl hooted, in preparation for its night's hunt. Chirpers and other insects were calling stridently.
They walked without talking until they could no longer see the lights left out at the holt, then found a nice place where a rock shelved over the edge of the stream, mossy and soft and big enough for them all to sit on. They rested for a while, silent in the deepening night.
At last Brightmist spoke up. 'We want to go on a hunt,' she said.
'By ourselves,' Deerstorm added.
'Well,' Freefoot said, 'I don't see why you couldn't do that.'
'Suretrail said we couldn't,' Greentwig said. 'Fangslayer said it would be all right, but when we asked Suretrail, he said no.'
'I see. Well, he must have had a reason.'
'But now that you're back,' Brightmist said, 'maybe you can tell him it's all right.'
'It's about time,' Greentwig said. 'We're not children anymore.'
'We can take care of ourselves,' Deerstorm insisted. 'We've been on lots of hunts with the elders.'
'But we always have to hunt what they want to hunt,' Crystalmoss said, 'and let them attack first, and sometimes we don't even get in on the kill until it's all over.'
'Except for ravvits,' Greentwig said, 'and chuckers.'
'Will you let us go?' Crystalmoss asked.
'I can't if Suretrail told you you couldn't,' Freefoot said, 'but maybe we can work something out. We saw tapirs at the clearing when we came by this afternoon.'
'They're no fun,' Brightmist said. 'You can walk right up to them.'
'How about the otters at the pool?'
'Yeah,' Greentwig said with innocent enthusiasm. 'They put up a good fight.'
'No,' Deerstorm insisted, 'two of the bitches died this spring.'
'Besides,' Crystalmoss said, 'Suretrail told us we couldn't.'
'Hunt otters?' Freefoot asked.
The four were silent. They hadn't asked to hunt otters.
It was an old story. Children had to be protected while they learned to live and survive in the forest. But sooner or later they wanted a real challenge. The transition between childhood and adulthood was never easy. 'All right,' Freefoot said. 'I'll see what I can do.'
Suretrail and Bluesky were sitting in front of Bluesky's den when Freefoot got back to the cliff. In spite of the late hour they were both making arrowheads. Suretrail, who was putting thong-notches on the delicate flint points, seemed to know what Freefoot had come for. He put down the piece he had been working on and looked up at his chief. 'Are you going to let them go?' he asked.
Freefoot sat down facing them. He watched as Bluesky took a large piece of nearly black flint and skillfully struck off a flake with a fist-sized rock. She turned the flake over and over, laid it down on her anvil stone and struck it again. It broke cleanly across. The two halves were somewhat overlarge but almost the right shape.
'I told them I'd talk with you about it,' Freefoot said. 'They want your permission.'
'They're good cubs,' Suretrail started to say as Fangslayer, then Catcher joined them.
'They're not cubs anymore,' Fangslayer said.
'But did they tell you what kind of hunt they have in mind?' Suretrail went on. 'They want to go to Tall-Trees for black-neck deer.''
'Oh,' Freefoot said. 'I see.'
