their tusks were longer than an elf's arm.
The wounded pig screamed. The rest of the herd, with a dozen or so juveniles as big as the wounded pig in the draw, and even a number of piglets, came on from all sides, at full charge. The forest was a long way off. There was no place to run.
It was dusk at Halfhill. A few lamps were lit. Over by her den Bluesky was making arrowheads. Beside her for company, Catcher was making a trap from a springy stick, a piece of bone, and some fine cord woven from hair. Nearby, Dreamsnake was telling the cublings the story of how Freefoot had gotten his name.
Closer to the stream, Fairheart, his shirt off, was making a bow, shaping the wood with sharp flint. Beside him, Rainbow was repairing his shirt and trimming it with fancy feathers. Suretrail, Glade, and Two-Wolves looked on.
Downstream from them, Freefoot, Grazer, and Fernhare were working on the antelope skins under Starflower's direction. Graywing, Shadowflash, Moonblossom, and Fangslayer sat between them and the others, talking, digesting, calming down for the night.
'The kids ought to be back by now,' Suretrail said.
'If they pot a deer,' Catcher said, 'they'll have a hard time bringing it back.'
'One of them could have come on ahead and asked for help,' Rainbow muttered.
'No,' Fangslayer said, 'they've got to do that themselves too.'
'After all,' Moonblossom added, 'Tall-Trees is a long way off; they might well have to stay the night.'
'I don't think we should have let them go,' Suretrail insisted.
Freefoot ignored the implied challenge. 'It has to happen some time,' he said softly. 'They're of that age. If we hadn't given them our blessing, they'd have gone off anyway.'
Suretrail knew that was true, but it didn't make him any happier. He tried to put his thoughts and worries out of his mind by watching Rainbow stitching on Fairheart's shirt.
One by one, as night fell, the elves finished their tasks and retired to their dens. At last only Suretrail, Rainbow, and Bluesky were left. The three just could not go to sleep. To keep busy they set about making arrows. Shafts, fletches, heads. They could always use more arrows.
Overhead the two moons were shining. They had been approaching each other during the last few nights. Would they kiss when they passed?
Just before dawn Freefoot, who was more concerned than he cared to admit, came out of his den with Starflower and little Feather. He saw Rainbow and Bluesky asleep, saw Suretrail coming back from the stream, and waited for him as Starflower, with a reassuring word, took Feather off for his morning bath.
'How much longer should we wait?' Suretrail asked him softly. Rainbow muttered in her sleep.
'Give them a chance,' Freefoot said. 'If they got a big buck, they'll have a hard job bringing it back.'
Bluesky woke and looked up at them. 'We made a lot of arrows last night,' she said.
Now Rainbow roused too. 'Are they back yet?' she asked.
'Not yet,' Bluesky said, and went with her to wash up.
'And besides,' Freefoot went on, 'if it was a long hunt,
they'll have to sleep. Other hunts have turned out that way before.'
'I know that,' Suretrail said, 'but not hunts half of whose members were too young or incompetent.' And then he saw Glade and Fernhare, just coming out of their den. 'I'm sorry.' he said, 'but it's true.'
'I know,' Fernhare sighed.
Glade didn't say anything. On the one hand he agreed with Suretrail. On the other, he was the keeper of the Way, and knew better than anybody that Freefoot was right. He just went upstream, and after a moment Fernhare followed.
The conversation was rousing the other elves now, and one by one they came out of their dens. Freefoot went off to wash. Suretrail started to pick up all the arrows he and Bluesky had made. He was exhausted.
Shadowflash and Catcher came up from the stream. 'Were you up all night?' Catcher asked.
'Made a lot of arrows,' Suretrail said, showing them to her.
'They'll be all right,' Shadowflash said as Bluesky and Rainbow came back with Fangslayer. 'Deerstorm has been there before, she's got good sense.'
'So has Brightmist,' Fangslayer said. 'We had to give them the chance. We wouldn't worry about any other party of four.''
'That's just the problem,' Rainbow said.
'I guess we can wait a while longer,' Bluesky said.
The daily hunt was a minor affair, as the elves went after smaller game close to the holt. By noon, most had returned for a light meal. But Suretrail, Two-Wolves, and Rainbow couldn't stand it anymore. They went to sit with Freefoot, Starflower, Fangslayer, and Feather.
'I think we should go looking for them,' Suretrail said.
'I have to agree,' Starflower said.
'If they were all right,' Two-Wolves said, 'they'd not have kept Crystalmoss out this long.'
'Then I guess somebody had better go after them,' Freefoot said to Suretrail.
'I'm going too,' Two-Wolves said.
'How about Shadowflash?' Starflower suggested.
'That's good,' Freefoot said. 'Grazer and Fernhare too. But it's getting on toward afternoon, you won't make it to Tall-Trees before dark.'
'I know,' Suretrail said, 'but I think we should start out anyway. Tomorrow might be too late.'
Mounted on their wolves, the five elders traveled as quickly as they could, following much the same route the four younger elves had taken two days before. It was indeed dusk by the time they came to Tall-Trees.
The area was too large to search, so they tracked first one way along the verge, then the other. At last Snaggletooth, Shadowflash's wolf, caught a trace where Brightmist had put her hand on a branch to move it aside.
They followed the faint trail from copse to copse, circling rather than going through. Always they found the trail on the other side. As they went they occasionally saw the distant shadowy forms of deer-white-tail, red, and even black-neck. But there was no smell of deer blood anywhere.
'I think it's time to shed some,' Two-Wolves said. 'It's late, I'm hungry, and Loper and Springer don't want to track elves with so much game nearby.'
The others agreed, so when they saw a white-tail yearling they brought it down quickly and ate. By the time they finished it was full night. The dark did not slow them as they went on, but fatigue and full bellies did.
Some time later, in a large copse, they smelled pig blood. They entered the brush, smelled the spoor of black-neck, and saw the place where the pig had been struck.
'It wasn't a forest pig,' Shadowflash said.
They followed the blood smell out of the copse and through the dark parkland. At one point the trail crossed bare ground, and they knelt to check for prints. It was a big pig, and had been running hard.
'If they just wanted supper,' Grazer said, 'why did they chose a pig that size?'
'Why a pig at all?' Suretrail wondered. 'There were black-neck right there.'
'More of a challenge?' Fernhare suggested.
'It looks like it must have led them quite a chase,' Two-Wolves said.
'Foolish thing to do,' Suretrail said.
'At least,' Shadowflash said, 'they decided to finish the job after wounding it.'
Later they came to a place where they smelled wolf-blood and stopped, alarmed. Their wolves howled in distress. The elves howled too, and sent. There was no reply to their sending, but there was an answering howl.
They hurried toward the sound and found Mask. Greentwig's wolf was tired and sore and stiff, and the skin along one side was badly cut and it seemed that some ribs were cracked.
'He must have tangled with the wounded pig,' Grazer said. The wolf was in no danger but needed rest and attention.
'He can't be the only survivor,' Suretrail said.
Two-Wolves put his hands on Mask's head and stared into the wolf's eyes. But Mask was not his wolf, and the animal was tired, hungry, and thirsty, and not interested in wolf-talking. About the only thing Two-Wolves could
