I sling my pack over my shoulder. “I am returning to the tribal cave.”
Haeden gives me a troubled look as he feeds another dung chip to the fire. “Are you mad? The storms have not stopped. The snow will be so high it will be over your horns. It is not safe.”
I nod slowly. “I know. But I feel in my gut that Meh-gan will have our son soon, and I must be there for her.” It is a feeling that has been gnawing at me for the last day, and I cannot remain in this cave, idle.
We have been trapped here for longer than I want, and every day that passes feels like grit under my skin and chafes. Due to the weather, we are not feeding the tribe. We are just sitting and waiting.
I am tired of waiting. My Meh-gan is close to giving birth, and I will be there at her side no matter what.
“You are a fool,” Haeden tells me sourly. “You will freeze solid, like a dvisti in a cache, and then we will have to bring your stiff body back to your mate.”
I grin, because even as he tells me these terrible things, he picks up his own bag. “And yet you will come with me?”
He snorts. “The idea of freezing solid is more appealing than staying trapped here another hand of days with your smelly boots.” He pulls his heavy cloak off its hook and wraps it around his shoulders. “And I miss my mate, too.”
I pick up my cloak as well; for the last few days we have been trapped, and with nothing to do, we have been preparing. My blades are lethally sharp, my sling supple in case I need it. We have taken the stored hides in the cave and stitched them into heavy cloaks to cover our lighter ones. We both made snowshoes because the snow is deep, but we have not been able to leave the safety of the small cave. The supplies in the hunter cave are down to nothing - the fuel is almost gone, the stored rations are completely exhausted, and we have taken all the furs. We will need to replenish it when the weather is better.
But for now? All I can think about is Meh-gan’s smiling face. The need to see her burns in my gut. I cannot sleep at night because I worry over her. The days last endlessly because I want to be with her. I know Haeden suffers the same.
So even though it is dangerous, we will go.
We pull together the last of our supplies and wrap ourselves in heavy furs. The snowshoes go on over our boots. Outside, it is quiet, the wind muffled by the layer of snow burying our cave.
I put a hand on the leather screen and hesitate.
Haeden sighs.
“I know,” I tell him. I stare out at the endless snow. Our cave was buried several days ago and we have kept a tunnel dug so we could have breathing air, but the landscape will be brutal, even for hunters such as us. The cold will be dangerous, the snow hiding many dangers. We are taking our lives into our hands by leaving.
But staying? With little food and no fire? Without our mates? It feels like no choice at all.
I look over at Haeden. “If the wind is high, we will not be able to speak.” I wrap my furs tighter around my body. “Anything can happen. If I do not make it back, you will tell Meh-gan my last thoughts were of her?”
He glares at me. “You are a fool. I will tell her that.”
I laugh, because my friend is the same no matter the danger. I pull the furs over my head to form a hood, push the screen aside, and step forward into the tunnel of snow. It is very dark. We push forward, our steps slow as we emerge out of the dug tunnel and into the changed landscape. All around us there is snow. Endless snow. It drifts over everything, taller than I am, and only the pink, tufted tips of trees show above the powder. It is cold, desolate, and still. The sky remains thick with clouds, indicating that there will be more snow to come.
I take a step forward, and even with my snowshoe, I sink. I test the depth of the snow with my spear and it goes down all the way to the point. The air feels dry with the bone-searing cold and I can feel ice forming at my nostrils. I pull the furs tighter around my face and test my spear again in another spot. It sinks just as deep.
“Enough fooling around,” Haeden snarls, pushing ahead. “We need to go as far as we can before the weather starts again.”
He is right. I think of Meh-gan and her pale face anxiously watching the front of the cave for my return. The thought of her drives me forward, and I follow after Haeden.
Soon, my Meh-gan.
MEGAN
“Oh my God, you are such a bad liar,” Josie exclaims when I accidentally drop the leather cords I’m holding. “How long have you been in labor?”
I clutch my belly, wrinkling my nose and scrunching my face in an attempt not to bellow out loud at how much it hurts. Everything seems to be contracting all at once, and it takes several moments of me huffing through the pain before I can speak. When I can, I calmly pick up the cords again, starting up where I left off. “It’s not time.”