Page 62 of Feast

Gods willing, Slaine and Ika were both inside.

The three ukkur skidded to a stop in the snow a few paces from the mound, and Thusar called out in his deep, booming voice.

“Slaine! Are you there?”

On the outside, Muk remained calm and cool, but inside he was churning with emotions. Fear, anxiety, hope.

At first there was no answer. Thusar was just preparing to call out again when the mound started to shake. The packed snow fell away in thick white chunks, revealing dense brown fur beneath.

The scent came to Muk’s nostrils strong and musky, raising the hairs at the back of his neck.

Abolith.

He clutched his spear in preparation to defend himself, but Thusar lifted a hand to stop him.

“It’s okay,” Thusar said, “The abolith is dead.”

If it was dead, Muk wondered, then why was it moving?

Soon it all became clear. As the shaking increased and more snow fell away, Muk saw that there was a long gash along the beast’s shaggy belly. A flap of skin lifted, and blood-scented steam billowed out.

An arm appeared.

A small delicate arm. Even though it was smeared with green-black abolith blood, Muk recognized that arm immediately.

“Ika!”

The young ukkur rushed forward, took Ika’s hand, and dragged her out into the sunlight. She was naked, but her body was steaming with heat. Muk gave Ika tight hug, lifting her off her tiny feet. Then he stripped off his fur cloak and cast it around her shoulders to help her retain that heat that was radiating off of her.

A moment later, Slaine emerged from the abolith carcass amid more billows of steam and the squelching of guts.

“Clever bastard,” Gunnar said grinning through his beard.

It really was clever. Slaine had cut open the abolith and used its insulated body as a makeshift shelter from the storm.

“But where did the abolith come from?” Muk asked. “And how did it die? Did you kill it, Slaine?”

Slaine silently nodded his gore smeared face toward Ika.

“Ika?” Muk turned to her with wide eyes. “You killed the abolith? But how?”

Thusar cut him off.

“Those were all questions for later. Evening is fast approaching. Soon it’ll be dark. Now’s the time for finding shelter and gathering wood for a fire.”

Muk nodded. His leader was right, of course.

“I know a good place,” Muk said. “There’s a cave nearby. That’s where I weathered the storm. It will be suitable for the night.”

Thusar nodded. “Sounds good.”

The pack leader turned toward Ika and Slaine. They both looked like crazed predators, smeared as they were with the blood of the abolith. Their eyes shone white amid the green-black streaks.

Gods, both of them were still steaming with heat too. No doubt it was warm inside that dead abolith, but they must have been engaging in some really vigorous activity to raise the temperature even higher.

That’s when Muk noticed that Slaine’s stick was hard, and the tip was dripping with white sap.

What had they been doing in there?