PART ONE

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Chapter One

Laena crouched beside the fire, holding her hands close to the flames, seizing their warmth. It was snug, here, in the shallow pit that had been dug beneath the roof of mammoth hide. This was her home, which she shared with her sister and her parents. Four beds of dry moss were ranged around the fire. A pile of furs lay to one side. There were a few sets of firesticks, a couple of flint knives, a leather bucket, a small store of meat, and some spare mittens-nothing more than that.

Outside, the arctic cold was waiting for her in all its cruelty. She wished she didn't have to leave this sanctuary, with its familiar smells of smoke and animal skins. But if she stayed here much longer, her little sister would come pestering her, or her father would be looking for her with chores to do.

Laena was in no mood for that. She was almost a grown woman, and she desperately needed some time that she could call her own. So she summoned her willpower, picked up her pack, turned away from the fire, and loosened the thong that secured the flap of the tent. She crawled out quickly, fastened the flap behind her, and pulled on her mittens.

She blinked in the sudden daylight. The sun hung over the hills to the south, gleaming fiercely on the slopes of snow. Laena pulled her fur hat lower over her forehead so that its fringe of dried grasses hung over her eyes, filtering the glare.

She glanced quickly around. The winter camp of her tribe consisted of a dozen large, low tents arranged in a circle. Each tent was fashioned from a patchwork of hide stretched across a framework of mammoth ribs. Wisps of smoke trailed from vent holes and wafted away in the wind.

The surrounding land was stark and bare. Clusters of stunted trees, none of them taller than a man, grew near a wide river that was deeply crusted with ice. Dry grass poked through thin, powdery snow. To the south and to the west, low hills were shrouded in white.

And yet, life endured. Laena's tribe, the Panther people, had spent their winters here for many generations. Even now, the hunters were out in search of wolves or white tigers. Winter was almost over, and the animals were returning to the land. Soon the great herds of caribou would migrate from the south, and it would be time for everyone to pack up their simple dwellings and trek east to the summer hunting grounds.

Laena paused and listened. Somewhere, a dog was barking. Down by the river, someone was chipping ice that would be melted and used as drinking water. Not far away, two children were squealing. Laena recognized them-Moru, and Lani, another little girl the same age. They'd been told to sweep snow off the tents, but they'd gotten bored with the task and were wrestling with each other, giggling as they rolled on the ground.

A man shouted to them. It was Henik, Laena's father. He was the leader of the hunters, and normally he would have been out with his men. But he'd hurt his leg while scaling a frozen slope a few days ago, and he had to rest till it healed. So here he was, now, making himself useful in the camp. That meant he was interfering all the time, telling everyone what to do. Laena ducked down so that he wouldn't see her.

She peeked around the other side of the tent. Her mother, Arla, was working with two other women, setting up meat-drying racks in case the hunters brought back a kill. Laena realized that the women needed help, and she felt a twinge of guilt, because she knew she should go to them. But not today.

Henik was busy, now, scolding Moru. Arla had her back turned. Laena decided to seize the opportunity. She jumped up and ran, heading straight for the river.

She didn't slacken her pace until she was sure she was hidden by the slope of the land. Then, with the cold air burning in her chest, she slowed to a walk and picked her way carefully among the stunted trees. Wood was so scarce here in the far north, she'd been trained from an early age to avoid damaging even the smallest sapling.

She felt good, now, out on her own. She walked with a spring in her step, and she smiled, humming to herself. She was warm inside her furs-for the time being, at least-and she felt alert and full of life.

Further on, she heard a clink-clink sound coming from somewhere in front of her. She paused and listened. It was Elbrau, she realized, the flintknapper, searching for stones that could be fashioned into new tools and weapons for the tribe. Elbrau was one of the elders, a quiet man who often seemed lost in his own thoughts. But he had always been friendly to Laena.

She moved ahead more slowly, placing her feet so that they made no sound. She turned her head from side to side, focusing carefully on the source of the sounds. Finally she saw Elbrau directly ahead, crouching on a broad slab of rock overlooking the river. He was intent on his work, oblivious to her.

She stood watching him. He ran his fingers over a heavy white cobble of flint, searching the limestone cortex for a crease that would have been invisible to the naked eye. The flint spoke truly to him only on certain days, revealing how it might be split into shapes of value and beauty. Perhaps this was one of those special times. She watched as he laid the flint carefully before him, then raised his hammerstone, grunted, and brought it down hard. There was a crack that echoed from the hill behind him, and a huge flake of the white cortex flew away revealing smooth, dark flint beneath.

This wasn't the right moment to interrupt him. In any case, she didn't really want to talk to him, or to listen to his stories about the hunts he had been on in summers before she was born. Today, even Elbrau's company would be a distraction from what she really needed to do.

Laena backtracked, circled around him, then continued following the river. Finally she came to a spur of land that would conceal her from the camp if anyone happened to be looking in this direction. She started following the spur, climbing up into the low hills.

The snow, here, had drifted deeper. She had to start placing her feet carefully, watching for drifts that could engulf her if she blundered into them. After a while, she paused and peeked over an outcropping of tumbled rock. She could see the camp far away, encircled by hills on one side and the river on the other. It looked so tiny-a frail outpost of human life in the vast, empty land covered in snow. Still, Laena was used to the emptiness of her world. She felt secure, here, and at peace.

Still, she had to be cautious. She carefully scanned the slopes around her, looking for any sign of life. Most carnivores were repelled from the valley by the smell of mankind, but White Bear went where he pleased, and wolves were sometimes seen trotting along the ridges. Today, though, she saw no tracks or droppings. She seemed to be totally alone.

She settled herself among the tumbled rocks, unlaced the flap of her pack, and pulled out a little catskin pouch that she had made. She slid her hands out of her mittens, opened the pouch, reached into it with elaborate care, and withdrew a length of sinew studded with beads of polished bone. This was her secret: a sacred thing that was hers alone. To an outsider, it merely looked like an ornamental belt. To Laena, it was a symbol of the end of her childhood and the beginning of her time as a woman. Soon, when she came of age, she would wear this belt under her furs. No one else would ever set eyes on it-except for the man she took as her husband, and her children, when that time came.

Laena chewed the end of the sinew to make it pliable, then painstakingly threaded it through a new bead and tied an elaborate knot.

She winced as a sudden gust of wind leeched warmth from her skin, and she thrust her hands quickly back into her mittens. She tucked them under her arms and hunched forward, waiting impatiently for the air to be still. She knew from experience how quickly frostbite could strike her unprotected skin.

The design that she was creating had been revealed to her in a dream. Dreams came often to some people, and carried no special meaning. To Laena, though, it was different. Her dreams were rare, but they seemed more meaningful than life itself. They were a window into other times and places-into the future, even.

A flicker of motion distracted her. She felt a moment's irritation. Sometimes Moru made a game of following Laena at times like this, trying to track her down. Laena surveyed the landscape, trying to find what she'd seen. There: a tiny black shape against the whiteness.

It wasn't Moru. It was a man, away in the far distance, moving along a ridge that overlooked the camp.

Laena's irritation vanished as quickly as it had come. She felt puzzled. No one from her own tribe had any reason to be out there. And it was far too early for the hunters to be coming back.

She frowned as she realized that the tiny figure was moving cautiously, bending forward, following the line of the ridge, as if he was trying to stay out of sight. Then another man came into view-and still another. Laena watched, holding her breath. There were more than a dozen of them out there. A hunting party, by the look of them. But where were had they come from? And why?

Laena felt a new sensation gathering like a chill in her belly. She wound a piece of sinew around the end of her belt to prevent it from unraveling, and then, with numbing fingers, she collected the unused beads and dropped them into their pouch. She folded the belt, hid it away, stowed the catskin pouch in her pack-and hesitated. If she ran back to the camp, the intruders would see her. For some reason, this made her feel even more anxious than before. Was she being foolish, allowing herself to be unnerved for no good reason? There were stories that the elders sometimes told, of wars that had fought between tribes long before Laena was born. But in her own lifetime, there had been peace among the people who dwelled up and down the Great River. Maybe, she decided, she should find Elbrau and ask his advice.

She ran down the hill toward the river. Her moccasins kicked up snow that sparkled in the sun. Her furs flapped around her. Frigid air rasped in and out of her lungs.

She was almost out of breath when she finally heard him working up ahead. "Elbrau!" she shouted.

He was still sitting on the rock where she had seen him earlier. He heard her voice and looked up sharply, like a sleeper who had woken suddenly from a dream. The wind caught the end of one thick braid, flapping it across his chin. He brushed it away with an impatient gesture, then recognized her, and his stern expression softened. "Laena," he said, "what brings you here?" He noticed how out of breath she was, and he frowned. "Is something wrong?"

She paused and bent forward, resting with the palms of her hands on her knees. Finally, she had enough breath to speak. "People coming," she gasped.

Elbrau looked puzzled. "What people?"

"I don't know. They were following the ridge. They were hiding."

Elbrau tossed the cobble into his flint bag and got to his feet. "Are you sure, child?"

She felt a moment's anger at being called a child. He knew quite well that she was almost a woman. It had been him, after all, who gave her the bone beads that she needed for her belt.

"Of course I'm sure," she said. "They were hiding themselves behind the ridge. I don't understand why, but that's what they were doing."

Elbrau swung down from the rock and landed lightly beside her. "Perhaps they're strangers who want to see that we're peaceful before they greet us and continue on their way."

For a moment, Laena found his explanation convincing. But then she realized that it couldn't be true. "It's early in the year for a tribe to be roaming so far from its home."

Elbrau nodded slowly. "That's true. All right, come. Quickly, now."

She followed him, keeping close to the river, so that the slope of its bank concealed them. They'd gone less than a hundred paces when Elbrau suddenly held up his hand and stopped.

Laena listened. She heard footsteps coming toward them, crunching on the gravelly soil that lay just beneath the thin skin of snow. Laena felt a wave of fear-then saw who it was. "Moru!" she exclaimed.

The little girl came running toward her. She shouted with pleasure and threw herself forward with her arms spread wide.

"Shhh!" Laena scooped up the child. "Quiet!"

"Why? Why quiet?" Moru was still grinning.

"Do as I say." Laena's voice was pitched low, but the tone was commanding. "What are you doing here, anyway? You should be back at the camp."

Moru looked hurt. "I was searching for you. I was following your tracks in the snow."

"Shhh." Elbrau held up his hand again.

Faintly, there was a sound from the direction of the camp. It sounded like a shout of surprise-or alarm.

"Wait here," Elbrau told them. "Hide yourselves, do you understand?"

Laena nodded, feeling worried by the sharpness in his voice.

Elbrau turned and ran. Within moments, he had disappeared among the rocks and saplings.

"What's happening?" Moru said. Her eyes were wide as she stared up at Laena. She almost looked as if she might cry.

Laena shook her head. "I don't know. I saw strangers approaching the camp. Maybe-maybe they are bad people." She circled her arm around Moru and hugged her protectively.

"What do they want?" Moru asked.

"I don't know!" Laena hissed at her.

The light faded for a moment as clouds crossed the sun. A few scattered flakes of snow whirled by. The trees writhed in a gust of wind, and water gurgled faintly beneath the ice of the river. Laena scraped snow away from a patch of rock and crouched there with Moru, huddling with her against the wind.

It was nerve-wracking, not knowing what was going on. Laena understood that Elbrau was trying to protect her, but she felt too old to be treated like that. If the people of her tribe were faced with a real threat, shouldn't she be with them?

More shouts came from the direction of the camp. Dogs started barking.

Laena tried to think of an excuse to free herself from her from her promise to stay here. What if her people were driven out of their homes? They might be forced to leave her behind. That sounded unlikely, but it would have to do. "Come," she said, grabbing Moru's hand and starting along the path that Elbrau had taken. "Let's find out what's happening."

She moved as silently as she could, constantly checking her surroundings. She kept telling herself that there was nothing to be worried about, but she still felt dread in the pit of her stomach. At a break in the trees, she got down and crawled across the snow, gesturing for Moru to do the same.

Together, they crawled till they were just a hundred paces from the camp, hidden only by the sloping land. They raised their heads cautiously, and peered ahead.

A crowd of people had gathered among the tents. All the women were there, with Elbrau, her father, Henik, and Gorag, the chieftain of the Panther Tribe. The women were holding their babies. Children were standing close by their parents. The dogs had stopped barking, now, and the scene was strangely, frighteningly silent.

The strangers had come down out of the hills. They were standing in a group, just a dozen paces outside the circle of the tents, and now that Laena saw their faces, she realized that they weren't strangers at all. They were hunters from the White Bear tribe, whose territory lay to the west. All of them were holding spears.

"I warned you." The words were shrill, shouted by a tall, gaunt man draped in a huge bear pelt. His eyes were wide and his lips pulled back from his teeth, making his face look like a skull. His name was Jalenau, and he was the leader of the White Bear people. "Last autumn, at the meeting of the tribes, I warned you." He was holding two spears in his left hand, and one in his right. He raised his right arm and shook the spear threateningly.

Gorag, the chieftain of the Panther people, was facing the intruder. He was broad-shouldered, heavily built, a grizzled beast of a man. Scars criss-crossed his weather-worn face, so that it looked as much of a patchwork as the furs he wore. Gorag could be a wild fighter; but Laena realized he was in no position, now, to defend his tribe. He was holding only one spear to Jalenau's three, and his menfolk were all out of the camp, apart from Henik, who was injured, and Elbrau, who was too old to hunt and fight.

"You have no right," Gorag shouted, "coming here like this. You know that, Jalenau."

Jalenau lifted his spear higher. His eyes gleamed. "You tell me I don't have the right to speak for my people?"

Gorag paused, as if he wasn't sure how to respond to Jalenau's shrill tone. He lowered his voice. "You know, Jalenau, your father was a friend of mine." He spoke the words calmly, slowly. Laena strained her ears, wanting to understand what was happening, even while the spectacle in front of her made her sick with fear. "He was a great hunter, Jalenau. His spirit could be looking down on us, now. Do you think he'd approve, seeing you threatening our women and children?" Gorag paused for a second. "If you're an honorable man, the way your father was, you'll settle this peacefully. Either that, or you'll settle it just with me, man-to-man." Gorag thumped his chest with his fist.

For a moment, Jalenau seemed to waver. Laena saw the muscles move in his face. But then, suddenly, he swung his arm, as if he wanted to slice Gorag's throat with the spear. "You've got no right to speak of my father! You Panther people must return the food you've stolen. Either that, or you'll pay with your blood." He glanced at his men either side of him, and they moved closer till their shoulders were almost touching.

Gorag nodded to himself. He turned and beckoned to Henik. "Come, my friend." He clapped his hand on Henik's shoulder. "Speak truly. Is there any truth in Jalenau's complaints?"

Laena felt an awful mixture of pride and fear as she watched her father moving closer to Jalenau and the other White Bear hunters. He frowned at Gorag. "You know it's not true," he said. "No Panther would steal White Bear food."

"Liar!" Jalenau shouted.

"Henik, see if you can convince Jalenau," said Gorag, stepping aside. "He knows you are an honorable man."

Henik turned to face the invaders. "There are more people in your tribe than there used to be," he said. "But there are fewer animals to hunt. The summers have been drier and warmer, and the sea rises higher each year, so there's less grass for the animals to feed on. We talked about this at the Gathering of the Tribes, Jalenau. You know it's true."

Jalenau made a short, angry sound, as if the reasonable tone of Henik's voice enraged him even more than Gorag's challenge. "There are fewer animals, Henik, because you people killed them. You invaded our land, while our people are hungry-"

"No!" Normally, Laena's father was stern but kind, slow to anger. She had hardly ever heard him raise his voice. "Only a fool blames other people for his misfortune," Henik went on. "Only a coward comes here threatening us like this, when our hunters are away from the camp. Go back to your own people before you shame yourself further." And Henik turned away in disgust.

Jalenau's eyes were wide and staring. He uttered a sudden piercing scream that rang around the valley, and he hurled his spear with all his strength.

The flint-tipped shaft buried itself deep in Henik's right shoulder. Beside Laena, Moru shrieked. She started scrambling up onto her feet. Laena instinctively grabbed her, wrapped her arms around her, and pulled her back to the ground. Meanwhile, she stared at the terrible spectacle before her.

Henik grunted in surprise and pain. He clasped both hands around the shaft of the spear and started tugging at it, with the muscles of his cheeks quivering. Blood welled up and ran down the spear shaft. Finally, with a cry of fury, Henik pulled the spear free and flung it aside. He took a shaky step backward, clasping his left hand over the wound as blood continued pulsing out between his fingers.

Suddenly Elbrau bellowed in rage. He raised his own spear and cast it at Jalenau with all his strength.

Jalenau threw himself to one side, and the weapon buried itself in the man who had been standing behind him. The tension was broken. The White Bears shouted a war cry, drew their arms back, and threw their spears into the Panther tribe. Then they charged forward.

Several women were struck by the volley. They slumped down, screaming. The other women seized their children, turned, and ran. The White Bear hunters went running after them, fanning out, trying to encircle them.

Elbrau snatched up a spear, turned and thrust it deep into the stomach of a White Bear warrior who was bearing down upon him. Gorag had been standing to one side. He snarled and raised his own weapon as Jalenau charged toward him. But Gorag didn't throw his weapon; he ducked aside at the last moment, then backed away, glancing around quickly.

One of the enemy hunters lost his balance and fell onto a tent. The bones under the hide cracked and collapsed, leaving the man floundering as the tent collapsed under him. Gorag danced forward and jabbed the man through the base of his throat, pulled his spear back, then turned quickly, ready to defend himself.

A young boy ran past, seized the fallen White Bear's spear, and joined the fighting. But before he could take another step he was skewered by a shaft thrown by one of the attackers.

Laena felt as if she were gripped by a huge fist, unable to breathe, unable to move. She could only watch dumbly as violence engulfed the camp. She stared in horror at her father, blood running from his shoulder and down his arm, as he stumbled backward, vainly trying to deflect an onslaught from two more of the White Bear hunters. She saw Elbrau seizing Jalenau with his bare hands, whirling him around, and butting him in the face. Jalenau swung his last remaining spear, trying to fend off the flintknapper. The shaft smacked against Elbrau's temple, making him stagger backward.

The brush near Laena and Moru crackled as several women and children came leaping through. Then they were gone, with hunters chasing after them.

Laena saw her own mother running for safety. Should she go after her? She was still immobilized by the horror of what she saw. All around, the White Bear hunters were cutting down the Panther People. The frozen earth steamed with hot blood.

"Laena!" Moru grabbed her arm and shook it.

Laena saw Gorag retreating toward the hills, parrying spear thrusts from a pair of Jalenau's warriors, glancing behind him for a way to escape. A woman lunged out from behind one of the tents, brandishing a length of bone that she had taken from the drying racks. She swung it at a White Bear, who ducked beneath it and tackled her. The two of them fell to the ground, grappling with each other.

"Laena! Laena!" Moru shook her violently. "Run!"

A sharp pain suddenly stung Laena's face and she pulled back, blinking. Moru had scratched her. The little girl's hands were bare, her fingers curled into claws. "Get up!"

Laena jumped up, seized Moru's hand, turned away from the massacre, and plunged into the low trees lining the river. She was like a terrified animal, now, no longer able to think, only knowing she must flee. Now that she had regained her ability to move, all she could do was run as fast and as far as possible. She dragged her sister after her, and together they ran, first along the river, then up into the hills where Laena had been earlier. But still she saw in her mind the horror of the bloodshed, and she imagined White Bear hunters chasing after her. She kept her grip tight on Moru's wrist and dragged her over the ridge, into the next valley, and onward.

She didn't know how far they had gone when she finally collapsed. She saw a dark shadow in the snow-a cave that had been scooped out by the wind. She dove into it and lay there gasping, clutching Moru, trembling with fear. Her vision was wavering, there was a hissing sound in her ears, and she heard her own pulse tap-tapping impossibly fast. She closed her eyes for a moment, gasping for breath.

Slowly, she managed to calm herself. Then she saw in her imagination the image of her father, bleeding, and her mother running in fear. Laena moaned and opened her eyes, afraid that she would find White Bear hunters scrambling toward her through the snow, poised to attack her.

But the land, here, was peaceful. The wind blew, raising white dust from the snowy ridges. Nothing else moved in the stillness.

Laena finally managed to slow her breathing and her heartbeats. She felt Moru clinging to her, and when she looked down, she found the little girl staring up at her with wide, fearful eyes.

"Don't worry." Laena's voice sounded strained. It was an effort to speak. She hugged Moru, trying to comfort her. "We're safe, now, little one."

And yet, she knew it might not be true. If her father, and her mother, and Elbrau, and Gorag, and all the other people of her tribe were dead-how could she hope to survive here in the wilderness?