Raif already had the creature's heart in his sights. In one smooth motion he nocked the iron arrowhead against the plate and drew the bowstring back to his chest. Raif raised his bow, slid a arrow from the quiver at his waist. Tem said the lick welled up from an underground stream. Game animals came from leagues around to drink at the trickle of salt water that bled across the rocks in the draw.
Cheeks puffing, ears trembling, it held its position listening for danger. Raif dipped his gaze a fraction lower to the brown lichen mat surrounding a pile of wet rocks.Įven on a morning as cold as this the lick was still running.Īs Raif watched, another ice hare popped up its head. Directly ahead lay a shallow draw filled with loose rocks and scrubby bushes that looked as tough and bony as moose antlers. The few trees that managed to survive in the gravely flood plain were wind-crippled blackstone pines and prostrate hemlock. In the flattened colt grass beneath Raif's feet hoarfrost grew as silently and insidiously as mold on second-day bread. Panes of ice already lay thick over melt ponds. It never felt good deceiving Drey.įingers smoothing down the backing of his horn and sinew bow, Raif looked over the windblown flats of the badlands. Raif paused, considered arguing, then shrugged and reset his footing on the tundra. Drey's face was partially shaded by his foxhood, but the firm set of his mouth was clear. Raif lowered his bow and glanced over at his older brother. As its iron blade shot past the hare, the creature's head came up and it sprang for cover in a cushion of black sedge. The arrow cracked the freezing air like a word spoken out loud. Slowly, deliberately, Raif angled his bow and sent his shot wide of the mark. The light, sounds and odors of the badlands slid away, leaving nothing but the weight of blood in the ice hare's chest and the hummingbird flutter of its heart.
A moment of disorientation followed, where the world dropped out of focus like a great dark stone sinking to the bottom of a lake, then in the shortest space that a moment could be, he perceived the animal's heart. Raif Sevrance set his sights on the target and called the ice hare to him. Resides in San Diego, California where she is hard at work on her next novel. Jones was born in Liverpool, England, in 1963. Click on a plot link to find similar books! Plot & Themes FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy world/fantasy pastĬoming of age - Yes Youngster becomes - an adult (general) Spying & Investigations - Yes What is main char.The SF Site Fiction Excerpt: A Cavern of Black Ice by J.V.
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