“It means that the murgu know that we are here,” Kerrick said. “They no longer send the raptors to spy us out for too many did not return. The owl can fly at night, can see in the dark.” He poked the black creature with his fingertip and its cool skin twitched, then was still. “This marag can see in the darkness too. It has seen us and told the murgu. It may have seen us many times.”

“Which could mean that the murgu might be on their way now to attack us,” Herilak said, his voice cold as death.

Kerrick shook his head, his face grim. “Not may be—but must be. It is warm enough for them this far south even at this time of year. They have sought for us, and this creature has told them where we camp. They will seek vengeance, there is no doubt of that.”

“What do we do?” Har-Havola asked, glancing up at the star-filled sky. “Can we go north? it is not yet spring.”

“We may have to go, spring or no spring,” Kerrick said. “We will have to decide about that. In the meantime we must know if we are to be attacked. Hunters will go south along the riverbank, hunters who are the strongest runners. They must go one, even two days’ march south of this camp and watch the river. If they see the murgu boats they must warn us at once.”

“Sigurnath and Peremandu,” Har-Havola said. “They are the fastest of foot in my sammad. They have run after deer in the mountains and they run as fast as the deer.”

“They leave at dawn,” Herilak said.

“There are some of my hunters who have not returned,” Sorli said. “They have traveled far and sleep away. We cannot leave this place until they come back.”

Kerrick looked into the fire as though searching for an answer there. “I feel we should not wait any longer than that. We must go north as soon as your hunters return.”

“It is frozen still, there is no hunting,” Har-Havola protested.

“We have food,” Kerrick said. “We have our own meat and the meat in bladders that we took from the murgu. We can eat that and we can live. If we stay here they will fall upon us. I feel that, I know that.” He pointed to the dead owl and the living creature tight-clamped to its leg. “They watch. They know where we are. They come to kill us. I know them, know how they feel. If we stay we are dead.”

They slept little that night and Kerrick was there at the first light of dawn when Sigurnath and Peremandu set out. Both of them were tall and strong, wearing birchbark leggings as protection against the underbrush.