Page 34 of Fall

He still didn’t hear her.

Tamen was about to reach for the deer when Desh was suddenly beside her.He grabbed the fawn from Lenna’s hands and stepped outside with it.

When he returned, the deer was no longer in his arms.

“Desh!” Lenna gasped, speaking their common language. “What did you do?”

“I’m really sorry, but it was the only thing to do. I let it go outside.If you kept it any longer, Tamen would have killed it. And if Rone comes back,you’re risking a civil war in the tribe. You don’t want that, do you?”

Of course she didn’t want that. It would have been wrong to put Rone inthat position. Desh was right, of course.

But that poor little deer, all by itself in the cold.

Her eyes were burning as she looked back at Tamen, resenting him more thanshe ever had before.

“Deer young,” Desh said firmly. “No eat. Gone now.”

Tamen’s eyes narrowed at this act of defiance from someone on thefringes, but he didn’t argue. He just turned his back and returned to his sideof the cave.

Lenna stood shaking, staring out into the dark.

“Just let it go, Lenna. I’m really sorry.”

She nodded at Desh, reaching out to touch him lightly before he walkedaway.

She knew he was right. She had to let it go. But she couldn’t stopherself from stepping outside just to see if she could see it.

It was so cold and the wind was so strong she could barely breathe, andshe couldn’t see a thing past the swirling snow.

Her little deer was going to die out here.

“Lenna!” a rough voice came from nearby, nearly drowned out by the wind.

Before she could turn around, a big man had approached her and picked herup bodily, tossing her over his shoulder to carry her back inside.

Rone.

It was Rone.

He carried her over to his bed and wrapped his arms around her, obviouslytrying to get her warm again. “Cold danger,” he said roughly. “No leave cave.No leave cave.”

Her teeth were chattering, and she was still close to tears. She did herbest to explain to Rone what had happened.

When Rone understood, he sucked in a breath and stood up, turning towardTamen with a glare colder than she’d ever seen on his face before.

Remembering Desh’s words, she grabbed for his leg, which was the onlypart of him she could reach. “No. Rone no. Stay with Lenna. Stay.”

For a moment, she wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but he eventuallyrelented and lowered himself into the bed with her. They were sitting up, theirbacks against the wall, and he wrapped both of his arms around her. “Lenna lostdeer,” he muttered. “Lenna deer home.”

She almost cried because it was so clear that Rone understood this was aloss for her. He might not have ever seen someone treat an animal this way, buthe understood her.

He cared about her.

She managed to control herself as she shuddered in his embrace. “Lennagood.”

“No.” He stroked her hair. “Lenna hurt.”

She was hurt. Her poor little baby deer was probably dying right now outthere in the snow.