Winter in Eden

some."
    Armun plucked the birds, with Darras's enthusiastic if not too skilled help, while Kerrick built the fire.
    Even Ortnar sat up and smiled at the smell of birds roasting on green-wood spits. The birds were half raw, barely warmed through when they ate them, but they could not wait. They had had enough of frozen fish and stinking meat.
    Winter in Eden - Harry Harrison
    All they left were the well-gnawed bones. Then, warmed and with their stomachs filled, they resumed the walk with more energy than they had started the day with. Even Ortnar kept up with them at first, though as time passed he fell farther behind until he was out of sight again. The rain stopped and the sun was visible behind the thin clouds. Kerrick looked up at it and decided that they would make an early halt. He must allow enough daylight for the injured hunter to reach them before dark. When they came to a glade of large oak trees, with a stream nearby, he decided that they had gone far enough.
    Cutting branches from a stand of pine and building them into a shelter for the night kept him busy for some time. But not long enough. Ortnar still had not appeared.
    "I'm going back along the track," he said. "I'll look out for game."
    "You will need me to help," Harl said, reaching for his small spear.
    "No, you have a more important task. You must stay here and be on your guard. There could be murgu."
    The hunting was only an excuse: he was worried about Ortnar. Walking back along the track he did not even think of hunting. Something had to be done—but Ortnar could not be forced to ride in the travois.
    Yet he should. When they had been eating the birds he had noticed that there was blood dripping from the wrappings of Ortnar's bad foot. Kerrick must talk to him, say that he was slowing them up, endangering them all. No, this would be no good, for the hunter would then leave them and strike out on his own. He began to worry. He had come a long way and the hunter was still not in sight. There was something ahead—dark on the track. He raised his spear and went forward warily.
    It was long after dark and Armun was torn by worry and fear. The sun had set and they had not returned.
    Should she send Harl to see what was happening? No, best to stay together. Was that a shout? She listened and heard it more clearly this time.
    "Harl, watch the children," she said, seizing up her own spear and hurrying back along the rutted path.
    There Kerrick was, coming along slowly, a dark bulk over his shoulders. Ortnar, hanging limply.
    "Is he dead?"
    "No, but something is very wrong," he gasped out the words for he had carried the motionless body a long way. "Help me."
    There was little they could do other than cover the unconscious hunter with furs, make him comfortable Winter in Eden - Harry Harrison
    under the shelter. There was foam on his lips and Armun wiped it gently away. "Do you know what happened?" she asked.
    "This is the way I found him, just collapsed in the mud. Can you tell what is wrong with him?"
    "There are no wounds, no bones seem to be broken. I have never seen anything like it."
    The clouds blew away and the night was clear: they dare not light a fire. They took turns sitting by the unconscious figure, making sure he stayed covered. Near dawn Harl awoke and offered to help, but Kerrick told him to go to sleep again. When the first light filtered through the leaves, Ortnar stirred and moaned. Kerrick bent over him when he opened his right eye.
    "What happened?" Kerrick asked.
    Ortnar struggled to speak and the words came out slowly, mumbled, for his lips were twisted. Kerrick saw that not only was his left eye closed but the entire left side of his face was slack and unmoving.
    "Hurt… fell down…" was all he could say.
    "Drink some water, you must be thirsty."
    He supported the big hunter's dead weight as he drank. Most of the water dribbled down his chin because of his slack lip. After this Ortnar slept, a more natural sleep, and his breathing was easier.
    "I knew one like this in our sammad, when I was small," Armun said. "She was like this with the eye closed, the arm and the leg on the same side unmoving. It is called the falling curse and the alladjex said it was because she had a spirit of evil inside her. " Kerrick shook his head.
    "It is the wounds in his feet. He pushed himself too hard. He should have rode."
    "He will now," Armun said, calmly practical. "We will spread some of the branches on the travois, then tie him on. We will