‘Nor do they,’ Rannick said. ‘I only come here because the rabbits and the birds aren’t as shy as they are in the valley.’
‘Where’s your catch?’ Yeorson asked.
Rannick shrugged self-deprecatingly. ‘I’ve not done too well so far, but I’ll give it another day or two.’
He looked expectantly at the food that was lying about the fire.
‘Do you know these woods well, Rannick?’ The speaker was Storran. He picked up a piece of meat and offered it to him.
Rannick’s eyes widened as he took the meat but as he raised it to his nose and sniffed at it, he closed them.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I know them very well.’ He bit into the meat. It had only been lightly cooked, and a trickle of blood ran slowly down his chin. At the same time, Yeorson applied his foot vigorously to the fire. It flared up brightly
