30: Morning
T
he
two brothers raced, black shadows through the blacker night, across the foot of the hill. Now Asa Wolf could hear Kaa Fox breathing heavily and groaning in his breathing, as though the burden he bore with him was greater than the mere weight of his body.
‘Stop! My brother!’ called Asa Wolf. ‘Do not bring doom down on this village!’
Once again Kaa Fox called back through the darkness, ‘This place shall be wiped from the hill, for it is a nest of poisonous adders! It shall not kill any more good men!’
‘My brother, O my brother,’ sobbed Asa Wolf, ‘if you will not stop, I must kill you, for I have taken the oath to serve Garroch the King. Do not put such a weight on my shoulders, my brother! We are out of one mother, my heart; do not cause me to break the ancient law!’
