Chapter Twenty
“TAKE IT TO THE LEAN-to,” Tamsen said, “and dry it there.” When Lucas asked her why, she hadn’t said a word of sense.
“Just take it,” she had repeated. “Just take it away from here.”
Lucas could not understand her sudden reticence. It was perfectly good venison.
Perhaps the smoke bothered her.
He shrugged and began dragging the beast’s stiffened carcass. It seemed heavier. It should have been lighter, given the generous portion he had devoured the night before. Perhaps it was the stiffness of the remains or perhaps it was his own stiffened joints. His back creaked like a frozen mast. He balled his right fist into his spine and worked the grievance out of his muscles.
She hadn’t touched a bite of the meat. The smoke, he decided, it was the smoke of the fire catching in
