The two intrepid young men forged on for a hand and three more days. The woods seemed only to get deeper, darker and more forbidding the farther they went. Hanson soon got used to sleeping back to back with Graber, and, indeed, it began to feel much more comforting than strange. Sometimes they heard grunts and howls, shrieks and groans. Those times they got up and huddled together, feeding twigs to a small fire until weariness overcame them, driving them back to their blankets. The stores they had packed dwindled. Another day or two and they’d have to start forging for food to supplement what little remained.
The ninth day dawned gray and bleak. A thin, sharp wind found its way between the thick trunks of the towering trees to gnaw at the weary walkers like hungry rats. Both men wore thei
