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the den of an old gray fox, the bush where he had spooked a large brown rabbit. It was like returning to a house he had once lived in, a place replete with both good and bad memories. |
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"Which way?" Kyna's voice jarred him back to the present. |
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The trail forked again. One branch led down into yet another stand of nearly bald aspens while the other went off to the left through thick brush. |
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"The left fork," he replied. |
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It was raining so hard that this time Kyna didn't bother to question him. She put her head down to keep the water out of her eyes and trudged on through ankle-deep mud and branches that scraped at her legs like dead fingers. As they approached the crest, the forest thinned and they could see that the clouds had completely blotted out the sky. |
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"Good place to be attacked by a werewolf," Kyna yelled back over her shoulder. |
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"Nobody likes a smart ass. Listen, when we clear the trees, follow the path to the right and around the big boulder." |
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Kyna stopped just inside the tree line. The top of the mountain with its garden of black and gray granite was being pounded by the storm. |
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It looks different in the daylight, Cyrus thought. |
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But not all that different, for the cloud cover had almost succeeded in turning day into night. |
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"Even I haven't been to this part of the mountain," Kyna screamed. "How did you know about the boulder?" |
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"Do you believe in dreams?" he called in return. |
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"Since you asked, I'll tell you my new philosophy on life. Anything anybody tells me, I'll believe. The things I've seen on this trip . . ." |
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Cyrus laughed. "Keep going. The overhang is just beyond this field of rocks." |
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They ran bent nearly in two, slipping occasionally as the wind cuffed them about. Cyrus recognized the round boulder where he had made love to the she-wolf. |
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