His footsteps fell soundlessly among the snow-covered rocks. Loa chose a crevice that would conceal him while giving him a clear view of the suspicious entrance, blending himself completely into the shadows and the contours of the rocks. His breathing slowed, his heartbeat dropped as low as possible, and he reined in every trace of his presence, like a lifeless stone. Only his eyes shone sharply in the shadows, fixed on the dark entrance half buried beneath the snow at the base of the massive rocks dozens of meters away.
Time trickled past in silence. Cold winds swept through the canyon, stirring up snow and gradually smoothing away and blurring the tracks the Earth Vein Lizard had left when it went out that morning. Loa remained motionless, waiting from the faint light of dawn until the sun climbed higher, then until the midday sunlight barely pierced the clouds and cast fleeting, pale shadows across the snow.
"Still not back?" Loa's heart sank slightly. Could this creature have gone out to move rather than simply find food? Or had it left last night and simply found somewhere else to stay? If that were true, wouldn't all these days of patient waiting and the clue he had just discovered come to nothing again? Fighting such a creature on its home ground, in a cramped, dark underground environment of unknown depth, would put him at far too great a disadvantage.
Patience, he told himself. A hunter never lacked patience. Wait until tonight and see.
The thought had barely passed through his mind when, as though in response to his "patience"-
From the other end of the canyon, in the direction of the shrubs battered by wind and snow until only bare branches remained, came the faint crunch of snow being compressed beneath a