William Sarabande

Torka extended a conciliatory hand and laid it upon the old man__ shoulder. __mak, Manaravak, Dak, and Tankh and Chuk will walk at my side. We will miss your strength, courage, and wisdom, but a man in possession of these qualities is needed here_.They left Grek standing at the edge of camp with his spear in hand and his pack frame on his back. As Torka walked on without looking back he wondered if he had ever done anything in his life as difficult as that.__ou had no choice._ Umak came to walk beside him with Dak and Companion at his side. Manaravak and the two boys trotted on ahead.Torka eyed Dak and Umak without slowing his step. __o you two imagine that you will never be old?__ak replied with his usual curtness. __hen I am old, I will have sense enough to know when it is time to step aside and let younger men take my place on the hunt_."It would seem the best thing to do,_ Torka agreed. __ut will you know when you are old? Or will your years sneak up on you like hunters tracking caribou_ one after the other, each looking just the same until the stalking cloaks fall away and the spears of truth come out to wound you_ until one day you are a young man trapped and rattling around in an old man__ skin, still believing that your old bones can do all the things they once did in your youth and trying to prove it even if it kills you?

He did not want to feel old. He did not want to feel the weight of his age hovering above him, mocking him out of the core of a man__ pride, waiting to descend upon his mind and body.