He hoisted the fur-wrapped bundle of Ningning's body onto his back, gritting his teeth as he stepped back out into the freezing deluge.
Every step toward the main settlement was a battle. The rain had turned the path into a river of debris, but the adrenaline pumping through Weijie's veins made him move like a man possessed.
He reached the Leader's cave in record time. Inside, the air was thick with the smell of old smoke and dried herbs. Numa was sitting by his own fire, sharpening a bone spearhead, but he dropped it the second he saw the state of his son.
"Numa! She's frozen. Her leg is broken," Weijie panted, carefully laying Ningning down on the smooth stone floor near the heat.
Numa didn't waste a second.
He was the one who held the tribe's knowledge of the body. He knelt beside her, his large, calloused hands moving with surprising gentleness.
He felt the coldness of her skin and the distorted shape of her ankle.
