Chapter 19 WHEN SNOW BEGINS TO MELT

CHAPTER 19 -WHEN SNOW BEGINS TO MELT

Winter did not leave all at once.

It retreated slowly, like a wounded beast, clinging to the valleys and shadows long after the hills had begun to breathe again. The snow softened, then thinned, until muddy paths cut through white fields and the rivers swelled with restless water.

It was in this uneasy season -