People - People of the Wolf Part 40

Fingers reached for him. He started, blinking in the gloom, seeing nothing. Fingers, soft, brus.h.i.+ng, stroking death across his warm flesh--he could feel them. Ghost fingers, they flicked around him, leaving his skin to shrink against itself.

Fear! I'm more afraid than I've ever been in my life! It's not death.

No, I can die. It's the darkness .. . the ghosts. A man shouldn't die in the darkness. His soul is trapped. Dark. Forever dark.

He stopped, panicked, on the verge of bolting back the way he'd come.

Behind him, he heard gravel and rock grinding under Green Water's feet.

And more followed--all silent, scared numb by this insanity they were attempting.

From some deep depths, the courage came. Unwilling to let so many see his cowardice, he walked on, terror possessing his body.

The breeze carried strange scents to his sensitive nose: musty, cold, smelling sharp and tangy of rock and earth and darkness. One Who Cries clamped his teeth tight and fingered his darts as the slit of lightoverhead narrowed. Walls of grayness angled up from the sides, pockets scoured by abrasive water.

"And what good are darts against the ghosts of the dark?" he wondered.

Some warning in his mind sent him scuttling to the side, the cool brush of the fingers tracing invisibly across his cheek.

In the lee of a turn in the channel, Wolf Dreamer uncovered an ember he'd carried in a shaped slate bowl, nudging it to touch a moss wick. A tiny light came to life. One Who Cries s.h.i.+vered as they proceeded, the crack overhead vanis.h.i.+ng at a bend in the rocky route. He took his turn, following Singing Wolf, Green Water grabbing the line behind him. He could hear his little son gurgling happily where he rode his mother's shoulders.

With all his courage quivering, he followed Wolf Dreamer into the black.

"Got to keep to the side here," Wolf Dreamer told them, voice echoing eerily, mixing with the creaking ghost voices of the black. "The water undercuts, eats its way back and forth under the ice. There are a couple of places where the roof is a little low, but enough water has run through to carve this out. There's lots of holes, too, where the water swirls, so watch your step."

Somewhere ahead in the pitch blackness a grating sounded, gritty, unclean.

"Ghosts," someone whispered.

"Don't fear." Wolf Dreamer's voice came from ahead. "I challenged them before. They're all around. Last time I had no light. Last time they let me pa.s.s in the darkness. Just be worthy. Show them honor and pride and courage and they will let you pa.s.s unharmed."

"No wonder they growled at Crow Caller's grandfather," One Who Cries grunted, trying to fortify himself.

Singing Wolf laughed too sharply. A brittle sound, it shattered in the dark.

The line tugged in his hand. Mouth dry, heart hammering, One Who Cries started forward, walking toward the fingers. I'm racing toward a black soul trap. Crackles of dread coursed along every nerve.

"Keep talking," Wolf Dreamer called back. "Where there are holes and places a person could stumble, tell the one behind you." A sputter of voices broke the silence.

"Just show them honor and courage," One Who Cries mumbled to himself. He blinked in the darkness, s.h.i.+vering again at the faint noises in the ice around him. Overhead, something groaned loudly, horribly. I have no courage .. . or pride ... or honor! I just want light!

Step-by-step, they moved, Wolf Dreamer's calm voice keeping them together, his very Power hanging about them like a protective shroud in the blackness.

The grasping fingers of the dead dangled, waiting. His skin seemed alive with the feet of tiny things of the black.One Who Cries kept his left hand knotted around the darts at his side while his right gripped the mammoth-hide line. As he felt with his feet, his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, faint images coming from the lamp in Wolf Dreamer's hands. Shadows flickered across the grimy walls, tall and long.

Behind, in the blackness, Broken Branch cackled, "Wolf Dream .. . Wolf Dream" over and over. The sound of human voices wove a frail s.h.i.+eld against the horror of the squeaks and creaks of the ghosts hanging like bats in the black overhead.

Forever stretched. One Who Cries walked--fear like an animal in his breast, scurrying, eating at his heart. The gouged ice hung lower. His soul screamed, Trapped, you're trapped! Mouth dry, he forced himself onward. He fell over rounded polished cobbles, hide-wrapped feet sliding off the smooth surfaces. Behind him, Green Water hummed a spirit song to keep her courage, re cradling the baby to nurse it as she walked.

They stopped every so often, shuffling forward to huddle around the sputtering grease-fed lamp Wolf Dreamer carried. Each time, the rest and food rejuvenated, a camaraderie of the dark binding them together, giving flagging spirits relief from the cold and the black, and the horrifying mewing of the dead.

By the time they'd made the fifth stop, a resignation had set in. They talked, laughed nervously, and One Who Cries actually looked up to where the tiny flickers of Wolf Dreamer's light played on the s.h.i.+ning surface overhead. To his relief, no hollow eyes stared back.

The memory of sunlight became a dream. In rough places, One Who Cries pitched in to build a trail over the piles of rock, making it easy for the elderly and children who still stared wide-eyed at the darkness.

A hideous shriek began far overhead, rumbling down through the ice like a bolt of lightning. The ground shook, forcing people to stumble.

"Grandmother?" Red Star called in a frail terrified voice.

"I'm here, child," Broken Branch responded.

"Can you hold my hand? I'm scared."

"Don't worry about the ghosts, child. Wolf Dreamer's Power keeps them at bay. We're safe .. . safe."

The shaking stopped, the shriek dying away to nothingness. One Who Cries nodded uncertainly, wanting to believe. As an added protection, he refused to breathe through his mouth, lest something fly inside--some ghost reach in and hook his soul to rip it away into the forever black.

An hour or two later, they rested again, huddling close to one another.

One Who Cries caught himself staring at the young man who had once been Runs In Light. Could this be true? That they walked under the Big Ice?

Walked from one world into another? The s.h.i.+mmering hide of Grandfather White Bear gleamed in the faint flicker of the tiny lamp as Wolf Dreamer refueled it at each rest with a frozen lump of fat.

In the feeble glow, One Who Cries caught a glimpse of Dancing Fox's face. Her chiseled features were as cool as the ice around them--and as unforgiving. At that moment, her dark brown eyes lay on Wolf Dreamer,her soul bared in longing and pain. One Who Cries swallowed and pulled Green Water close, hugging her, thankful for her love.

Only then did he realize that Dancing Fox walked last in line. The most vulnerable, the farthest from the light, who would know if she were sucked away by some monster? Seeing the smoldering of her eyes in the dim glow of the lamp, he looked away. Who was this Dancing Fox? What had she become? Once Crow Caller had hurt her, kept her from the man she loved. But now Wolf Dreamer stood only a short distance in front of her and he'd built a wall around himself she'd never be able to climb. Her haunted eyes said she knew it. One Who Cries s.h.i.+vered.

One step at a time, they continued, forever moving, forever clambering over battered boulders, traversing holes, progressing. Rock grated hollowly under hide-wrapped feet, the echoes mixing with those of the ghosts, challenging the spirits, making a new reality in this place of darkness and fear.

"Bend here." "Watch this step." "Be careful through here." Had it not been for his imagination, he might have forgotten where he was. Only the cadence of Broken Branch's continued mumbling became a subconscious reality. "Wolf Dream." Over and over it echoed in his head--one with darkness.

They slept finally.

Awake. Darkness. Hear the clattering and echoing resonance as the ghosts do something in the ice. The feeble flicker of Wolf Dreamer's lamp is life. Sleep again, One Who Cries. Wolf Dreamer keeps the ghosts at bay.

How long was it? One Who Cries couldn't really say. The light grew slowly until they stared about owlishly, uneasy at first.

"Light!" Singing Wolf exploded. "It's light!"

"No," One Who Cries called, turning, looking up. "It's stars. The Blessed Star People!" He pointed high overhead.

"Dawn," Wolf Dreamer called back. "Look, you can make out the edges of the crack above us." Then, in a quavering voice, he whispered, "We're through. "

Relief washed so powerfully through One Who Cries, it left him trembling. Blinking tears, he sagged to his knees, drawing Green Water close, hugging her tight. "We're through."

"Of course, husband. I told you the Wolf Dream was true," she chided gently.

Around them, whoops of exultation split the air, dancing, cavorting people gyrating happily.

Morning grew in the slit of sky, the clouds graying.

Wolf Dreamer carefully snuffed the tiny flame that had meant so much to them.

"Uh!" Laughing Suns.h.i.+ne grunted, wincing.

Singing Wolf moved quickly, steadying her. "What?"She swallowed hard. "My time, the child is coming!"

Broken Branch cackled and yipped. "Wolf Dream! Her baby comes! Born to a new world like all the People! Ha heeee! Wolf Dream! New life! Born anew!" One Who Cries smiled, feeling Green Water's arm go around him. He studied the beaming faces of his people, seeing Dancing Fox in the light of the new day. His smile froze on his face as she met his eyes, a haunted emptiness there.

Chapter 47.

"I can't believe this!" Singing Wolf shook his head, staring across the snow flats at the herds of animals. A small group of long-horned buffalo stood no more than a dart's throw away, watching curiously, ears flapping, tails switching, a curious gleam in their black eyes.

To the south, the divide they camped on stretched away into a white maze of ridges and dendritic drainage channels. Around them, black spruce stood, their ratty branches s.h.i.+fting with the wind that scoured the ridge top.

Behind, the Big River made a bend to the west, a narrow defile leading into the rugged ice-capped mountains beyond. Like a series of teeth, the range rose ominously, gouging at the gray scudding clouds. To the east, several days' walk, the Big Ice stretched, the horizon foggy and obscure. Where they sat on the wind-blasted ridge, the freezing currents carried the interminable cold up from the ice, blowing ever northward.

Beyond them, the caribou that had stopped to study them earlier grazed slowly as they moved away, nubbins of antlers beginning to form.

"And there's fresh mammoth sign." One Who Cries smiled happily.

"Wolf Dream. No Others here." Singing Wolf sighed. "I'm going to hate to go back."

One Who Cries stiffened. "Go back? Wait a minute. I thought you said 'go back'?" He eyed his cousin seriously. "Wolf Dreamer is going for another group. I think Buffalo Back will bring his people through this time."

"Go back? Like, from where we just came from?"

"Yes. Though I'm leaving Laughing Suns.h.i.+ne and my child here. The Others will be pus.h.i.+ng closer to the People on the other side of the Big Ice, corralling them like deer for the slaughter."

"And you want to go back? You're crazy. Touched by the Monster Children's light. Why should we--"

"Someone has to tell of it besides Wolf Dreamer. Too many would refuse to believe him after--"

"That's true."

The voice behind caught them both by surprise. "I need both of you."

One Who Cries whirled. Wolf Dreamer stood there, a faraway look in his eyes. The white bearskin covered him from head to toe, a stark reminder of his Power. Now the hair seemed to gleam with a life of its own, trapping the light of the distant sun, ruffling in the chill wind.

"Both?"

"Raven Hunter," Wolf Dreamer whispered absently. His eyes had lost their focus, lips slack. "I ... I can sense that there'll be danger. The Renewal ... I'll have to Dream. I don't know what Raven Hunter might do.

But I ... I feel trouble. Blood."

"I'm going," Singing Wolf said."I knew you would." Wolf Dreamer gave him a grateful smile. "Jumping Hare will stay and hunt. Green Water will help him as will some of the others. They can keep the bears off. Keep our people safe." Wolf Dreamer's serene gaze lit on One Who Cries and he seemed to fold in upon himself. He looked out over the plain before them and stifled a cry. The land called to him, its song sweet, trilling, that of a young woman to a lover. In the distance, he could see a family group of mammoth, their huge bodies mere dots as they used their long tusks to sweep the snow free of the sedges, gra.s.ses, and bushes.

"When will you leave?"

"The sooner the better," Wolf Dreamer responded. "The Long Light is growing. We can't know when the water will begin running again." "You mean--"

"I mean it could begin tomorrow and forever close that hole."

In the silence, the three men met each other's eyes in turn.

"Green Water will want you to go," Singing Wolf murmured, eyeing his cousin askance.

"Of course she will," One Who Cries lamented. "Why couldn't I have married one of the whimpery ones who'd demand I stay and tend to her.

Instead I had to marry rock steady Green Water, who will nod her acceptance, hug me tight, and shove me down the mouth of the monster."

But in his mind, he imagined the knowing, loving look she'd give him as he bravely set off back through the horrible hole in the ice--and his heart warmed.

With an almost physical pang, he turned away from the vision of the vast game-filled meadows. "Well, let's hurry, then."

Moon Water waited, seeing no movement. Her eyes darted to the powerful Dreamer, fearful he might have had visions of her plans. But he slept so still he seemed dead. Heart in her throat, she carefully placed each foot, fear making her movements lissome. She bent over him, easing the hide covers aside to lift the ground-stone lamp. Not even daring to breathe, she plucked up the straps for the pack that carried the all-important fat. Step-by-step she backed away. Like smoke, she drifted across the camp and into the darkness.

Taking care to hide her tracks, she lifted a flat stone from an abandoned burrow she'd found earlier and hid the items, carefully resettling the stone in place.

Quietly, she returned to her robes on the other side of Jumping Hare's woman. Soon Wolf Dreamer would return to his people on the other side of the Big Ice. Then she would be free to go herself, to return to her own people. Desperate longing filled her breast as she closed her eyes. Oh, they'd search for the lamp--but who'd believe she'd stolen it? They would search all the bundles, all the possessions, but Moon Water planned well, as befitted the great Singer's daughter. When she went, no one would know the secret of the pa.s.sage to this wondrous land went with her. No one would know she carried salvation to the Mammoth People.

Chapter 48.

Dancing Fox applied pressure to the stone sc.r.a.per, tearing the last bits of tissue from the fine golden caribou hide. Wan sunlight warmed her beautiful face, glinting blue from her fluttering hair. Overhead, fluffy clouds drifted lazily through the azure sky, their shadows roving the undulating hills like living creatures.

"Moon Water's gone."

She looked up to see Curlew Song. The young woman's round face had pinched with disgust. Dancing Fox shrugged. "She's been waiting her chance for weeks. I thought everyone knew that from the way she skulked around at night."

"You've seen her up when we were asleep?"

"Many times."

"Why didn't you say something? Maybe we could have--" "Tied her to the nearest tree? That would have just made her worse. She's not meant to be one of the People."

Curlew Song gave her a harsh look. "New women make the People stronger.