Spirit Walker (25 page)

 

Torak struggled to stand, and circled out of reach. His shoulders were burning, his wrists throbbing from the bindings. They were on opposite sides of the altar; the edge of the cliff was directly behind him.

 

With a hiss, Tenris grasped the arrow and wrenched it from his palm. Sweat coursed down his face, scouring rivulets through the ash to reveal the scorched red flesh beneath. "Give up, Torak," he panted. "It's over!"

More wolf howls.
The demons are gone!
called Wolf.
"He's far away," said Tenris, snatching up his harpoon. "He can't help you anymore."
"He's helped enough," said Torak.
Tenris snorted. "You're on your own now, Torak. Your friends can't try another shot at me, or they'd risk hitting you."
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Torak did not reply. He needed all his strength just to stay standing.
"Give up, Torak," urged that beautiful, powerful voice. "You've done well, but it's time to pass your power to one who knows how to use it." Torak glanced over his shoulder. The east wind was strengthening, blowing away the fog. A shaft of silver light was pouring down onto the Sea. "I'll make it quick," said Tenris. "I promise."

Far below him, Torak saw the restless, shimmering Sea. He felt the wind from the Forest on his face; he thought of Wolf and Renn and Fin-Kedinn, and of all the clans he'd never even met. If he let Tenris take his power--if he let the Soul-Eater become the spirit walker--then none of them would ever be safe.

"You have no choice," murmured the Soul-Eater. "You know that."
Torak squared his shoulders, and met that intense gray gaze.
Too late, Tenris realized what he meant to do--and his eyes widened in disbelief.
"There's always a choice," said Torak, and walked backward off the cliff.
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Chapter THIRTY-THREE

Down, down he fell--into the splintered Sea--into the golden forest of kelp--down into darkness. Down he sank, kicking feebly at the water with what remained of his strength. It wasn't enough. His wrists were bound so tight that he couldn't slip free; his sodden leggings were dragging him down. He would never reach the surface. But he had known that when he stepped off the cliff. He had known that this time there would be no friendly guardian; no Wolf leaping in to save him. This time there was only Torak and the hungry Sea. This time he was going to die.

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He turned his face for a last look at the light--and saw, impossibly far above, a figure darkening the sun. It was swimming toward him, swimming faster than an eel. Hope kindled. Was it Wolf? Renn? Bale?
Tenris seized him by the hair and yanked him upward.

Torak struggled and kicked, but the Soul-Eater was too strong. With both hands, Torak grabbed the kelp around him--jerking Tenris backward in a flurry of silver bubbles. Furiously they fought till their lungs were bursting, till the water flooded scarlet with blood from the Soul-Eater's wound.

The Seal Mage wrenched Torak's hands free of the kelp, and they rose again--locked together like vipers as they spiraled up toward the light. Together they burst from the Sea.

"So you'd rather kill yourself, would you?" gasped Tenris. "How noble! But I won't give you the chance!" Still gripping Torak by the hair, he struck out for the shore, swimming one armed, but powering through the water with swift, sure strokes.

Torak tried to bite his hand--but Tenris lashed out with his free arm, landing him a savage blow on the temple.
Stunned, Torak went under. As he surfaced, he heard a deafening
kwshsh!
--and saw an enormous black fin slicing toward them.
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Terror turned his limbs to water.
Tenris hadn't seen the Hunter; he was bent on reaching the shore. Torak had an instant in which to act. . . .
With one final burst of strength, he twisted around and lunged at the Soul-Eater, ripping the masking charm from his throat.
Tenris grunted in surprise, and lost his grip on Torak. Torak kicked with all his might, and swam out of reach.

Tenris turned to catch him--and saw the Hunter. His hand flew to his throat to grasp the masking charm, and clawed naked skin. He saw the charm in Torak's hand-he strained to grab it. Torak dodged and hurled the masking charm across the waves. Tenris gave a shout of rage and plunged after it--but it had sunk. Now they were both at the mercy of the Hunter, with no help in sight.

 

Torak saw Notched Fin bearing down upon them, shooting spray high into the air. At the edge of his vision he glimpsed a skinboat racing toward them--but it would never reach them in time. . . .

And now Sea, sky, skinboat--were blotted out by the Hunter. Through the green water Torak saw the great blunt head looming closer . . . At the last moment the Hunter swerved, showering him with spray as it made for Tenris.
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A sudden stillness came over the Soul-Eater's ruined features as he watched his doom slicing toward him.
In the final heartbeat he turned his head and met Torak's eyes. "Ask Fin-Kedinn about your father!" he shouted. "Make him tell you the truth--" Then he was lost in a flurry of silver water.
Torak heard one terrible scream, abruptly cut off-- as the great jaws dragged the Soul-Eater down into the deep.
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Chapter THIRTY-FOUR
The fire on the Crag was burning low, and gray smoke was rising into the sky as the skinboat reached the shore.

Bale hoisted his craft on his head and went to put it on the rack, leaving Renn and Torak in the shallows. Neither spoke as they trudged up the beach to the nearest shelter.

Renn wiped the spray off her bow and hung it from a rafter, then went inside to rummage for food.
Torak took driftwood from a pile and started waking up a fire. He felt shaky and cold, but at least the Sea
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had washed the markings from his chest. Inside his head, however, the marks would not so easily be washed away.

He wanted to tell Renn everything: about what had happened on the Crag; about being a spirit walker. But it was still too raw. Instead he said, "I'm sorry. I really thought you were sick. You looked sick."

 

Renn set a bowl on the ground, and sat down. "Well," she said, "I thought you were dead. Seems we were both wrong." She pushed the bowl toward him. "I found some whale meat. No juniper berries, I'm afraid, but it tastes all right without."

Both of them looked at the bowl, but neither made a move to eat.
Then Torak said, "Renn. There is no cure. What he said about the selik root. He made it up."
Renn clasped her arms about her knees and frowned.
"Did you hear what I said?" said Torak.
"There is no cure."
Suddenly Renn stopped frowning and straightened up. She stared at Torak, then at the meat. "The juniper berries," she said.
"What?" said Torak.
"When I was in the cave. Bale gave me some food, and Wolf leaped at me, and knocked it over. I thought
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he'd gone mad. But he was--Torak, he was
saving
me! Warning me off the juniper berries!"

She sprang to her feet and started to pace. "That's how the Seal Mage caused the sickness! He sent the tokoroth to poison the juniper berries! And then the juniper berries went into the salmon cakes, and people got sick." She stopped. "That's why Wolf stopped me eating the food, because it was poisoned. And--that's why I didn

'I get sick before, even though I was eating salmon cakes, because I'd stolen Saeunn's, which were left over from last summer--"
"--and that's why I didn't get sick either," put in Torak. "Because I didn't take any with me."
They stared at each other.
"So if everyone gets rid of their juniper berries," said Renn,
"and
their salmon cakes--"
"Maybe they'll get better--"
"Maybe we won't
need
a cure."
This was the answer. Torak could feel it. It had the kind of elegance that would have appealed to Tends.
How he must have laughed as he watched them striving to find a cure that didn't exist! How clever he must have felt! How powerful.
And yet even now, Torak couldn't hate him. Tends had been his bone kin. Torak had
liked
him. He'd wanted Tenris to like him back.
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Bowing his head to his knees, he tried to shut out the pain. But that handsome, ruined face was still before him; that voice still rang in his ears. Ask Fin-Kedinn about your father! Make him tell you the truth!
What truth? What had he meant?
At that moment, Bale ran up. "Come quickly!" he panted.
He led them to the south end of the bay and across the stream to the foot of the waterfall.
The tokoroth lay on the rocks where they had fallen. Spray misted their grimy faces and their broken stick-limbs.
Craning his neck, Torak gazed at the mountainside, and wondered what had made them scramble up there. Then he remembered Wolf's howls. The demons are gone!
"What
are
they?" whispered Bale.
"Tokoroth," said Renn in a low voice.
Bale gasped. "I thought those were only in stories. I thought--"
The girl tokoroth moaned, and a spasm convulsed her scrawny frame.
"She's still alive," said Torak. He felt a twinge of pity. They looked so young. No more than eight or nine summers.
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"They're killers," Bale said grimly. Drawing his knife, he moved forward.
Wolf appeared from behind a boulder, warning him back with a growl.
Bale froze. "What. . ."
Torak went down on one knee, and Wolf trotted over to him, snuffle-grunting and nuzzling his cheek. Torak glanced at Renn. "He says he chased the demons away." "Where?" said Renn. "Where did they go?"
Torak met Wolf's eyes for a moment, then shook his head. "I'm not going to ask. They're gone. Let that be enough."
Bale was staring at him in amazement. "You can talk to it?"
"Him," said Torak. "Wolf is a him."
"So that's a wolf," said Bale. Placing one hand on his heart, he bowed. "Beautiful."
Again the tokoroth stirred.
Renn ran to kneel beside them. Her face became grave. "Not long now," she said. Then to Torak, "Your medicine horn. Do you have any earthblood?" Torak handed it to her; but Bale looked troubled. "What are you doing?"
"Death Marks," said Renn.
"They don't deserve them!" cried Bale.
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Renn turned on him. "They were children once! Their souls are still in there, deep inside! They'll need help to get free--"
"They're killers," said Bale, unmoved.
"Let her do it," said Torak. "She knows about things like this."
As they watched, Renn made the red ochre into a paste with water, then daubed the Death Marks on both tokoroth: forehead, heart, heels. Wolf came to sit beside her, whining softly and sweeping the grass with his tail. There was a light in his golden eyes. Torak wondered what he could see.

Renn's face became distant, and she began to murmur under her breath. Torak felt a flicker of unease. He guessed she was summoning the child souls from deep within; calling them out from their hiding place.

Suddenly the boy tokoroth clenched his fists. The girl tokoroth twitched, then opened her eyes.
A tear rolled down Renn's cheek. "Go in peace," she whispered. "You're free now. Free . . ."
The boy tokoroth shuddered, then lay still. The girl gave a long, rattling sigh that ended in--silence.
A breeze stirred the suncups. Wolf turned his head, as if to follow the passing of something swift.
"They're gone," said Renn.
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Next day the Seals returned from the Cormorants' island, and Torak, Renn and Bale spent a long time talking with the Clan Leader.

Surprisingly, Islinn was not as crushed by the news of his Mage's death as they had expected. In fact, the knowledge that he must now take charge seemed to imbue him with fresh vigor. He looked visibly younger as he dispatched his fleetest messengers to the Forest to warn the clans against the poison, and others to fetch Asrif and Detlan home. The bodies of the tokoroth were placed in a skinboat, taken out of sight of land, and given to the Sea Mother.

When all was done, Islinn ordered everyone out of his shelter, except for Torak. "I'm sending Bale with you tomorrow," he said. "He will make sure that you get back safely."

"Thank you, Leader," Torak said tonelessly.
The Leader studied him. "You are wrong to blame yourself. He tricked me too. And I have lived a good many more summers than you." Torak did not reply.
"You grieve for him," stated the old man.
Torak was surprised that he should have perceived that. "He was kind to me," he said. "I mean--before the end. Was it all a lie?"
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The Seal Clan Leader regarded him with eyes that had witnessed every kind of wickedness and folly. "I doubt if even he knew the answer to that." He paused. "Go back to the Forest, Torak. It's where you belong. But if you ever need a home, you have one here."

 

Torak put his fists over his heart to show his thanks, but he didn't think he would ever take up Islinn's offer. For him this island was too full of ghosts.

They left the following morning. Wolf went in Torak's skinboat, and Renn in Bale's. It was a brilliantly sunny day, with a brisk west wind to speed them on their way. As they left the Bay of Seals, Torak looked back one last time. Smoke rose above the humped shelters, and children splashed in the shallows. Rowan trees and birches lapped the feet of the mountains, where white seabirds wheeled.

He knew that he didn't belong in this precarious, rocky world that was forever at the mercy of the Sea. But in its way it was rich and beautiful, and at last he understood why Bale loved it so much.

 

Then his gaze traveled higher, and he saw the Crag, and his spirits plunged. He hadn't been able to bring himself to return. Bale had gone up alone, and found Fa's knife, and brought it to him without a word.

They made good speed, with nothing but puffins and sea-eagles for company. Once in the distance,
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Torak thought he saw a tall, notched fin that followed them for a while. When he blinked, it was gone.

It was late in the day when Wolf gave a low bark, then stood up in the prow with his ears forward, wagging his tail. Soon afterward, Bale shouted something that Torak didn't catch, and Renn grinned and raised high her bow.

Then Torak turned and saw the Forest rising above the waves.
It was night by the time they reached the shore, although the huge amber sun still hung low over the Sea.

Swiftly Torak changed into his old buckskin jerkin and leggings, and bundled up his seal-hide clothes. It felt good to have his clan-creature skin back, as well as his pack and bow and sleeping-sack. But as he helped Bale stow the borrowed clothes in his skinboat, he wondered when--or if--he would see the Seal boy again. Bale had decided to head off at once. He was silent as they went down to the shallows, and Torak could see that he was thinking about the last time he and his friends had been on this beach, and the rough handling they'd meted out to the stranger from the Forest.