Beyond Belief (Clan of the Ice Mountains Book 4) Page 17

  The man was seriously injured. They couldn’t just leave him there to suffer until he died. Should I end his life quickly with my spear and then burn his body, spear and all?

  It was the thing Attu needed to do. Even though this man was an enemy, no one deserved to die a slow painful death alone, or be attacked and eaten by a predator.

  Attu raised his spear. Do not kill him. Save him. The voice stopped his downward thrust, and Attu’s mind reeled at the power of Attuanin in his mind.

  Why?

  Save him.

  How can this man, this enemy, this thief, possibly be so important to my people that we must risk the illness to save him?

  Save him.

  Attu felt himself drifting, his mind moving in circles between the Here and Now and the time with the whales. Attuanin’s voice had drawn him back, and he remembered being with the great killer whale fish, swimming with him, hunting with him, and all he had learned about listening to the spirits and following Attuanin for the greater good of his people.

  “Attu?” Kossu asked. “Attu! Are you all right? What do we do?”

  Attu looked around and realized he had lost track of time. The boys shivered behind the rock and Kossu was looking at him strangely. The thief’s eyes were closed, and the moon had risen farther in the sky.

  “Stay with him while I take Ganik and Chonik back to camp. I need to talk this over with everyone. Let’s go.” Attu motioned for the boys to follow him and started down the hill.

  “I’m not going back,” Ganik grumbled as they walked beside Attu. “I haven’t found Grey Wolf yet.”

  Attu stopped and turned to Ganik. “If Grey Wolf wants to come back, he will,” Attu said. “If not, then he’s gone. There’s nothing you can do about it.” Attu let his anger show. “That could have been one of the Clan,” Attu said, pointing back to where the thief lay. “One of us, lying on top of this hill with a broken leg because we were out looking for you.” He met Ganik’s eyes and waited until the boy finally hung his head and looked away.

  Attu turned toward Chonik. “And I thought after you nearly got killed, you’d learn not to follow him everywhere.”

  “Ganik said he was going no matter what. So when I realized he’d left, I followed him and brought the things I knew he’d forget to take, to protect him.” Chonik met Attu’s gaze and didn’t look away. “I wanted to prove to the Clan I wasn’t scared. Not this time. What else could I have done?”

  “You could have come and told me, and I would have spoken with Ganik and helped him see that chasing after Grey Wolf was a foolish idea.”

  “He would have gone anyway, as soon as no one was looking,” Chonik said. He looked down, kicking at a stone much like Attu did when he was frustrated.

  “Come now, and we’ll talk about it later,” Attu said. “This injured man must be dealt with.”

  Ganik reluctantly followed Attu toward camp, Chonik bringing up the rear as if he expected Ganik to make a run for it back into the night.

  “Kill him,” Suka said. “We know they are our enemies. I think we should kill him and be done with it.”

  “He may be contagious,” Rika said. “We can’t bring him into camp.”

  “We can’t, but Soantek and Keanu could take him to the edge of camp, like we did with them, until we can find out if he carries the evil sickness spirits.” Attu looked to the pair. Both had been summoned back from their flying search.

  “Why do you wish to save this thief’s life?” Ubantu asked.

  “What are you thinking, my son?” Yural asked.

  “When I was up on that hill, I-” Attu began.

  “He is thinking what I know to be true, that this man’s life must be saved,” Meavu interrupted. She stepped out from the group behind Attu and looked at her brother, and Attu knew Meavu had Seen something. “His life is linked to saving ours. I know it. When the last band of thieves finds us,” Meavu hesitated as someone’s lips popped and many shook their heads. “They will come,” Meavu said, and her voice held a certainty that made the hair on the back of Attu’s neck rise. “This thief has not been found by chance. The spirits directed Ganik and Chonik out on this night to find him.”

  “Then we must try to save him,” Rika said. Others nodded. Many looked at Meavu with wonder. They had known Attu’s sister had Gifts, but none had seen her so strong, so sure. It convinced many.

  More discussion followed, but Attu knew in his spirit it had been decided. Soantek and Keanu moved to the edge of camp, near where their shelter had been in the fall when they’d been ill. People came forward with older hides, a small lamp with a chip in it, some old cooking skins, and soon they had a shelter ready.

  Meanwhile, Attu and the other hunters had been building a sledge to drag the thief back on. Rika had prepared healing herbs and bandages for the man’s leg, and Soantek had assured her that if the thief’s leg was broken, he knew how to put it back in place with Keanu’s help. “I will be near if you need me,” Rika said.

  It took the rest of the night, but by dawn the thief was in Keanu and Soantek’s temporary shelter. He was delirious with fever, but there were no sores on him. His leg did not appear to be broken, but his knee had been knocked out of joint. Soantek and Keanu put it back with the help of Elder Nuka, who dosed the man with her own painkiller. Still, Attu and the others heard the screams when Soantek jerked and twisted the thief’s dislocated lower leg back into place. After that, Nuka said, he passed into the Between of unconsciousness.

  Attu walked to Veshria’s shelter midday. Ganik was awake, groggy, but sitting up eating some cold fish when Attu arrived. “I bring no evil,” he said as he stood at the door.

  “Come in,” Tishria said. Veshria nodded as Attu entered and moved to get him a hot drink.

  “I know I must not try to get Grey Wolf back,” Ganik said. He looked like he’d been crying. “Kossu said holding an animal against its will is wrong. It’s not the Nuvik way. I wouldn’t be a true hunter if I did.”

  “He’s right,” Attu said, glancing at Kossu. Kossu met Attu’s eyes with thanks before looking to Tishria. “Our sister helped to convince Ganik, also.”

  Tishria sat calmly beside her mother like any other small girl. But she is not. She’s remarkable.

  Thank you. Tishria nodded her head.

  You should not read my thoughts without my permission, Attu scolded, then added, but it’s true. And my thoughts still leak more than they should. He smiled at Tishria.

  “She’s talking to you right now, isn’t she?” Ganik asked. His voice held wonder and more than a hint of jealousy. “I wish I could mind speak.”

  “Well, you can’t. So there’s no sense in wishing for it,” Kossu said. It sounded to Attu like an exchange they’d had before.

  “Do you think the thief will be able to help us against the others, once he’s better?” Tishria asked. Veshria looked up from her sewing, her eyes locking with Attu’s at the girl’s question.

  “Meavu thinks so. I didn’t have a specific vision, but I believe I heard Attuanin speak. The thief must stay with us. The spirits often lead me like they may have led you last night, Ganik, to find the thief when you thought you were only searching for Grey Wolf.”

  “Chonik wanted to head around the hill, and I couldn’t do it. I had to climb to the top. Something did seem to pull me there.” He looked eager to believe that perhaps he did have some kind of Gift, after all.

  “And you and Kossu were within hearing when the boys found the thief,” Tishria added.

  Veshria studied them.

  “You, too?” Attu asked. “You think there is something special about this thief?”

  Veshria nodded. Attu caught a glimpse of fear in her eyes, but Veshria didn’t waver from his gaze. She nodded her head again.

  Attu stood away from the shelter’s entrance later that day. Soantek had sent for Attu when the thief awoke.

  “He’s very weak,” Soantek said. “But he’s been talking since he woke up.”

  �
�What has he told you?”

  “He says he’s called Senga. And he says that he means us no harm.”

  “Then what was he doing so close to our camp? Was he sent by the other thieves to spy on us before they attacked?”

  “He says he left the band of thieves he was with just before the first big snow last winter. He says they weren’t sick when he left, and when I asked him, he said he knew of Toonuk, but had never seen him. He may have been with the group that attacked the other Tuktu Clan. But I can’t tell if he’s telling the truth or lying.”

  Soantek turned back toward where the man lay on furs in the shelter. He exchanged words with the thief and then turned back.

  “He says he’s not lying. He wasn’t part of the group who attacked Toonuk’s Clan.”

  “And Toonuk said his men killed all the ones who attacked them.”

  “He’s lived on his own since then. That’s a long time,” Soantek said.

  Attu thought that was hard to believe, but it was possible, he supposed, if the man were a good hunter, and very lucky. Except the thief fell and dislocated his knee. That certainly wasn’t lucky.

  “Let me know if he tells you anything else, anything that can help us,” Attu said.

  Soantek agreed and turned back to the thief.

  That evening, Attu again stood as near as he dared to the entrance of the shelter where the thief lay.

  “And you say you’ve been by yourself all winter? How did you survive?”

  “I found meat. In a cave near here. I was near starving when I found it. The meat saved me.” Senga’s voice was raspy but strong enough now for Attu to hear him. “I will hunt and pay back for the food. It was yours?”

  “Rovek’s cache,” Soantek said. “He must have found it.”

  “Why did you leave your band?” Attu asked.

  “I never wanted to be a part of them in the first place,” Senga said. “But my Clan leader didn’t approve of me. He forced me out. I had nowhere else to go.”

  “What did you do to made him do that?”

  “Fought over a woman.” Senga said. “She was mine. She had promised to bond with me. But Poltow, our leader, wanted her for his brother. After he made me leave, I found out Poltow made her bond with his brother.”

  Attu heard the anger in Senga’s voice. Then it changed to grief. “When I got the chance, I tried to get her back. The band I’d joined up with came upon my Clan again many moons after I’d been forced out. I snuck in among them to find her. But her mother told me she had already died in childbirth.”

  “What did you do then?”

  “I wanted to fight with the other thieves. I wanted to kill Poltow.” Senga’s words were strangled with emotion. “But the rest of the Clan were my family, my friends.”

  “So did you? Kill Poltow? Fight with the others?”

  “No.” Senga’s voice grew quiet. Attu strained to hear him. “What good would that do? Another of them would have taken his place. Probably his brother. I convinced a few of the others not to fight either, but the rest were angry at the way we’d all been treated. And in the end, the ones I’d convinced said they had to fight so as not to be called cowards and forced to leave the thieves, too.”

  “Is that when you left?”

  “Yes.” Senga coughed, then spoke again. “They called me a coward, but I could not fight my own people just because of Poltow. Thank you for not killing me up on that hill. I don’t know why you didn’t, but thank you.”

  “The spirits told me not to. That is the only reason you are still alive.” Attu kept his voice firm. “And if you do anything to make any of us think you are dangerous, we will still kill you. Do you understand?”

  “Yes. I won’t hurt anyone. I will do whatever you say.”

  “And when your leg is healed?”

  “I don’t know. I have no place to go. No Clan. I guess I will go off on my own again.”

  Attu heard the edge of despair in the man’s voice.

  The Clan was gathered near the evening fire. A moon had passed, and Senga showed no signs of breaking out in sores. He was walking again, stiff-legged, with the help of two sticks, one lashed on each side of his knee. Attu had ordered him to stay near the shelter at the edge of camp and not to interact with anyone but himself, Keanu, and Soantek. Senga had agreed and had done exactly as the three of them instructed.

  Attu sat, wondering what to do with Senga now, as he watched Warm Fur snuggling into Tingiyok’s side. The two remaining pups looked like adults to Attu. Warm Fur was Tingiyok’s constant companion, and Dog was nestled between Brovik and Suanu.

  Rika reached out a tentative hand to stroke Warm Fur. The dog stretched at her touch, lying on her side and offering her belly to be rubbed. Rika laughed and gave the dog her wish. Turning back to the fire, she caught Attu watching her.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Nothing,” Attu said, and turned to the others.

  “Rika says it’s safe for Senga to come into camp now. But what do we do with him?” Tingiyok asked.

  “I’ve been thinking about that.” Attu looked to the others.

  “We can’t just let him walk around freely. He is our enemy,” Suka said.

  Many nodded their heads in agreement with Suka’s words.

  Others voiced concerns, and a heated discussion followed.

  “I don’t know what to do with him, either,” Attu said when Ubantu asked his opinion. “I just know we’re supposed to keep Senga here.”

  “I will take him.” Lips popped as Veshria moved to the front of the fire, turning toward the others. Her voice sounded like sand scratching at the side of a hide shelter, and she cleared her throat before speaking again. “It is the will of the spirits that I help this man regain his strength and heal.”

  “What do you mean?” Yural asked.

  “I cannot explain it, but ever since Rusik passed to the Between of death, I have been halfway there with him.” Veshria looked toward the fire. Her eyes threatened to fill once again with the far away look that had been there since she’d heard her man had been gored by the nuknuk. “But last night I dreamed. I saw myself standing with Senga, only he wasn’t a thief anymore. He was one of us.”

  “No!” one of the hunters shouted. “That can never be.”

  “It is true,” Veshria said. “And now, since I woke from that dream, I can speak again. Isn’t that proof enough?” She glared at the hunter who’d spoken.

  “You did not speak, Woman, because you didn’t have reason to speak.” Suka looked to Veshria, taking up the other man’s argument.

  “My mother speaks the truth,” Ganik said. He stood up among the people, his voice clear, even though Attu could see the boy was trembling. “She has wanted to yell at me many times these last moons, but she couldn’t. I could see it in her eyes.”

  A few of the people chuckled, but Veshria’s face remained serious and the laughter faded.

  “I am to take Senga into my shelter. We are to be bonded.”

  Another gasp, and all eyes turned to Attu.

  “Senga has agreed,” Soantek told Attu the next day. “I don’t know if he’s agreeing because he knows he can’t survive on his own yet, or if he truly wants to become one of us. He’s met with Veshria. She has made her wishes known to him, and he is saying yes.”

  Nuka moved to Veshria’s shelter with Senga, so Veshria would not be alone with him until they were bonded. Five days later, at the full moon, Veshria stood beside Senga. The words were spoken, their wrists bound together, and without another word after the ceremony, Veshria disappeared into the shelter with the thief.

  Kossu had looked disgusted throughout the ceremony. He’d moved out of his mother’s shelter when Nuka and Senga had moved in, and although he’d vowed to continue to hunt for his family until he took a woman of his own, he had told Attu he would do nothing more.

  “Why is she doing this?” he asked Attu again as they walked away from the dying fires. “It makes no sense? Does she like having
trouble surround her?”

  Attu had been wondering the same thing. But his spirit felt right about Veshria’s choice. Before her husband’s death, Veshria had shown she could be unstable, but since his death, except for not talking, Veshria had given no one any trouble. She’d changed. And Attu was convinced this stranger among them, one of their proven enemies, was vital to them. It was more than Meavu’s announcement or Veshria’s dream. He’d felt it the moment he’d laid eyes on the thief. Hadn’t he heard those words, deep in his spirit? Save him.

  “Kossu, fall is coming in a few moons,” Attu said, deciding it best to change the subject to something he’d been wanting to talk about with Kossu. “If the Tuktu return, is there one among them you might consider? To start your own journey as hunter and protector of your own family?”

  Kossu turned an eager grin on Attu. “Oh, they will return. Chirea has promised me they will...” Kossu turned red in the firelight, and his eyes shifted away. But the grin remained.

  Chapter 18

  “Senga is telling the truth,” Tishria said, “about what happened to him.” She looked at Attu, then away. She bit at her lower lip as her cheeks turned red.

  “Tishria, have you been looking into Senga’s mind?”

  The little girl hung her head.

  “You know that’s wrong, don’t you?” Attu knew that Keanu had begun working with Tishria, but apparently it wasn’t enough yet, or Tishria hadn’t understood or been willing to follow Keanu’s instructions.

  “I know. It’s the first thing everyone told me. I don’t do it on purpose. I’ll just be in the shelter with him and suddenly I will be in his thoughts, especially if his knee is hurting. It still hurts him, you know. I can’t block his thoughts then; they’re too strong.”

  “I need you to walk out of the shelter if you sense Senga’s thoughts and you can’t block them. Distance should help. You must never look into another person’s thoughts without their permission.”

  “All right. I’ll try that.” Tishria looked pleadingly at Attu. “But I’ve seen enough of his memories to know he is telling the truth. His leader, Poltow, did force him out of his Clan just because of the woman he loved. And he did try to get her back. And Senga did leave the thieves because of their fighting his own Clan. That memory is very strong. He thinks about it when his knee hurts, how no matter what, he couldn’t have fought his own people. Do you want me to show you? I give you permission to look into my mind.”