Ti-Bish wet his lips and stammered, “I—I found it. I’ve never opened it, though, and I don’t think you should either. Just … keep it. As a gift.”
A strange phosphorescent fog formed on the far side of the lake and moved toward them, as though being pushed by Wind Woman’s breath.
Ti-Bish said, “Father Sun has risen. He’s warming the sea outside.”
Skimmer stared at the fog. “Do people come in here in boats?”
“No. You can’t see the opening from outside because the Ice Giants have fallen into the water, blocking the way for boats. But I think once, a long time ago, people rowed their canoes in here. I’ve found skeletons on the shore.”
“Skeletons? Of people?”
“People and animals. Some of the monsters are frightening. They’re huge, and their bones are rock.”
A fluttering like bats overhead sounded, and Skimmer looked up. The ice vault shimmered, but nothing alive flew around up there.
Ti-Bish abruptly got to his feet, picked up his oil lamp, and said, “I have to take you back to your chamber now.”
“Why?”
“It’s necessary.”
Skimmer clutched the bundle as she rose. “I hate the darkness, Ti-Bish. Could you bring me a lamp?”
As he led the way back up the tunnel, he said, “Not yet. Soon, I hope. Raven Hunter says you need the darkness right now.”
“Why?”
“To smother the spark of Wolf Dreamer that lives in your soul.”
There is no spark of Wolf Dreamer left, Ti-Bish. He is as dead in my heart as Hookmaker is.
As they walked back toward her chamber, the darkness grew heavy, leaden, weighing down her shoulders like a granite cape. The worst part was the fear … .
Forty-six
Silvertip sat with his legs dangling over the sharp edge of a boulder that perched high on the slope overlooking Headswift Village. Below him, yet another of the Sunpath camps was packing up their few pitiful possessions. The two warriors who would lead them west were talking to the Elders, pointing at this and that.
They are the lucky ones. But how can I tell them that by having lost everything but their lives, they have gained a future?
Craning his head, he could look out over Thunder Sea. In the distance, across the gray water, the Ice Giants shot their cracked, piled, and tumbled heights into the sky. No human could cross that.
But I flew. He longed for the sensation of wings.
“What a gift, just to have known it.”
He could hear the soft whisperings of assent from the Wolf Bundle where he clutched it tightly in his lap.
Wind tugged at his hair, sending cold fingers past his hunting shirt and along his skin. To feel is to live.
He heard Ashes as she climbed up and immodestly seated herself beside him. She looked out at the camps, then turned her eyes west, where the faintest rim of Loon Lake could be seen.
“Why do you think I even want to be your wife?”
He smiled, knowing full well that she’d been puzzling over that.
“Because you and I are matched by Power. After what happened to you in the Nightland pen, you have no illusions about this world. After I died and Dreamed the One, I have no illusions about the Spirit World. Both of us were changed, Ashes. We have both lost everything, and gained everything.”
She gave him that probing look. “Your family is alive. You have people who still love you.”
“You’ve never Dreamed the One, only to lose it.” He closed his eyes, savoring the memory. “I had wings, Ashes. Wings!” A tear crept past his cheek.
She was silent, considering that. Finally, she said, “Well, what about Mother? You said you’d seen the future?”
He nodded. “She will come back to you.” He paused. “But you won’t know her.”
“That’s silly. Of course I’ll know her. She’s my mother!”
“She’s Raven Hunter’s. As I am Wolf Dreamer’s.”
“But you said that I’m Raven Hunter’s, too.”
“You are. But he will never own your soul like he does Skimmer’s.”
“I don’t understand.”
“She has no balance. You have me, and I have you. I will bring order and peace to your life, while you bring chaos and creativity to mine. Together, we will balance our Power, and lay the seeds for a new world.”
“Don’t bet on it.” Wind teased strands of her black hair across her face. Her eyes were fixed on the distance to the south, where spruce gave way to pine, maple, and oak. “Somewhere out there are warriors who wish nothing more than to kill us.”
“But we can Dream a new way.”
“Only if you have the darts to back it up.” She shrugged. “My father was like you. He thought that if we left the Nightland alone, they’d do the same to us.”