“You mean, before Ewin’s war party arrives?”
Windwolf nodded. “We can’t fight them, Fish Hawk. We have only a few adult warriors; it’s not enough. And our young warriors will fall like dry grass before a powerful hailstorm. You know it as well as I.”
Fish Hawk swallowed hard, gaze inexorably drawn to the children playing at the base of the rock shelters. He could hear their laughter rising on the gusts of wind. “This has been my home for all of my life. The idea of leaving … it just doesn’t seem possible.”
Windwolf asked, “Can you do it, War Chief?”
Fish Hawk nodded. “I can, but … where will we go? The Tills? I know nothing about them. My clan has been here forever.”
A powerful gust of wind swept up the slope, and Windwolf’s short black hair blew around his face. “I need to talk with Kakala and Keresa.”
Fish Hawk jerked a nod. “My people will be packed by first light.”
“And, in case I forget, you make sure you have a screen of scouts out. It wouldn’t do to stumble into Ewin’s war party on the way.”
“Of course, War Chief.” He hesitated. “Do you need guards for your talk with the Nightland?”
“No.” He smiled at the irony. “Not anymore.”
As Fish Hawk trotted away, Windwolf eased down on a flat rock and closed his eyes. So much had to happen so quickly.
Skimmer followed Ti-Bish along the sandy shore of the fiery lake, her way lit only by the luminous streamers that snaked through the water. The Ice Giants who stretched high overhead groaned, and the very air trembled with their pain. New cracks, like black lightning bolts, had split the ceiling since the last time she’d been down here. Some were over two tens of body lengths wide.
“Ti-Bish,” she called, frightened. “Where are we going?”
“It’s not much farther. Are you tired?”
They’d been walking for a long time, though she could not say just how long. The lack of sunlight and darkness left her completely bewildered. “No, I’m not tired; I’m just concerned. Won’t your Elders wonder where you are?”
He shook his head. “They’re busy packing for the journey. They know I’ll return.”
In the damp air, his two black braids had turned frizzy, but his dark eyes glowed as though a blaze had flared to life in his soul.
He pointed. “Do you see the bones ahead?”
Skimmer looked to where he pointed.
“That’s the Monster Bone Trail,” he explained in a whisper, as though the long-dead beasts might hear him. “I want you to see the path.”
Skimmer’s mouth dropped open when they walked through the rib cage of a huge animal; the bones arched over her head. From snout to tail, the beast must have stretched at least five or six body lengths. “What is this creature?”
He shrugged and stepped around a human skull. “One of the monsters that lived just after the creation, I think.”
As Skimmer passed another human skull, she stared into the dark eye sockets, wondering who the man might have been. Another Dreamer? Someone else seeking the hole in the ice?
Then she saw the ax. It had been laid on an ice shelf. She stepped over, and picked it up, looking back at the skull. Was this yours? A tool no longer needed?
She hefted it, staring at the handle. The wood had been carved with long grooves and drilled with dots. The binding, made of sinew, was crusted with frost. The stone head had been set in a Y in the wood and daubed with pitch. It had been chipped from a translucent brown chert she’d never seen before. She pressed her thumb to the sharp edge.
How long had it been since this had rested in human hands? Tightening her grip on the handle, she followed after Ti-Bish.
They walked in silence until Ti-Bish said, “There. Do you see it?”
“What?”
He gestured to the dark cavern ahead. A river spilled out through it and ran into the fiery lake.
She said, “It’s a river.”
Ti-Bish frowned at her. “Yes, but … that’s the hole.”
“The hole?” she said in confusion.
“The hole in the ice. We must go through it to get to the Land of the Long Dark.”
Terror crept up around her heart. She stared at him. “That’s it?”
He smiled tenderly. “Yes. That’s it. It’s a difficult journey. It will take many, many days, but—”
“How do you know how long it will take? Have you made the trip before?”
“Oh, yes,” he murmured. “In a Spirit Dream. Raven Hunter took me.”
“It’s cold water, Ti-Bish. Walk in that for more than a couple of hands’ time, and people’s legs will go numb. If someone trips and falls, they’ll be wet clear through.You can’t stop and make a fire to dry out. The children will die first.”