Women surged forward, reaching out. They had no chance. Cries of hope became shrieks of pain, and the hammers swung crashing down.
Skimmer broke free from the press, looking around, seeing the pile of corpses in the rear. Screams and pleas couldn’t hide the smacking sounds of stone on flesh.
“Mother?” Ashes asked in disbelieving fear.
“This way.”
Women panicked and tried to run, pushing Skimmer ahead of them. She dragged Ashes toward the pile of dead.
Despite the press of bodies, she shoved Ashes down, shouting, “Don’t move! Don’t speak.” Powered by fear, she reached up, grabbed a cold limp ankle, and pulled. She threw herself on top of Ashes as the pile shifted and cold dead corpses slid down on top of her.
Ashes moaned, “Mother?”
“Quiet! Lie still!”
She hunched her spine, trying to protect Ashes as someone scrambled across her back, climbing the collapsed pile of corpses. A heavy foot drove her flat as a man chased the fleeing woman up. Skimmer winced as the hammer thumped into flesh. The woman screamed. A second whistling impact brought silence. Then she felt yet another corpse toppled onto those that covered her.
For long moments, the hammers could be heard, men grunting with the effort.
“Thirsty … Mother,” Ashes whispered.
“Shhh!”
The weight of the bodies piled on top of her was almost unbearable. Something wet and cold was leaking down, dripping onto her cheek. She clamped her eyes shut, thinking, I am dead. Just another of the dead.
“War Chief Karigi?” Nashat asked. “Are you sure that’s all of them?”
“Yes, Elder.” Then, “You men, turn each one over. Make sure.”
“Even the dead ones in the pile?”
“Are you an idiot, or just a fool?”
Occasional snapping smacks carried in the suddenly still air. Skimmer ground her jaw, dry sobs racking her chest. She knotted her fists. How can such a thing happen?
A man’s whispered voice nearby said, “If I was an idiot at least I could become a Guide someday.”
Someone else snickered.
Ti-Bish! Skimmer remembered the half-starved creature she had once given food to. Why didn’t I drive a dart through your foul heart when I had the chance?
Because back then she had still believed.
But now, on Hookmaker’s blood, I swear I’ll repay you for this!
She tensed as a voice above said, “Come morning, have some of the other slaves carry this mess out.”
“Yes, War Chief. What do you want done with the bodies?”
“Drag them out to the tundra.” Karigi laughed. “Maybe the wolves will take them back to Wolf Dreamer. Me, I’m going after that mammoth. While the wolves eat, so will we.”
Voices grew fainter, and for long moments she lay, barely daring to breathe, her heart pounding in her chest.
The corpses seemed to grow heavier. She struggled to wrench her head around so she could gaze upward through the tangled mass of limbs to the sky.
Blessed Star People glimmered through the blanket of the heavens. Ancestors floating in a vast cold sea.
Ashes, moaning, brought Skimmer awake. She started as memories came flooding back.
She began shoving at the dead bodies. Her muscles trembled, weak from starvation and thirst. The glacier-scented winds carried the pungency of blood. Raising her head, she looked around. Nothing moved among the sprawled corpses. The gate, so long closed and guarded, gaped wide.
She shook her daughter. “Ashes? Wake up.”
“I’m awake,” Ashes said groggily. “Thirsty.”
“We have to go. There will be water soon.”
And then,Ti-Bish, I’m coming for you.
Thirteen
Windwolf slept, his right arm stretched out, the darkness draping him like a blanket. The Dream slipped over his soul like a soft mist … .
Bramble stood on a high promontory. Wind tossed her long black hair, sunlight playing down the sleek strands. She wore a formfitting elkhide dress that accented her thin waist and full bust. He could see elk ivories glinting from the yoke and sleeves.
She turned to him, her knowing eyes gleaming with sadness. The light seemed to play with the smooth lines of her face, and a wistful smile saddened her full lips.
“Bramble?” he asked, struggling desperately to climb up the rocky slope to her.
She shook her head sadly, and looked down to her side.
Windwolf caught movement, slowing in his mad scramble to reach her.
A great black wolf stepped out beside Bramble, leaning against her thigh, staring at him with gleaming yellow eyes. Bramble lowered her hand, letting it trace along the black wolf ’s head in a caress.
“Bramble?” Windwolf cried. “I’m coming!”
He resumed his desperate climb, but the soil slipped under his war moccasins, and the harder he clawed and climbed, the more the loose earth rolled beneath his feet.