“Thank Raven Hunter,” Tapa said. “I miss my wife and boy.”
“At least we’ll see them again.”
The warriors glanced back and forth, fear behind their grim expressions.
“Remember,” Kishkat reminded, “we were sent with Skimmer before the attack.”
They trotted straight toward the Ice Giants, and Skimmer saw the black maw that led into the Nightland Caves. Last time, she had been held farther south and never brought this close to the famed cavern. It was a huge opening, perhaps four body lengths across. Passing Traders had told her that once a person went through that maw, the ice tunnels branched many times, flowing out in every direction. One of them was reputedly “the hole in the ice” that led back to the Long Dark where Raven Hunter still lived and breathed.
Her legs had been shaking for the past four or five hands of time. Skimmer longed to sit … .
“Stop!” Kishkat called, peering into the half-light. “Who’s there?”
The warriors surrounded her, the move almost protective. For days now, they had traveled together, sharing meals, water, and stories.
When did I begin to see them as friends? The notion stunned her.
Rocks and gravel scalloped the edge of Thunder Sea. Some of the boulders were three times the height of a man.
Skimmer struggled to see what had alarmed Kishkat. Near the rocks ahead, a human form slipped through the shadows.
“We said stop!” Tapa insisted, and lifted his single dart.
The man kept coming, and finally a soft voice called, “Kishkat? Is that you?”
Kishkat’s eyes went wide. He stepped forward and whispered, “Blessed Spirits! Guide? Is that you?”
The warriors fell to their knees, and long-legged Homaldo called, “Guide! We’ve brought the woman you wanted. Kakala dispatched her when we encountered her on the trail.”
The Guide walked gracefully, hands clasped behind his back, apparently deep in thought.
The warriors hissed back and forth, wondering how Ti-Bish had known Kishkat. It was too dark to see their faces.
Homaldo shot a frightened glance at the other warriors and said, “Guide? How did you know it was us? No runner could have beaten us here. No one knew.”
“I’ve known from the moment Skimmer slipped away from the Lame Bull caves,” the Guide said.
Hatred and fear burned through Skimmer’s veins like a Spirit plant, paralyzing her trembling legs. She could only stare as he walked nearer.
When no more than two body lengths away, he stopped and looked at her. She couldn’t be sure in the darkness, but she thought a faint smile curled his lips. He spoke gently, “Raven Hunter said you’d be here tonight, Skimmer. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”
“Ti-Bish, I must talk with you. Don’t … don’t hurt me.”
He stepped closer, took her arm, and led her up the trail, as though they were friends of many summers.
The warriors followed a few paces behind them.
“Don’t worry. You’re safe now.” Then he bent down to whisper, “Raven Hunter told me to wait for you here. He didn’t want Nashat to see you first.”
As the words sank in, a wave of nausea tormented her. “Why?”
“He said Nashat would frighten you.”
She looked at his gentle hand on her arm and the kindness in his eyes. “Why would you care?”
In the silver gleam of light that reflected from the Ice Giants, she saw his jaw tremble. “You need me, Skimmer. Raven Hunter helped me see that truth. He wants you close before the first motions of the destruction begin.”
“The … destruction? Of what?”
“Oh.” He smiled boyishly. “Everything.”
Skimmer’s stomach threatened to empty itself. She’d walked into the lair of a madman.
Windwolf had been right. She couldn’t see this thing through.
Run! Now!
The desire made her shiver. He noticed, turned, and wrapped his arms around her. His bearskin cape felt warm, but smelled of darkness, of things that grew deep underground where sunlight never reached.
“Don’t run. Please? You don’t know the whole truth yet.” He murmured softly, “Come. Let me take you inside where it’s out of the wind and we’ll talk.” To the warriors he said, “Thank you for being so kind to Skimmer on the way here.You may go home to your families. You will be rewarded for your service.”
“Thank you, Guide,” Kishkat bowed deeply, and backed away.
As the warriors trotted out toward the campfires scattered across the tundra, Ti-Bish led Skimmer through looming shadows toward a small cave. “Raven Hunter wants you to know that your daughter is safe. Ashes is staying with Dipper and Lookingbill.”