People of the Sea(16)

“You’ve never liked Catchstraw, even when he was a boy.”

“It’s irritating,-Sumac, when a five-summers-old child tries to tell you he knows more than you do.”

“Well, he’s a Dreamer now. Maybe Mother Ocean never intended him to be a hunter or a warrior.”

“If Catchstraw’s such a fine Dreamer, why did he start having Dreams only five winters ago?”

“That’s when Running Salmon died. You know that. We needed a new Dreamer.”

“Running Salmon was smart. Before she went, she told us that Sunchaser would be the next great Dreamer for the people. I guess Catchstraw thought differently. But Running Salmon was right. Only Sunchaser could bring all of the mountain and sea villages together, and keep them together, to work for a single purpose—keeping the mammoths alive in our world. Catchstraw would have driven everybody away with his whining and—”

“You think he’s a false Dreamer?”

“I didn’t say that. I wonder, that’s all. He was always a strange child. Kept to himself a lot. And then, ruining not one but two marriages that his mother worked so hard to negotiate. Some of his kin are still struggling to pay back the wedding gifts.”

“He was so spoiled that he forgot he had clan obligations.”

“Yes. All of his life he’s refused to do anything that didn’t please him.”

“You’re being too hard on him, Oxbalm. I think he tries to help people.” Sumac blinked contemplatively. “Some of Catchstraw’s Dreams have come true.”

“And just as many haven’t.”

“Well, at least Catchstraw is close at hand. Does anyone know where Sunchaser is? He flits around as wildly as the west wind.”

Oxbalm used a knobby finger to draw irregular designs in the sand. The grains felt cool and moist. “The last I heard, he was up in the mountains at Brushnut Village. The illness



had struck and they begged him to come home and Heal. He couldn’t refuse to help his relatives. Before that, he was moving through the other mountain villages, Singing and Dancing for people, performing Healings. I don’t know why he hasn’t been back to see us. His last trip to the sea was when he came to the Mammoth Spirit Dance held at Whalebeard Village four moons ago. But he has so many villages that he visits, it’s no wonder …” ‘

Oxbalm could feel the change, the shift of Power. He shivered and cocked his head to listen to the Mother. Her voice had grown low and hoarse.

Sumac asked, “What are you—”

“Shh!” Oxbalm raised a hand, aware of the sudden stillness that even hushed the regular booming of the surf. Power spun eddies in the air, a heaviness growing.

The village dogs started barking, and they both turned. A pack of four dogs raced out toward the beach, peering at something down the shoreline that Oxbalm couldn’t see. After a few moments, they began howling and prancing, creating such a commotion that people in the village came crawling out of their lodges, muttering, their hair wild with sleep.

“What is it?” Sumac asked. “What’s wrong?”

Oxbalm braced a hand on her shoulder for support while he got to his feet. Dawn Child had touched the horizon with an elusive glow of lavender, and the beach where the dogs stood glistened and sparkled. He took a step forward. For a long time he saw only the surge of the waves and the brightening shape of the big island off the coast. Flocks of sea birds dotted the skies above the dark silhouettes of the island’s three major peaks.

“Oxbalm?” Sumac said as she stood.

“Shh. Listen.”

A deep-throated groan arose, the sound like the last desperate gasps of drowning men.

Against the dark ocean, something moved.

Oxbalm had to squint his old eyes to see the sinuous trunk



that lifted and weakly splashed the water. The mammoth lay on its side, dying. And there lay another. And another. And … The village dogs yipped and howled, bounding back and forth, afraid to get too close, terrified by the huge animals.

“Oh, no. What—”

“Look!” Sumac pointed. “There’s another one… and another.”

Up and down the beach, dark forms appeared, dozens of them. Twenty? No, thirty or more. Their earthy musk carried on the salty wind. They walked out of the trees making soft sounds to one another, their shaggy coats shining, and waded into the sea, the trunk of one holding tight to the tail of another. The little calves squealed as they fought the current to stay beside their mothers. One of the cows lifted her trunk and sprayed water into the air. The droplets spiraled up, capturing the gleam of dawn before they showered down into the ocean. The mammoths walked out as far as they could, then started swimming.