People of the Wolf(89)

"You understand?" she asked, cocking her head in desperate seriousness.

"No."

"Can the mushroom kill you if you're the mushroom? Can you kill the mushroom if the mushroom is you?"

His breathing stilled. "The One."

"Yes. The most powerful Dreaming of all must be shared with this little plant. Father Sun's joke, the mushroom. Colorless, it grows from death—in the dark; it brings life and Light. Rebirth. These ..." She fingered the shriveled black slices. "These will let your soul go beyond the Dance to the—"

"But what if I come out of the Dream?"

Birdlike, she cocked her head. "And find yourself nowhere?"

"Something like that."

She laughed, throwing her back. "Then you'll know you're there."

"Where?"

"Nowhere."

Rather than demonstrating his stupidity, he decided to ask, "And what will that do for my Dreaming?"

' 'If you can find nowhere—the hole inside you—then you'll be able to juggle fire without being burned . . . and handle the poison." She nodded. "Yes, I see it in your eyes, you understand."

He swallowed. "In the 'hole,' the mushroom and I will be One?"

She gritted her remaining teeth and assented. "That's right. The ultimate Dreaming. Dreaming while you hover over death. And through it all, your body rebels. There's pain, sickness, vile sickness, and you have to go deep . . . deep into your very blood and Dream beyond the union   of you and the mushroom. Be both and neither."

He clenched his fists unconsciously. "When can I try?"

"Maybe never, for all I know. And time's so much shorter than I thought. Raven Hunter defies the Dream. Your brother has an extraordinary Power in his own way. Different."

"He doesn't Dream."

"Not like you. But something ... He has a Power all his own, an innate ability to Dream his will into other men's minds. To glimpse the way things might become. He's dangerous."

"Can I stop him?"

"I don't know. The two of you and the Other, your father, are the future of the People. Unless something is done, Raven Hunter will destroy the People from within while your father destroys them from without. And you?" She turned dark haunted eyes on him. "You have to find the hole inside— before you'll be able to find the one in the Big Ice to save them."

"What about this darkness you saw in your Dream? Is it—"

"It's something else, worse. It'll swallow all of us: the Others, the People—"

"Then . . ." He spread his arms wide, imploring. "We have to find out what it is before we can fight it. When will I . . . ?" He swallowed the rest, indicating the ominous mushrooms.

In a quick violent motion, she rewrapped them and clutched them to her breast. "Don't even touch them. A taste, a lick of the tainted fingers, and you'll die horribly. The life-sucking spirits of the Long Dark would be a pleasure next to this. I can't risk your life."

But the bundle drew his eyes, holding them like an eagle draws the stare of a hare.





Chapter 36



Raven Hunter motioned the old man in, indicating a seat.

Crow Caller settled himself with the care of the elderly, arranging his hides, smoothing the folds of his outer parka. His good eye took in the surroundings, the smoke-stained poles supporting the hide walls and roof, the carefully placed weapons, the bundled wolf hides and caribou robes. Several brown bundles lay stacked to the side. Firelight flickered yellow, casting the shadows of the two men over the tent walls.

"Here, old teacher," Raven Hunter said, offering a cup of tea in a carefully crafted horn made from the forward boss of a dall sheep.

Crow Caller drank it down and pointed to the stew boiling in the paunch bag over the fire. "I haven't eaten tonight."

"Please, fill your cup."

The old shaman smiled and scooped up some stew. He slurped noisily.

Dinner out of the way, Crow Caller burped and looked at Raven Hunter. "What did you want to see me about?"

"Three Falls has arrived," Raven Hunter began. "Sheep

Whistle's band has been attacked by the Others. I want your blessing to take the young men and hit them in their camps. They won't expect a fight in the deep of the Long Dark."

Crow Caller fingered his chin, the white eye dead in his head. "The young men shouldn't risk dying in the Long Dark. What of their souls, hmm?"

Raven Hunter spread his hands wide. "Souls, Crow Caller? What of their future? Our future. Where does it all end? The Others will kill us, or absorb us. Three Falls sent a youth to watch the Others who took Sheep Whistle's camp. They, too, keep the young women they capture. Is that the future, Crow Caller? Our women bearing their young . . . more like Blueberry?"