Chronicles of Ancient Darkness Part 40

Tenris set down the final Sea egg at his feet. 'If I made the cure, you'd have to help.'

Torak held his breath.

'Each summer,' said Tenris, 'the Sea clans celebrate the Midsummer rites on a different island. This time it's the turn of the Cormorants. Many of us leave today; more will follow. Soon the camp will be empty.'

'I'll do whatever it takes,' said Torak.

To his surprise, Tenris laughed. 'So hasty! You don't even know what it involves!'

'I'll do what it takes,' Torak said again.

Tenris stood looking down at him, and for a moment his ruined face contracted with pity. 'Poor little Torak,' he murmured. 'You don't know what you're agreeing to. You don't even know where you are.'

Torak glanced down, and at last he saw the pattern which Tenris had been making with the Sea eggs.

It was an enormous spiral, and they were standing at its centre; like two flies caught in a web.

TWENTY.

Renn had searched the sh.o.r.e, but she was no closer to discovering where Torak had gone.

Wolf had followed the scent for a day and a night, weaving tirelessly through the trees, but always running back for her so that she didn't get left behind.

When he'd reached the mouth of the Widewater, his eagerness had turned to agitation. Whimpering, he'd raced up and down the sand. Then he'd put back his head and howled. Such a terrible, wrenching howl.

Her search had revealed the remains of two fires: a big, messy one on the rocks, and a smaller one that was definitely Torak's, as well as a line of his double-barbed fish-hooks. But of Torak himself, she could find no trace. It was as if he'd vanished into the Sea.

That night she huddled in her sleeping-sack, listening to the sighing of the waves, wondering what had happened to him. The Sea Mother could have sent a storm to drown him within arrowshot of land. Her Hidden People could have dragged him under in their long green hair . . .

She fell into a troubled sleep. But all night long, Wolf ran up and down the sh.o.r.e.

He was still there in the morning. He wouldn't eat, wouldn't hunt, and showed only a fleeting interest in the fulmars nesting on the cliff which was probably just as well, as fulmar chicks spit a foul-smelling oil, and Renn had no way of warning him. Now it was noon, and she knew she couldn't stay any longer. 'I have to find help,' she told Wolf, knowing he wouldn't understand, but needing to talk for her own sake. 'Are you coming?'

Wolf flicked his ears in her direction, but stayed where he was.

'Somebody may have seen him,' said Renn. 'A hunting party, or someone. Come on, let's go!'

Wolf leapt onto the rocks and gazed out to Sea.

'Wolf. Please. I don't want to go without you.'

Wolf did not even turn his head.

She had her answer. She would be going alone. With a pang she shouldered her pack and headed towards the Forest.

Behind her, Wolf put up his muzzle and howled.

Wolf didn't know what to do.

He needed to stay in this terrible place and wait for his pack-brother; but he also needed to follow the female into the Forest.

He hated it here. The pale earth stung his eyes, the hot rocks bit his paws, and the fish-birds cawed at him to go away. But most of all he feared the huge, moaning creature who slumbered before him. She had a cold and ancient smell that he knew without ever having learnt. And if she woke up . . .

Wolf did not understand why Tall Tailless had gone where his pack-brother couldn't follow, or why his scent was so chewed up with that of three other taillesses. Wolf smelt that they were half-grown males, and angry, and not of the Forest; that they belonged to the Great Wet.

And now the female had gone too, blundering through the trees in the noisy way of the taillesses. Wolf didn't want her to go. At times she could be cross, but she could also be clever and kind. Should he follow her? But what if Tall Tailless came back and found n.o.body here?

Wolf ran in circles, wondering what to do.

Renn hadn't expected to miss Wolf quite so much.

She missed his warmth as he leaned against her, and his impatient little whine when he wanted a salmon cake. She even missed his enthusiasm for chasing ducks.

It hurt that he'd chosen not to follow her, and she felt lonely as she crossed the stepping stones over the Widewater, into the birch wood on the other side. Not for the first time, she asked herself what she was doing so far from her clan, in a Forest haunted by sickness. If Torak had wanted her with him, he would have asked. She was chasing a friend who didn't want her.

As she went deeper, the stillness began to trouble her. Not a thrush sang. Not a leaf stirred.

There should be people here, too. She knew this part of the Forest. When she was nine, Fin-Kedinn had put her to foster with the Whale Clan, to learn the ways of the Sea.

She knew that many other clans hunted along the coast: Sea-eagle, Salmon, Willow. They came for the cod in spring and the salmon in summer, and for the seals and the herring who sheltered here from the winter gales. But now the Forest felt eerily quiet.

Ahead, the trees thinned, and she glimpsed several large, untidy shelters made of branches. They resembled the eyries of eagles, and her spirits rose. The Sea-eagles were one of the more approachable Sea clans. They could be proud, but they always welcomed strangers; and they were fairly relaxed about mixing the Forest and the Sea, taking their lead from their clan-creature, who took its prey from both.

But the camp was deserted. The fires had been stamped out, leaving a bitter tang of woodsmoke. Renn knelt to touch the ashes. Still warm. She moved to the midden pile. Some of the mussel sh.e.l.ls were wet. The Sea-eagles had only just left.

Behind her, something breathed.

She wheeled round.

It was coming from that shelter over there.

Drawing her knife, she moved towards it. 'Is anyone there?'

From the dark within came a guttural snarl.

She froze.

The darkness exploded.

With a cry she jumped back.

The creature sprang at her then jerked to a halt. In a daze she saw that it was tethered at the wrists by st.u.r.dy bindings of braided rawhide.

'What are you doing?' shouted a voice behind her, and strong hands dragged her away. 'Are you sick too?' cried her captor, spinning her round. 'Answer! Are you sick? What's this on your hand?'

'A b-bite,' she stammered. 'It's a bite, I'm not sick . . .'

Ignoring her, he turned her head roughly to examine her face and scalp. Only when he found no sores did he release her.

'I'm not sick!' she repeated. 'What's happened here?'

'Same as everywhere,' he muttered.

'The sickness,' said Renn.

At the mouth of the shelter, the creature who had once been a man rocked back and forth, snarling and s...o...b..ring. Patches of his scalp glistened where he'd yanked out handfuls of hair. His eyes were gluey with pus.

The other man glanced at him, and pain tightened his face. 'He was my friend,' he said. 'I couldn't bring myself to kill him. It would've been better if I had.' He turned to Renn. 'Who are you? What are you doing here?'

'I'm Renn,' she said. 'Raven Clan. Who are you?'

'Tiu.' He held up his left hand, and on the back she saw his clan-tattoo: the four-clawed mark of the Sea-eagle.

'What will happen to your friend?' asked Renn.

Tiu went to retrieve a fis.h.i.+ng spear propped against a tree. 'In a couple of days he'll chew through the ropes. He'll have as much chance as any of us.'

'But he'll hurt someone.'

Tiu shook his head. 'We'll be long gone.'

'You're leaving the Forest?' said Renn.

With a last look at his friend, Tiu left the clearing, heading west.

Renn followed at a run.

'The island of the Cormorants,' he told her. 'It's their turn for the Midsummer rites; and unlike some, they're not afraid to let us come.'

'What about the other clans?' said Renn as they reached a sheltered bay where people hurried to load st.u.r.dy hide canoes.

'The Whales and the Salmons headed for the Cormorants' island a few days ago. The Willows went south.' Tiu threw her a sharp glance. 'And you? Why aren't you with your clan?'

'I'm looking for my friend. Have you seen him? His name's Torak. Thin, a little taller than me, with black hair and . . . '

'No,' said Tiu, turning away to help a woman with a bundle.

'I saw him,' called a young man loading rope into a canoe.

'When?' cried Renn. 'Where? Is he all right?'

'The Seals took him,' came the reply. 'You won't be seeing him again.'

'Three Seal boys came a few days ago,' said the young man, whose name was Kyo. 'They had flint and seal-hide clothes, but I was in no mood to trade, so I didn't show myself.' He frowned. 'The Whales made the trade. They were so desperate for Sea eggs they didn't tell the Seals about the sickness, in case it scared them off -'

'What about Torak?' broke in Renn. 'You said you saw them take him.'

'All I saw was a boy in a skinboat,' said Kyo. 'Dark, like you said. Thin, angry face. Lots of bruises. He didn't go without a fight.'

Renn's fists clenched. 'Why did they take him?'

Kyo shrugged. 'With the Seals, who knows? They're not like us, they've never learnt to live in peace with the Forest.'

'I've got to get to their island,' said Renn.

Tiu snorted. 'Not possible.'

'But you're going to the Cormorants,' she said, 'and their island isn't far from the Seals, is it?'

'You don't understand,' Tiu said angrily. 'We have no quarrel with the Seals, and we want to keep it that way!'

'But my friend is in danger!'

'We're all in danger!' snapped Tiu.

Renn looked at the worried faces around her, and wondered how to persuade them. 'There's something you need to know,' she said. 'My friend Torak. He can do things that others can't. He might be able to find a cure.'

Tiu crossed his arms across his chest. 'You're making that up.'

'No. Listen to me. I need to tell you who he is.' By doing that, she would be going against Fin-Kedinn's orders; but Fin-Kedinn wasn't here. 'You all know what happened last winter,' she said. 'You know about the bear.'

People stopped what they were doing and drew nearer to listen.

'It killed some of our people,' Renn went on. 'It killed people here too, didn't it? Two from the Willow Clan. And we heard that among your clan it took a child.'

Tiu flinched. 'Why talk of this? What good does it do?'

'Because,' said Renn, 'my friend is the one who rid the Forest of the bear.'

Tiu stared at her. 'You said he's just a boy -'

'I said he's more than that. Fin-Kedinn would tell you if he was here. You know Fin-Kedinn?'

Tiu nodded. 'He has the respect of many clans.'

'He's my uncle. He'd tell you that what I'm saying is true.'

Anxiously Renn watched Tiu draw the others aside to talk. Moments later he returned. 'I'm sorry. We don't want to quarrel with the Seals.'

'Then don't take me to their camp,' she said. 'Leave me somewhere on their island, I'll find my own way.'