Spirit Walker

by Michelle Paver

  Craning his neck, Torak gazed at the mountainside, and wondered what had made them scramble up there. Then he remembered Wolf's howls. The demons are gone!

  "What

  are

  they?" whispered Bale.

  "Tokoroth," said Renn in a low voice.

  Bale gasped. "I thought those were only in stories. I thought--"

  The girl tokoroth moaned, and a spasm convulsed her scrawny frame.

  "She's still alive," said Torak. He felt a twinge of pity. They looked so young. No more than eight or nine summers.

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  "They're killers," Bale said grimly. Drawing his knife, he moved forward.

  Wolf appeared from behind a boulder, warning him back with a growl.

  Bale froze. "What. . ."

  Torak went down on one knee, and Wolf trotted over to him, snuffle-grunting and nuzzling his cheek. Torak glanced at Renn. "He says he chased the demons away." "Where?" said Renn. "Where did they go?"

  Torak met Wolf's eyes for a moment, then shook his head. "I'm not going to ask. They're gone. Let that be enough."

  Bale was staring at him in amazement. "You can talk to it?"

  "Him," said Torak. "Wolf is a him."

  "So that's a wolf," said Bale. Placing one hand on his heart, he bowed. "Beautiful."

  Again the tokoroth stirred.

  Renn ran to kneel beside them. Her face became grave. "Not long now," she said. Then to Torak, "Your medicine horn. Do you have any earthblood?" Torak handed it to her; but Bale looked troubled. "What are you doing?"

  "Death Marks," said Renn.

  "They don't deserve them!" cried Bale.

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  Renn turned on him. "They were children once! Their souls are still in there, deep inside! They'll need help to get free--"

  "They're killers," said Bale, unmoved.

  "Let her do it," said Torak. "She knows about things like this."

  As they watched, Renn made the red ochre into a paste with water, then daubed the Death Marks on both tokoroth: forehead, heart, heels. Wolf came to sit beside her, whining softly and sweeping the grass with his tail. There was a light in his golden eyes. Torak wondered what he could see.

  Renn's face became distant, and she began to murmur under her breath. Torak felt a flicker of unease. He guessed she was summoning the child souls from deep within; calling them out from their hiding place. Suddenly the boy tokoroth clenched his fists. The girl tokoroth twitched, then opened her eyes.

  A tear rolled down Renn's cheek. "Go in peace," she whispered. "You're free now. Free . . ."

  The boy tokoroth shuddered, then lay still. The girl gave a long, rattling sigh that ended in--silence.

  A breeze stirred the suncups. Wolf turned his head, as if to follow the passing of something swift.

  "They're gone," said Renn.

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  Next day the Seals returned from the Cormorants' island, and Torak, Renn and Bale spent a long time talking with the Clan Leader.

  Surprisingly, Islinn was not as crushed by the news of his Mage's death as they had expected. In fact, the knowledge that he must now take charge seemed to imbue him with fresh vigor. He looked visibly younger as he dispatched his fleetest messengers to the Forest to warn the clans against the poison, and others to fetch Asrif and Detlan home. The bodies of the tokoroth were placed in a skinboat, taken out of sight of land, and given to the Sea Mother.

  When all was done, Islinn ordered everyone out of his shelter, except for Torak. "I'm sending Bale with you tomorrow," he said. "He will make sure that you get back safely." "Thank you, Leader," Torak said tonelessly.

  The Leader studied him. "You are wrong to blame yourself. He tricked me too. And I have lived a good many more summers than you." Torak did not reply.

  "You grieve for him," stated the old man.

  Torak was surprised that he should have perceived that. "He was kind to me," he said. "I mean--before the end. Was it all a lie?"

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  The Seal Clan Leader regarded him with eyes that had witnessed every kind of wickedness and folly. "I doubt if even he knew the answer to that." He paused. "Go back to the Forest, Torak. It's where you belong. But if you ever need a home, you have one here."

  Torak put his fists over his heart to show his thanks, but he didn't think he would ever take up Islinn's offer. For him this island was too full of ghosts. They left the following morning. Wolf went in Torak's skinboat, and Renn in Bale's. It was a brilliantly sunny day, with a brisk west wind to speed them on their way. As they left the Bay of Seals, Torak looked back one last time. Smoke rose above the humped shelters, and children splashed in the shallows. Rowan trees and birches lapped the feet of the mountains, where white seabirds wheeled.

  He knew that he didn't belong in this precarious, rocky world that was forever at the mercy of the Sea. But in its way it was rich and beautiful, and at last he understood why Bale loved it so much.

  Then his gaze traveled higher, and he saw the Crag, and his spirits plunged. He hadn't been able to bring himself to return. Bale had gone up alone, and found Fa's knife, and brought it to him without a word. They made good speed, with nothing but puffins and sea-eagles for company. Once in the distance,

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  Torak thought he saw a tall, notched fin that followed them for a while. When he blinked, it was gone.

  It was late in the day when Wolf gave a low bark, then stood up in the prow with his ears forward, wagging his tail. Soon afterward, Bale shouted something that Torak didn't catch, and Renn grinned and raised high her bow. Then Torak turned and saw the Forest rising above the waves.

  It was night by the time they reached the shore, although the huge amber sun still hung low over the Sea.

  Swiftly Torak changed into his old buckskin jerkin and leggings, and bundled up his seal-hide clothes. It felt good to have his clan-creature skin back, as well as his pack and bow and sleeping-sack. But as he helped Bale stow the borrowed clothes in his skinboat, he wondered when--or if--he would see the Seal boy again. Bale had decided to head off at once. He was silent as they went down to the shallows, and Torak could see that he was thinking about the last time he and his friends had been on this beach, and the rough handling they'd meted out to the stranger from the Forest. Torak said, "I'll see you again, Bale. Someday I'll show you the Forest."

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  Bale glanced at the tall pines fringing the beach. "A few days ago, I wouldn't have thought that possible. But I suppose--I never thought I'd see a wolf in a skinboat. So--"

  "--so why not a Seal in a forest?" said Torak with a smile.

  Bale grinned. "Why not indeed, kinsman?" Then with a nod to Renn and Wolf, he was back in his skin-boat and heading off into the west, his fair hair flying behind him, and the Sea around him turning to gold in the sun. That night, Torak and Renn built a real Forest shelter of living birch saplings in a glade filled with green ferns and the deep pink flowers of willowherb. They had a real Forest meal of stewed goosefoot leaves and baked hawkbit roots, with some early raspberries that Torak found by the bog where he'd decoyed Detlan and Asrif. "And not a juniper berry in sight," said Renn with a sigh of satisfaction.

  Afterward they sat by the fire, smelling the tang of pine smoke and listening to the full-throated warbling of the Forest birds. For the first time in days, they were in half darkness beneath whispering trees. They could even see a few pale stars between the branches. Wolf trotted off on one of his nightly hunts, and Renn gave a huge yawn. "Do you realize," she said,

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  "it'll soon be the Cloudberry Moon? I like cloudberries."

  Torak did not reply. He couldn't put it off any longer. Ever since Bale had left, he'd been working up the courage to tell Renn about who--what--he was. "Renn," he said, frowning at the fire. "There's something I've got to tell you."

  "What," said Renn, rolling out her sleeping-sack.

  He took a breath. "When we were at the Eagle Heights, the Seal Mage told me something. Something about--me.
"

  Renn stopped what she was doing. "You're a spirit walker," she said quietly.

  He stared at her. "How long have you known?"

  "Since he told you." She picked at a loose stitch on her leggings. "That night after we had the fight, I was worried, so I followed you. I heard everything." He thought about that. Then he said, "Do you mind?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "About--what I am."

  To his surprise, she grinned. "Torak, you're a

  who,

  not a

  what!

  You're still a person."

  There was silence for a while. Then Renn said, "When I found out, I wasn't really that surprised. I've always known you were different." Torak tried to smile, but couldn't manage it.

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  "Don't be sad," she said. "After all, maybe it's why you can talk to Wolf."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Well it's always bothered me," she said, renewing her attack on the stitching. "You were just a baby when your father put you in the wolf den; much too small to learn person talk, let alone wolf talk. So how come you did?" She put her head on one side. "Maybe your souls slipped into one of the wolves, or something. Don't you think? "

  Torak chewed his lower lip. "I never thought of that."

  Wolf came back from his hunt, his muzzle tinged with red. He wiped it off on the ferns, and sniffed the fire, then padded over to Torak and nosed his chin. "Do you think he knows?" said Renn.

  "About me?" said Torak, scratching behind Wolf's ears. "How could he? And I couldn't begin to say it in wolf talk."

  Renn wriggled into her sleeping-sack and curled up. "But he's still your friend," she said.

  Torak nodded. Somehow that didn't make him feel any less cut off.

  Again Renn yawned. "Get some sleep, Torak."

  Torak got into his sleeping-sack, and lay on his back. He was tired, but he didn't think he would sleep.

  Wolf slumped against him with a

  humph,

  and was

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  soon twitching in his dreams.

  Torak lay wide-eyed, staring at the fire.

  Much later, Renn said, "Torak? Are you awake?"

  "Yes," he said.

  "At the end, when you were both in the water, the Seal Mage shouted something. What was it?"

  Torak had been hoping she wouldn't ask. "I can't tell you," he said. "At least, not yet. First I've got to talk to Fin-Kedinn."

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  Chapter THIRTY-FIVE

  Tell me the

  truth," Torak said to Fin-Kedinn seven

  days later. It had taken him and Renn four days to reach the Raven camp, making their way through a Forest where the sickness was slowly ebbing, and the smell of burning juniper berries hung heavy in the air. Islinn's messengers had done their work swiftly. It was made easier by the fact that Fin-Kedinn had persuaded the Open Forest Clans to stay together, and help one another through the sickness. Many of the afflicted were now recovering. But the Ravens had lost five of their people.

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  For two days after they rejoined the clan, Torak couldn't get Fin-Kedinn alone. The Raven Leader was busy tending his clan, and making sure that every last hunting party in the Forest had been warned about the juniper berries.

  But on the seventh day, things began to return to normal. Some of the Ravens went hunting, while others stayed by the river to spear trout. Renn sat with Saeunn,

  explaining how she'd freed the hidden souls of the tokoroth. Wolf, who had no liking for dogs, disappeared into the Forest.

  explaining how she'd freed the hidden souls of the tokoroth. Wolf, who had no liking for dogs, disappeared into the Forest.

  Torak found the Raven Leader preparing lime bark on the banks of a stream that fed into the Widewater. It was a hot day, but the trees cast a cool green shade. The sweetness of late summer blossom filled the air, and the branches hummed with bees. "So you want the truth," said Fin-Kedinn, testing the edge of his axe with his thumb. "About what?"

  "Everything," said Torak, seething with a frustration that had been building for days. "Why didn't you

  tell

  me?"

  With one stroke Fin-Kedinn cut a sucker from the base of a lime tree, and started peeling off the bark. "What should I have told you?" he said. "That I'm a spirit walker! That the Seal Mage was my father's brother! That the sickness was my fault!"

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  Fin-Kedinn stiffened. "Don't ever say that."

  "He sent the sickness because of

  me"

  said Torak. "Because of

  me

  he killed Oslak and the others. It's my fault!"

  "No!" The blue eyes blazed. "You did nothing wrong! You cannot be blamed for the evil that man did. He was the one, Torak. Remember that."

  For a moment they faced each other, and the air crackled between them. Then the Raven Leader tossed the bark on a pile at his feet. "And you're wrong. I did not know that you're a spirit walker, not till Renn told me last night. None of us knew."

  Torak frowned. "But--I thought Fa must have told Saeunn. When I was little, at the clan meet by the Sea."

  Fin-Kedinn shook his head. "He told her he'd put you in a wolf den when you were a baby; and that you might someday be the one to vanquish the Soul-Eaters. He didn't say why." "Why would he keep that from her?"

  "Who knows? He'd been a hunted man for a long time. He'd grown wary."

  Wary toward his own son, too, thought Torak. That was the worst of it: that sometimes he was angry with Fa. For not telling him . . .

  "He did what he thought was best," said Fin-Kedinn. "He didn't want your boyhood darkened by destiny."

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  Torak threw himself down on the bank and began pulling up grass. "You knew them both, didn't you? My father and his brother."

  Fin-Kedinn did not reply.

  "Tell me about them.

  Please.'"

  The Raven Leader stroked his beard and sighed. "I first met them twenty-eight summers ago," he said. "I was eleven, your father was nine. Wolf Clan, like his father. His brother--who was my age--was Seal Clan, like their mother. We spent five moons together, fostered with the Wolf Clan."

  "With the Wolf Clan?" Torak said, surprised. "But I've never even seen them, so how--" "They weren't always as elusive as they are now. Times change. People grow mistrustful." With a length of withe he tied the pile of bark into a bundle. "The three of us became friends," he went on. "I lived for hunting; but with the others it was always Magecraft. Your father was eager to learn the ways of trees, hunters, prey. His brother ..." He gave the knot a sharp tug. "His brother wanted only to control. To dominate."

  Hoisting the bundle on his shoulder, he stepped down into the stream and set it to soak beneath a stone. "Ten winters came and went, and we stayed good friends. The eleventh winter changed all that." Water

  349 swirled around his calves as he bent to retrieve another bundle which had been soaking for days. "Your father was named the Wolf Mage," he said, tossing it on the bank. "His brother--although the older and some said the more skilled--was not named the Seal Mage." He shook his head. "It was a bitter blow. None of us knew how bitter until it was too late. He left his clan, and wandered alone."

  "Where did he go?" asked Torak.

  Sadness shadowed Fin-Kedinn's face. "I don't know. I never saw him again. But six summers later, I heard from your father that his brother had reappeared. Joined a group of Mages called the Healers."

  "But--he wasn't a Mage," said Torak. Fin-Kedinn's mouth curled. "He was persuasive. You of all people should know that." Climbing back onto the bank, he knelt by the bundle. "I told you once how the Healers became the Soul-Eaters. How they brought terror to the Forest." He paused. "Then came the great fire that broke them. Some were terribly wounded. All were scattered, in hiding."

  "He was burned," murmured Torak. "On his face and down his side."

  "What none of us knew," said Fin-Kedinn, "was that
he'd found his way back to his clan. All we knew was that the Seals had become--separate. Ceased their 350

  dealings with the Open Forest, traded only with the Sea clans. And they had a new Mage."

  Torak tossed the grass into the stream, and watched it sucked under by the current. He thought of Tenris, dragged down into the deep. He said, "He was after me because I'm a spirit walker. Because he wanted that power." He stared into the water. "The other Soul-Eaters will want it too." Fin-Kedinn hesitated. "They may not know about you yet. Maybe the Seal Mage acted alone."

  "And maybe he didn't," said Torak. "Maybe he had help."

  Suddenly the Forest seemed to close in around him. The buzzing of the bees became strangely menacing. In his mind, Torak saw again the yellow eyes of Tenris the Seal Mage. He thought of the other Soul-Eaters-- the faceless ones whose names he didn't know, but who were out there somewhere. Waiting. He said, "They'll find out what I can do. They'll come after me."

  The Raven Leader nodded. "You could make them more powerful than they ever dreamed. Or you could destroy them utterly."

  Torak met his eyes. "Is that why you've never offered to foster me? Because I'm dangerous?"

  Something flickered in the blue gaze. "I must look

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  to the safety of the clan, Torak. You could help us defeat them. Or you could be our ruin."

  "But I would never harm the Ravens!" cried Torak, leaping to his feet.

  "You don't know that!" Fin-Kedinn said fiercely. "You don't know what you will become. None of us does!"

  "But--"

  "Evil exists in us all, Torak. Some fight it. Some feed it. That's how it's always been."

  With a cry, Torak turned away.

  Fin-Kedinn made no move to comfort him. Instead he cut open the bundle, chose a strip of bark, and began peeling off the bast.

  Torak felt giddy and frightened. He felt as if he stood at the edge of a cliff, about to jump off into the unknown.

  Mustering his courage, he asked the question that had been eating away at him ever since Tenris had met his end. "Last winter, when you told me about the SoulEaters, you said there were seven. But you only described five."

  The Raven Leader's strong hands stilled.

  "The Seal Mage was the sixth," said Torak. "I need to know about the seventh." His fists clenched. "My father had a scar on his chest. Here." He touched his breastbone. "That made it hard when I--when I put 352