The Winter Spirits

by E. C. Hibbs

  There was no other option.

  “Who is it?” he asked.

  “His name is Enska,” said Aino. “He’s the mage of Poro village. It’s not far from here: a day’s journey to the east.”

  She paused. “He’s Lilja and Kari’s father.”

  Tuomas gritted his teeth. His chest still burned from where the knife had gone in.

  Could they truly trust the father of those two? The man who had trained them both and nurtured their incredible power?

  Aino noticed his uncertainty.

  “I’ve met Enska several times on the migrations, before Kari and Lilja were even born,” she assured. “He’s a good man. He’s not like them.”

  “I thought Lilja was good,” Tuomas pointed out.

  “He’s the only one I can suggest,” Aino said. “I understand your reservations, but there isn’t much choice. I can’t do anything to help.”

  She looked to Lumi. “If nothing else, Spirit, he may be able to slow your... condition.”

  Lumi flicked her tail, then swept it back and forth thoughtfully. After several long moments, she glanced at Tuomas. A bead of water ran over her temple as she moved.

  “We should go,” she said.

  Tuomas looked straight back, not bothering to hide his concern.

  “What if it turns out to be another trap?”

  “Then we shall work our way out of it again.”

  As she spoke, more water escaped her hairline. Then she swayed where she stood, so Tuomas grabbed her shoulders.

  She seemed so different from the creature he had first seen that night when he summoned her. The unshakable pride was still there, but now she held herself more loosely. Her eyes had lost some of their iridescent shine. She almost looked translucent; he could swear he could see the line of the horizon behind her.

  Lumi didn’t say anything. She simply reached up and placed her own hands on his shoulders.

  That hurt Tuomas even more than if she had tried to attack him. The gentleness was too human for him to bear.

  “Alright,” he said. “We’ll go.”

  Aino laid a comforting arm around his back.

  “Don’t be afraid,” she said. “The worst is over now. Kari is gone. Nobody could survive being up on a mountain for that long, especially with only half his blood and souls.”

  “Did you see him up there? Is he dead?”

  “I didn’t, but it’s snowed since you were there. He’s buried under it. And Lilja is probably far away from here. I doubt you will ever see her again. I know I never expected to.”

  A sudden thought passed through Tuomas’s mind.

  “Aino, have I passed my test yet?” he asked. “If you can sense my taika more, am I a true mage now?”

  Aino shook her head slowly. “That’s not for me to answer. Or your teacher, for that matter. Only you know when you’re ready. Do you feel ready?”

  Tuomas paused.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Then you aren’t there yet. You’ll feel it when you are. There’s no mistaking it.”

  She knelt in front of the two of them.

  “Thank you for trusting me with your secrets. You are always welcome in Einfjall. Now, come on, Tuomas. You need to be careful with your hands.”

  As they walked back to the huts, Tuomas glanced over his shoulder to see Lumi disappearing into the shadows. He only paused for long enough to fetch the pail of snow.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  When Tuomas got back to the hut, Elin and Sigurd had returned from their hunt. Elin looked up from the hearth, where she was busy gutting a hare.

  “Where did you go?” Alda asked. “I was getting worried!”

  “I’m fine,” Tuomas replied. “I went to see Aino. And Lumi.”

  That got Sigurd’s attention.

  “The Spirit?”

  Tuomas hauled the pail to the fireside and set it down so the snow could melt. Then he sat next to Elin. He hesitated for a moment, thinking how best to approach the subject.

  “I have to put her back,” he said. “But I need help – help that Aino can’t give me. So she’s told me to speak to the Poro mage.”

  Elin’s eyes widened.

  “You’re leaving?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Alda said firmly. “You can’t go anywhere while your frostbite is still healing!”

  “That’s why I was wondering if you might come with me,” said Tuomas. “I know it’s a lot to ask. You’ve done so much for me already. But this isn’t something which can wait. It’s important.”

  “Nothing is worth your health,” Alda argued.

  “It isn’t about me,” he said. “It’s Lumi – the Spirit. She can’t stay here much longer. And as long as she’s here, my best friend back home is stuck between life and death. I need to go.”

  Alda’s face was white with angst, but she didn’t say anything else. Tuomas worried he had upset her.

  “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful,” he said softly. “I wish I didn’t have to leave.”

  Elin wiped her bloodied hands on a rag.

  “I’ll come with you,” she said. Then she looked at Sigurd. “Will you, Father?”

  Sigurd glanced at Alda, not wanting to meet Tuomas’s eyes. He shook his head.

  “Not this time. I can’t leave your mother alone at midwinter,” he said. “I’m sorry, Tuomas.”

  Tuomas gave him a small smile. “There’s nothing to be sorry about. I’m thankful for everything you’ve done; I feel awful having to ask for more.”

  “Stop beating yourself up,” Elin snapped. “I’m coming. It’s not the first time I’ve been away; I can manage. You two will be fine without me for a while, won’t you?”

  Sigurd didn’t look happy about it, but Elin didn’t look away from him, and eventually he relented with a loud sigh.

  “Just make sure you don’t get hurt,” he said.

  Alda finally turned back to Tuomas, shuffling over the layers of birch twigs on the floor until she was kneeling before him.

  “You should stay,” she said quietly. “It’s too dark out there now, too cold.”

  “I’ve gotten this far,” Tuomas replied. “And the demon’s gone now.”

  “But you know travelling in winter isn’t a good idea,” Alda insisted. “Do you really want to go out again now the Long Dark is at its longest?”

  Tuomas placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “No, I don’t want to. But this is something I need to do. It’s why I set out from Akerfjorden in the first place. I can’t stop now.”

  Alda pursed her lips and threw a concerned glance at his hands. He still hadn’t taken off the mittens, and the bulge of a bandage was clearly visible under each one.

  “Are you sure you’ll be alright?” she asked.

  Tuomas nodded. “Yes. Thank you so much.”

  “I’ll look after him,” Elin promised. She smiled at Tuomas. “We’ll go tomorrow. One more night isn’t going to hurt.”

  After a fitful sleep, Tuomas let Alda dress his hands one last time before he and Elin began loading the sleigh. It was awkward with his bandages, but he was determined to not let Elin do all the work. He threw the reindeer pelts and sleeping sacks into the back, then manoeuvred the shelter poles in beside them with his wrists. Even though his fingers were healing well, too much pressure on them still brought forth a wave of pain.

  Aino, Birkir, and a few others came out to see them off. To Tuomas, it was an eerie reminder of the last time he had left Einfjall, heading to the Northern Edge of the World.

  But now, they were two people down. Only he and Elin would be facing the easterly journey.

  Not for the first time, he wondered about Lilja. Had she gone to Poro too, to seek shelter with her father? He hoped not. He didn’t know what he would do if he saw her again.

  When the sleigh was packed and Tuomas’s reindeer hitched up, he and Elin shared an embrace with Sigurd and Alda. Then Birkir and Aino approached to bid them farewell. The sight tore
Tuomas – it felt like leaving a whole new family.

  “I hope I’ll see you again in the spring, on the migration,” he said.

  Sigurd smiled and laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure you will. We’ll look out for you.”

  He passed a lit torch to Elin and gave her a kiss on the top of her head.

  “Go in peace,” Birkir said. “Take care of yourselves.”

  Elin smiled at her parents as she climbed into the sleigh.

  “Stay in peace,” she replied.

  Tuomas threw one final look at the village before sliding in beside her, covering their legs with the blanket. He wedged his drum between them, then Elin grasped the rope attached to the reindeer’s harness and gave it a snap.

  The sleigh moved away, through the protective circle; once more, Tuomas felt its tugging pressure on his skin. Then they picked up speed and headed out into the open tundra. The snow-covered huts disappeared into the darkness.

  They rode in silence, conserving their energy, huddling close in an effort to keep warm. Alda hadn’t been exaggerating: the air was terribly cold, and every inhale tore at Tuomas’s lungs like a thousand needles. His eyelashes turned white and saliva froze on his lips. And in the flat plain, with nothing to hinder the wind, his body soon grew as icy as the earth below. He could almost feel the chill working its creeping fingers down to his bones.

  He tugged his hat further down and wrapped a scarf around his entire face. He left only his eyes exposed, so he could look at the stars and judge their direction. The constellations were a little different this far north. Patterns normally high in the sky in Akerfjorden were now skimming the horizon. But he quickly deduced where they needed to head, keeping the North Star on the left, and let the reindeer trot along at its own speed.

  Elin pulled some jerky from her pack and offered him a strip. He took it with a grateful nod. It was dry and salty, but gave him a much-needed burst of energy. Elin, however, soon fell asleep, her head resting against his shoulder.

  Holding the torch in one hand, Tuomas wrapped an extra blanket around her and drew a reindeer skin across the both of them, fur-side down to trap more heat.

  Hhe glanced down at her. The torch didn’t give off much light, but the ice crystals on her eyelashes sparkled in its glow.

  How many hours’ sleep had she lost looking after him with her mother? She didn’t have to do that. And she and Sigurd had come to save him on the mountain; she had shot the arrow which brought down the demon.

  Then something in the distance caught his eye. A small smile traced his lips. Too far away to make out, a tiny aurora was sweeping along the snow.

  He couldn’t see her, but he knew Lumi was there.

  Lumi.

  It was a funny name to have given her, now he thought about it. He had needed something to call her, and settled on the word for snow. But what was her real name?

  She had never uttered it. She was known as the Spirit of the Lights, the aurora… but somehow, he felt that held about as much weight as the name he called her. Even White Fox One, as Lilja and the Earth Spirits had addressed her, seemed more a title than a name.

  Maybe she had no name. Maybe she had reacted so strongly to hearing his not because it wasn’t his true name, but because Spirits were nameless, just as much as they were formless. He had forced her into a physical body, bound her to the laws of the World Between, and branded her with a label – one which spoke of how she was seen rather than who she was.

  Perhaps, just by doing that, he had helped to destroy her. And now she had discovered the ability to feel: the final straw which would spell her undoing.

  Beneath the blankets and furs, his hand closed around the pouch. The carved fox inside pressed into his palm.

  Mihka and Lumi were both there. Once, they might have been enemies to each other. Now, both were just as important to save.

  A few hours later, Elin woke up, and Tuomas took the opportunity to catch some sleep while she steered the sleigh. He tucked his hands inside his coat to keep them warm, then let himself drift away.

  He dreamed. He was at home, at his hut in Akerfjorden, whittling patterns into an antler. It was harder to work than bone, but he was patient. He had all the time in the world.

  He laughed as Paavo cracked a joke. His brother was bent over a spit at the hearth, cooking a fresh cod fished from the Mustafjord. Its delicious smell filled Tuomas’s nose.

  Paavo…

  Something hard pushed into his ribs and he jumped awake. Elin was jostling him with her elbow.

  “Is everything alright?” he asked, trying not to think about the dream.

  “We’re here,” she hissed.

  That got his attention. He rubbed his eyes awkwardly with the tips of his mittens and looked up. Sure enough, a group of huts were just visible on the horizon, lit by the occasional fire and nestled against the dark smudge of the forest.

  The simple sight of trees was enough to fill Tuomas’s heart with relief. He hadn’t realised how much he had missed them out on the tundra.

  He and Elin sat up straight, preparing for the final stretch. The reindeer noticed the village too and gathered speed, spurred on by the promise of the food it knew would be there. By the time they had drawn close enough to the huts to pick out details, Tuomas noticed a few people standing there, waiting to see who the visitors were.

  One of them came forward: a middle-aged man with a shock of blonde hair. His coat and hat were decorated with the same patterns Tuomas had seen on Lilja. But there were antler and bone beads stitched to the fabric too. This man was a village leader.

  Tuomas gritted his teeth as he thought of Lilja. This was her and Kari’s home; where the two of them grew up and became mages. All these people would have known them as children. He imagined the two of them running around the huts, hiding in the trees, Lilja lying at death’s door as the Great Bear Spirit was formed in her breath…

  Elin pulled on the reins so the reindeer drew to a halt.

  “Poro?” she asked.

  The man nodded. “Yes. I am Stellan.”

  “My name’s Elin; this is Tuomas.”

  “Welcome. Now, hurry, come in. There’s talk of a troll or something on the loose.”

  “There’s no troll,” Tuomas assured as he and Elin clambered out of the sleigh. He checked the rope binding the drum to his belt to make sure it was still secure.

  “How do you know?” asked Stellan.

  “We’ve come from Einfjall. It attacked us there,” Tuomas0 explained. “And it wasn’t a troll. It was a demon.”

  A collective gasp flew up from the crowd.

  “Please tell me it’s not still out there,” Stellan said in a hushed voice.

  “It’s not,” replied Elin. “It’s dead. And so is the mage who made it. There’s nothing to worry about.”

  “Then why are you here? Who travels this deep into winter?”

  “We need to see your mage, Enska. It’s an emergency.”

  “Why not see your own mage?”

  “We were told to come here,” said Tuomas. “Aino recommended him for our… problem.”

  “Will you tell me what your problem is?” Stellan asked.

  “I am.”

  Another gasp went up at the new voice; some people screamed in fright. Tuomas and Elin spun around.

  Lumi had appeared from behind the sleigh, as seamlessly as though she had stepped out of the air. Her eyes were shining violet, ears droopy but unmistakable.

  Everyone immediately bowed their heads, several dropping to their knees in respect. Lumi watched in silence, moving only to wipe more water off her arms.

  Then, with a jolt, Tuomas noticed she had left footprints behind her. That never happened.

  “Are you in pain?” he whispered.

  Lumi didn’t reply. She was struggling to stay upright.

  Tuomas’s heart thundered. She could run for miles at speeds to match a reindeer and never even gasp for breath. But now it looked as though the wind itself thr
eatened to blow her away like a flurry of snowflakes.

  Why hadn’t she ridden with them in the sleigh and saved her energy? Even now, she was too prideful for her own good.

  Another man came to the front of the crowd and strode past Stellan. He was tall and clean-shaven, with a pair of sharp intelligent eyes peering out from beneath a hat of white reindeer fur. Around his chest was a leather thong, and a drum hung from it, bouncing against his hip.

  Tuomas looked at him hopefully.

  “Are you Enska?” he asked.

  “I am,” said the man, and Tuomas saw the resemblance to Lilja and Kari at once. He had the same sandy blonde hair, the same build; the same way of speaking.

  “You do seem to find yourselves in quite a predicament,” he noted, eyeing Lumi. “And… is this who I think it is?”

  “Yes,” said Lumi, managing to keep a shred of irritation in her tone.

  Despite the situation, Tuomas couldn’t help but smile. No matter it had only been one word; that was more like the Spirit he knew.

  Enska instantly lowered his head.

  “My apologies, White Fox One,” he said. “Please, you are all very welcome here. You can stay in the hut next to mine. It’s been empty all winter. Can I give you any food or supplies?”

  The rest of the village began following his lead. Stellan and the other leaders offered to bring logs to the hut so they could start a fire. Elin accepted it all graciously while Tuomas stepped forward to speak to Enska.

  “I’m sorry, I know it’s late,” he said, “but we need to see you. It’s urgent.”

  Enska’s eyes flickered from him to Lumi.

  “Fine. Come with me.”

  Tuomas nodded, turning to Elin. “Can you get our stuff into the hut?”

  “Yes, leave it to me,” she said. “You go with him.”

  Tuomas followed the mage, the villagers parting for them with awed mutterings. Lumi tried to walk with her head held high, but her knees buckled and she fell into the snow.

  She reared up, shocked at herself.

  Tuomas stopped beside her.

  “Are you alright?”

  Her entire body shuddered. She wouldn’t admit it, but her weakness was unmistakable.