Broken Rock Bay (Clan of the Ice Mountains Book 3)

by C. S. Bills

  I bring no evil. The traditional Nuvik greeting when one person asked permission to enter another’s shelter flashed into Attu’s mind.

  Once you have the animal’s attention, Attuanin continued, you ask its permission to maintain minds with it. Your wonder and your regard for the animals whose minds you will share in the future should be like your wonder of the falcon was in your dream. This is your protection. You were in no danger with the falcon. Sharing minds with another being is no different than how you honor all living things you hunt. There is tradition to follow. That is all.

  But Keanu...

  Keanu knows what she knows through her own experience, Attuanin explained. She had no teachers. The animals tolerate her because they know she honors them, although they only see it in her memories, not in the way she enters their minds. They know that Keanu has never harmed one of them, nor has she shown hunters where to find them. But when she enters the mind of an animal, she wrestles for control, and the animals will not let her stay in their minds for long. A person should not need to control the mind of another living being. Most will cooperate if you only show them that you need their help.

  The seal. The wild eyes of the seal that saved Ganik. It was terrified and had escaped Keanu’s control as quickly as it could. Keanu shouldn’t have made it help us?

  Being a mother herself, the seal would have willingly helped Keanu save the child.

  All the Nuvik’s traditions of talking to the game, such as telling the smaller fish they put back into the water not to scare away the larger fish they wanted to catch. Properly communicating with each other, as well. I bring no evil....

  Attu was struck by a memory of a conversation he’d had with his sister.

  This is about the oneness of all things, isn’t it, great Attuanin? It is like Meavu said: all of us must understand that we are one; no one needs to dominate another, but all can live in peace.

  Yes. Once you became united with the dream falcon, your spirit longed to be one with it again. All of Nuvikuan-na is united in this way. And with time, you will learn to control your longings...

  Then Attu sensed the whale fish’s thoughts pushing at his, inviting.

  Once again, Attu opened up his mind to the great Clan leader, no longer afraid of being lost in the whale’s mind, but respectfully accepting that invitation. Attu saw two memories. The first was his own memory, of his Clan, darkness coming on as the women, round with child, worked near the cooking fires on the beach. The second was the killer whale fish’s memory, the fierce joy he felt as his women gave birth to strong children, and how, soon after, they were all swimming together in the surf. Attu felt the single-mindedness of this leader’s defense of his women and children and the great pride he took in keeping them all safe and well fed. Then Attu felt the Clan leader’s high regard for Attu as guardian of his own people.

  Attu thought about the experience of flying and hunting with the falcon and the amazing things he’d learned while in the whale fish’s mind. He realized that although at the time he hadn’t seen himself as separate from the whale fish, now he held what he’d experienced as memories from a human perspective. He remembered how the whale fish organized the women and children of his Clan, had older females helping younger ones, and how he always thought of the needs of his Clan first, watching everyone to make sure the youngest kept up and all were safe. I do that, Attu thought. But I don’t rely on the rest of my Clan like I should to do their part, as others keep reminding me.

  Attu thought about the constant communication between the killer whale fish and his Clan, and how often he, Attu, went off on his own without asking for help or making a plan. He just reacted. And that’s wrong. And dangerous...

  Attu sensed a sudden discomfort within the whale fish’s mind that brought him back to the Here and Now. He’d almost forgotten he was still in the mind of the great killer whale fish leader.

  And my tendency to be distracted by my own thoughts, Attu added wryly, is also something I need to change. What is happening?

  It is time for you to go back to your own Clan, Attuanin and the whale spoke together.

  How do I leave? Attu felt a sudden panic. I have no idea what to do.

  You leave the same way you enter, Attuanin explained. Visualize yourself paying respect to this animal. Thank it for sharing its mind with you, and bless it. Then close your mental eyes and wait for it to release you.

  Attu calmed himself. His last moments before he’d entered the killer whale fish’s mind, sitting in his skin boat, came vividly to mind. He stood in his imagination, balancing himself precariously in his skin boat, and holding his spear, beat his chest three times. Thank you, great leader of this Clan of beautiful females and strong children. May you always find sweet fish, and may you always be filled with the greatest of joy, as with your sharp teeth and mighty tail, you defend your people.

  Attu mentally closed his eyes. He sensed the killer whale fish’s mind receding from his. It was a gentle release, not a painful breaking as Keanu’s had been. He had a last glimpse of a raised tail slapping the water. It felt like a blessing, and a farewell. Then Attu realized his mind was now floating out over the open water. He had a moment of panic mixed with a sense of dizziness as he realized he didn’t know where his body was.

  I will guide you. The voice of Attuanin came to him one last time, and Attu released himself into the sound of it, closing his mental eyes again and allowing Attuanin to carry him, as if a hide ball again, on the waves of his namesake’s domain, toward home.

  Chapter 24

  Attu opened his eyes. It was dark, and he was in his own sleeping skins. He sat up.

  “Attu!” Rika cried, and she threw herself on him, bursting into tears.

  “Three suns? I was gone in the Between of unconsciousness for three suns?” Attu couldn’t believe what Rika was telling him. It hadn’t seemed that long. There had been the light, and the dark, and catching the fish. There had been the lessons from Attuanin...

  “Attu?”

  Attu realized Rika had asked him a question and he hadn’t heard her.

  “Are you all right?” She looked at him, her healer’s mind warring with her lover’s heart. Attu could see the two of them in the eyes that at once examined him for any signs of illness and at the same time longed for him to wrap her up in his strong arms and tell her everything would be fine.

  Attu reached out, and Rika came to him. “I’m fine,” he whispered into her hair. “Just tired.” He yawned and lay back down on the furs. He felt himself drifting away again, but this time he knew it was into a simple, restful, much-needed sleep.

  “Attu!” Meavu cried out to Attu as she saw him exiting their shelter, Rika at his side. Meavu rushed toward him before Attu was completely out of the shelter, and in his surprise he lost his footing and almost fell over.

  “Steady there.” Rika laughed and helped Attu regain his balance before she moved away from Attu’s side, giving him room to envelop his sister in a bear hug.

  “Did you sleep well?” Meavu pulled back, looking at Attu with concern. It was his second day since he’d awoken from his mind journey in the killer whale fish. Everyone had been looking at him as if he’d come back from the Between of death.

  “I’m fine. Just a bit stiff. That’s all.” He’d let Rika fuss over him that first day, limiting his visitors to a few at a time and making him take breaks to nap. But he’d insisted on getting up this morning and going for a walk with Rika on the beach of Broken Rock Bay.

  “It’s beautiful here,” Meavu said, following Attu’s eyes as he hungrily took in the sight of their new home.

  “Yes.” Attu’s voice was a whisper as he turned, looking first at the calm bright bay, then at the hills, then at the forest to the north, then finally back to the large flat beach upon which their shelters stood. He knew his voice was filled with both awe and thankfulness. “Yes, it is.”

  That evening, the Clan gathered around the fire.

  “So, do you like
our new home?” Attu looked to Suka.

  “It is amazing! Ai, Cousin!” Suka said, using the Nukeena’s word, which seemed to be able to hold much more meaning in its one sound than simple agreement.

  “You must see it for yourself!” Tingiyok said.

  “Yes, Son.” Ubantu’s eyes gleamed. “We will go out at first light tomorrow. I want you to see the caves, and from the top of the hills you can see beyond to the river and the mountains.”

  “He came back to us just two nights ago,” Rika insisted. “He’s getting strong again quickly, but I think he still needs to rest–”

  “I’m fine now,” Attu reassured her. “We will go, Father.”

  “We should see the cave on the–” Suka began.

  “Plans later, Sutowno,” Attu interrupted, smiling at Suka. “First, I have a story for all of you.”

  Suka grinned knowingly. “And if it’s about what I think it’s about, I’m as eager to hear it as everyone else.”

  Lips popped in agreement all around Suka as he and Farnook settled back in their furs, expectant looks on their faces.

  Everyone, even Elder Nuka, who sometimes fell asleep in her shelter before the fire time, had gathered around the blaze, hoping to hear whatever Attu was willing to tell about his mind journey with the whale fish. All were watching him now, the children nestled into their parents’ laps, and everyone wrapped in furs against the night chill.

  A gust of wind blew through camp, bringing the sharp smell of pine trees and causing sparks to ride up with the smoke of the fire.

  Yural nodded toward the trees, then toward Attu.

  The spirits bless my telling, Attu thought. It is an honor to be the one chosen to lead, to protect, to serve. Thank you, great killer whale Clan leader for showing me this.

  Attu squeezed Rika’s hand.

  She squeezed back.

  Rika. My woman. Ai. He knew she heard him, and their eyes met briefly, filled with all the love and hope each held for a future here together. They had finally made it to the place of Attu’s dreams, the home they had been seeking for what seemed like such a very long time. Here their child would be born; here they would all start their new lives, together.

  “Suka is the better storyteller, and soon I want him to tell us all the story of our amazing adventure from the moment we first started east off the Expanse to when we finally arrived here, our final and forever home. But tonight I want to tell you all what I learned from the great spirit Attuanin, so that together we can truly live here as Nuviks of honor, loving and caring for our growing Clan, following the old traditions we should keep, and forging new ones together.”

  Heads nodded.

  “Attuanin himself came to me in the depths of the ocean, and he spoke with me,” Attu began.

  All around him, lips popped. A log split, and another shower of sparks flew up into the night sky to join with the stars overhead.

  Attu moved his hands up, too, as if to capture the lights. When all eyes were upon him again, he slowly lowered his hands to his lap. He looked around the fire, gathering in the eyes of his Clan. Rika. His mother and father. Meavu and Rovek. Suka and Farnook. Tingiyok and all the others. His heart felt like bursting with the love he felt for them all, and that love was mirrored as joy on every face he saw.

  We did it! We reached the place of my dreams, where the snow will soon fall, the water freeze, and we can hunt on the ice again.

  But next spring it will grow warm. The ice will melt, and I will fly in my skin boat, fish, and hunt the seals with the other hunters. We will explore and learn everything there is to know about this new place. Our pooliks will be born, and our Clan will be as fat nuknuks, rich and full.

  This IS our home.

  Someone cleared their throat, and Attu realized everyone was still watching him, waiting for him to begin.

  Some things never change. Attu laughed, and all around him, his people grinned back.

  The End

  Other Books by C.S. Bills