Oath Breaker

by Michelle Paver; Geoff Taylor

  Branches tore at his hair, blackthorn blossoms flew like snow. Suddenly, the mare jolted to a trot, then halted altogether, throwing down her head and nearly pitching him over her withers. Behind her, the herd ran into each other, shook themselves, and began to graze.

  "No!" panted Torak, flapping his legs and punching her neck. "Don't stop, we're not there yet!" It was useless. The mare scarcely felt it. When he went on punching, she stamped and lashed her tail, catching him stingingly on the cheek. She was on her own ground now, and not to be intimidated.

  Or not by Torak.

  A familiarcark!overhead, and Rip and Rek swooped, their talons almost grazing the mare's rump before flicking skyward.

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  Startled, she jerked up her head, and behind her the herd snorted in alarm. Again the ravens swooped. The mare sidestepped, showing the whites of her eyes. But it wasn't only the ravens, Torak realized. She'd caught a scent she feared.

  Once again, she broke into a canter. Once again, they crashed through the willows. The mare was tiring, and so was Torak. His limbs ached, and he rode in a blur of black branches and raven wings.

  The Windriver vanished underground, and willows gave way to spruce. In the east, Torak saw a red sliver of dawn, livid as a wound.

  The mare's hoofbeats sounded loud as they entered the holly trees, and Torak felt the power of Thiazzi swirling around him. The mare didn't like the hollies. But whatever had spooked her still drove her on.

  She smelled the fire before he did. Then Torak saw it: black smoke piercing the bloody sky. Dread became a stone in his belly. Was he too late? He put his hand to the pouch at his belt and felt the medicine horn. He had no breath left to pray out loud, but in his head he prayed to his mother to save Renn. He prayed to the World Spirit. He called upon Wolf.

  As Wolf and Darkfur loped after the horses, Wolf sensed that their hunt was changing its purpose, although he didn't know what it was. 247

  He slowed to a trot, and Darkfur slowed with him. He pricked his ears. On the wind he caught a faint, high keening: higher than the highest wolf whine or the sharpest bat-squeak.

  Darkfur heard it too, but she didn't recognize it. Wolf did. It was the yowl of the deer bone that Tall Tailless carried at his flank. The deer bone which used to be silent, but had now begun to sing.

  With it, Wolf caught another sound, but this was one that Darkfur couldn't hear, as it was inside Wolf's head. It was Tall Tailless howling for him, just as Wolf had howled for Tall Tailless in his head long ago, in that terrible time when the bad taillesses had trapped him in the stone Den.Pack-brother! Come to me! The pack-sister is in danger!

  A cold nose nudged Wolf's flank. Darkfur was puzzled. Why do you slow?

  Wolf didn't know what to do.He is not wolf,he told her.

  Darkfur's gaze turned stern.You were pack-brothers. A wolf does not abandon his pack-brother.

  Wolf stood miserably on the trail, listening to the howling in his head, while the Great Bright Eye peered above the Mountains, and the scent of the Bright Beast-thatBites-Hot flew toward him on the wind.

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  THIRTY-FOUR

  The stink of burned meat sickened Renn. "Next time it's you," Thiazzi had told her. She hadn't made a sound, but he'd laughed just the same. After the nightmare journey in the dugout, he had slung her over his shoulder and strode off through the Forest. She'd swung like a sack, her face banging into his back at every stride.

  She'd known at once when they'd reached the sacred grove, because the trees felt intensely aware. They'd watched, but they hadn't helped. To them she was as insignificant as dust.

  The Soul-Eater had carried her through a wall of 249

  thorns and past the embers of a great round fire. He'd climbed a pine trunk notched with footholds, which stood propped against an enormous tree. Renn had seen peeling bark and caught the scent of yew. She'd tried not to think of her bow. Then Thiazzi was thrusting aside branches and throwing her down, and she was falling into the Great Yew's cavernous heart.

  Her wrists and ankles throbbed and her shoulders ached from being pinioned for so long. Her mouth hurt from the gag, but she couldn't chew it because Thiazzi had tied it so tight. Worst of all, she'd landed with her left leg twisted under her, and whenever she moved, pain shot through her knee.

  All through the endless night she'd huddled in the dark, listening to her panicky breath. To keep up her courage, she'd told herself that somewhere above, the full moon was shining. Then it had occurred to her that soon its strength would wane, when the sky bear caught it and began to feed.

  For the first time in her life, she had nothing to wish for. She couldn't wish for Torak to come, because Thiazzi would kill him. But if he didn't come, Thiazzi would kill her. Around her rose the gaunt flanks of the Great Yew: fissured, flaking, fiercely alive. She shifted to ease her cramped limbs, crunching owl pellets and bones beneath her, some large, some brittle and delicate as frost. She

  250 thought, I'm lying on the remains of thousands of winters.

  Far above, unreachably far, a patch of sky slowly bled from gray to red, and a last star glimmered. She craned to see it, and by her knee, a spider scuttled for safety. She wished it would come back. She didn't want to be alone.

  She ached for her bow. For so many summers it had been part of her, a silent friend who'd never let her down. In her head, she heard again that terrible snap. Now she had nothing. No knife, no axe, no medicine horn. No whistle for calling Wolf, no means of summoning Rip and Rek. She was going to die here, alone. Unavenged.

  She slumped against the Yew, and something dug into her forearm. It was her wrist-guard. At least, she thought, I still have that.

  It was polished greenstone, very smooth and beautiful. Fin-Kedinn had made it for her when he'd taught her to shoot. The thought of him was a blaze of light in the darkness. She wouldnotdie unavenged. Fin-Kedinn would find out, and then Thiazzi had better beware. When the Raven Leader was angry, it was worse than any Soul-Eater. Renn pictured the lines of her uncle's face hardening to carved sandstone, his vivid, blue, freezing stare. She sat straighter.

  Fin-Kedinn said that a hunter's most precious possession was not his strike-fire or his weapons, it was 251

  the knowledge he carried in his head.

  Think, Renn told herself. Think.

  The smell of smoke made her head throb. It was hard to order her thoughts.

  The smoke. It wasn't coming from above; that patch of sky was clear. But it had to be coming from somewhere. After a painful circuit of the Yew, she found several cracks: none wider than a finger, but at least she might be able to see what was going on.

  This small victory of reason over dread made her feel a little better. Rising awkwardly to her feet and trying to favor her good leg, she hopped to the largest crack and peered through.

  She saw the fire with its terrible offering. Behind it, very close, the trunk of an enormous oak. Bark faces leered at her, but the branches were blighted and barren. Renn's heart jerked. Against the oak stood the pine-trunk ladder. Thiazzi hadn't left it against the yew, as she'd thought. So even if, by some amazing feat, she managed to free her hands and ankles and climb to that patch of sky, she would probably break her neck trying to get down.

  And even if she didn't ... Beyond the oak was the wall of thorns: juniper boughs piled chest high, encircling the fire and the sacred trees. Thiazzi had closed the ring when he'd carried her in. If anyone came, they wouldn't

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  be able to reach her; and she wouldn't be able to get out.

  As she peered through the crack, a shadow cut across it. She recoiled and fell, jolting her knee and squealing in pain.

  Thiazzi laughed. "Not long now."

  Grimly, she struggled back to the crack.

  The Oak Mage crossed in and out of sight as he circled the fire. He still wore his mantle of leaves, but his hood was thrown back to let his long hair flow free, and on his chest he wore his clan-creature wreath of acorns and mistletoe. The
berries were the misty white of blinded eyes. Nestled among them, Renn saw a small black pouch. The fire-opal.

  She knew that Thiazzi felt her scrutiny and relished it, but she couldn't tear herself away. She watched him feed more branches to the fire. She stared at the charred meat dangling from the stake.

  She forced her gaze upward. The star had been snuffed out. No help for you here,taunted the empty sky.

  Her mind scuttled like a spider. Where were Rip and Rek? And Wolf? And Torak?

  No.Don'tpray for him to come, that's what Thiazzi wants. You're the bait. If he comes, you'll have to watch him die.

  And Thiazzi would win--she had no doubt of that. He was the strongest man in the Forest, and he had a Mage's cunning.

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  The throbbing in her head was worse. With a jolt, she realized that she could no longer see her boots. Smoke was seeping through the cracks, pooling about her ankles.

  Her eyes began to smart. She tried to cough, but only managed a muffled splutter through the gag.

  "Not long now," repeated Thiazzi.

  Again she peered through the crack. The Oak Mage stood with legs braced, tossing a rawhide whip from palm to palm. His harsh features were taut with anticipation. What had he heard that she had not?

  The noise in her head grew louder.

  It wasn't in her head, it was outside, beyond the ring of thorns.

  It was the pounding of horses' hooves.

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  THIRTY-FIVE

  Nearer came the thundering hooves, and Renn pressed her face against the crack, straining to see. A shadow at the corner of her eye, then a black horse was soaring over the thorns, with Torak--yes,Torak--on its back. In one hand he grasped the horse's mane, in the other his blue slate knife. His dark hair flew, and his face was stern and intent on Thiazzi.

  The mare's hooves struck the ground, raising spurts of ash, but Torak clung on, his eyes never leaving the Oak Mage--who stood silent, tapping his whip against his thigh.

  The mare snorted and tossed her head. Torak jumped 255 from her back, staggered, but stood firm. The mare flicked up her tail and leaped the thorns again, and her hoofbeats faded to nothing. Renn heard the crackle of the fire and the settling of ash. She ground her cheek against unyielding wood.No, Torak, he'll kill you!she wanted to scream.

  With unhurried ease, Thiazzi cast off his mantle. Beneath it he wore the hides of many hunters--fox, lynx, wolverine, bear--and their strength was his strength, and from his belt hung his massive knife, its edge stained dull red from many kills. He was invincible: no longer a creature of leaves and bark, no longerofthe Forest, but its ruler.

  Torak stood glaring at him. "Where is she?" he shouted.

  "Where is she?" panted Torak. He was exhausted. His legs were trembling. It was a struggle to stay on his feet.

  The Oak Mage faced him through the smoke: huge, silent, in control. Torak could see no sign of Renn. Only the pine-trunk ladder against the blighted oak, and the horror on the stake.

  "This is what you wanted, isn't it?" he demanded. "You wanted me. Well, here I am! Let her go!"

  "And what doyouwant, Spirit Walker?" said Thiazzi. "Revenge for your dead kinsman? Well, hereIam. You have only to come and take it, and your oath will be 256

  fulfilled." Baring his yellow teeth, he spread his arms, displaying the awesome might of his shoulders and chest.

  Torak hesitated.

  "If you so much as scratch my hand, Spirit Walker, the Raven girl dies. But if you give yourself into my power, she goes free."

  The fire hissed. The holly trees, the Great Oak, and the Great Yew--all waited to see what Torak would do.

  Without taking his gaze from Thiazzi, he unslung his quiver and bow, drew back his arm, and flung them over the thorns. His axe went next. Last of all, he hefted the blue slate knife which had been his father's, and threw it after them.

  Weaponless, he faced the Soul-Eater through the shimmering heat. "I renounce my vengeance," he said. "I break my oath. Take me. Let her live." 257

  THIRTY-SIX

  "Let her live," repeated Torak, but his voice had sunk to a pleading whisper. Dread seized him. Maybe Renn was already dead. Thiazzi saw it in his face, and his lip curled. "It's all for nothing, Oathbreaker. You'll never see your girl again." For an instant, Torak despaired. Then, small and bright, he remembered Renn standing in the mouth of the cave, shooting her last arrows at the demon bear. She had known that she couldn't win, but she'd gone on fighting.

  He lifted his head. "I don't believe you."

  The Soul-Eater's whip crackled out, loosing a shower

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  of sparks from the fire. "It's over, Spirit Walker. Against me you have no power."

  "I'm not dead yet," said Torak.

  Thiazzi drew his knife and moved toward him.

  Torak circled to escape.

  The Oak Mage laughed. "I'm going to rip out your spine. I'm going to grind your skull beneath my heel till your eyeballs burst. No more Spirit Walker buzzing around me like a gnat around a bison. I am the Oak Mage!Irule the Forest!" Foam flew from his lips. His voice echoed from the rocks.

  Somewhere, a wolf howled. Two short howls. Where-- are you?

  Torak howled back.I'm here! Where is the pack-sister?But Wolf didn't know.

  Snarling, Thiazzi shook his three-fingered fist. "Your wolf got a chunk of me once, but not this time!" Sheathing his knife, he snatched a brand from the fire and swept it around the ring of thorns. The juniper caught with awssh--and became a wall of flame. Thiazzi was exultant. "Even the fire does my will!" Beyond the blazing wall, Torak heard a rattle of pebbles, then furious snarls and a yelp which ended in a whine. The flames were too high. He barked a warning.Stay back! You cant help me!

  He put his hand to his medicine pouch--the swansfoot

  259 pouch which Renn had given him. "Renn!" he shouted. "Renn, whereareyou?"

  Torak was shouting her name, but Renn only managed a squeal which ended in a cough. The Great Yew was full of smoke. If she didn't do something soon, it would become her death tree.

  And yet--she couldn't tear herself from the crack. She felt that by watching, she was keeping Torak alive; if she looked away, Thiazzi would kill him. Stupid, stupid! she told herself. But still she watched as Torak circled the fire and Thiazzi came after him: slowly, cracking his whip, playing with his prey as a lynx plays with a lemming. Torak was exhausted. His hair was stringy with sweat and he kept stumbling. He wasn't going to last much longer.

  With a huge effort of will, Renn tore her gaze away. Shuffling backward, her boots scuffed leaf mold and bones, useless, crumbling bones. She fell, landing on her hands, hurting her palms. It was hopeless.

  Warmth trickled between her fingers. She twisted around but couldn't get far enough to see. She'd cut her hand on a bone or a root. If she could find it again ...

  The smoke was too thick. She couldn't breathe, couldn't see. She groped behind her. Wherewasit?

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  There. A thin, jagged edge. Surely not flint? Whatever it was, it seemed to be wedged immovably in the yew.

  Shuffling closer, she began sawing at the bindings around her wrists.

  Sounds from outside were muffled and remote. Was that a wolf's yelp? A raven's caw? Through her rasping breath, she caught Thiazzi's mocking tones, but nothing from Torak.

  She went on sawing at the rope.

  The ravens wheeled and cawed, and for a moment Thiazzi glanced up. Torak seized his chance, grabbed a branch from the fire, and lashed out. The Oak Mage dodged it easily, and Torak saw that his branch wasn't burning; it was a lifeless gray stump.

  "You can't use fire against me," sneered Thiazzi. "I am Master of Forestandfire!"

  As if in answer, a gust of wind stirred the trees, blinding Torak with smoke.

  Again Rip swooped. Thiazzi's whip caught his wing, and though Rip soared to safety, a black feather drifted onto the embers.

  The smoke made Torak cough. When he stopped, the coughing went on. />
  Thiazzi saw him falter, and his eyes glittered with malice. "The fire can't hurtme,but it'll only take smoke to kill your girl."

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  Wildly, Torak cast about him. Where was the coughing coming from? But the wind was gusting more strongly, he couldn't tell.

  Thiazzi darted a glance at the Great Oak.

  Of course. The ladder. The oak must be hollow.Renn was inside the oak.

  Edging around the fire, Torak moved closer--and raced for the ladder.

  To his surprise, the Oak Mage simply watched. When Torak was halfway up, he called out. "Not as clever as you think you are, Spirit Walker. Now I've got you like a squirrel up a tree, while she chokes to death."

  Torak gripped the ladder. Thiazzi had tricked him. The coughing wasn't louder, it was fainter. It wasn't coming from the oak, but from the yew. Shakily, he wiped the sweat from his face. "Don't wait too long," he panted with a desperate show of defiance. "The clans are on their way.... And you don't have your mask. They'll see you for what you really are."

  "Then I'll make it quick," said Thiazzi. Striding to the foot of the ladder, he started to climb.

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  THIRTY-SEVEN

  The wrist-bindings snapped. Renn yanked the gag over her chin, swallowed a chestful of smoke, and coughed till she retched. Frantically, she sawed at the bindings around her ankles, then struggled to her feet and hopped to the crack.

  She couldn't see for smoke, couldn't hear Wolf or the ravens--or Torak. Don't think about it. Get out, get out. Groping through the haze, she sought for footholds, handholds, anything to help her climb. Her fingers found something jutting above her head. It felt like a peg. It couldn't be. It was. She swung herself up, her good foot scrabbling for a hold. She found a dent barely deep

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  enough for her toes. Her free hand clawed wood. Anotherpeg. Someone had hammered them in, someone taller than her, she had to stretch to reach; and the yew seemed to be helping, leading her from peg to peg. Or maybe it just wanted her gone.

  The top was the hardest, as the pegs ran out and the edge was rotten. Grabbing a branch, she hauled herself over and hung half in, half out. She'd scraped her fingers raw, and a broken branch was digging into her belly, but she was clear of the smoke, gulping the cool green breath of the Forest.