Beyond Belief (Clan of the Ice Mountains Book 4)

by C. S. Bills

  Attu settled himself in his shelter. The fire had long burned out, and it was cold, but Attu had no time to build one up. He grabbed an extra fur from the sleeping area and wrapped it around himself.

  “We have to know where they are. They could be heading toward us right now,” Attu whispered to himself as he reached out with his mind to the sky. He found one of the common brown birds winging its way back to the shelter of the rocks near the caves. Attu entered the bird’s mind gently, explaining his need to protect his children by finding the predators stalking them. She was willing to fly across the plain toward the mountains in the direction the thief’s dog had run.

  No more snow had fallen, and there had been little wind, as Ubantu had predicted. Attu saw his men near the smoldering heap of the sled and picked up the tracks of the dog heading east. He flew and flew, the bird needing to stop and rest twice before Attu found himself flying in the bird over the thief’s camp. It was well hidden under a cluster of pines, almost to the mountains, and if he hadn’t had tracks to follow, Attu knew he would have missed it.

  Perhaps this is why Keanu didn’t see anyone. And it is on the edge of where she could fly in a day.

  Attu circled lower to get a better view.

  No! He felt his mind reflexively trying to return to his body, which he couldn’t do safely from this distance. Attu forced himself to calm down and remain with the bird. And I have to see it all. I have to be sure.

  As Attu flew back to his own camp again, he barely remembered to thank the bird, sending it a quick blessing of a warm spring and many eggs in a safe nest before he opened his eyes and found himself back in his shelter.

  The physical reaction to what he’d seen hit him then, and Attu gagged, choking on the gorge rising to his throat. He struggled to settle his mind against the possibility of the horrors he had seen happening here, to his Rika, to his children...

  Farnook, are my children with you? Are they safe?

  Of course. Elder Nuka and I have them. Many of the womean are here with us. Why? What’s wrong?

  In his relief, Attu let his mind briefly relax. He felt Farnook’s mental shudder and quickly pulled his thoughts back to himself.

  I’m sorry. Don’t tell anyone else what you saw just yet. Thank you for keeping my pooliks away from... This time it was Attu who shuddered. Thank you.

  Attu stepped out of his shelter and stood motionless, his hand resting on the entrance pole for support as Suka walked up. “Do you need me to-” he looked at Attu and grabbed his shoulders. “What in the name of all the trysta spirits did you see?”

  Attu said nothing, but turned and ran toward Soantek and Keanu’s shelter, where he knew he’d find Rika.

  “I was careful not to touch him. I saw enough with the open sores on his face, neck and hands,” Rika said as Attu stood at a distance and fired questions at her about what she had touched, what she had done. “Why? What did you see?”

  “We are safe for now,” Attu said, keeping a tight mental barrier up. “But no one else must even come close to Keanu and Soantek’s shelter. Where’s the thief’s body?” Attu knew his voice was beginning to sound frantic, but he couldn’t stop himself.

  “The men who’d stayed to guard the camp moved the body using long tree branches, keeping as far from it as possible. They pushed the body away from the camp, downwind.” Rika pointed to where the smoke from the thief’s burning body was rising. “Yural said the words and prayed, but she also stayed at a safe distance.”

  “And you?” Attu’s heart raced as he thought of Rika, covered in sores and perhaps dying from this horrible sickness.

  “Look at my skin,” Rika said. It was red and raw from being scrubbed. Attu knew his woman had used the harsh paste the women made of ashes and fat to scrub herself. “The furs I was wearing are burning with the thief. These are some of Meavu’s. Mantouk has gone to wash and burn his clothes as well. We’ll keep him isolated and wait. Trika knows, and she understands she can’t go near her man until the threat of sickness has passed.”

  “What about Keanu and Soantek?” Attu said.

  “I gave some of the paste to Keanu. She scrubbed herself and helped Soantek wash also. He is awake and has no fever from his wound, so I think I got it cleaned and bandaged before the fever spirits could enter. Keanu has a bad headache, typical after such a blow.”

  Rovek walked up from the edge of the clearing, stopping a distance from both Attu and Rika. “I’ve washed as well, and will have to stay away from everyone until we make sure the evil spirits have not entered my body. Mantouk and I will set up shelters on the edge of camp. Rika says we must not come near each other, either.” Rovek looked grim, but determined.

  “Have you flown?” Ubantu walked up to Attu, his face grave.

  “Yes. There is no immediate danger.” Attu avoided his father’s gaze. He tried to look calm, but he knew his voice carried an edge. “I will tell everyone as soon as we can gather. Right now, this is more important. Rika, what about you?” Attu asked.

  Rika shrugged. “I’ll have to stay away also.” She turned away from them.

  “But what about-”

  Nuka, helped by Farnook and Veshria, hobbled up beside them and interrupted Attu. “Farnook...” she paused and glanced at Farnook. Farnook shook her head. “I can’t be sure, but I believe I might know what evil spirits of sickness took hold of the thief.” She pulled back her sleeve, showing scars that looked like small, healed burns.

  “When I was a child, a lone hunter stumbled into our camp,” Nuka said. “He said he was hungry. He was weak, but we thought it was from starvation. We welcomed him, fed him, and he spent the night in my parents’ shelter because my father was the leader of our Clan.”

  Nuka looked off into the distance, toward the smoke still rising from the dead thief’s body. Her face grew pinched. “The next morning he was dead. My parents were terrified when they examined his body and found he had sores on his chest and back. The rest of our Clan moved their shelters to the other side of the rocks we were camped on. My parents burned their shelter and furs with the body. But it was too late. My family had been in contact with the man.”

  “What happened?” Rika asked as Attu felt a low moan trying to escape his lips. He clamped them shut. I know.

  “The evil spirits entered us. All of us caught the sickness. My brother died. He was just a toddler at the time.”

  Several others had gathered while they talked. A few of the women gasped. They looked to each other, and Attu could feel the fear growing among them.

  “And your parents?” Rika asked.

  “Once my brother passed Between, my mother stopped fighting to live. She died two days after my brother. The three hunters and their women who had also shared the meal with the stranger got sick and died. One of our Elders died. Everyone who’d come in contact with the stranger isolated themselves as soon as they realized he had carried evil spirits of sickness into our camp. But it was too late. Hunters who’d been gone until two days after the stranger died stayed away from the rest of us. They didn’t get sick. Those who hadn’t come near any of us before we’d isolated ourselves didn’t get sick, either. But of those who did, only my father and I survived.”

  Ubantu turned to Attu. “Did you touch the rope you cut?”

  “No. Only my knife touched it.”

  “Give it to me,” Rovek said. Rovek held out his hand, and Attu undid the waist strap holding his knife in its pouch. He tossed the strap and knife to Rovek.

  No one spoke. All eyes were on Attu, but he couldn’t speak. If he did, he’d give his fear away. And the last thing they needed was to have their Clan in panic.

  “What do we do now?” Rika turned to Nuka. “What else do we need to do to prevent these evil spirits of sickness from coming for us and our children?”

  Nuka’s brows narrowed in concentration. “Rovek, you’re sure the only thing you touched the thief with was your spear?”

  “Yes.” Rovek looked hopeful.

&nbs
p; “But you went back into Keanu and Soantek’s shelter after the attack.”

  Rovek nodded. He looked grim.

  “It must be burned. I believe I will not get this sickness again, because my spirit has fought it off once and I carry the scars, which will protect me from it if it tries to return. I will help Keanu burn their shelter, including a fire where the man’s body lay.”

  “What about Soantek? He still needs a healer,” Rika asked. “I’ve already been exposed-”

  “No. I don’t want you to go near them again,” Nuka said, her voice emphatic. “I’ll continue to dress Soantek’s wound and take care of them both. Just give me what I need.”

  “But-”

  “Do as I say, child,” Nuka said. “The evil spirits of sickness may not have entered you yet. We can hope and pray they haven’t. And I want to do this.”

  Rika met the Elder’s eyes, and then nodded as tears filled her own. “Thank you.”

  “I’ll gather the wood with the others,” Ubantu volunteered.

  “I’ll get new clothing for Keanu and Soantek,” Farnook said. She turned toward Veshria and the woman nodded. They moved to ask Nuka a question, and then the three women hurried away, Veshria steadying Nuka.

  “Burn these?” Rovek asked. He held his spear in one hand and Attu’s knife pouch in his other like they were poison.

  “Yes. Where you burned your clothing,” Rika said. “You can retrieve the points once they’ve cooled. They will be safe then. I’ll have Attu bring you more of the strong washing paste. Wash again in the ocean like you did this morning so if there are any evil spirits on you from the weapons, Attuanin can catch them in the deep. Then wash again in the river near the ocean so no evil spirits get caught in the rocks to contaminate any others of the Clan. They do not like the cold, but we can’t count on the cold weather and snow to protect us.”

  Meavu rounded the corner of a shelter and stopped several spear lengths from Rovek.

  “Rovek will remain outside camp,” Rika said to Meavu. “He can’t hunt for you, either. You must not touch game he’s touched.”

  “Our new son...” Rovek’s voice trailed away as he began to take in what this separation would mean for his family.

  “We’ll be fine,” Meavu said. “The Clan will take care of us until the threat of this sickness is past.”

  Attu’s heart sickened in him. It has to pass. It has to...

  “We will be fine,” Meavu repeated, softly. Rovek and Meavu’s eyes met.

  Rika walked away from the couple, Attu following her, but when he drew too near, she motioned for him to stay back. Despair darkened her eyes. “You know I can’t come back into camp,” Rika said. “I touched Keanu and Soantek and other things in their shelter. I cleaned the wound the thief’s knife made.” She turned away, but not before Attu saw her eyes filling with tears. “Thank the spirits I didn’t return to our shelter or touch our children.”

  “Meavu and Farnook took the babies after we ran to Keanu and Soantek’s shelter. I haven’t touched our children since.”

  “I know,” Rika looked resigned. “Several women have volunteered to feed our son and daughter. They must eat.”

  Attu couldn’t speak as realization of what this meant for Rika hit him.

  “They’ll have to feed them for me for the next half moon at least. I must be certain I won’t become ill before I come near any of you again. I was exposed more than Rovek. I will need to build my own shelter and stay away from him, too.”

  Attu nodded. “I was back in our shelter, with the knife.”

  “Wash yourself and burn your clothes. Then you must burn our shelter too, Attu. Set a torch to it. Burn it and everything in it. Many in Nuka’s Clan died.” Rika brushed away the tears flowing down her face. She straightened her back, turning to look at him with the fierceness of a mother and true healer. “I will not let what happened to their Clan happen to mine.”

  Attu burned their shelter. When all Rika and he possessed was engulfed in flames, Attu asked his father to gather the others.

  “Rika and Nuka are doing everything they can to stop the thief’s sickness from spreading,” Attu began as his people gathered near a fire in the center of camp. It seemed odd to be together like this in the middle of the day. Attu could feel his people’s fear. It mirrored his own.

  But heads nodded as the others agreed. Shelters had been burned and any possible carriers of the evils spirits had been isolated. Attu took a moment to thank Attuanin silently and ask again for his help before continuing. “First, I want you to know I don’t think we are in danger of being attacked by any other thieves from the attacker’s group.” Attu was careful to guard his thoughts now, pushing away the images that kept trying to take over his mind.

  “How do you know that?” Ubantu asked.

  Attu hesitated, knowing his information was going to terrify his people. But they had to know. He took in a deep breath and continued. “As I flew over the thieves’ camp, they lay everywhere, dead. Most had been dead for several days, perhaps even a half moon, well before the other thieves attacked the Tuktu. I believe the thief who attacked Soantek and Keanu was probably fleeing the sickness. But he’d already been infected.”

  “No one buried the dead?” one of the women asked.

  “No. It looked like they’d all gotten sick around the same time. Some might have been able to bury the first who died, but I saw no sign of it. They were a large camp, probably as many as the other thieves had. There were at least ten sleds and many dogs. Some of the animals had apparently died of thirst, dead at the end of the ropes they had been tied with. Some looked like they had died fighting other dogs. They were lying torn on the ground, ropes still around their necks. But some of the dogs had either been loose or chewed through their ropes. And as I flew over the camp, there were a few dogs still alive.” Attu paused, swallowing reflexively with the memory. “Maybe five or six. And they were eating the dead.”

  Details flashed into Attu’s mind, overwhelming him as they had the first time he’d seen them. Two dogs fighting over a human arm, pulling it between them like a stick. One dog gobbling the inner parts of another dog, blood smearing its muzzle as it gorged on what could have been its littermate. One of the smaller dogs pulling at a half-eaten corpse, trying to drag it into some nearby bushes where it could eat it and not be attacked by the larger dogs.

  All around him, Attu could see the horrified faces of his people. He knew they were terrified that this same fate might happen to them. Would they all get sick and die so soon that they wouldn’t even receive a proper burial? It was unthinkable that they had been exposed to this sickness and might even now be spreading the evil spirit of this sickness among themselves. To think their bodies might then be eaten by animals after their spirits were gone Between? It was too much.

  A few of the women began moaning. The men looked sick. Many began whispering and a few moved to get up, as if they must put distance between themselves and any other person, to be safe from the sickness.

  Veshria stood. “We must get rid of the dogs,” she said. “What if they’re the cause of the sickness?”

  Several others murmured in agreement. A few stood up, as if to take out their anger and fear on the closest target, the dogs.

  “No!” Ganik was on his feet, shouting at his mother. “I won’t let you kill him.” He grabbed the large pup at his side by the collar and turned and faced the rest of the Clan, his eyes wild.

  Attu stood. “That is nonsense. The Tuktu have dogs, and they’ve told us every other Clan they know of has dogs except for ours. How could dogs spread evil sickness spirits to people?”

  “It’s not possible,” Yural stood. “This will not happen to us.” She looked at the others who had stood and they sat again, looking embarrassed. “Nuka survived the sickness and has told Rika all that must be done. We are doing everything necessary to keep this sickness from our Clan.” She looked around, her face challenging, as if she dared anyone to disagree with her spiritua
l authority. The whispering stopped.

  “I’m so sorry you had to see this,” Yural said. She moved to her son, wrapping her arm around Attu’s shoulders. He felt like a child again, safe. He leaned into her, accepting her comfort. After a moment Yural

  turned toward everyone else again, the center of the Clan clearly in the space she now occupied.

  “We must pray for the spirits of those thieves,” Yural said.

  Even Attu was surprised at his mother’s words. Lips popped all around him and one man started to speak, but an upraised hand from Yural stopped him. “We must pray to all the spirits that these men’s spirits travel swiftly to the Between. We burned the bodies of the thieves who attacked the Tuktu. We prayed for them. But I believe it’s too dangerous to go near these who died of the evil spirit sickness. We must do this for them from here.”

  “Yes,” Ubantu stood beside Yural, supporting her as spiritual leader now, as she had always done for him when he’d led the Clan.

  “We must pray to keep ourselves safe,” Yural continued. “We must pray to keep the evil sickness spirits now released from these bodies, as well as the spirits of the thieves, away from our camp. And we must understand something else.” She turned toward the cluster of women. “The dogs were doing what any animal will do if its normal source of food is no longer available. The thieves fed these dogs. Eventually, the dogs will begin hunting on their own. But first they will eat the food supply around them. Even among the Nuvik, when one is starving, it is done.”

  Most of the women and even some of the men cringed at Yural’s last words. It was never spoken of, but among the Nuvik on the always frozen Expanse, if the game grew scarce enough, long enough, and someone had died within the last few moons, there was a ceremony that could be performed to allow the Nuvik to eat the deceased one to save themselves from starvation. It was considered the greatest sacrifice, both from the deceased, who would be rewarded in the Between, and those who partook of the flesh, who would then be forever in debt to the deceased’s name spirit. Attu had never experienced such a time of hunger, but he knew it had happened once when his father was young. He glanced over to see a guarded look pass between Ubantu and one of the older hunters.