The Storyteller Trilogy (124 page)

For some reason Sok could not answer her, but instead looked over her head, nodded a greeting to Take More and asked, “My sons?”

“They are well,” Take More said, and Ligige’ added, “Yellow Bird has the baby in her lodge. He is growing fast. Sky Watcher has taken Cries-loud and Ghaden hunting this morning.”

Sok was disappointed that he would not see Cries-loud right away, but glad that Sky Watcher was acting the part of father.

“Chakliux?” Ligige’ asked again, and Sok noticed that Take More, shivering, had turned to go inside the lodge.

“Wait, Uncle,” Sok called to the man, then he turned to Ligige’ and said, “My brother is not coming back.”

Sok lowered his head and began to explain. When both Ligige’ and Take More crowded close, he realized that he was mumbling his words and they could not hear what he was saying.

He lifted his head, started again. “We were together in his hunting tent for many days,” he told them. “During that time my brother watched over me. He kept our fire strong. Each night my dead wife came with wind and storm and tried to take me, but Chakliux drove her away with his prayers and stories.

“I lived in a trance. I did not know day from night, and I heard my brother’s words as if he spoke from a great distance. On the morning I came to myself, I found that the fire had died. The boiling bag was empty, and somehow my brother’s spirit had been stolen.”

Ligige’ lifted her voice into a wail.

“I think it was my wife’s revenge for his stories and prayers,” Sok said to Take More. “I returned to the village to be sure she did not also steal my sons.”

“They are safe, not stolen,” Take More assured him, and led him into the hunters’ lodge.

Ligige’ stood outside, alone until her mourning cries drew the people from their hearth fires.

“Do you think they will bring his body back?” Dii asked.

It was night. All that day, she and Long Eyes had joined the women’s mourning, but her husband had made excuses to remain in his mother’s lodge.

After Sky Watcher returned with Ghaden and Cries-loud, he came to see Night Man, and though they went together to the hunters’ lodge, Night Man did not stay long.

Dii asked her question again, and her husband jerked as though her words had startled him from a dream. “Sky Watcher told me that he and First Eagle would go.”

“Perhaps, if Sok’s dead wife was the one who stole his brother’s spirit, they should leave the body there. The wolves will have found him by now.”

“Did you know…” Night Man began. He stopped.

Dii could see the anger in his face, could hear it in his voice. What was wrong now? He had hated Chakliux, he made no secret of that. He should be glad that Chakliux was dead.

“Take More’s youngest wife told me something,” he finally said.

Dii’s heart froze in her chest. Take More’s wife had told her also—good news that Aqamdax was not dead, that she was living at the hunters’ spring.

“Take More’s wife is foolish,” Dii said. “Always telling people what is not true.”

Night Man shrugged. He pointed with his chin toward his mother. “You fed her?” he asked. Long Eyes sat as though she did not hear them, her fingers moving without pause as she twisted sinew.

“She has eaten twice since this morning, and slept some.”

Night Man grunted, then leaned against the woven willow backrest Dii had made him. She brought him a bowl of meat, but he waved it away and seemed to lose himself again in his own thoughts.

Dii picked up her sewing and punched her awl along the edges of a seam. She thought of Chakliux. She had known him as long as she could remember. He had been a good man, a hunter skilled with a spear in spite of his otter foot.

She thought of Chakliux’s body, surely by now found by wolves and ravens. She raised her sewing closer to her eyes, tried to drive away images of death with thoughts of awls and sinew thread.

Suddenly Night Man laughed. Surprised, Dii looked up. Had she ever heard him laugh before? She looked at him, but he seemed to have forgotten she was in the lodge.

“Who will protect her?” he asked. His eyes were on the hearth, as though he were speaking to the flames. “Her husband is dead, and now for these few days the men…”

Suddenly he tipped back his head and shouted his laughter up into the top of their lodge.

Ligige’ awoke to the sound of a woman calling. She glanced over at Ghaden and Cries-loud. They were asleep, exhausted by their hunt and then by the joy of Sok’s return, the sorrow of Chakliux’s death. Yaa raised up on one elbow, whispered, “Someone is outside.”

Ligige’ crawled from her bed and into the cold of the entrance tunnel. She pushed aside the outer doorflap.

“It is Dii,” the woman said, and Ligige’ scolded her for being out so late, for bringing night air into her lodge, but she beckoned Dii inside, and they huddled close to the hearth coals, Ligige’ holding her hands above the warmth.

“I cannot stay,” Dii said.

“No, you cannot,” Ligige’ told her. “Unless you want to sit alone while the rest of us sleep.”

“My husband thinks that I went out to our cache to get meat.”

“And instead you came here? Why?”

“Night Man knows Aqamdax is alive and that she is staying near the hunters’ spring. He plans to go there in the morning.”

Ligige’ covered her mouth with her hands. “How did he find out?” she asked, her fingers muffling the words.

“Take More told his youngest wife. You know she cannot keep a secret.”

Ligige’ sat still for a moment, then reached out and clasped Dii’s hands. “You said he plans to leave in the morning?” she asked.

Dii nodded.

“Slow him down as much as you can. I will get Take More to warn Aqamdax.”

“You think he will go?”

“If he does not, I will,” Ligige’ said.

THE HUNTERS’ SPRING

A
QAMDAX HAD BEEN PROUD
of her lodge, but now, as she sat with Ligige’ and Take More, she saw it as if through the eyes of others. She saw how cramped it was, and the hoarfrost on the walls, the crooked lodge poles, the cold air, stale and without the welcoming smell of cooking meat. And she saw it through the eyes of what she was now—widow, not wife, her heart dark with sorrow.

“It is small,” she said weakly, referring to the lodge.

But Ligige’ said, “You have done well.”

Aqamdax lowered her head, accepting the compliment, and allowed the kind words to lift a thin edge of her sadness.

They had brought Ligige’’s old dog with them, strapped packs of dried caribou meat to his back. Aqamdax had accepted the meat with gratitude, and now laid some out on grass mats, thankful she could offer a semblance of hospitality.

“So Sok arrived at the village and told you,” she managed to say, her voice tight and small, like the voice of a child. “You understand the reason, then.” She lifted a hand to her cheeks, black with soot, her hair cut short and ragged around her face. “Thank you for coming to share my sorrow.”

Then she saw the look that passed between them, felt a quick catch of pain. “The children?” she asked, her voice dying on their names.

Ligige’ held up one hand, palm out. “No one else has died. The children are strong. Yellow Bird’s milk flows, and the baby is growing.”

“We have come because of Night Man,” Take More interrupted, then made Aqamdax wait as he crammed dried meat into his mouth. He spoke through the food, spraying it out with his words. “First Eagle and Sky Watcher went back for your husband’s body,” he said, then paused to chew.

Aqamdax sat very still, unaware that tears were flowing from her eyes until Ligige’ leaned forward and wiped her cheeks with gnarled and callused fingers.

“I am glad they did,” Aqamdax said, her throat so full of sorrow that the words were only a whisper.

“Someone told Night Man that you are here, and now that the hunters are gone, he thinks it is a good time to come and find you,” Take More said. He swallowed, then added, “He has taken Dii as wife. Did I tell you that?”

“Yes,” she said softly.

“He told Dii last night that he will kill you. He planned to leave this morning, but Dii is trying to delay him.”

“You cannot stay here, Aqamdax,” said Ligige’.

“Where should I go?” she asked. “Now that he knows I am alive, he will follow me.”

“Perhaps snow will come and hide your trail,” Take More said. “Or wind.”

The weight of Aqamdax’s sorrow pressed down upon her, and she struggled to think. She did not have enough time to prepare. She could not stay here. And with Chakliux’s child in her belly…

She lay a hand over her stomach, saw Ligige’’s eyes on her.

The old woman tilted her head. “You do not…” she began. “You are not…”

Aqamdax raised her chin. “I carry my husband’s child.”

Ligige’ leaned forward, put her elbows on her knees and settled her forehead into the cradle of her hands. “Let me think,” she said.

They sat in quietness, Aqamdax struggling to hold her thoughts above her fears. Snow Hawk whined and pressed herself against Aqamdax’s side. Finally Ligige’ looked up. She shook her head and blew out her breath as though she had just made a decision. Then she said, “Sometimes it is not a good thing to be an old woman, but this will be easier for me than to be left outside a village without food or fire when I am too old to be of any use.”

Aqamdax frowned, tried to make sense of Ligige’’s words. Then Ligige’ pointed a finger at Take More and said, “Go back to the village. If Night Man has not left, do what you can to keep him away for yet another day.”

“And what about you, old woman?” Take More asked.

“I and my dog will stay here with Aqamdax and that nephew of mine she carries in her belly. Do not worry. If you give us enough time, Night Man will not find her.”

When Take More left, Ligige’ walked with him into the woods, away from the lodge so Aqamdax would not hear her words. “If I do not return,” she said to Take More, “tell Dii she must care for those children that live in my lodge.”

“You think Night Man will let her take them in?”

“Tell her she does not need to worry about Night Man.” Ligige’ pressed a bony finger into his chest. “And you, old man, see that you find Dii a husband. Someone who will help her with those children. Someone who is a good hunter. Perhaps Sok, if he becomes strong again. Perhaps Sky Watcher or First Eagle.” She chuckled. “Do not think to take her yourself,” she told him. “You have enough trouble with the wives you have.”

Then she went back to Aqamdax.

NORTH OF THE COUSIN RIVER VILLAGE

Chakliux had walked west for almost two days, slept in a snow cave he carved with his hands, and then, when he could not find Sok, returned to his hunting tent. He began to pack his clothing and bedding furs. He took enough food to last him three more days. He left the rest. There was always the chance that Sok would forsake his dead wife and go back to the Cousin village. If he stopped here to sleep, and came before wolves found the cache Chakliux had dug into the frozen ground under the tent, he would have more than enough food for the journey.

Chakliux pressed his fingers over his closed eyes. In spite of his wooden snow goggles, the glare of snow during the past few days of searching had left his head aching, his eyes red and swollen.

He had lived most of his life without knowing Sok, without realizing he had a brother. When he had first gone to the Near River Village to marry the shaman’s daughter and thus bind the Near and Cousin River Villages in peace, Sok had been more enemy than ally. But now Chakliux wondered how he would live without the man he had come to love not only as brother but also as friend.

“Remember this,” he said aloud to comfort himself, “you did what you could. Now you must take care of your wives and the children they give you. Do not forget, you also have Sok’s sons to raise.” He would tell Cries-loud and Carries Much what a good and honorable man their father had been. He would tell them how skilled Sok was with his spear, and he would teach them to hunt. Through them, some part of Sok would still live.

Chakliux strapped on his pack, fastened his snowshoes and began the journey to the Cousin River Village.

THE COUSIN RIVER VILLAGE

The night was clear, and the moon gave a cold light. Dii was tucked into her bedding furs, nearly asleep, when she heard someone scratch at the side of the lodge close to her head. She sat up, saw that Night Man was asleep, and crept to the entrance tunnel. She opened the outside doorflap and shivered as cold air flooded in.

“Who is it?” she called in a whisper, and was surprised to hear Take More’s voice answer her.

He scooted into the tunnel, leaned close to say, “Is Night Man still here?”

“Yes,” Dii answered. “Where is Ligige’?”

“She stayed with Aqamdax. To help her pack and leave the hunters’ spring.”

“My husband plans to go in the morning,” Dii said. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Ligige’ says to keep him in the village one more day.”

Dii stared into the darkness. To keep Night Man in the village that day, she had pretended Long Eyes was sick. She had fussed over the old woman, begging her husband to stay, forcing tears to convince him that she thought his mother was near death. But by afternoon Long Eyes had been impatient with Dii’s medicines and scrambled from her bed whenever she had the chance. Dii would have to think of another way to make her husband stay.

“It is a long walk from the hunters’ spring to this village,” Take More said, “especially for an old man with slow feet.” Dii heard him laugh, a thin chuckle nearly hidden by the thick ruff of his parka hood. “As I walked, I thought of something that might work.”

The next morning Twisted Stalk was the first to come to Dii’s lodge. The scratch of her walking stick awoke Dii, who welcomed her, then hurriedly rekindled the hearth fire and set out food.

“I have come to thank your husband,” Twisted Stalk said. “This morning when I went to my cache, I saw one of his packs there, full of meat. I could not believe that he would give me so much.”

Her words were loud with joy, and they woke Night Man. When he saw the old woman in the lodge, he sat up with a start.