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Under the bright yellow sun and the blue sky but in the shadow of the mountain, the trees filled with mists. It was a thin, smoky thing that carried with it the smell of water. It made shapes blur and smudge and shimmer like ghosts. Sounds had a strange, muffled quality.
Behorra stopped, ears pricked forward, her skin twitching and her tail swishing. I ran a comforting hand along her neck, wondering what it was that had startled her, when I heard it.
It was a woman singing.
The words were indistinct, like the words used in prayers that always sounded a little funny. It felt like the voice was rising up from the earth and trees and mist itself.
I caught the back of Kemen’s clothes and mimed for quiet. His eyes widened as his ears caught the sound and he looked around. “Where’s it coming from?” he whispered.
I pointed in the direction Behorra stared. “I’m going to say, that way.”
The two of us walked softly towards the singing voice, its sound growing louder and more powerful. I caught a glimpse of slow, pale movement through the trees, gradually taking on the shape of a human figure.
Correction: revealing itself as a naked woman dancing.
That wasn’t something one normally saw, especially not in the woods far away from a clan settlement. It made me wonder if I was imagining it.
Kemen slipped through the trees to a smallish clearing, where someone had recently left their gear, and now there was a woman singing and dancing. It looked like too many supplies to belong to the one woman alone.
“Uh, is she the person we’re looking for?” Kemen asked me quietly.
“Let’s ask.” I stepped towards the woman and cleared my throat, waving my hand awkwardly. “Um, excuse me? Miss?”
The woman’s voiced faded away to nothing. She stared at me with large, limpid eyes that reminded me of a doe’s. “Are you by any chance the, uh, the lady we’ve heard about? Um, how do I explain this . . .”
The woman laughed, a musical sound. “Oh, no, I’m not as gifted as her, though I’m flattered you believe so. Have you come to seek out her wisdom as well?”
“Sort of . . .”
“Well, she should be returning later. I’m just making sure no demons interrupt her – she is taking the sacrifice to the lake.”
My insides ran cold. “Sacrifice?”
“Lake?” Kemen asked. “What lake?”
The woman pointed to the top of the mountain. “The lake up there. It is one of the last the receive its gift of a soul.”
I tried to remember to breathe. “What – what are these sacrifices for?”
“For the waters. Nescato is completing the sacrifices to appease all the water spirits in the world. She is saving us from ruin.”
“That’s a . . . big undertaking,” Kemen managed. He glanced up at the peak of the mountain. “Do you suppose she’d mind if we went up there and watched the, uh, ceremony?”
“Of course not!” Her smile turned dangerous. “She will gladly welcome those who can make it.”
A chill had taken hold of my heart. “Come on,” I said to Kemen, grabbing his arm. “Let’s go.”
We rejoined Behorra in the trees, and the woman resumed her singing, her song now taking on an eerie tone.
The trees thinned right near the base of the mountain, and I could see a path had been worn right around the peak, and that many trails seemed to be leading to this place from all directions. The mountain was a heavily wooded, misty place that seemed capable of hiding anything.
The broken pieces inside me jangled. I took the packs off Behorra and handed Kemen his things. “I don’t want her burdened,” I said.
Kemen nodded, and his eyes fell on my bow. “Are you going to be okay if you need to use that? The past few days . . .”
“I’ll manage,” I snapped, hating that he’d noticed the strange way my hands shook and my vision had blurred whenever I’d tried to shoot. If I didn’t know better, I’d be worried some demon had possessed me.
There were a lot of bird songs as we ascended the mountain. The path was straight and sloping, though between the tree boughs and the mist, it was hard to see that far ahead.
Kemen suddenly stopped walking, then backed up until he was right in front of me. I made myself be more annoyed by that, rather than let myself think that his back was actually quite broad. I stood on my toes and peeked over his shoulder.
There were figures underneath the trees.
They’d painted their bodies with ochre and berries, and bones had been sewn along the edges of their clothes. Something about their eyes was – wrong. Fractured. I couldn’t tell how many were men and how many were women, but I supposed it didn’t matter.
They were passing a bird call along amongst themselves. Whatever bird they were mimicking sounded harsh and unfriendly.
Three of them raised bows and pointed the arrows at us.
It felt like the ground was pulled out from under me. Like the world around me was crumbling into something strange and hostile.
They were actually threatening to shoot us. People hunting people. And they were so calm about it.
Like they’d done this before.
I thought I was going to throw up.
Kemen pressed one of his spears into my hand. “If this turns bad, get on Behorra and run.”
“What –” I hissed. Kemen stepped forward, head on a swivel as he gave people a stupid, fake smile. I resisted the urge to yank him into the trees and hide.
“We were hoping to meet Nescato,” he said loudly. “What’s with this hostility?”
“She’s busy.”
“Er, yes, we heard.” Kemen took a couple more steps towards them. “But don’t you think this is a bit much?”
Someone down the mountain copied the howl of a wolf. Behorra whinnied and skittered to the side, unable to tell the difference. She kicked a rock and spooked herself. “Behorra, no!” I cried, lunging for her.
People shouted oaths. Kemen yelled, “Don’t!” and grappled with someone’s aimed bow.
A pale, bone knife flashed by Kemen’s side and he roared in pain.
“Kemen!” I shouted. His knee buckled under him.
“Go!”
“Stop her!”
I whistled and Behorra stilled enough for me to vault onto her. I gripped the spear tightly as I dug my heels in and clicked my tongue. She took off down the path, her body burning against the upward slope. Her eyes flicked every which way and she nickered nervously.
I glanced back, but I couldn’t tell who was who, or if Kemen was alright. The forest and mist swiftly swallowed everything. My heart was pounding. Every part of me trembled.
As the forest closed around us, Behorra slowed. The way was getting steeper and rockier, tree roots exposed as their trunks clung to precarious purchases. I ran a hand along her neck, unsure if I was comforting her or myself.
Behorra’s skin twitched and she arced her neck oddly. I murmured to her.
A fall of pebbles echoed and made both of us start. I watched as they tumbled away and forced my breathing to slow. I went to push Behorra forward again and more pebbles fell. I looked up their path.
A pair of feet were on the edge of the ridge, and those feet belonged to a woman who I knew instantly had to be her. Nescato.
She was a tall, curvy woman, with curled, brown-gold hair tied expertly back. A headdress of antlers and boar tusks made her shadow long and twisted. Over her clothes she wore an adornment on her chest that, if I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought was made of human ribs. The bones were from a red deer’s rib cage, tied together with sinew thread, and it gave her a discomforting, skeletal look. Her eyes – her eyes were pale in colour, but the fire in them burned hot and fierce.
In one hand she held a stone knife. In the other, she held a bead strand. A familiar patterned bead strand.
“You must be the reason for the alarm signals,” she said.
It took me a try to get my voice to work, to get my words to sound even. “I have a question for you, Nescato. Are you the reason the Bizkor Oiloa are dead?”
She frowned prettily. “Now, why would someone like you know that?” Her eyes roved over me and landed on my waist. Her eyes widened. “Oh. I see. A survivor.”
I almost asked how she could know, and then I realized – my father’s atlatl. It was tied to my belt, so it was always close. And it was carved to resemble my clan’s namesake, the stag.
“Answer me!” I demanded. “Did you kill my clan?”
She inspected the edge of her knife. “Well, not personally. I’m not much for hunting, you understand.”
My insides were hot and cold. “Why?” My voice cracked. “Why did you kill everyone?”
She tiled her head, studying me, then nodded. “I suppose, considering the circumstances, it would be acceptable to tell you.” She smiled at me. “I had wondered, if there were some unaccounted for. The souls did seem – restless. But I figured you’d blame demons and get killed by them, not tame one.”
“Just tell me!”
“I’m getting to that. Be patient.” She sighed. “This is the problem with outsiders. So rude.”
“I’m only here because of you!”
“True. Well, a few moons ago, the ancestors had a very important message for me. A warning – a great disaster is about to strike, and we will all be at risk. In order to avert this, the world’s waters must be appeased by an offering of great strength and sacrifice.”
“So, you needed a large sacrifice and you – what? Chose people?”
She smiled a dazzling smile. “Exactly! I admit, my choice was – unconventional. Another of my clansmen would very likely have chosen aurochs, or even horses, like the one you’re sitting on. But these sacrifices need to be strong. They will keep us all safe, after all. And we all know – it’s humans who have the strongest spirits.”
My hand tightened on the spear. “So that’s the reason my people had to die? Had to be slaughtered like animals?”
She blinked, finally perceiving some of my anger. “Of course. Sacrifices must be properly prepared, and your clan was an excellent choice. Skilled, but small. Easily dealt with.”
My whole body shook and my vision narrowed. “Why don’t you come down here and say that to my face?”
“I’m not stupid, girl. I can safely deal with the problem from here.”
“Problem?”
“Well, yes.” She tapped the knife against her other hand. The sound of it striking the bead strands put my teeth on edge. “The spirits of the sacrifices have been . . . They’ve been fighting their bindings and refusing to do their new jobs. I didn’t know why, at first, but now that you’re here – they wish to join their last. The dead long for the living. The sacrifice is incomplete. As long as you live, they will be drawn to you.”
“So you’re going to kill me too?”
“Yes. You should be happy – with your death, the rest of us will be saved.”
“Lady, if you think I’m going to sit here and let you kill me, you’ve got another thing coming,” I growled.
“Oh. You’re going to be difficult, I see. In that case –”
She pointed the knife tip to the sky.
I didn’t stick around to find out what she had in mind. I urged Behorra forward, up the path, and she was all too happy to take off.
The figure of Nescato standing above me vanished behind the treetops, a frown on her pretty face. Behorra whinnied; I could feel it reverberate through me.
We took a corner on the path, the mountain top growing closer and flatter. The forest around us seemed to rustle, and the shadows in it looked like hunters.
Behorra slowed as the ground level out. The top of the mountain was an empty place, with a spring bubbling up to create a small lake, rivulets carrying the water to the world below. It was very green up here, so green it almost felt like a mockery.
On the shore was a firepit lined with stones, low flames tinged with ritual green. Laid out on the ground next to it were all the things needed for a sacrifice – herbs, garagarrd, ochre, a curved blade of shiny dark stone.
I dropped from Behorra’s back, searching for any remains – I couldn’t leave them in the hands of this woman. I sifted through the wood pile, the wood sticky with sap and something else.
Footsteps cracked something behind me. “Ah. So there you are.”
I whirled around. Nescato smiled at me. “I’ve already burnt the bodies – corpses don’t last long.” She held up the bead strand looped and draping from her fingers. “This is all that’s left, I’m afraid.”
“Give it to me,” I hissed.
“Dear girl – you won’t need it where you’re going.”
She closed her hand around the strand and lifted the knife. I shifted into a crouch, scanning for the spot with the best cover for when the arrows came flying.
Nescato stepped calmly towards me. “Where are your friends who murder for you?” I growled.
She arched a delicate eyebrow. “You didn’t think they came up here, did you? I’m performing a sacred ceremony – I can’t have just anyone watching.”
“Then who else is here?”
“Right now? No one. It’s just you and me, and the ancestors.”
“Good.”
I lunged for her, tackling her by the waist. The knife flashed dangerously close to my eye. We hit the ground. Air rushed from me as her knee met my stomach.
She’d thrown the bead strand. I reached for it, and her hand closed around my hair and pulled. I screeched and scratched at her hand, grabbing her other wrist and holding the knife at bay.
Nescato cursed at me. I rammed my toes into her shin. She stumbled and I wrenched my hair free. I twisted and punched her in the face.
In that moment, I made a dive for the bead strands and my fingers caught the edge. I tugged it under me just before a weight hit my lower back.
I rolled and caught her hand with the knife pointed at my neck. “Stop fighting,” she growled.
“Die yourself!” I hit her with the bead strands, cutting her cheek and temple, but hardly making her blink. I tried to hit her with my knees. She pressed the knife closer to me.
I reached with my free hand for something – anything – and my hand met something searing hot, but I didn’t care. I threw the embers at her face.
Nescato yelped and flinched back. I pushed her away and shoved myself off the ground, not caring that my feet scrambled through the fire. Hot coals sprayed.
I needed some kind of weapon, something longer than a knife.
The spear.
I darted for it as smoke began to thicken in the air. Nescato was screaming foul words. A foot landed in my back, sending me sprawling.
I twisted and kicked my foot into her stomach. She doubled over and I kicked her again.
Flames were beginning to spread across the ground, plants catching.
Fire licked upon the bowl of garagarrd, and then it was all heat and flames and smoke and everything was burning.
Nescato screamed, “I’m trying to save us, you fool!”
I could just see her figure through the smoke and flames, coughing, looking.
I reached the spear and picked it up. Behorra was crying out, voice high with anxiety. Nescato turned towards her, knife raised high.
There was no time.
I ripped the atlatl from my waist and set the spear in. I barely sighted and threw it at Nescato’s shadow.
She cried out, and I didn’t stick around to see if she’d been fatally wounded. The air was thick with acrid smoke and the heat was uncomfortable on my skin. The flames reached the trees and spread fast.
I whistled, running for Behorra, and there she was, her eyes ringed in white. I snatched at her mane as she flew by and tumbled on.
She didn’t need direction after that, tearing down the mountain path as fire chased her and smoke darkened the sky. I refused to look back as we flew down the mountain to the forest below.