I sat straight up. Where had it come from?
“What? Who’s there?” I grabbed at a chunk of rock to use as a weapon, but it was frozen to the ground.
“Don’t be frightened, it’s just me.” A figure appeared from around the edge of the alcove. At first all I saw were two legs in torn pants. Then he knelt down and a bearded face, darkened by shadow, looked in. He was smiling.
“Uncle Thordy!” I cried out, relieved. A wave of joy swept over me. “You’ve found us.”
He laughed. “It wasn’t hard; you left a well-marked trail.”
“But what happened to you? How did—” I took a good look at his clothing. It was torn into rags and he was bleeding from his side. “You’re hurt.”
This made him chuckle again. “It’s nothing. It’s healing as we speak. Soon the wound will be closed.”
I didn’t know what he meant. His eyes were a little glazed over. Perhaps he was in shock. “Uncle Thordy,” I said, “we need to get Mordur back home before we freeze to death. Are you well enough to help me?”
“Oh no. It is you who will help me,” he replied, a lightness in his voice like he was saying something funny. “Everything is working out fine.”
“Fine? What’s that mean?”
“I was waiting. Letting you two take care of the wolf boy. I was hoping you’d kill him, but wounding him was enough.”
“What are you talking about? Why would you want us to go up there?”
Uncle Thordy moved ahead so the moonlight fell directly on his face. His eyes were luminous, like they were lit from inside his head.
“Uncle Thordy, what do you mean—”
“Oh, be quiet!” he snapped. “You and your repulsive little family will be rotting in hell soon enough.”
I backed away from him, up against the wall. He had gone crazy. Or had I? His eyes were glowing now, getting brighter and narrower by the moment.
“Sorry,” he said, softly, “it has been a trying time. But don’t worry, it’ll all be over for you in moments.”
His words were icy. My heart sped up. “What do you mean?”
“I mean this.” He grinned. His face changed in the light, grew elongated, morphing into a snout. He bared sharp teeth. “Gunnvor’s little brat was eating my meat. Slaughtering my animals. You see, the Onni runt had been hunting on my land. The plateau is where I feed, where my father fed. That is, before your great-grandfather killed him. We shifters won’t spill the blood of another of our kind. It’s a pact we made, many years ago, to preserve our race. There are only twenty of us left. But I was quite happy to arrange for you to kill one.”
“But . . . but you’re my . . . you’re Uncle Thordy, how—”
He was changing even more, hair sprouting out of the holes in his clothing. A sick, dead-meat smell wafted through my nostrils. The same smell I’d encountered in Uncle Thordy’s house, only stronger.
“Thordy’s dead. He died the same day as his wife. His bones are still up there, jammed into a crevice. Only ravens have found them. I assumed his shape, his croft, his life, his name. I have waited a long time to get my hands on your family. To murder two birds with one stone, as you people say.”
I was stunned. “You’re Skoll,” I said, barely able to think. “You carried Mordur up there, didn’t you? You left the butcher bags.”
“Yes,” he admitted, “they have a very distinct smell. Irresistible to a young shape-shifter.”
“But, Gunnvor’s son, he’s not dead. And she’s not going to go away. You failed.”
“No,” Skoll whispered, “not after I’m done with you. I’ll limp down to the farm and tell them that Gunnvor herself came and tore you limb from limb. Michael and Sarah will believe me and your grandfather is dead, so he won’t be any trouble.”
The words hit me like a hammer blow. “What? You’re lying.”
“Oh yes, quite dead. He fought off my little pinprick for an amazingly long time. I was impressed. And he was good with an axe, too.” He touched the wound at his side.
“You attacked him?” I said, feeling an anger spread through my veins. “You?”
“Yes,” Skoll said, hissing in my face. “He would have read all the calfskins. He would have known my little secret. I had to stop him. But let’s not dwell on the past. Let me tell you what will happen next. I will kill you. Others in these parts are superstitious enough they’ll band together and hunt Gunnvor and the runt down. Then this will be my hunting ground again. As for Mordur, who I dragged so far, he’s of no use to me now.” Skoll struck Mordur in the chest and Mordur exhaled sharply. He didn’t breathe in again. “I can always find another hired man. He was as snoopy and headstrong as his father; I would have had to get rid of him soon enough.”
“You smell more like yourself now,” a voice said out of the darkness.
Skoll jerked his head up; the look of conceit and pride flashed from his face.
A figure appeared from around the corner, covered in hair, eyes blazing with anger. “Tried to hide your stink with perfume. Stealing the form of a human,” Gunnvor accused. “You always were a pact-breaker, just like your father. The circle of elders knows about you now. About your plans. You wanted me and my child dead. We’ll feed your liver to our children, that’s what we’ll do.”
Skoll narrowed his eyes, his body shifting shape by the second. “I won’t fail,” he growled, then threw himself at her. Gunnvor was knocked back into the snow.
I couldn’t move. I watched as they battled in the moonlight, exchanging blows. Gunnvor dodged a lunge, swiped her claws across his chest, and Skoll screamed with all his might. But he was larger than her, more powerful, and, even with his wounds, I could see he was winning.
Finally, with a great effort, he lifted Gunnvor and threw her to the ground. She landed on a boulder, her bones cracking like old branches. She lay motionless.
Skoll turned to me. “Now you,” he said, wiping blood from his face with a hairy hand. “Now you.”
He took a step and his leg gave out. He fell, then tried to stand. Again he fell. He pulled himself up again, moved towards me with a limp.
Finally I had the presence of mind to jump up. I took one last look at Mordur’s body, then I began to run, not even sure where, my feet pounding through the snow. My ankle ached, but I ignored it. Skoll’s laughter echoed behind me, a long, growling guffaw that turned to a howl.
I kept going, leaping crevice after crevice and charging along narrow paths. I barely kept my footing, winding my way down to another plateau. I couldn’t see him, but I could hear him, barking angrily somewhere in the distance.
My eyes were drawn to a falling star burning through the night sky, and for a moment it seemed the heavens were splitting apart.
A light flashed again, this time just ahead of me. Maybe it was a flashlight. Or a snowmobile. I veered towards it.
My lungs were burning, my body drained of energy. Every second step I stumbled.
The light flashed once more, just over a rise in the snow. Was it a trick of the eye? Or was it Skoll’s trickery?
It was getting closer now. I ran towards it, hoping for rescuers. The solid ground disappeared from beneath my feet and I fell, landing on soft snow. My breath was knocked from my chest, and my heart stopped beating for a moment. My ears filled with silence. I was lying on my stomach; my muscles refused to obey my commands. Skoll would find me here. An easy victim, even with his wounds.
I tried to breathe deeply, to stand up.
I sensed something else in the crevice with me. Something moving around.
He was here, ready to pounce.
I slowly, ever so slowly, turned my head. There, only a few feet away, was a glimmering form. Familiar, loving eyes looked down on me. A warm smile.
I reached out my hand, whispering, “Hello, Afi.”