Breakaway: Clan of the Ice Mountains (17 page)

Attu hadn’t wanted to put Yupik on guard duty, but the man had insisted. Attu couldn’t think of a reason to prevent him that wouldn’t shame the hunter with his own weakness, so Attu had placed Yupik on the side furthest from where the bear had last been spotted. Kinak stood at the edge of the camp between Attu and Yupik, his broad shoulders casting a wide shadow in the bright moonlight. Looking to his left, Attu saw Moolnik guarding the other side. The watch had been divided into two, and this was the first, moon at its highest until almost set. Ubantu, with Suka and two other hunters, would take the last watch until the sun colored the sky to the south and east once again.

Attu turned when he saw movement behind him. He let out his breath slowly as he realized it was his mother. She held a pouch, steam coming from its neck.

“Here, my son,” Yural said, handing Attu the warm blue algae drink.

“You shouldn’t be out here,” Attu gently chided Yural, but he eagerly reached for the hot beverage.

“All is well?”

“Yes. I’ve seen nothing but those snow swirls.”

“Thank you, Yuralria,” his mother whispered to the dancing trysta spirit for which she was named. The sparkling crystals twirled out over the Great Frozen. “Protect my son.”

“Protect us all,” Attu said.

His mother smiled at him, and the pride in her eyes made Attu feel as warm as the algae drink in his hands.

“Go back now, Mother,” Attu urged her, and Yural touched his arm before hurrying back to the warmth of the shelter.

Attu watched as the moon slowly made its way across the sky. He kept moving, walking back and forth along the edge of the camp, keeping himself warm and his muscles ready in case he needed to fight. But there was no sign of the ice bear.

Attu wondered just how far they’d have to travel until they reached land again, and how they’d know if it was the land they were seeking, the huge expanse of rock that Elder Tovut had said was as big as the Great Expanse itself. That seemed impossible to Attu. Land was small places of rock sprinkled here and there on the ice. He’d never seen any land not small enough to walk across in a day, even if it was hilly.

Some land had ice mountains on it, large slabs of ice that rose almost straight up a good spear throw or so from the shoreline. They were very high and too steep to climb. His old home had been like that. But still, the land was not large. Not like Elder Tovut had said. Elder Tovut had said so many impossible things.

All Attu’s life, he’d been hearing the stories. The stories of the land where huge plants colored green like the rock moss grew taller than a man. The plants changed every few moons. The green parts of some turned bright colors, red like blood, or faded to brown like fur, and fell off as it got colder. But the cold didn’t last like it did on the Great Expanse. Soon it became warm again and new green grew on the plants.

There were so many different kinds of animals there as well, and the animals walked easily on four legs like snow otters climbing on the rocks near the land’s edge. Some creatures had two feet and two flat arms and could push themselves up against the air and fly above the huge plants.

Attu had always thought of these places as places in the Between, or places in the imagination of storytellers like Elder Tovut. That’s where the ice bear lived, and the skin boats Elder Nuanu had sung about. They were places of the spirit world, interesting to know about, but not of the Here and Now.

Yet ice bears had proven themselves real. And they walked the land on four feet, like the animals in Elder Tovut’s tales. Unfrozen water with chunks in it as big as moving hills were real. A place that grew warm was beginning to seem like a real place to him. He knew it was to his father, also.
But,
he shook his head, trying to reason it out,
not just a place, but a time,
like Elder Tovut had said, a time in the Here and Now, when the Cold turned to the Warming and the whole world of Nuvikuan-na changed. If the Warming was real, and it was coming, his clan was going to die if they didn’t make it to the great land before the ice melted.

Everything Elder Tovut had told Attu and the clan over the years began to make sense to him now in a way he could barely grasp but knew he needed desperately to understand. For the sake of his family and his clan, he needed to know everything he could about the cycles of Nuvikuan-na. Attu decided to ask Elder Nuanu to walk with him the next day. He had a lot of questions, and perhaps she’d have answers for him. And he needed to share his dreams with her as well. The ridges between which he walked in his dream were beginning to trouble him almost as much as seeing Rika across the open water. Night after night the dreams came to him, and he needed to know why.

Attu was jerked from his thoughts as a piercing cry split the night.
Yupik!

Attu spun around and began running through the camp toward Yupik. Dodging the shelters and the people streaming out of them, Attu saw the silhouette of a huge ice bear, larger than the one that had attacked him, swiping its massive paws at Yupik, who was struggling to stay out of its reach, darting off first to one side, then another.

Kinak and Moolnik reached the pair first, and as Attu closed the gap between them, both men, spears raised, began stabbing at the air in front of the bear, crying out, calling to it, and daring it to come after them. This gave Yupik time to scramble backward a few more feet away from the bear’s slashing claws.

Attu had a brief moment to be both surprised and pleased that Moolnik was in the thick of the fight before he looked at the bear and all other thoughts fled. The left side of the massive beast’s face was torn and oozing. Its left eye was gone, leaving a weeping hole where the eye had once been. It looked like the bear had torn it out himself, leaving a bloody mess behind.

The same eye Yupik is now blind in,
Attu realized. His stomach twisted into knots at the thought. The bear’s other eye was bulging, the white showing all around, as if it were ready to explode at any moment.

It must be in excruciating pain,
Attu thought as he moved around the bear, closing the remaining gap in the hunters’ circle at the bear’s back. He was relieved to concentrate on the bear’s hindquarters rather than to have to look at that face as the four hunters began working together, screaming and jabbing at the bear, dodging massive claws as it swung its paws wildly at them, and forcing the bear to move away from camp.

Attu glanced back toward the shelters to see if they’d made much progress. He saw the other four hunters lined up in front of the women and children, who clustered behind them. It had been Ubantu’s idea that only half the hunters attack the bear at once while the other half guarded the women and children. The other hunters would enter the fight only if the bear killed Attu’s group and came for the clan.

It was right to not risk all the hunters at once, but it was eerie to see them all gathered to witness the attack, their faces pale in the moonlight. A few women also brandished spears, and Attu knew the women’s knives were at the ready too, Meavu’s included. The clan would fight to the last person to kill this bear, stop this enemy. Even Shunut, as terrified as he must be, held his small spear as he stood half-hidden behind his mother. Attu felt a rush of pride at the bravery of his people.

The four hunters continued to circle the ice bear, menacing it with their spears and cries. They were now at least two spear throws from camp.

Suddenly, Yupik struck on the bear’s blind side. He lunged at the animal and stabbed it full in the chest with his spear. The bear roared in pain as Moolnik, seeing his chance, struck the bear in the neck with his spear as well. Attu struck the bear as high up as he could, in a bare spot on the bear’s back, probably where Yupik’s knife had penetrated before. His spear slid into the old wound easily, and he cringed, remembering his own painful wounds as the bear screamed in pain and spun to face him.

Attu felt sorry for beast, in such agony. Hunters killed cleanly, hunters showed mercy. This wasn’t the Nuvik way. The bear must be killed, not only to protect his people, but to put it out of its misery, but how?

“For Taunu!” Yupik cried, and Attu watched in amazement as the hunter launched himself onto the bear’s back, just like he’d done during the bear’s last attack. The ice bear screamed again, and this time, apparently remembering the attack from before, it bolted.

Yupik hung on to the bear, riding it as it plunged out across the ice, yelling and stabbing at it like a madman.

Attu, Moolnik and Kinak stood, shocked into motionlessness for a few seconds before the three of them began running after Yupik and the bear. Attu realized after a few steps there was no way they’d be able to catch up with the giant strides of the fleeing bear with Yupik on its back. They kept running anyway, out across the Expanse, their feet in the dark tracks of blood the bear had left on the moonlit ice. Eventually, Yupik would fall off, and the bear might kill him if they couldn’t reach him in time. They had to try.

Suddenly the bear stopped. The men raced toward it as Yupik continued to plunge his knife into the heaving sides of the bear. He left his own spear in the bear, but ripped out Moolnik’s and Attu’s spears, tossing them back toward the hunters.

“You are mine, mine!” Yupik screamed at the bear. “I will kill you! I alone!”

The bear was either too winded or had lost too much blood to rise to its feet again. It lay there, growling and slashing with its claws, trying to bite and tear at Yupik.

It was probably weakened already by the spirits of the fever in its wounds,
Attu thought as he grabbed up his spear. Moolnik lunged for his. They both approached the bear again.

“Stay back!” Yupik screamed as the other hunters closed in on the pair, spears at the ready. “This is my kill, mine!” And he lunged at the bear’s throat, his two knives slashing. Suddenly, the ice, apparently rotten in the area where they now stood, began to move.

“The ice!” Attu cried. “Yupik, the ice is breaking!”

“I don’t care!” Yupik shouted. He continued stabbing at the bear, now weakened beyond fighting with its claws, but still trying to bite Yupik when he came too close.

The ice under Yupik growled. A gap of unfrozen water appeared at Attu’s feet, cutting him off from Yupik and the bear. He stepped back, forced away from its edge.

“The ice!” Attu yelled. “It’s cracking under your feet! Leave the bear. It’s dying. Get out of there!”

“No!” Yupik yelled, and he continued avoiding the bear’s teeth as he stabbed at it, ignoring the now moving ice and small patches of water beneath him.

“He’s crazy,” Moolnik muttered, and motioning for Kinak, the two of them began backing slowly away from the edge of the crack. There was no way of telling in which direction it might begin to open next. They had to be careful.

Suddenly, the ice crumbled under Yupik and the bear. Attu saw the shocked look on Yupik’s face, saw him reach out as if to somehow regain his balance before both he and the ice bear disappeared into the blackness of the water.

Suddenly the ice groaned, and leaping back, the other hunters were thrown off their feet as the hole in the ice closed again, leaving ice where water had just been moments before, a slight buckling the only evidence it had ever been there. It was as if the Great Frozen had opened its mouth and swallowed Yupik and the ice bear whole.

Attu scrambled to his feet. He looked at the other two men, wondering if the fear on their faces mirrored his own. He was too terrified to move. He’d seen the ice swallow a man. If the great underwater spirit Attuanin could do that to Yupik and the bear, he could do it to him any time he wanted to.

Attu began shaking violently. The clan must get to safety, off the Great Frozen. But to do so meant to continue to travel on it for now, to risk death at every step, to risk sudden imprisonment under the ice where no man could help you. It was worse than falling into an opening chasm. At least then, someone might be able to throw you a spear rope, get you back out. But this? There was no escaping this.

“Attuanin, I never knew you were capable of such power over men,” Attu whispered.

“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes...” Moolnik began.

“Let us pray your great spirit, Attuanin, is satisfied for now with the mighty hunters, Yupik and the ice bear,” Kinak said, his voice solemn. Turning, Kinak began walking slowly back toward camp, carefully testing the ice before him with every step.

Attu and Moolnik followed.

“A
ttu, you are pushing our people too hard,” Ubantu said.

Attu said nothing, but tried to slow his pace. It was the third time that day Ubantu had warned him to slow down. Several days had passed since Yupik and the bear had been swallowed by the ice.

“You’re having nightmares about Yupik’s death. I know because you’ve been calling out his name in your sleep, my son. But hurrying now won’t help anyone. It’s not your fault he was taken by Attuanin.”

Attu remained silent and the two trudged on.

“It’s been many suns since Yupik passed to the Between. He is a hunter for Attuanin now.”

Attu said nothing, but slowed his pace to match his father’s.

––––––––

E
lder Nuanu walked up beside Attu later that day and touched his elbow with her mik. “There was nothing you could do to save him.”

“I know,” Attu said. His mother or father must have told Elder Nuanu about the nightmares, but he didn’t want to talk about how he felt. He just wanted to walk, to get closer to the land Elder Tovut had told them about. Any land, actually. Attu had thought it ironic that since they left the land Moolnik had been determined to stay on, there’d been no more solid ground, no more places upon which a man could stand and know he wouldn’t be suddenly sucked down into the deep.

“Attu, what’s wrong?” Elder Nuanu asked.

“I have been dreaming. I want to tell you about my dreams, Elder Nuanu. Will you promise me you will tell no one else?”

“Yes. You can trust me with this knowledge, Attu.”