Soul Eater by Michelle Paver Read Free Book Online Page B

he untangled their harnesses and checked their paws for ice cuts.With her thumbnail, Renn pried a shred of meat from between her teeth. "The Walker said 'the foxes' would tell us how to find the Eye of the Viper. Maybe he meant the White Foxes."Torak had thought of that too. "But can we risk it?" he said. He wanted to trust Inuktiluk, but he'd learned the hard way that a man can do kind things and still hide a rotten heart."You're right," said Renn. "We won't tell him anything. Not till we know we can trust him."Inuktiluk was turning their clothes inside out, and laying them on the sled. They froze in moments, and he beat the ice from them with the flat of his snow-knife. Then he fetched meat and tossed it to the dogs.78Five were full-grown, but the sixth was a puppy of about five moons. Its pads hadn't yet toughened, and it wore rawhide paw-boots; it squealed with pleasure as Inuktiluk flipped it onto its back, to check that they were securely fastened.Torak thought of Wolf, and the dream returned to darken his spirit. He told Renn about it. Then he said, "Wolf was with Fa, and Fa is dead. So was it Fa's spirit who sent the dream? Was he telling me that Wolf is dead too?""Or maybe," said Renn, "it wasn't your father's spirit that dreamed to you, but Wolf's. Maybe he's asking you for help.""But he must know that we're coming for him." She looked unhappy.He was wondering if now was the time to tell her about the Soul-Eaters, when Inuktiluk returned."Get dressed," he said sternly.Their clothes were drier, but uncomfortably cold. It didn't help that Inuktiluk watched them with evident disapproval. "You're much too thin. To survive on the ice, you need to be fat! Don't you even know that? Everything in the north is fat! Seals, bears, people!" Then he asked them what names they carried.They exchanged glances. Renn told him their names and clans.Inuktiluk seemed startled to learn that Torak was79Wolf Clan. "That makes it worse," he murmured."What do you mean?" said Torak.Inuktiluk frowned. "We won't talk of it here.""I think we must," said Torak. "You saved our lives, and we're grateful. But please. Tell us why you were looking for us."The White Fox man hesitated. "I'll tell you this. Three sleeps ago, one of our elders went into a trance to watch the night fires in the sky, and the spirits of the Dead sent her a vision. A girl with red willow hair, like the World Spirit in winter; and a boy with wolf eyes." He paused. "The boy was about to do a great evil. That's why I had to find you. To stop you from bringing evil to the people of the ice.""I haven't done anything wrong," Torak said hotlyInuktiluk ignored that. "Who are you? What are you doing here, where you don't belong?"When they didn't answer, he rolled up the sleeping-sacks and headed out. "Rub more blubber on your faces, and bring the lamp. We're leaving.""Where?" said Torak and Renn together."Our camp.""Why?" said Renn. "What are you going to do to us?"Inuktiluk looked offended. "We're not going to harm you--that's not our way! We'll just give you better gear, and send you home."80"You can't make us go back," said Torak.To his surprise, Inuktiluk burst out laughing. "Of course I can! I've got all your gear strapped to my sled!"After that, they had no choice but to follow him outside.He'd already put on his owl-eyed visor, and now he tossed them each a pair. Then he snatched up a supple hide whip fully twenty paces long, and at once the dogs began howling and lashing their tails, eager to be off."Why is the sled pointing west?" said Renn uneasily."That's where our camp is," said Inuktiluk. "On the sea ice, where the seals are.""West?" cried Torak. "But we've got to go north!"Inuktiluk turned on him. "North? Two children who know nothing of the ways of the ice? You'd be dead before the next sleep! Now get on the sled!"81NINEThe north wind howled over the white hills, and blasted the hunched spruce trees on the plains. It whistled through the northern reaches of the Forest,