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Inside, she was assailed by a stink of rotting fish. The Otters seemed unconcerned,
and even Bale merely wrinkled his nose. Out of politeness, Renn pretended not to
notice.
When everyone had crawled inside, Ananda called for food. Seeing Renn's
surprise, she said, "We have a saying on the Lake. A stranger is my guest until
proven my enemy."
Yolun snorted, as if he'd had proof enough.
"We're not enemies," said Bale.
"So you say," said Ananda. "Eat."
There was silence while a boy and a young woman brought fish-shaped bowls of
tight-woven sedge filled with reed-pollen gruel, and a basket piled with baked reed
stems: charred on the outside, white and starchy when peeled.
Renn recognized the young woman as a Raven who'd mated with an Otter the
previous summer. "Dyrati?"
Dyrati avoided her eyes. "Eat," she said, ladling a
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gray sludge over Renn's gruel. It looked like thick honey, but the stench of rotten
fish made Renn's eyes water.
"Stickleback grease," said Dyrati. "Eat!"
"Eat!" commanded Yolun. "Or do you scorn our food?"
They were all watching her.
She prodded the stinking mess and felt her gorge rise.
Bale came to her rescue. "She isn't used to boats; it's turned her stomach."
Emptying her bowl into his, he started eating with every appearence of relish--and
the Otters relaxed.
"How canyou?" whispered Renn.
"I like it," he mumbled with a shrug. "We make the same thing in the islands, but
with cod."
"You'll be wondering why we have no fish to give you," said Ananda. "Even this
grease is from last spring." She searched their faces. "Someone is making the Lake
sick."
The Otters began rocking and moaning, and many touched the tufts of clan-creature
fur hanging from their ears.
"A while ago," Ananda went on, "a child fell ill, and our Mage sent us to fetch the
sacred clay. We found the healing spring plundered. A stranger had stolen what
only an Otter may touch. That's when the troubles
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began." She shuddered. "People would fall into a deathlike sleep and wake
screaming, bitten by slithering demons in their dreams. Then the catch failed."
Yolun shook his head. "There used to be times when the fish were so plentiful that
you could step from your boat and run across their backs, all the way to the shore.
But this spring--hardly any. And what we do take is twisted. Cursed."
"Every spring," said Ananda, "the ice river in the east sends much water to the
Lake. It's a time of great blessing, when the water rises so high that its voice
beneath our shelters laps us to sleep. Not this spring. The Lake sinks lower and
lower."
"Trouble always comes from the west!" cried Yolun, fixing his red-rimmed eyes on
the strangers. "We heard tell of an outcast, heading for the Lake. Then we saw
him. Hestole the sacred clay;hebrought the troubles! And now these strangers have
come to make it worse!"
At the mention of Torak, Renn and Bale stiffened. Neither dared meet the other's
glance.
The Leader was on it at once. "You know the outcast. Who are you?"
"I'm Bale of the Seal Clan," Bale said proudly.
"And I'm Renn of the Raven Clan. I'm Fin-Kedinn's brother's daughter. Dyrati
knows me."
Dyrati folded her arms and said not a word.
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Renn showed them her wrist-guard. "See this? It's greenstone. Fin-Kedinn made it
for me in the Otter way, which he learned when he lived with your clan." An old
man lifted rheumy eyes from his bowl. "I remember. An angry young man, but he
honored the Lake." "Even if the girl is who she says," said Yolun, "what of the
boy? A Seal on the Lake? How can that be right?" "He has the waterskill," Renn
said quickly. "And look at the reeds tattooed on his arms." Bale's tattoos were of
seaweed, but he had the sense to keep quiet.
"None of this matters!" exclaimed Yolun. "You all saw how they started when I
mentioned the outcast!"
The Leader searched Bale's face. "Do you know the outcast?"
Bale lifted his chin. "Yes. But that's no crime."
"Helping him is," snarled Yolun. Bale tensed.
"You see that?" cried Yolun. "They're in league with him; that makes them outcast
too! Ananda, we must kill them, or the troubles will get worse!" "No!" protested
Renn. "We have nothing to do with your troubles. But--but I do know who's
causing them."
"How can you know? Why are you here?" Ananda leaned closer. She had strange,
gray-green eyes that
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seemed to hold the light of the Lake.
Renn's heart began to race. If she lied, the Leader would know it. If she admitted
their purpose ...
"The evils you speak of," Renn said carefully, "the failed catch, the biting demons--
these will spread to the Forest if they're not stopped." She paused. "There's a
SoulEater on the Lake. That's why this is happening. That's why we've come." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]