Free Soul Eater by Michelle Paver Page A

if Renn had finished, then turned back to Torak. "The fires in the sky," she said calmly, "never lie."Torak was bewildered. "I don't understand! What was I going to do?"Pain tightened the ancient face. "You were about to take an axe to a wolf."108THIRTEENAttack Wolf?" cried Torak. "I'd never do that!""I Saw it too," Renn blurted out. "In my dream, I saw it!"She couldn't help herself. But as soon as she'd said it, she wished she hadn't.Torak was staring at her as if he'd never seen her before. "I could never hurt Wolf," he said. "It isn't possible."The White Fox elder spread her hands. "The Dead don't lie."He opened his mouth to protest, but the old woman spoke first. "Rest now, and eat. Tomorrow we send you109south, and this evil will pass."Renn thought he'd fight back, but instead Torak became quiet, with that stubborn look that always meant trouble.The White Foxes bustled about, taking food from niches cut in the walls. Now that their elders had spoken, they seemed happy to prepare a feast, as if Torak and Renn had simply happened by for a night of storytelling. Renn saw Inuktiluk regaling the others with the tale of how the ice bear had stolen his seal, which made everyone roar with laughter. "Don't worry, little brother," someone cried. "I managed to hang on to mine, so we still get to eat!""Why didn't you tell me?" said Torak. His face was taut, but she could see that beneath his anger he was badly shaken."I was going to," she said, "but then you told me about your dream, and--""Do you really believe I could hurt Wolf?""Of course not! But I did see it. You had an axe. You were standing over him; you were going to strike." All day she'd carried the dream inside her. And it wasn't the everyday kind that didn't always mean what it appeared to; it was the kind with the glaring colors, which she had maybe once every thirteen moons. The kind that came true.Someone passed her a chunk of frozen seal meat,110and she discovered that she was ravenous. As well as the seal, there was delicate whale skin with a chewy lining of blubber; sour pellets of ground-up willow buds from the gizzards of ptarmigans; and a delicious sweet mash of seal fat and cloudberries, her favorites. The shelter rang with talk and laughter. The White Foxes seemed extremely good at forgetting their worries and enjoying themselves. But it was disconcerting to have Torak sit beside her in glowering silence."Arguing won't help us find Wolf," she said. "I think we need to tell them about the Eye of the Viper--""Well, I don't.""But if they knew, they might help." "They don't want to help. They want to get rid of us.""Torak, these are good people." He turned on her. "Good people can smile and be rotten inside! I know, I've seen it!" She stared at him."I can't lose him again," he said. "It's different for you. You've got Fin-Kedinn and the rest of your clan. I've only got Wolf."Renn blinked. "You've got me, too.""That's not the same."She felt the heat rising to her ears. "Sometimes," she said, "I wonder why I even like you!"At that moment, a stout woman called her to come111and try on her new clothes--and she left without a backward glance.His words were ringing in her ears as she crawled through a tunnel into a smaller shelter where four women sat sewing. It's different for you. No it isn't! she wanted to shout. Don't you know that you and Wolf are the first friends I've ever had?"Sit by me," said the woman, whose name was Tanugeak, "and calm down."Renn threw herself onto a reindeer skin and started plucking out hairs."Anger," Tanugeak said mildly, "is a form of madness. And a waste of strength.""But sometimes you need it," muttered Renn.Tanugeak chuckled. "You're just like your uncle! He was angry too, when he was young."Renn sat up. "You know Fin-Kedinn?""He came here many summers ago.""Why? How did you meet him?"Tanugeak patted her hand. "You'll have to ask him."Renn sighed. She missed her uncle terribly. He would know what to do."These visions of yours," said