Free Spirit Walker by Michelle Paver Page A

its mother's hand; forgotten its very name."
    Renn felt the chill of evil seeping into her bones.
"Then," said Saeunn, "when it is nothing but an empty husk--only then does its creator summon the
102
demon and trap it in the body of the host."
"You mean--the child," mumbled Renn. "It is still a child."
"It is a host," Saeunn said flatly. "Its souls are in thrall to the demon forever."
"But--"
"Why do you doubt this?" said Saeunn.
"Because it's still a child, maybe it could be rescued--"
"Fool! Never let kindness get in your way! Now tell me. What
is
a demon? Quick! Tell!"
It was Renn's turn to be fierce. "Everyone knows that. Why do you want me to say it?"
"Don't argue, girl, do as I say!"
    Renn blew out. "A demon," she said, "comes into being when something dies and its souls are scattered, so that it loses its clan-soul. With only the name-soul and world-soul left, it doesn't have any clan feeling, so it can't know right or wrong. It hates the living." She broke off, remembering the moment last autumn when she'd looked into the eyes of a demon, and seen nothing but hot, churning hatred. "It lives to destroy all living things," she faltered. "Only to destroy."
The Mage struck the ground with her staff and gave a croak almost like laughter. "Good! Good!" She leaned forward, and Renn saw the thick vein throbbing at her temple. "You've just described a tokoroth. It may
    103
look
like a child, but do not be deceived! That's only the body. The demon has won. The child's souls are buried too deep ever to escape." Renn hugged herself. "How could anyone do that to a child?"
Saeunn lifted her shoulders in a shrug, as if the existence of evil were too obvious to need comment.
"And what is a tokoroth
for?"
said Renn. "Why would you want to make one in the first place?"
"To do your bidding. To slink into shelters. To steal. To maim. To terrify. Why do you think Fin-Kedinn sets a watch every night?"
Renn gasped. "You mean--you knew it was here?"
"Since the sickness came. We just didn't know why."
Renn thought about that. "So--you think the tokoroth is causing it?"
"The tokoroth does the bidding of its creator."
"The Soul-Eaters."
Saeunn nodded. "The tokoroth is causing the sickness at the bidding of its masters--in some way we don't understand."
Again Renn was silent. Then she said, "I think Torak saw it. Before he left, he tried to warn me. But-- he didn't know what it was." A new thought struck her. "Is there more than one?"
    "Oh, I think we can be sure of that."
104
Renn struggled to take that in. "So there could be one here, and maybe another went after him?"
Saeunn spread her hands.
Suddenly the Forest Renn had grown up in seemed full of menace. "But
why
are they causing the sickness? What do they
want?"
"I don't know," said Saeunn.
That frightened Renn more than anything. Saeunn was the Mage. She was supposed to know.
With a shiver, Renn stared at the thundering water. She thought of Torak heading east--maybe trailed by something far worse than he knew. . . . "You cannot go and warn him," Saeunn said sternly. "It is too late. You would never find him."
"I know," said Renn without turning her head.
To herself she added, But I've still got to try.
105
Chapter THIRTEEN
Wolf couldn't find Tall Tailless, but he knew that he had to keep trying.
    Once, he'd caught the scent in a tangle of beech saplings where his pack-brother had dug a Den--but then he'd lost it again. The scent was chewed up with that of boar scat, and with the stink of the badness that haunted the Forest--and a troubling new smell: the smell of demon. Wolf had learned that smell when he was a cub. The memory was very bad.
    Once more he cast about, but in vain. And always the fear snapped at his hindpaws.
106
The Thunderer was angry with him for leaving the Mountain. Wolf felt it in his fur and in the tingling of his pads. It was coming after him. Soon it would attack.
The Up had gone very dark, and the breath of the Thunderer was stirring the trees. Sounds were becoming