Free Breakaway: Clan of the Ice Mountains by C.S. Bills Page A

distance, and Elder Nuanu is sure this is the place where our clan has stayed before. I walked up to the heights and found at least three burial sites, all with our clan’s marking etched into the stone slabs. That’s proof enough for me. It’s our land, and we’re staying on it.”
    “Don’t be a fool, man,” another voice said. Attu didn’t recognize the man speaking, but he must not realize Moolnik has a quick temper or he wouldn’t be speaking to him like that .
    Sparks of light shot around Attu’s vision as he struggled to pull himself up by one of the tent poles. He gained his feet and stayed upright, breathing quickly until his head cleared. Ignoring the cold, Attu stepped to the door of the tent.
    Attu couldn’t believe what he saw. There were at least twenty men gathered before the shelters. He recognized the six lead hunters of his own clan, his father among them, as well as Suka and his brother Kinak and the other younger hunters, all standing to one side. Moolnik was in the front as usual. They had their weapons balanced in their hands, as they challenged a larger group of hunters, all strangers to Attu, who also stood with raised spears. The man who had apparently been the one to call Moolnik a fool stood in front, his weapon also at the ready.
    “So, I’m a fool?” Moolnik said, his voice suddenly quiet as he glared at the other hunter. Moolnik began to move forward.
    “Wait, brother,” Ubantu said, and Attu watched as his father grabbed Moolnik’s shoulder and tried to pull him away from the stranger.
    Moolnik’s going to get our hunters killed, and for what? What are they fighting about?
    “I said,” the stranger continued, as if Moolnik hadn’t threatened him, “that if you stay you are a fool. You are welcome to this land. We are leaving. We have lost two children, one woman, and two hunters to the ice bears in a single attack. You almost lost three of your clan, if it hadn’t been for your strong young hunter, fast on his feet and quick of mind.”
    The stranger gestured toward Attu’s shelter, turning as he did, and a look of surprise crossed his face when he saw Attu standing in the doorway, bare to the waist in the freezing cold.
    Attu stared back at the man’s face. Clearly he’d been attacked by something himself, by the looks of his scars. The hunter had two deep lines across his face, from forehead to chin and possibly down onto his neck and chest, Attu realized, but the man’s parka hid any further scarring. The skin around the scars was puckered in places, as if the wound had not healed easily.
    Attu knew this man had been attacked by an ice bear. Only an ice bear’s claws could have torn the man’s face like that. The memory of the ice bear’s huge claws swiping at him just a few days ago caused Attu’s knees to weaken at the sight.
    The hunter smiled at him, or gave what appeared to be an attempt at a smile. He bared his teeth and the left side of his lips went up, but the right side no longer seemed able to move, and his eyelid stayed half-shut on that side of his face as well. Attu looked away, embarrassed to be caught staring.
    The man moved away from Moolnik, as if a battle had not been seconds away from erupting between the two groups. He walked toward Attu, and when he reached him, thrust his hand up in the sign of greeting. Attu noticed, however, that his spear never left its ready position in his other hand.
    “I am Paven, leader of the Great Frozen clan,” he said, and Attu returned the greeting, letting go of the tent and holding up both hands. He winced at the pain his movement caused. “I am Attu, son of Ubantu and Yural and brother of Meavu, Ice Mountain Clan.”
    Attu slowly lowered his hands and reached for the shelter’s door pole to steady himself. The objects around him spun.
    “Attu,” his mother cried suddenly, and in a flurry of parka fur, Yural was beside him, trying to push him back into the tent. “It’s too soon for you to be up. You