by E. C. Hibbs
“You’re just as gullible as I hoped you’d be,” he grinned, and regarded Paavo’s skin with an air of amusement.
Tuomas shuddered. He should have realised that wasn’t his brother – Paavo would never have been so vague with his questions. This man had simply played on the answers which Tuomas himself had given.
“Who are you?” he demanded. But deep down, he knew.
He flinched as the man drew close.
“Can’t you see the resemblance? I’m the other wandering mage.”
Kari.
He snatched the drum with one hand. He regarded it idly, then tied it onto his own belt. Tuomas tried to get up, but he was still too weak. Kari knelt beside him and pulled him across his lap. Tuomas tried to wrench himself free, but Kari held him down, tearing at his tunic with his free hand until two long strips fell to the floor.
Tuomas opened his mouth to cry out, only for Kari to tie one of the strips across his lips. Then he flipped him over and bound his hands behind his back.
“Let’s go and do some wandering,” he smiled.
Without another word, he dragged Tuomas to his feet and bundled him down the tunnel, into the shadows.
She stared up at the sky, hiding just inside the cave mouth where the light couldn’t touch her. It was still bright, as she knew it would be, but she had needed to get out of that cavern. It was so difficult to be surrounded by all the history on the walls; her Spirit brethren captured in ancient paint, weaving their stories like she wove her Lights.
One of the white reindeer ambled up to her and sniffed at her face. She laid a hand on its neck and ran her fingers through the thick fur. It was so dense; she couldn’t penetrate it to feel the skin beneath.
It hurt to be so far from the World Above. At least in the World Between, she could still look up and see it; the only thing separating her from home was a barrier thinner and clearer than ice. Here, there was solid earth too: a false sky like a dome, where the Sun Spirit never truly shone and the Moon Spirit’s face never turned.
And while she didn’t lament the lack of her mother’s presence, it continued to serve as a reminder of where she was: deeper than she should ever be.
She wiped water from her forehead. It dripped onto the grass at her feet, glittering in the light.
Then she heard something though the trees.
The reindeer’s ears pricked up. At first, she thought it was another one, but the noise was too clumsy to be one of these graceful animals.
As though in confirmation, the reindeer beside her leapt away and disappeared into the forest.
She frowned, listening hard. It sounded like feet – human feet – hurrying through the undergrowth.
There was a muffled scream.
Then she saw them in the distance: two figures emerging from a second cave mouth, heading for the lake. The first one dragged the other behind him; he was struggling, but his movements slurred, as though he was drained of energy. She caught a glimpse of pale blonde hair.
She gasped.
Tuomas.
She sprinted towards them, hardly feeling the light as it seared her delicate skin. Water streamed down her arms.
She recoiled at the sight of the man pulling Tuomas, at the hollow eyes rolling in his face. She knew, without a doubt, this was the mage who had bound that demon. She could feel the power coming off him in sickly waves. But it was different to any other mage she had ever sensed. It was dense, raging, wicked.
Tuomas noticed her. His eyes were wide with terror.
“Lumi!” he managed to yell through the gag.
The man drew a knife from Tuomas’s belt, twisted it, and slammed the butt into his temple. Tuomas tumbled onto his side, knocked out cold. Then the mage pulled him close, withdrew his drum from under his arm, and struck it.
There was a flash of white and she was blown backwards, tumbling though the ferns like a leaf.
Indignation flared within her – no mage would dare mistreat a Spirit like this! But as quickly as it came, it was replaced by fear. Not for herself, but for Tuomas. Whatever the mage wanted him for, it could not be good.
She jumped up, but Tuomas and the man were gone. There was a thundering sound in the distance as a thousand reindeer stampeded away in alarm.
Her eyes went to the hole in the sky. The mage must have taken him back into the World Between.
She considered running back to fetch Lilja, but stopped herself. There was no time.
Hoping with all her might that Sigurd and Elin were still waiting above ground, she closed her eyes, summoning all her power, more than she had ever dared to use outside of her own realm. Its wintry chill filled her and her body became lighter, until her feet lifted off the ground. She hovered, hair sweeping around her, like a flurry of snowflakes caught in an updraft.
She thought of the World Between, pictured it, and held it close until she could see every detail. The vast tundra, the clear open sky…
Then she let go. Air flew past her; it became cold and crisp once more. She broke through the thin skin which divided the realms; the barrier which only Spirits could cross unaided. Her feet touched down, and came to rest atop powdery snow. Blissful cold darkness surrounded her.
She was back on the frozen lake. In the distance, she could just make out one of the sleighs which had brought her companions to the Northern Edge.
She set her eyes on it. Tuomas was in there, and she had to catch him.
Somehow, she had to save him.
Chapter Eighteen
Tuomas woke with a start.
His head rang; when he moved, he felt the stickiness of dried blood on his temple where the knife butt had struck him. There were stars all around, and for a moment he panicked. Where was he? Dead?
No.
As his senses returned, he realised he was lying down, on his back. His arms were raised above his head, still bound at the wrists, hooked over a pointed rock. His ankles were tied together too, with the scrap which had previously been around his mouth. The smell of woodsmoke was on the air from a nearby fire, whipped in all directions by the wind. Cold bit down to his bones the pressure of taika bore down on him. It was so concentrated, he could physically feel it on his skin.
He looked about. He was bound to a boulder, its surface polished smooth by the elements. All around it were antlers, colourful braids, loops of hair tied to logs so they wouldn’t blow away.
To the side was a sleigh – his own, still piled with supplies of logs and pelts. His reindeer was tethered at the front, bent down against the biting wind. The bull looked at him with its huge black eyes, as though it wanted to help him.
He frowned. Why was it winter again? Had they come back to the World Between?
Then he heard the crunching sound of feet sinking into snow. He strained to look up, and saw Kari approaching, his figure backlit by the fire’s glow. He wasn’t wearing mittens or a hat, but his torso was covered by a mage’s coat of white reindeer fur, matted with old dried blood. He had smeared his thin face with ash, the same way Henrik did at major ceremonies. The open gash on his throat was dark in the flickering light, like a horrid second mouth.
“So you’re awake,” he remarked.
In an instant, Tuomas remembered what had happened. He thrashed about, trying to get free.
“Don’t waste your energy,” Kari said. He touched the wound on Tuomas’s head, then the fabric around his wrists. “I’m sorry about all this. I know it’s very impolite. But it was the only way to make sure you didn’t run off.”
Tuomas fought to stay calm.
“Where am I?”
“The shrine on Einfjall mountain: the highest point I could find in the middle of all this flatness,” said Kari. “The closer we can be to the World Above, the better.”
So that was the reason for all the antlers and objects. They were offerings, left by generations of mages over countless years.
Tuomas thought quickly. If they were back at Einfjall, that would mean he had been out cold for
a full day – it was difficult to tell from the constant lack of light.
He wondered if it was worth screaming to alert the villagers, but the idea fell apart just as quickly. The summit was too far away for anyone to hear him.
Kari tugged at the buckle of his belt. Once it was free, he pulled it out from under Tuomas’s back and tossed it aside.
“You won’t be needing this,” he said.
Tuomas watched in dismay. All his knives and axe were attached to the belt.
A growl made him look around, and he yelped in fright.
The demon was standing there, its one remaining eye as hollow and dead as Kari’s. Now they were together, he realised Kari’s blinded eye was on the same side.
How had it crept up on them so quietly? It hadn’t even left footprints.
Just like Lumi.
His heart leapt when he thought of her. Kari had left her behind, but was she safe?
“Admiring my handiwork?” Kari asked. He approached the demon and held a hand to its ragged cheek, as though caressing a child.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” he continued. “It was painful at first, and strange, having your life-soul in another body… but better than being locked in that Earth Spirit prison. Thank you for letting me out, by the way.”
Tuomas trembled. It was terribly exposed up here, and the wind stabbed straight through him. The cold was too painful to describe.
“You sent that thing after me,” he said.
“And even when I was trapped down there, it still obeyed the last order I gave it: to find you and bring you to me.” Kari smiled at the monster. “Too bad you got loose – this would have all been over with so much faster if it had managed to keep hold of you.”
He turned back to Tuomas. “I really am sorry for how crude this all is. But it’s for the greater good.”
“You’re a mage!” Tuomas cried. “You’re not supposed to hurt anyone!”
“There are always exceptional circumstances.”
“Why? You did all this to get to me? What’s so important about me?”
Kari regarded him with a look of genuine surprise.
“You don’t know?”
“Know what?”
Tuomas struggled against his bonds, but it was no use. They were tied too tightly.
Kari let out a sharp laugh. All his previous gentleness disappeared in an instant.
“Oh, this is precious! You were travelling with Lilja and she never even told you?”
He ran a finger along Tuomas’s jaw. Tuomas shuddered – he could feel the power, how warped it was, the complete opposite to what a mage’s taika should be. The smell of it filled his mouth and he coughed violently, trying to get it out of his lungs.
Kari’s hand trailed down until it was resting over his heart.
“You’re the Son of the Sun,” he said.
Tuomas froze. He remembered Lilja’s story, of the Spirit which came to the World Between as the Great Mage, led the people south to Akerfjorden, died when he fell through the ice…
“No, I’m not!” he snapped. “He’s been dead for generations!”
“Life-souls always return. You know that. Even a life-soul which was once a Spirit.”
“I’m not a Spirit! I’m a boy! My parents were –”
“Yes, yes, humans, I know.” Kari waved a hand impatiently. “Erik and Veera. I remember them. Your parents here, in the World Between. But your life-soul is not of this realm. It comes from the World Above. It is of the boy the Moon Spirit stole away, who leapt willingly into this World, and became the most powerful human who ever lived.”
Tuomas’s eyes widened. “You’re insane.”
“Oh, no, I know exactly what I’m talking about,” said Kari insistently. He touched his torn throat. “Do you think I would have done something like this for just anyone? I’m not going to lie about how much it hurt.”
He drew closer, until Tuomas could smell his rancid breath.
“You work it out. How many times did Henrik tell you how powerful you are, how you must control your taika? And how wondrous it is that you were born on midsummer, when the Golden One is at her strongest?”
Tuomas shook his head. “That doesn’t prove anything!”
“I was there that day, I know it’s true,” said Kari. “So does Henrik, and all your Akerfjorden leaders.”
He gripped Tuomas’s face in his bony fingers.
“You’re lying to yourself,” he hissed, “Red Fox One.”
Tuomas’s mind raced. Henrik knew about this? It was impossible! He couldn’t be the Son of the Sun!
But then he recalled Lilja telling the story, and how she had expanded on the ending. She had revealed that the Daughter of the Moon was none other than Lumi herself. And Tuomas was the only one who had managed to block her Lights, to pull Mihka out of her grasp.
Lumi had said, when he ripped her from the sky, that his name was not Tuomas. She had yelled at him that he should know his power. In the cave, not long ago, she had looked at the painting of the Sun and Moon Spirits, with their children beneath their faces.
Two foxes. One white… and one red.
His breath snatched in his throat.
Lumi was his sister. Not by blood, but by something more. They were both Spirits.
All along, she had known it was true.
His face must have changed, because Kari drew away with a satisfied smile. He headed for the sleigh and the reindeer snorted as he came close.
“Leave it alone!” Tuomas snapped, fighting back a shiver as the cold swept through him.
“I’m not after your animal,” Kari replied.
When he returned, he held Henrik’s drum and hammer under one arm. In his other hand was one of Tuomas’s knives.
Tuomas eyed the blade in terror. Why did he have that?
“I’m surprised Lilja didn’t tell you,” Kari carried on. “I’m guessing you’ve been with her a while? It’s a long way from Akerfjorden to the Northern Edge of the World.”
“She might not have known,” Tuomas shot back.
“Of course she knows!” laughed Kari. “She delivered you – she sensed that life-soul come into you as sure as I did! And through all our wanderings, we stayed away from Akerfjorden, to give you space to grow. But I looked in on you from time to time. I went into a trance and travelled there to check on you. Just for fun at first. But then… I admit, I became a little jealous.”
His tone grew darker and he adjusted his grip on the knife. In the firelight, the flint looked even sharper. Tuomas tried not to panic.
“Look at you. Little more than a child, with all that raw otherworldly taika inside you! I worked and studied so hard, struggled through my test with hardly anything to show for it. And then Lilja came along, touched by the Great Bear Spirit… No matter how much effort I put into my power, it will never be enough. I’ve been a mage for longer than you’ve even drawn breath, and yet here you are. Just a boy! I should be able to break you between my finger and thumb! But you are so much more!”
He composed himself, taking a few deep breaths before continuing.
“And I will make it so much more. This is for the good of everyone. All the people I’ll be able to help; all the songs which will be sung of me. It’s the best outcome.”
Behind him, the demon growled. Tuomas caught a whiff of its stinking breath and recoiled.
“The Spirits will punish you for this!” he cried.
“The Spirits don’t care,” Kari snarled.
He held up the knife. Tuomas flinched, but instead of bringing it down into his flesh, Kari cut the cords holding his coat together. He pulled the fur aside, then began slicing the blade up Tuomas’s tunic, cutting it open. His skin crawled as the edge slid along his chest.
“It was best to leave this part until you woke up,” Kari said. “Otherwise you would have frozen solid.”
When Tuomas spoke, his voice was hoarse with fear.
“What are you going to do?”
Ka
ri smiled. It was so soft; in any other circumstances it would have seemed friendly.
“I’m going to put that life-soul of yours to better use,” he replied. “My little demon will be its new home. And then Lilja and I will share out that beautiful taika… but I will get the larger share, of course.”
Tuomas’s breathing quickened.
“Lilja’s my friend.”
“She’s my sister,” Kari pointed out. “And, quite frankly, if you honestly thought she was your friend, you don’t know her at all.”
By this point, he had finished cutting through Tuomas’s tunic, and held the material apart to look down at his bare chest. Tuomas shivered as the cold seeped into his flesh.
“She… got that demon away from me!” he argued, his teeth chattering.
“So she could get you to trust her!” Kari chuckled triumphantly.
Tuomas shook his head. “I don’t believe it.”
“Then I suppose you also won’t believe that she has a little stake in that demon too?”
“What?”
“Did you ever see a mark like this on her?” Kari motioned to the scar on his throat.
Tuomas went to snarl a reply, but then he realised – it was exactly the same as Lilja’s scar.
He hadn’t been sure how she might have gotten it, and had known better not to press her for answers. Yet now, the final piece fell into the puzzle, and his heart sank.
She had been in league with her brother all along.
“No!” he gasped.
“She didn’t want anything to do with it at first,” said Kari. “So I got the demon to give her a little slash. Once my intent got into her blood, she came around to my way of thinking. But then the Earth Spirits came and dragged me down into that prison. Not Lilja though. The demon got away, and so did she.”
“That’s not what she told me!”
“Another ruse? Smart girl. Let me guess, she said she had nothing to do with me?”