by Sue Harrison
THE COUSIN RIVER VILLAGE
Night Man nodded toward the dwindling pile of wood, and Star hissed at him. “You are the one who sits doing nothing,” she said. “Who brought all our supplies into this lodge? Who started the fire and hung the cooking bag? Who brushed the snow from your parka? You go get the wood.”
They were alone in the lodge; Yaa and Ghaden had been sent to help others unload supplies and fill caches. Night Man leaned close to his sister, lifted her chin with forefinger and thumb, pinched. Star pulled away from him.
“You spend so much time thinking about yourself that you do not see what is happening around you,” Night Man told her. “Why did Aqamdax leave this lodge as soon as her packs were in the entrance tunnel? She is planning something.”
“A new lodge. That is what she plans, lazy one,” Star said. “A wife should be ashamed to live with her husband’s sister.”
“You think those are her only plans?” Night Man asked. “Nothing more? You have not noticed that Chakliux’s eyes are always on Aqamdax, and that she mentions him as often as she can when she speaks?”
“You lie,” Star said, her voice low, shaking.
“Why would I lie? Do you think I want to see my sister hurt? Do you think I want to lose my own wife?” He brushed the fur of his inside parka. “Look,” he said. “She made this. She made me sealskin boots. Is there another woman in this village who knows how to make waterproof clothing?”
“She said she would teach me,” Star mumbled.
“But have you learned?”
“I have too much work to do. When do I have a day to learn Sea Hunter ways?” Star raised her fingers to her mouth, began to gnaw at the ragged edges of her nails. “You think Chakliux will take her as wife?” she asked.
“I think he wants her. I do not know if he will take her. But why worry? He will not throw you away.” He pointed rudely at her belly, then uttered a coarse word for the child she carried.
She flicked her fingers in insult, and he shrugged. “You think I should feel sorry for you?” he asked. “You still have a husband to hunt for you. What will I do without a wife?”
“What about Sun Girl?” Star asked. “She has just returned from the Near Rivers and needs a husband. You can always get an old woman. An old woman would be better for you since you do not want babies.”
“Why do you think that?”
“You killed your son.”
He turned on her, his face suddenly dark, his lips pulled back from his teeth. “He was not mine. You think I would destroy my own son?”
“Why should it matter what I think?” Star said. “It will not change what you did. But have you ever considered that you might have been wrong?”
“It is better. There is not so much wind,” Chakliux called down to Sok.
Chakliux had burrowed an opening from their shelter out to the sky. The snow had nearly stopped, and though the wind was still strong enough to form drifts, it was no longer a storm wind.
Sok pulled his parka hood up over his ears, tightened the drawstring so the ruff covered all but his eyes, then joined his brother. They broke their packs from the snow, beat the ice from the tent hide they had used to cover themselves. It was frozen too stiff to fold, so when he had his pack in place on his back, Chakliux wrapped the hide like a sheath around his shoulders.
Sok moved as if he were asleep, his motions slow and clumsy, but finally they were ready, and Chakliux, using the few stars they could see during those times the wind died, set their course toward the Cousin Village.
They had seemed to walk forever in the storm, but perhaps they had not come as far as he thought. Were they foolish to be walking at night with the wind watching from the edges of the sky? Perhaps it had only been waiting for them to leave the security of their shelter, then would again become storm.
THE COUSIN RIVER VILLAGE
When Aqamdax heard Biter bark, she sat up in her bedding furs. A blow to the side of her face stunned her. She raised her arm, turned her head, then heard the whispers of the one who had hit her. Star. Aqamdax’s fear turned to anger. She was not an infant; she could fight back. But then she heard Biter growl and knew that he would attack. Aqamdax dropped as he jumped, rolled away as the dog took Star to the floor.
Star cried out in short harsh screams, and Aqamdax gave Biter a stern command to stop. He loosed his hold, stood over Star, growling, his teeth bared and gleaming in the light of the hearth coals.
Aqamdax looked up, saw Night Man crouched at the lodge entrance. “You are leaving?” she asked him. “You are not man enough to help your sister?”
She grasped the braided collar at Biter’s neck and dragged him past Night Man. Biter lunged toward Night Man’s weak arm, but Aqamdax thrust her weight against the dog and pulled him from the lodge. She fastened him to a tether, then went back inside for her parka, leggings and boots.
Night Man was roaring insults at Star and Ghaden, the boy still groggy with sleep. When he saw Aqamdax he lashed out at her, but she pretended she did not hear. When she was dressed, she stood in front of her husband, said quietly, “I throw you away.” Then she left. She cut Biter’s tether at the snow line and led him to Ligige’’s lodge.
Though it was night, the old woman met her at the entrance tunnel. She was wearing her outside parka, boots and mittens.
“Your husband has a loud voice,” Ligige’ told her.
“He is not my husband,” Aqamdax said.
“We will make room for you here tonight,” Ligige’ told her. “What is one more person in a small lodge except a little more heat?”
They tied Biter and returned to Star’s lodge. Aqamdax’s blankets, her baskets, hides and sewing supplies were all lying in the snow. Beside them was everything that belonged to Chakliux—weapons, bedding, and the clothing he had not taken with him on the caribou hunt.
It took them several trips, though Dii left her bed to help. When finally only a few baskets were left sitting in the snow, Ghaden poked his head out of the entrance tunnel. His face was too shadowed for Aqamdax to see his eyes, but when he spoke, she could tell he had been crying.
“Night Man told me you do not want to live with us,” he said.
Aqamdax went to her brother, squatted on her haunches in front of him. “I will stay with Ligige’,” she said, “so we will not be far apart. I am no longer wife to Night Man, but I am still your sister. I will always be your sister.”
“He says Biter hurt Star.”
“Only because Star tried to hurt me.”
“Star thinks Biter should be made into dog stew.”
Aqamdax set her hand on his shoulder. “Do not worry about Biter. He is safe at Ligige’’s lodge.”
“Can I sleep there, too, and Yaa?” Ghaden asked.
Aqamdax turned to look at Ligige’.
“Star is still your mother,” said Ligige’. “You must do what she says. When Chakliux returns, we will see what he says.” She picked up a basket, shook the snow from it.
Aqamdax hugged him, felt him hiccough. “I wish you could come, too,” she said softly, then he was gone, scooting back into the entrance tunnel. Aqamdax picked up the last of her belongings and walked to Ligige’’s small lodge.
Chapter Forty-four
SOK AND CHAKLIUX WALKED three days, camped three nights. The winds were bitter, driving the cold through their parkas and deep into their bones. But the air was dry and it did not snow.
The fourth day they began walking in the darkness of early morning. By the time the sun peaked in its shallow arc across the southern sky, Chakliux saw the smoke from the village hearths, a layer of haze that hung flat and still just beyond the hills that stood between them and the village. The ache in his leg, the cramps in the side of his otter foot, made him glad that their journey was almost over, but as he neared the village, his fears returned. If a leader falls from respectful ways, does he also pull his people down with him? Had his people arrived safely at their village or had some curse, brought on by his
own selfishness, blinded them to the way they should go?
Chakliux’s thoughts drew his eyes from the trail ahead, so when Sok called out, he was startled. He looked up, saw someone walking toward them. Sky Watcher. Who else was so tall, so thin, with shoulders not quite filled out to a man’s size? Sky Watcher lifted his hands in a sign of welcome, and though Sok was the elder and expected to speak first, Chakliux knew his brother’s sorrow would hinder his words.
Chakliux lifted his voice in a traditional greeting, and before Sky Watcher could reply, asked, “Everyone has returned safely?”
“Everyone,” Sky Watcher answered.
“And the old ones left behind?”
“All good.”
“The dogs?”
“Fighting as always.” Sky Watcher laughed, cleared his throat, and lifted his hand toward the hills that hid the village. “All the meat is in the caches, and our women work at scraping hides and finding firewood.” He kicked at the snow. “Your sons, Cries-loud and Carries Much,” he said to Sok, “they are staying with us in my wife’s lodge. She is glad to have the children near.” He looked into Sok’s face. “You are welcome to stay with us.”
“My wife?” Chakliux asked, stopping himself before he asked about Aqamdax.
Sky Watcher looked away, his eyes darting as though he were watching for hares or ground squirrels. “Star is angry,” he finally said. “Aqamdax threw away Night Man. Now Star believes you plan to take Aqamdax as your wife. The old women say she threw you away, too, and that Aqamdax has stored your things in Ligige’’s cache.”
The man looked at Chakliux, and Chakliux met his gaze. “I will take Aqamdax as wife,” he said, and saw that Sky Watcher was not surprised. “But I did not intend to throw away Star. Who would take her?”
“Perhaps she and Night Man will live together,” Sok said, and Chakliux was surprised that his brother was listening.
“There are enough old women in the village. Night Man will not be long without a wife,” said Sky Watcher.
“Where is Aqamdax staying?” Chakliux asked.
“With Ligige’.”
“Then that is where I will go.”
Someone scratched at the side of the lodge. Aqamdax set aside her sewing and glanced at Ligige’.
“Why are you afraid?” Ligige’ asked her. “What can he do to you?”
Aqamdax pulled aside the inner doorflap, called a welcome into the entrance tunnel. When she saw the top of Chakliux’s parka hood, she cried out her joy and met him in the tunnel. He pulled her into his arms.
“I was afraid…” she whispered. “I was afraid…you would not…”
“Hush, be still,” he said, and slipped off his mittens to run his hands over her face, to touch her lips, her hair.
She led him into Ligige’’s lodge, brushed the snow from his parka and hung it from a lodge pole, then sat beside him. Ligige’ offered him a bowl of food, and he grunted his thanks, eating quickly, as though he had had nothing for many days, making much noise smacking his lips in his gratitude for broth and meat.
Ligige’, pleased at such a compliment to the food she served, nodded her approval, then saw that Chakliux’s eyes, even as he ate, were studying the piles of blankets, baskets and packs that crowded her lodge.
“Ghaden and Yaa are still with Star?” he asked.
Ligige’ chuckled. “You are surprised to see so many supplies in an old woman’s lodge? You think I might have decided to become a trader in my old age?”
He laughed.
“You remember the child called Sun Girl?” Ligige’ asked him. “She was one of those K’os took to the Near River Village.”
“I remember. Her mother was—”
“Her mother is dead, as is her father.” Ligige’ flicked her fingers as if to push such a remembrance from her lodge. “Sun Girl left her Near River husband and came here. She brought her husband’s dogs and two of his travois with her.”
“He did not come after her?”
“He, too, is dead. You knew him, I think. He was once second husband to your mother and called himself father to you and Sok.”
Chakliux’s eyes opened wide. “He is dead?” he asked, leaning forward as though afraid to believe Ligige’’s words. “How?”
“That is something you should ask Sun Girl. She calls herself Dii now. She came during a storm and found my lodge first, so for a few days she stayed with me; now she has moved into her aunt’s lodge.”
“Twisted Stalk?”
“Yes, but all this you see near the door of my lodge, these are Dii’s things. Each day she comes and gets a few more. She says Twisted Stalk complains they do not have enough space, so she does not take much at any one time.”
Ligige’ lifted her chin at him, tilted her head. “You will mourn her husband?” she asked.
“No,” Chakliux replied, his answer short, harsh.
A thin whine came from the back of the lodge, and Chakliux jumped. “You have a dog in here?”
“Biter,” Ligige’ said. “You know Aqamdax threw away Night Man?”
Aqamdax drew in her breath, worried that Chakliux would be angry she had done so before he returned.
“Sky Watcher told me,” he said.
“You did not want me to?” she asked.
“I am glad you are not his wife,” he answered, and smiled, but the smile was shallow, like a ripple of water made by the wind. He looked tired, sad.
“Some say Star has thrown you away,” Ligige’ told him, and Aqamdax wished the old woman would be quiet. Chakliux had enough to think about with Night Man.
“So Sky Watcher told us. I will go see her myself,” Chakliux said, “and find out what is true. I want to be sure she will take care of Ghaden and Yaa. But why do you have Biter?”
“Night Man told Ghaden he would kill the dog.”
“Why?”
“Biter attacked Star.”
“He what?”
“He was protecting me,” Aqamdax said. “It is nothing for you to think about.” She wanted to ask about Sok. Did he plan to return to his dead wife’s lodge? Did he need help with his children? Perhaps she and Chakliux could live with him in Snow-in-her-hair’s lodge for the winter while Aqamdax finished sewing her lodge cover.
Ligige’ pointed with her chin at Aqamdax. “This woman here does not have a husband,” she said. “That is something for you to think about.”
Aqamdax wanted to leave the lodge, to hide her face from Chakliux’s eyes. Would he think she had complained?
But Chakliux acted as though he had not heard Ligige’’s words. He stood and said, “I will be back later.” And as suddenly as he had come, he left.
Ligige’ snorted, and Aqamdax spoke without thinking. “You were rude,” she said. “He will take care of me.”
“Too often, he considers those who do not deserve his concern before those who have earned his respect,” Ligige’ retorted.
“A man who leads his people must consider himself last,” Aqamdax said. “His wife and children, his parents, are part of him, and must take their place after the others.”
Ligige’ clicked her tongue. “If he cannot take care of his own family, what right does he have to watch over others? It is good I came to this village. Where would you go if I was not here?”
“I would be cold and hungry, Aunt,” said Aqamdax. “I will not forget what you have done for me.”
Again Ligige’ snorted, but this time she smiled.
Chakliux ran his hands over the knives he carried. One was strapped to his leg, another to his belt, a smaller knife hung under his parka like a necklace. “No fighting,” he breathed, lifting the words like a prayer. “No fighting.”
He entered Star’s lodge without a greeting, as though he were still her husband. Star shrieked when she saw him, covered her mouth with both hands and stood behind her brother.
“You did not hear that Star has thrown you away?” Night Man asked.
“I heard. I have come to ask her to again b
e my wife.”
Night Man looked up at his sister. “He misses your warm lodge,” he said to her.
Chakliux saw the hurt in her eyes and held back the anger that made him want to insult Night Man. He almost told Star she had been a good wife, and for that reason he wanted her back. But how could he say something that was not true? He wanted her for the child she carried in her belly, for that son or daughter. Otherwise he would rather she belonged to some other hunter.
“I have a warm lodge where I can live,” he said.
Again Night Man looked at his sister. She moved her hands from her mouth and stood like a child, twisting her fingers into her braided hair. “He does not want you for your cooking or sewing, and he does not need this lodge,” Night Man said. “He has another woman to warm his bed.” He reached up and patted her belly. “It must be this he is after.” He looked at Chakliux. “You have not considered that it might be a daughter?”
“Why should that matter?” Chakliux asked.
Night Man laughed. “See, Sister. It is not you he wants. Get a good bride price for yourself. He will pay much for that baby.”
“You have never looked at your sister before, Night Man?” Chakliux asked, his voice soft. “You have never seen her hair, dark as night? Her face shining like sun on water? You do not know that she is beautiful to look at? Where are your eyes?” He smiled at Star. “What do you want for a bride price?” he asked her.
Star looked at Chakliux, then down at her brother. “That you help me move my brother’s things from this lodge,” she said to Chakliux, and snapped her fingers in a gesture of insult. “He will not live here anymore.”
Chapter Forty-five
SOK INVITED CHAKLIUX AND Aqamdax to live with him and his two sons, and asked Aqamdax to care for the children until he took another wife. It would be better for Star and Aqamdax to live in separate lodges, he had said, and how could Aqamdax disagree with him?
As she moved from Ligige’’s lodge, Aqamdax could not help but remember those days when she had been Sok’s wife. He had pretended to be what he was not—a man who needed a wife. Aqamdax had believed him, had allowed his wide shoulders and strong arms to blind her to the truth, and then had hated him when he tried to trade her to the Walrus Hunters. He had thought the magic of her storytelling would entice the Walrus people to give much in trade for her, enough to pay the bride price for Snow-in-her-hair.