by Sue Harrison
“The men asked him to tell hunting stories. I came to feed the dogs and see if you need anything, but I should go back.”
Aqamdax kept her disappointment hidden. Only a moon before he had not been her husband. Then, a quick smile when others were not looking was all they dared. How could she complain now that they belonged to one another?
“How bad is the storm?” she asked.
“Like the others,” he replied, and shrugged his shoulders as though it did not matter, but she could tell it bothered him. How could a man hunt? How could a woman keep her traplines open?
She gave Chakliux food, filled his bowl again so he would stay longer. When he left, she sang songs to fill the lodge, and told stories, Cries-loud begging for more even when her voice grew hoarse from speaking. Later in the day, Yaa and Ghaden came to the lodge, and Aqamdax taught them all a First Men song.
She fed the children, took Carries Much to Bird Caller so the woman could see him. Aqamdax herself was nursing the baby now, and each day she had more milk. She fought the storm back to Snow’s lodge, told Ghaden and Yaa she wanted them to spend the night, but in the early darkness of that evening, Star came, scolded both children for worrying her. Then when the children begged, she agreed that Cries-loud could come and stay in her lodge with Ghaden and Yaa.
Aqamdax met Star’s eyes boldly. “You know I cannot let him go with you,” she said.
“You trust your brother and sister with me and yet not Cries-loud?”
“I have no choice with my brother and sister,” she said, “but Cries-loud belongs to Sok. You must ask him.”
“Where is he? I thought he would be here.”
“He and Chakliux are at the hunters’ lodge.”
“A new husband does not live with his new wife?” Star asked, mocking her with raised eyebrows.
Aqamdax did not answer. She knew the truth. What else mattered?
“I will go to the hunters’ lodge and ask,” Star told her, but Aqamdax put on her outside clothes, bound the baby under her parka and went with her. Together they stood outside huddled with Yaa as Ghaden and Cries-loud went in. Finally Chakliux came out, said Sok wanted the boy to stay in Snow’s lodge until the storm ended.
Star thrust her lip into a pout, and grabbing fistfuls of Yaa’s and Ghaden’s parkas, dragged them with her to her lodge.
“Wait for me,” Chakliux told Aqamdax, and he followed Star to her lodge.
Aqamdax and Cries-loud waited, crouched beside the hunters’ lodge, heads turned away from the wind. When Chakliux came back, his face was grim, but Aqamdax asked no questions, said nothing about Star. Chakliux walked Aqamdax and Cries-loud to Snow’s lodge, stayed with them there through the evening before returning to his brother.
That night Chakliux dreamed he was with Aqamdax. He turned in his sleep, flung an arm over her to pull her close, then sat up, suddenly awake. He heard the sleep noises of the men, smelled the thick odor of their breaths, rich with the meat they had eaten the day before.
Sok was not in his bedding furs. His parka no longer hung on the clothing pegs. Take More sat beside the hearth fire, was feeding thin sticks into the coals.
“He left,” he said to Chakliux.
“You did not stop him?” Chakliux asked.
“Is he a child that I must stop him?”
“Did he say anything to you?”
“That someone was calling him.”
Chakliux dressed and went outside, studied the footprints the snow had not yet covered. The largest went toward Sok’s lodge, and Chakliux began to hope his brother had stopped for food and supplies.
Then, through the darkness, Chakliux saw Sok leaving the lodge, a pack on his back. He did not take any of the dogs, but instead started toward the caches. The new snow, not yet hardened by the wind, reached Chakliux’s knees, and his otter foot slipped. He toppled into the snow, but he pushed himself up and caught Sok before he reached the caches.
When Sok saw Chakliux, he said, “My wife is calling me. I cannot pretend anymore that I do not hear.”
“Where are you going?”
“To find her.”
Chakliux grasped his brother’s arm, lifted his voice above the screaming wind. “What if she is calling you to her world? Who will raise your sons? Your wife would trust them to another?”
“They are yours if I do not return,” Sok said, then continued toward their food cache.
Again Chakliux caught his brother’s arm. “I am going with you.”
Sok shook his head. “Who will take care of my children if both of us are called into that spirit world?”
“She does not call me.”
Sok stomped his feet against the ground, brushed snow from the ruff of his hood. “Come if you must,” he finally said.
“I cannot go without telling Aqamdax.”
“I will get meat while you speak to her.”
Chakliux clamped a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “You will wait for me?”
“Yes.”
Chakliux turned and ran to the lodge.
Aqamdax was feeding Carries Much when her husband burst into the lodge. She was relieved to see him, began speaking before he could say anything.
“Sok was here. There is something wrong. You need to talk to him. He would tell me nothing. He took Carries Much from his cradleboard and whispered into his ears. Then he gave Cries-loud one of his best spears. The long one he uses for caribou.”
Chakliux crouched in front of his wife and looked into her face. “I saw him. He thinks his dead wife calls him from the storm. He says he must go to her.”
“Do you think she is calling? Why would she want him to leave her new son? What if the wife calling him is not Snow but Red Leaf?”
“I am going with him.”
“No! Chakliux, look at me. I have a baby to care for, and Cries-loud, and my brother and Yaa….” She saw the sorrow in his face, the worry, and she choked down her protests. “I have taken care of children before,” she said softly. “But I cannot lose you. Please, Chakliux…”
He enclosed her in his arms, whispered into her hair, “If I let him go alone, he will not come back. If we go together, I have a chance to bring him home. But whatever his decision, I will be back. I will never leave you. You are always at the center of my heart.”
Then he had weapons in his hands, a pack, and before Aqamdax could think of other arguments, he was gone. She cradled the baby in one arm and crawled into the entrance tunnel, lifted the doorflap to watch Chakliux leave, but the snow swallowed him, and she could see nothing but the storm.
She went into the lodge. Cries-loud had squeezed himself into a ball, knees drawn nearly to his chin. The spear Sok had given him was in his hands, the butt end resting against the floor, the spearhead pointing up as though to threaten the wind.
Aqamdax sat beside him, adjusted the baby at her breast, began to rock and hum. Then a story came into her mind, a silly tale of gulls and kittiwakes, and she began to speak. Soon Cries-loud was leaning against her, the spear between them, and Aqamdax told stories long into the night.
Chapter Forty-seven
THE DAY DAWNED BRIGHT and clear, as though the storm had never been. Ligige’ stomped out a path through the snow to her dog, was welcomed by his yips. When he had first belonged to the Near River shaman, Wolf-and-Raven, the animal was nearly wild, snapping at anyone who came close, but as the years passed he had gentled, and after Wolf-and-Raven’s death, when his widow gave the dog to Ligige’, he was nearly as much a pet as Ghaden’s dog, Biter.
Ligige’ fed him a large fish, then tossed out several chunks of fat. If people saw her giving him the fat, they would think she was foolish, but she told herself that if starving times came, she could always eat the dog, so any fat given was not really wasted. The winter promised to be a bad one. During the next storm, she would let the dog sleep in the entrance tunnel. After all, what could anyone say to her? She was not a child to be scolded. Old women had earned the right to do things diffe
rently if they wanted.
When the dog finished eating, Ligige’ ran her hands over him, broke away ice from his tail and feet, endured the slimy warmth of his tongue against her face.
When she was satisfied he had survived the storm well, she stood up, looked at the Cousin People Village. The domed caribou hide lodges sent thin spirals of gray smoke into the blue sky, and the snow glittered under the sun, so bright it hurt her eyes. She sighed. It was too beautiful a day to go to Star’s lodge, but now that Aqamdax was no longer wife to Night Man, who would watch over Yaa and Ghaden if she did not? She sighed again and, leaning on her walking stick, tottered through the snow on her old-woman feet.
She could hear Star yelling even before she came to the lodge. When her scratching brought no response, she pulled aside the door-flap in disgust and went inside. Yaa and Ghaden were huddled together between two stacks of baskets. The dog Biter, allowed once more in Star’s lodge, lay in front of them as though to offer protection from her words. Night Man had returned also, and he was laughing. His laughter seemed to add to Star’s rage, and until Ligige’ raised her voice to scream out a greeting neither noticed that she was in the lodge.
Star was suddenly quiet, but her mouth stayed open as though an abundance of unspoken words still forced her teeth apart. Ghaden took advantage of the silence by jumping to his feet and running to Ligige’, crying out, “Thank you for asking us to stay with you tonight.”
The boy grabbed his pack and parka, called Biter and was into the entrance tunnel before anyone could react.
Star lifted her voice into a howl, but Ligige’ asked Night Man, “You do not care if I take them?”
“It would be best,” he said.
Yaa scrambled to her feet, got her things and joined her brother. Ligige’ nodded toward Long Eyes, who sat at the back of the lodge. “You need me to take her also?” Ligige’ asked.
“Some other day perhaps,” Night Man said. Ligige’ thought he tried to smile, but with Night Man it was difficult to tell. His smiles were usually of derision, not gratitude. She followed Yaa and Ghaden into the brightness of the snow, called them back to her when they began to run toward her lodge. They whooped when she lifted her chin toward Aqamdax’s lodge, and without greetings or the politeness of scratching, tumbled into the entrance tunnel, Biter following them.
Ligige’ shook her head and chuckled. How could she scold them? They only acted out their joy. She had let them stay too long with Star.
Aqamdax heard the voices before anyone scratched, felt her spirits lift. Cries-loud jumped up from where he was poking at a bowl of food, and Aqamdax was happy to see a smile light his face. The boy had lost too much in the last few moons—a brother, two mothers and perhaps now a father.
He pushed opened the doorflap, and a rush of cold air came from the entrance tunnel. Biter bounded in and began to bark. Aqamdax hushed him and checked the baby, sure the chill and noise would wake him up, but he slept on. Then Ghaden and Yaa were in the lodge, filling it with their happy voices, and Ligige’ followed close behind them.
Aqamdax offered them food and tried not to act concerned when Ghaden and Yaa gobbled their meat and Biter whined more piteously than usual for a share.
She leaned close to Ligige’, whispered, “You think Star has been feeding them?”
Ligige’ pursed her lips. “Not as much as she should. I will try to watch them better. Perhaps Sok can help us, at least until Star will again welcome Chakliux into her lodge.”
“You had not heard that Sok left the village?” Aqamdax asked, then saw the surprise on Ligige’’s face, a quickly hidden look of concern.
“Hunting?” she asked.
Aqamdax looked past Ligige’ to Cries-loud, then said, “Yes, hunting,” and saw that Ligige’ understood. “Chakliux went with him.”
Ligige’ began to ask questions, but Aqamdax shook her head, then said to the children, “When you have finished eating, I have something for you to do. There is much work. You cannot always play.”
Ghaden groaned, and Yaa scolded him, but when Aqamdax brought out the caribou hide, the flesh side well scraped, all three shouted out their gladness and set their food bowls down to lace boots and find mittens.
“Take it to the hill at the east side of the village. The snow should be packed hardest there, and be sure you keep the hide hair side down.”
Their sliding would rub much of the hair from the hide, and she would have less to scrape. When the children were gone, Aqamdax told Ligige’ what she knew, then the two sat together, Ligige’ speaking of everyday things, telling funny stories that made Aqamdax laugh and lifted her heart, if only for a little while.
THE FOUR RIVERS VILLAGE
K’os kicked away the snow at the entrance of Red Leaf’s lodge and called out.
Red Leaf pushed aside the outer doorflap. “I would invite you inside, but my husband forbids me.”
K’os had seen that no one had left the lodge that morning; her own footprints were the first in the new, untrampled snow, but she said, “You think I believe you? Perhaps you do not want to share your food. Perhaps you are that selfish, even after the gifts my husband gave you.”
“You know Cen is here,” Red Leaf said, and looked past K’os at the path she had made with her snowshoes. “No one has left this lodge yet today.”
“You know I have a husband now,” K’os said. “I came only to warn you that he has promised vengeance for me on my son Chakliux. He will soon go to the Cousin River Village, and of course he knows who you are.” K’os shrugged her shoulders. “He has decided to tell Sok that you are here. I tried to reason with him. After all, what harm can come from having you in this village? But he is a man much concerned with curses.”
“I have meat in my husband’s cache,” Red Leaf said, her voice quiet. “Beautiful fox pelts, better than any I have ever seen before, wolf pelts, and a fur seal pelt my husband took in trade….”
K’os tilted her head, looked into Red Leaf’s eyes. “You have nothing I want,” she said. “Now that I have a husband, I do not even want Cen. How sad for you. You had the chance, but now…” She lifted her hands, her mittens spread wide over her splayed fingers.
“Of course, you could hide again, but what chance would your daughter have? It is difficult enough for a child to survive winter in a strong village, let alone with only a mother to provide for her. You could leave the child, but then Cen would wonder why you went. I think he would follow you. I do have a plan that might work for you so at least your daughter could be saved. But go now and be with your husband.” K’os reached out and patted Red Leaf’s shoulder. “Enjoy him and the warmth of his lodge while you can. I will be back later when you and I can be alone.”
She saw the despair on Red Leaf’s face, the fear, and left with a smile hidden inside her cheek. How good that she had come to this village where Cen lived. How wonderful that Red Leaf, too, had found her way here.
K’os allowed her thoughts to drift back through the years to Chakliux’s poor ugly wife, Gguzaakk. That woman, like Red Leaf, had stolen something that in truth belonged to K’os. K’os remembered Gguzaakk’s slow dying, the sickness brought on by poison. She sucked in her cheeks and savored the thought of Red Leaf dying in the same way. Of course, Red Leaf was not as strong as Gguzaakk had been. She would not die so bravely. And who would Cen have to blame for that death except himself, fool that he was to claim a murderer as wife?
THE COUSIN RIVER VILLAGE
Ligige’ stayed with Aqamdax most of the day, and the children, in their sliding, wore the hair from two caribou hides. Aqamdax and Ligige’ staked the first hide hair side up over a portion of the lodge floor, then scraped and smoothed the hide with bone drawknives and sandstone.
When the shadows grew long, Aqamdax called the children inside. Wolves would be out on a warm day after a storm, and what was easier to catch than a girl or boy in deep snow?
When Cries-loud begged to go with Yaa and Ghaden to Ligige’’s lodge, how co
uld Aqamdax refuse him? His face was pink and glowing, and his eyes danced. Could she ask him to return to the fear and emptiness he had endured the night before? Ligige’ reached out to touch Aqamdax’s cheek before they left, and Aqamdax felt the trail of her fingers like a smooth path through her pain.
“You will be all right here alone?” Ligige’ asked.
Aqamdax forced a smile. “I am not alone,” she said, and nodded toward the cradleboard. Carries Much was awake, his dark eyes a brightness in the shadows of the lodge.
“Aaa, babies are good company,” Ligige’ said, “but much work.”
“Today I am glad for busy hands,” Aqamdax told her.
Then they were gone, and Aqamdax was left alone with Carries Much in Sok’s lodge. How strange, she thought, remembering back to the first few moons she had lived with the River People. She had been Sok’s wife then, had hated him, and did not yet understand that she was growing to love Chakliux. Then, she would have welcomed time alone.
She went back to the caribou hide she and Ligige’ had been scraping, and as she worked she sang to Carries Much. Her song took her back to the warm earthen lodges of her childhood, and her voice filled the emptiness so it seemed that many were listening.
She closed her eyes, thought of those days when she was a storyteller for her people. Then her lodge was crowded, and everyone was eager to hear her words. Now, only the wind listened, waiting at the smoke hole. Aqamdax raised her voice until her song was loud enough to reach the top of the lodge so the wind could hear and would not be tempted to come closer, squeezing in through awl holes and lodge seams to sit with her near the hearth fire.
Chapter Forty-eight
AT THE FIRST HINT of dawn, Ligige’ left her bed and slipped into her outside clothing. She sighed at the sound of the wind. What a difficult winter it would be if the storms continued to come one after another. At least their caches were full.
She woke Yaa, asked her to make sure the boys did not go far from her lodge, then told her that she would check her snares, reset them, though that was probably a useless thing to do with a storm so near.