Sacred Ground

by Alex Archer

  He looked into her eyes. “Do you really need the answer to that question?”

  “Maybe.”

  He smirked. “You’ve got a real playful side to you, don’t you?”

  “Doesn’t everyone?”

  Godwin shrugged. “Not necessarily. I’ve known plenty of people who couldn’t have fun if their lives depended on it. They’re so locked into these molds they think society wants them to be in that they forget how to be human, how to have fun or just generally be entertaining to be around.”

  “Well, I’ve found that brushes with death are a real good cure-all for that kind of behavior.”

  “Is that so?” Godwin rubbed his chin. “Perhaps I should look into that kind of action. Get the old blood flowing, huh?”

  Annja patted his chest. “You know, part of me thinks that there are a lot of different sides to you and you’re very careful about what you show the rest of the world. And that underneath whatever exterior you project, there’s something pretty special happening there.”

  Godwin smiled. “Maybe you’re right.”

  “I think I am.”

  Godwin cleared his throat. “Yeah, well, if you happen to feel like sticking around, who knows? You just might find out if you’re right or wrong.”

  “I’ve been wrong before,” Annja said. “Being right feels a whole lot better to me.”

  “Yeah, I thought you might say that.”

  “So, for chuckles, why don’t you tell me what’s so important that you want me to hang around for?”

  Godwin looked around the room. “We’ve got a good thing going on here. But I’d be a fool to think that it’s absolutely secure.”

  “You think someone wants to sabotage it?”

  “No, it’s not that. These are good men. Any one of them would stand on the word he gives. But I feel like we might be threatened from an exterior influence.”

  “Meaning what?”

  “We need to find Derek and Hansen.” Godwin looked around the room again. “As long as they’re around, we have a potential problem. A big one at that.”

  “You think they’d try to take the deal into the courtroom and battle it out there?” Annja sighed. The prospect of having to go after those two didn’t exactly warm her over. She wanted to go home and be away from all of this craziness. She needed to figure out how she’d managed to defeat a dark god—if that’s what she’d done. Tracking people across the frozen tundra didn’t sound like a lot of fun.

  “They might,” Godwin said. “Or they might try to get up to their old tricks and start some sort of evil again.”

  “But their god…I killed it, I guess.”

  Godwin nodded. “Wishman filled us in on what you accomplished. How you did that, I don’t think I’ll ever know.”

  “Join the club.”

  “But the idea of it worries me. If they could somehow…resurrect that thing, then what’s to stop them from trying again with some other long-forgotten deity?”

  “How many more are there?” Annja asked. “I was hoping that would be the only one.”

  Godwin looked at her. “You’re not that naive. You know as well as I do that the universe is rife with evil. Wherever good exists, there’s the counterbalance. And sometimes, it’s unbalanced.”

  “And you feel that leaving Hansen and Derek to their own devices would unbalance things in their favor, right?”

  Godwin nodded. “We’ve done a lot of work here. A lot of good things have been ironed out. And to just take our chances at this point would be an insult to that work. We’ve got to make sure that we can have a lasting deal that will provide for the future generations of the Araktak. Not to mention the welfare of the miners and their families. For this thing to work, we need to find those two before they unleash something else against all of us.”

  “And you feel strongly that they will.”

  “Very much so.”

  Annja sighed. She felt eyes on her and glanced up to see Wishman and Nyaktuk watching them intently. She frowned and glanced back at Godwin. “I see this was a tag-team recruitment, huh?”

  He smiled. “I won’t insult you by suggesting otherwise. Wishman came to me and said he felt like it would be easier if I spoke with you about it. When you interrupted them over there, that was just coincidence.”

  Annja shook her head. “No such thing as coincidence.”

  “Well, it was unintentional on our part. The fact that you expressed an interest, though, that makes me feel like you might be willing to come along with us.”

  “Us? Who’s going on this little adventure?”

  Godwin shrugged. “Well, me for one.”

  “That’s a good start.”

  He smiled. “And Wishman says he must come with us. Nyaktuk will be there, as well.”

  “Four of us?”

  “We mentioned it to Dufresne, in order to give him the option of accompanying us. It was mostly out of respect, but we’d welcome another hand on the mission. God knows what those two might be up to out there.”

  Annja sighed. She could tell that what they told her was the truth. Leaving Derek and Hansen alone would probably only produce a greater threat in the near future. And if Annja thought about the sword as part of her destiny, then she had to be willing to accept the notion that she had the sword for a reason—to help thwart evil wherever it might manifest itself.

  And evil had certainly manifested itself here in the frozen Arctic. Despite her stopping the evil creature that Hansen and Derek had summoned forth, the simple truth was they still lived.

  Unless they had succumbed to the environment.

  But somehow Annja didn’t think so. She’d seen enough evil to know that it would burn hottest in the hearts filled with hatred and rage. The two of them would survive out there, wherever they were. Most likely, they would even find a way to thrive in the inhospitable environment, fueled by their rampaging quest for personal power and glory.

  If a line was to be drawn in the war against good and evil, then now was the time. Whether Annja felt like drawing it or not. She didn’t feel that she had much of a choice in the matter.

  Destiny.

  Annja waved Wishman and Nyaktuk over. She watched them move quickly as if they had been waiting for the signal for hours.

  Wishman smiled at her. “I am sorry that we’ve had to put you in this situation, Annja.”

  “At least you’re calling me by my real name. That’s a start, I suppose.” She smiled at him. “You feel strong enough to make the trip? We might have to journey a long way. They have a head start of many miles on us. They could be headed anywhere. And there’s been fresh snow while I was unconscious. That means their trail will be a hard one to follow.”

  Wishman smiled. “We have traveled these lands for millennia. We know every branch and stone for hundreds of miles. If we listen closely, the spirit of the land will tell us exactly how to find them.”

  Nyaktuk grunted. “I can track them anywhere. I have had many good teachers who have schooled me in the ways of tracking men.”

  Annja looked at Godwin. “And you? You’re up for this?”

  Godwin nodded. “I’m looking forward to it. It will allow me to feel closer to the roots of my heritage.”

  “Godwin is ready to undertake this journey,” Wishman said. “And in fact, it will be necessary for his personal destiny.”

  Annja shrugged. “Well, I guess there’s no way I’m getting out of it, huh?”

  Godwin grinned. “Is that a yes?”

  “It’s not a no.” Annja looked at them as one and sighed. “When do we leave?”

  29

  The next morning dawned white and frosty again as the cold winds swept over the plain. Annja was up earlier than she expected, feeling as though she’d stored almost too much energy during her two-day impromptu vacation. She could feel the restlessness in her spirit and knew she wanted to get on with the journey. In reality, it was more likely a hunt than anything else.

  She stood atop the burial
mound and waited for the others to arrive. As she scanned the surrounding countryside, she wondered which way Derek and Hansen would travel. The wide, gently sloping plain spread in every direction for at least a mile, hemmed in by swaths of snow-frosted pine trees. Every now and again, the winds would send shuddering waves through the boughs, giving the area a strange atmosphere of desolation and loneliness.

  As Annja stood there, she cast her eyes north. Beyond this point, the land receded as the Arctic Ocean swelled inland, breaking the masses into islands and peninsulas. Travelers who did not know the lay of the land could easily find themselves trapped on an outcropping that would be nothing but a dead end.

  Still, Annja wasn’t worried. With Wishman and Nyaktuk as her guides, they would be able to follow the landmasses and track Derek and Hansen. That was assuming they were even still in the area.

  But Wishman seemed to think they were.

  To the east and west, the landscape changed to include hills that grew to mountains covered by rocks, lichen and stubby trees. She could clearly make out the snow-covered craggy peaks that jutted out of the earth at odd angles. Perhaps Derek and Hansen had trekked that way. Given that their first goal was not achieved, Wishman felt they might have a backup plan. Was there some evil denizen lurking in the ancient mountains they would seek to call forth?

  Annja shuddered. There was something inherently desolate about being in such a frozen environment. Life seemed scant and restricted to the few hours that the sun tried to reclaim its dominant position in the sky. Otherwise, darkness and the cold reigned supreme, forcing life into hollows and tunnels beneath the frigid crust.

  Even the dead had to find solace under the earth, Annja thought. And they weren’t safe. What chance do we have out in the open, as we’ll be, hunting two avowed evildoers intent on causing mayhem and destruction?

  But she wouldn’t lose herself in the uncertainty of the situation. What was the use in that? As she took a breath, she caught a whiff of something on the air and turned instinctively toward the entrance of the burial mound. The delicate perfume scent seemed to emanate from inside.

  Annja stooped in front of the entrance and sucked another breath in through her nostrils. The smell was there and she reeled back. She felt light-headed and almost swooned from the scent. What was that smell? It was the same as the one from the herb she’d found the other day in the wake of the explosion. But that had crumbled into dust as soon as she picked it up. Unable to identify it that quickly, she would never know what it was.

  “Annja?”

  She turned and saw Wishman coming through the trees toward her. She stood and greeted him. He nodded at the burial mound.

  “Reliving the victory?”

  Annja shook her head. “I smelled something.”

  “What?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know what it is, actually. But the other day when we went down to see the damage, I found something. It looked like an herb or a plant or something. But it was so badly burned that it crumbled in my hands. Only the scent remained. The same as I just smelled. It caused me to go light-headed.”

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yes. Now. A bit of fresh air is all I really needed. But it’s got me thinking that something like that would be a powerful sedative if applied properly.”

  Wishman smiled. “Most likely, it was a bundle of sacred plants used to help seal the wall. When the explosion happened, the plants, now dried and fragile anyway, would have pretty much vaporized. Perhaps that is what you smelled.”

  “What sort of herbs would have been used to seal the wall?”

  Wishman shrugged. “Strong medicinal plants most likely. Belladonna, oleander, assorted other varieties.”

  “Some of those aren’t indigenous to this area.”

  “No, but as with the lignum vitae wood, we bartered for the more exotic plants. The goal was to use enough of a magical combination to ensure the creature inside did not have a chance to escape.”

  Annja raised her eyebrows. “So, you borrowed magical techniques from other places?”

  “One of the foundations of the Araktak tribe is that we will always use what works best for our cause. If we are in need of material, or even knowledge, then we will do whatever it takes to obtain such things. In this case, our shamans determined that what we needed were more powerful herbs than we had access to.”

  “I never realized that the trade routes of the Inuit were as well-established as they seem to be.”

  Wishman smiled. “One of the great unknowns, but yet, we did remarkably well before the modern age. For hundreds of years our kind spread out into five distinct areas, trading with Europeans and Norsemen who settled parts of Greenland and Labrador.”

  “It’s all fascinating,” Annja said.

  “It is our history,” Wishman said. “And now we have the opportunity to write yet another chapter of our ongoing saga.”

  “The war between good and evil,” Annja said. “And I suppose I’m one of those things that you go out and obtain if it helps your cause. Is that right?”

  Wishman’s smile grew larger. “You see? You are becoming much more accustomed to the Araktak way of life than you realize. That is indeed what you might say we are engaged in now.”

  “So, I’m a tool?”

  “You are a friend, Annja. Never forget that.”

  Godwin came through the trees, followed by Nyaktuk. Nyaktuk drew two sledges behind him, with deep runners that sliced into the fresh snow. Atop the sledges, several packs of provisions lay along with three rifles.

  Annja nodded at the sledges. “Three guns only?”

  Godwin smiled. “Well, you do have that sword. We felt giving you a gun might be unfair to our enemies.”

  Annja smiled. “Good morning to you, too.”

  Nyaktuk brought one hand up and shaded his brow with it. He looked to Wishman. “Which way do you think they have headed?”

  Wishman closed his eyes and chanted softly under his breath. After a minute of this, he opened them again and turned slightly to the right. “East. To the mountains. They will make for the Ragjik Pass.”

  “What’s the Ragjik Pass?” Annja asked.

  Nyaktuk frowned. “A place of despair.”

  Annja sighed. “That doesn’t tell me much.”

  Wishman held up his hand. “We must start now. The pass lays a solid thirty miles to the east. And they have a head start on us.”

  Annja frowned. “No dogs for this leg of the journey, huh?”

  “We will take turns riding the sledges to conserve our strength,” Wishman said. “And on the downward legs, we’ll be able to ride, as well. But I fear most of our journey will be a climb.”

  Godwin smiled at Annja. “Still up for this?”

  “If I try to leave, will you let me go?”

  “Not a chance.” He smirked. “Not that I’m kidnapping you or anything. But you know, we need you on this.”

  Annja held up her hands. “We did the recruitment thing last night. It’s fine. I’m in all the way on this.” She turned to Nyaktuk. “Now, tell more about the Ragjik Pass. Why is it so full of despair?”

  Nyaktuk tightened the straps on the sledge. “The pass is virtually inaccessible during the winter snows. Avalanches are common in those parts. It is wise to avoid them at all costs.”

  “Ah,” Annja said. “So this is turning into a suicide mission.” She sighed. “Well, as long as I know what to expect.”

  Godwin rubbed her shoulder. “We’re in this together.”

  “I know it.” She glanced at Wishman. “Is there any sort of significance to the pass itself? Why would they head there when they could go someplace more hospitable to them?”

  Wishman shook his head. “The pass is supposedly haunted by an evil spirit that seeks to trap climbers and bury them alive. The legend is that the spirit is of a great animal that used to roam these parts but has since fallen extinct.”

  “What, like a mammoth or something?”

 
Wishman shrugged. “No one knows. Over the years many have ventured into the pass. None of them have ever returned to tell the stories of their adventures. I have known a dozen men from various tribes who have tried their luck. None of them live this day.”

  “And that’s where we’re going. I really need to plan my vacations better.”

  Annja mounted the sledge closest to her and looked at the others. “So, why are we still here? Let’s get going. How long will it take us to cover the thirty miles to the mountains?”

  Nyaktuk shook his head. “It depends on the conditions. We could reach it in a day or two. Or it could take us longer. We are still in the grip of winter and the snow falls long and hard this time of year. Any bit of travel will have to be cautious. But we know the route to travel and the safest one is also the fastest.”

  Annja watched as Wishman settled himself on the lead sledge. Nyaktuk would drive it by running and walking through the snow. Annja hoped he’d had a big breakfast.

  Godwin stood next to Annja and she gestured for him to climb aboard. “I’ll take the first shift driving.”

  He frowned. “Are you sure? Something about that doesn’t feel right. Maybe I should take the first stint.”

  “Don’t get all manly on me now. Just take the chance to rest. I’ve got a ton of extra energy I’m actually dying to burn off. Now, let’s stop arguing about it and just get going.”

  She pushed off, following Nyaktuk at a comfortable pace. They slid down the gentle incline of the plain and then in minutes, they were already into the trees at the far side of the plain.

  Behind them, the burial mound receded from view. Annja glanced at it one last time and wondered if she would see it again.

  “Dufresne turned down the chance to come along, huh?”

  Godwin nodded. “He said his place was with his men. I don’t know if he has the stomach for what we’re doing.”

  “And what exactly are we doing?”

  “Stopping Hansen and Derek.”

  “By doing what?”

  Godwin shifted to look at her. “What exactly are you asking me, Annja? Do you want to know if we’re going to kill them?”

  Annja shook her head. “I think I know the answer to that question.”