“It looks like a mackerel,” Eluf said. “A mighty big one at that,” he added.
While Eluf gutted the fish Draskawindit took a basket and foraged around the grove. She returned with wild berries, mushrooms, and birds eggs.
After a meal of roasted poroshawn, eggs and mushrooms, the party sat around the fire, popping wild berries into their mouths. Nogwinto climbed a nearby tree to the highest limb. He looked around.
“What’s he looking for?” Leif asked Draskawindit. He knew the Beothuk hunter well enough to know that he didn’t do anything without a good reason.
“The land between the land of grass and water and the Ice Wall is also home to the white bear. They are drawn to the water of the pools and the fish.”
“Do we need to fear these white bears?” He knew the answer to that question before he finished asking.
“The white bear is as tall as two tall men. He is all muscle, fangs, and claws.”
Nogwinto climbed down. He picked up his long bow and knocked an arrow. Leif stood up and stood behind Nogwinto. In the distance Leif saw something lifting its head as if to sniff at the air.
“White bear,” Draskawindit, now standing behind Leif, whispered.
The bear put its head down and charged forward. Nogwinto drew the bow back and waited. The bear kept on. Leif hoped Nogwinto’s aim would be true. Perhaps the hunter could place the arrow in a kill spot. They would be finding out soon enough.
The white bear stopped in its tracks. “What happened?” Leif asked Draskawindit.
“Nogwinto thinks the white bear has been killed.”
“How does he know this?”
“He can see the spear sticking out of the animal’s back.”
Leif and Nogwinto approached the fallen bear. As they got closer Leif saw that the beast had been impaled on the tip of a spear. The bear’s chest had lifted off the ground and rested on the back end of the spear tip. The shaft protruded through the back. Blood pooled onto the white fur and flowed onto the ground.
Leif touched the shaft then pushed it forward. The bear lifted its head and bellowed one time. The head fell forward. Leif looked at the spear. It was made from what the Beothuk called the sacred stones and what he called raw diamonds.
Twenty-three
Frost Giants
BY now the rest of the party had come out of hiding. They walked around the carcass of the animal.
“That’s the biggest bear I’ve ever seen,” Halvar said. As the oldest member of the sailing crew and native of Greenland, he’d seen many of the big bears that roamed the ice bound interior. Halvar removed his dagger from his belt. He grabbed the back of the animal’s head and set the blade against its throat.
Nogwinto spoke up when he saw the Vikings were about to dress the bear out. Draskawindit passed his words onto Leif. “Nogwinto says we should leave the white bear alone.”
Leif looked at his men. Kanute had joined Halvar now, holding the massive head in place.
“Nogwinto says we should leave the bear alone,” Leif repeated Draskawindit’s words to Halvar and Kanute.
Nogwinto walked around the front of the carcass. He tapped the spear-tip coming out of the bear’s chest. “Wobee Giwishuwet Pushaman,” he said over and over.
“What is he saying?” Leif asked Draskawindit.
“The long spear belongs to Wobee Giwishuwet Pushaman — the White Bear-Man.” Draskawindit replied.
At that moment any doubts Leif had about the material the spear was made of were gone. Leif brought Bjarte to the side, “The spear looks like it was made from the raw diamonds the Beothuk call sacred stones.”
“Indeed,” Bjarte said, touching the polished shaft of the spear.
“Well, what do you say, skipper?” Kanute asked. “Do we skin this beast or are we going to listen to the savage.”
“I think we should listen to the savage,” Leif said. “He’s been right about everything else so far.” He turned to Draskawindit and said, “Tell Nogwinto to take out the spirit skull and talk to it.”
Draskawindit passed the message on. Nogwinto nodded. He reached into the leather pouch and pulled out the skull. Nogwinto held the skull up in both hands and spoke to it.
“What in the name of Odin?” Halvar shrugged.
“The man is insane,” Bjarte shook his head.
Just then the jawbones rattled and the skull spoke back in a raspy voice.
The crew stared in amazement.
“What is the skull saying?” Leif asked Draskawindit.
“Nogwinto asked the skull — spirit name, Miakmoo — if the spear that killed the white bear belongs to the white bear-man,” Draskawindit said.
“The answer,” Leif prompted.
“Yes, it is the spear of the one the spirits call, Carathuk, the great hunter.”
“Ask Nogwinto to ask the skull if the white bear-man is watching us now,” Leif told Draskawindit.
After the strange exchange between Draskawindit, Nogwinto, and Miakmoo — the skull had a name now — Draskawindit said, “Miakmoo says he can sense a living presence that is greater than all others nearby. It is following a voice that comes from the spear.”
What could this mean? Leif thought. Could the spear be some kind of beacon sending signals only the white bear-man could see or hear?
“If this spear is diamond why don’t we take it and head back to the ship,” Bjarte suggested.
“The monk speaks the truth,” Halvar said.
“That one spear would be enough to make 100 men rich,” Kanute nodded. The others agreed.
It wasn’t as though Leif hadn’t thought about doing this. From what he’d seen of the Beothuk he decided against the notion. “Remove that spear from that carcass and see how far we get before this bear-man tracks us down and kills us,” Leif said. He added, “If you men are not sure, we can have a show of hands to decide on this matter.”
Only Kanute raised his hand when Leif asked who wanted to remove the spear and go back to the Ormr in langi. “It’s settled,” Leif said. “We move on.”
As the party pressed on Kanute called ahead to Leif, “Skipper, what does this white bear-man look like?”
Leif asked Draskawindit to talk to Nogwinto. She walked ahead and spoke with the guide. Nogwinto held the skull up and spoke to Miakmoo. Leif heard the rattling jaws and raspy voice talking back to Nogwinto.
Draskawindit passed the message onto Leif. Leif turned to face his men. “The white bear-man stands taller than a full-grown white bear. He has thick hair on his face that covers his whole body.”
“Sounds like a frost giant,” Halvar muttered as he passed by.
Leif returned to the front of the party. He heard Halvar mumbling about how this had to be Jotuunheimer and the creature living here had to a be a jotnar, or man of the Jotuun tribe.
Halvar knew the Norse gods better that any man on his crew. The others of the crew, even though being baptized as Christian, still listened to Halvar. Halvar found it hard to let go of the old ways. To Leif, it seemed like gods, Norse or Christian, only showed themselves through people that believed in them.
In the time Leif had spent in the land of the Beothuk he’d seen that the tribe had a bond that reached beyond death. Perhaps this was all a dream and he would wake to find himself on his straw mat in Greenland. The pain he felt from biting the inside of his lip let him know he was awake.
Kanute’s question sparked an idea. If Nogwinto used the skull to sense where the bear-man was they may be able to adapt this ability to hone in on the bear-man’s position. A strange lodestone indeed.
Leif turned and raised his hand. The party halted. Draskawindit called. Nogwinto walked back, joining the group. “Tell Nogwinto to raise Miakmoo on his spear. Turn Miakmoo in a circle and find out what Miakmoo senses. Tell him to look for the white bear-man.”
Draskawindit did this. She had to tell Nogwinto twice before he understood. He set the spear-tip inside the cavity of the skull. He held the shaft high and twisted it in
his hands slowly. He brought Miakmoo down and listened to him speak.
“Miakmoo tells Nogwinto the white bear-man is behind us now and has been following us from the time we left his kill.”
Twenty-four
Sighting
LEIF had an idea. “Tell Nogwinto to ask Miakmoo if ...” Leif hesitated. He wondered if he should call the speaking skull a he or and it. “... he knows where Carathuk, the white bear-man, is now.” Draskawindit spoke to Nogwinto.
Bjarte rolled his eyes then cast a hard glance in Leif’s direction. Leif could understand how the monk felt — a Christian alone in the wilderness facing things that went beyond his beliefs. Perhaps Bjarte should see all this as a sign from the Christian God.
Nogwinto raised Miakmoo on the spear. After one full turn he lowered the spear and removed Miakmoo from the tip. Miakmoo spoke to Nogwinto. Nogwinto spoke to Draskawindit. Draskawindit said, “Miakmoo says, Carathuk, the white bear-man has stopped.”
This was the second time Leif had asked the skull to tell him where the white bear-man was. It seemed like the great hunter was stalking them, following when the party was on the move and stopping when the party made camp. What drove this creature? Would it see the people making their way to the Ice Wall as a threat? Would it see them as just another animal to be impaled on the spear?
■ ■ ■ ■
The short fur on the back of Carathuk’s neck raised up. Miakmoo the skull was sending waves through the air again. Miakmoo locked on the very spot where Carathuk stood. Carathuk squinted. He saw through the hollow eye sockets. The Beothuk Nogwinto, keeper of the skull, told the Beothuk woman that Carathuk had stopped moving.
The woman spoke to the men from another land. He had not heard this tongue before. Carathuk listened. He tried to match words from the Beothuk to the tongue of the men from another land. From what he could pull from Miakmoo’s mind wave was the strange men were called Vikings and they used the tongue called Norse.
Carathuk pressed his thumbs to his temples. The time that should have passed like snow falling or the space between heartbeats stretched out. Carathuk and Miakmoo became as one mind. Carathuk knew all Miakmoo knew. Carathuk eased the pressure on his temples. The link to Miakmoo’s mind faded as Carathuk felt the leather sack closing in. He heard muffled voices talking in Beothuk and Norse.
From what Carathuk could sense, the chief of the Norse, the one called Skipper Leif, felt like Carathuk had been following them. Skipper Leif wasn’t sure why Carathuk had been following. Carathuk wanted to make sure these Beothuk and Norse were far away from the kill.
Carathuk sent a wave to Miakmoo. On the other side, Miakmoo caught the wave. Carathuk watched through Miakmoo’s eyes as the skull was lifted out of the bag. Nogwinto walked over to the Beothuk woman called Draskawindit. Nogwinto told Draskawindit what had been on Carathuk’s wave to Miakmoo. Carathuk listened as Draskawindit turned one tongue to another. Matching sounds, from Beothuk to Norse, found a place in Carathuk’s mind wave.
Carathuk saw the look on Skipper Leif’s face change. Carathuk felt a sensation passing between the waves. The Norseman cast a good feeling because Carathuk no longer followed and turned away. Before the mind wave between Leif, the Norseman and Carathuk faded, Carathuk placed a need to keep Carathuk’s presence nearby in the wave.
Carathuk turned and ran back to the carcass of the white bear. The animal remain untouched. Waves coming off the spear had kept away any predators or scavengers — from the bears and wolves roaming the land to the vultures soaring the sky to the worms and bugs crawling on the ground.
Waves from the spear kept the meat of the carcass fresh. As long as a fresh kill was near a tool fastened from what the Beothuk called a sacred stone the meat would not rot. The blood of the animal remained warm.
Carathuk walked up to the carcass then pulled the spear out. Carathuk rolled the bear on its back and spread the hind legs wide. With his short bladed knife, Carathuk cut around the shaft and sack then sliced down through muscle and tendon until the blade came to rest on the tailbone. Carathuk made more cuts then pulled the shaft and sack away from the lower end of the carcass. Carathuk wrapped a string around the base of the shaft.
Holding the tip of the knife up, Carathuk ran the blade from the lower cavity to to the bottom of the breastbone. Carathuk pulled the hide away with one hand as he cut with the other. Carathuk pulled the hide apart. The tip of the knife sliced through the gut sack. Rolls of entrails fell out of the belly.
Carathuk cut away the breathing sack then reached up into the cavity. Carathuk pulled the guts free of the carcass and tossed them on the ground in a steaming pile.
With the guts free Carathuk skinned the bear. Carathuk raised his hands to his mouth and made a howling noise. A pack of wolves lifted their ears before the sound passed over. The wolves ran off to where the sound had come from.
The sled the wolves were harnessed to moved across the sand on rails made from the sacred stone. All of Carathuk’s tools had been cut from the same rock. The spear and the knife and the rails shared a link that sprang from mind waves. Carathuk guided the rails across the sand.
The wolves came to a halt. Carathuk removed bundles from the sled then loaded them with bear meat.
■ ■ ■ ■
At the camp, something was telling Leif to have Nogwinto hold up Miakmoo. Nogwinto lifted the skull. On the other side, Carathuk felt the waves from Miakmoo. Carathuk opened the waves to full. On the other side of Carathuk’s wave, a flood of light poured out of Miakmoo’s cavernous eye sockets. The light swirled into the sparkling figures of the bear-man riding on a sled pulled by white wolves.
“Carathuk passes us by,” Draskawindit said.
“Where is he —?” Leif trailed off. He knew the answer to the question before he finished asking. Carathuk, the white bear-man was returning to the Ice Wall.
Twenty-five
Map of the Skull
IN the morning the party broke camp. Nogwinto went on ahead. He returned and spoke to Draskawindit. “Nogwinto has found the trail of Carathuk. He says we should follow.”
“Why?” Leif put the question right to Nogwinto in the Beothuk tongue.
“Carathuk knows the fastest way to return to the Ice Wall.” Draskawindit told Leif when Nogwinto finished.
Leif wasn’t sure how to put the next question. He passed it on to Draskawindit. “Is the way Carathuk takes a better way than the way Nogwinto takes?”
“The way Nogwinto knows is the way that is linked by water holes.” Nogwinto moved his hands in a waving motion. Water holes did not lay on a straight path. “Carathuk’s path is straight as the eagle flies.” Nogwinto cut the air with his hand.
Leif thought about this. If they followed the tracks of Carathuk they’d reach the Ice Wall sooner. If they followed the path of the water holes they’d be near fresh water and meat. Leif came up with an answer to the problem. “If we follow the path laid down by Carathuk would Miakmoo keep us on the trail and find the nearest water holes?”
Nogwinto listened closely. Draskawindit said to Leif, “Nogwinto says this could be done.”
As the morning wore on the tracks of Carathuk’s sled faded. Leif, Draskawindit, and Nogwinto stood at the head of the party. To Nogwinto Leif said, “Miakmoo,” and raised his hand high.
Nogwinto nodded then pulled the skull out of the bag and lifted it on the spear-tip. The tracks fading in the distance reappeared like an endless ribbon to the horizon. Leif felt a tingling traveling from his shoulders, up his neck, and settling at the base of his head. He learned that this was Carathuk’s presence. Leif wondered if there was a way to tell how far away Carathuk was by the strength of the feeling. He reminded himself to speak to Bjarte about this.
In the late afternoon, Leif told Nogwinto to face Miakmoo in a way enabling the skull to cast waves for water holes. Nogwinto turned the spear back to the way they’d come. Leif watched this then said, “Draskawindit, ask Nogwinto to ask if Miakmoo can see the water holes throu
gh his eyes. The same as he saw Carathuk passing last night.”
Colored lights came out of Miakmoo’s eye sockets then faded a few stika from the skull.
“Bjarte,” Leif called out.
The monk dropped his pack and stepped forward. “Yes, Captain Erikson.”
“What can you make of this?”
“Hmm ...” Bjarte sighed. “Putting all my religious, scientific, and mathematical training behind, and seeing what this cranium has done so far, I’d say that the lights need a shaded background to reveal their secrets.”
“Like a piece of dark cloth,” Leif said.
“Yes.”
When Leif said what to do next no one in the party, including the two Beothuk, would agree to hold a dark piece of cloth in front of the skull. Leif could understand this. Who knew what could happen when light from the spirit world coming out of a skull landed close by?
Leif turned to Halvar and Jarl. “Wrap and fasten a line to the top of the cloth to stiffen it. Fasten the end of a walking staff to the middle of the cloth. Hold the cloth away from the skull.”
Halvar and Jarl worked quickly on the rig. When they finished Jarl pushed the cloth forward until the lights settled. A drawing, as if on a map, appeared on the cloth. “Bjarte,” Leif said. “Help me read this.”
“I’m not sure what to make of this,” Bjarte said as he stared at the colors. The color red bled from the edges of the cloth and faded into areas of blue.
“Ask the skull,” Leif said. “Show me what you learn,” he added.
“Very well.” Bjarte spoke to Draskawindit: “I need to know what I’m looking at. I need to know what the colors mean. I need to know how to find a point of reference.” When Bjarte saw Draskawindit hesitate on the last question he simplified. “How can I tell how far it is from here,” he moved closer to the cloth and touched the edge with his finger, “to here?” He traced a line to the nearest blotch of blue.
It took a while for Draskawindit to put the message to Nogwinto in a way he could understand. Nogwinto came back with an answer: “The red you see is the sands heated by the sun. Blue is the cool waters of the holes. Green is the trees. Green-yellow is the bushes close to the ground. Nogwinto says Miakmoo says to touch the edge of the cloth. This means where we are now. Hold your thumb and first finger equally apart. This means one of what you call vikas. Point to the nearest patch of color with fingers stretched to find how far.”
Leif Erikson and the Frost Giant Page 8