Bonesetter 2 -Winter- (11 page)

Gia flopped down next to him and gave him a pitiful look. “I thought I was the love of your life and that you were going to
share
the grouse with me?”

Feeling terrible, Pell said, “Of
course
I’ll share them with you! I was just teasing you because you said you were making baskets for
me
. I was trying to say that they were really for you!”

Gia grinned, “You’re so easy!”

Pell snorted as he realized she’d completely taken him in, “You’re very
mean
!”

Gia smiled, “I just had a lot more practice than you did, because of all my cousins…” she trailed off as this reminded her that most of her cousins had died in the flood.

Pell put his arms around her, “I’m sorry…”

They sat embraced, rocking back and forth for a few moments, then she leaned back and wiped her eyes. “You still haven’t told me what you’re doing hanging over the stream?”

Pell sighed, “Trying to snare a fish.”

“Oh!” Gia said, excited. “Have you had any luck?” She glanced around, checking to see if any fish were lying on the bank.

“No!” Pell said disgustedly. “I was worried that if I did get a noose to tighten around a fish, it’d slip out of it because of its shape, but it turns out I can’t even come
close
to closing a noose on them.”

Gia looked thoughtfully down in the water, “Yeah, not only would their shape be a problem, but they’re slippery.”

“Yeah, you told me. Maybe I’ll have to figure out how to aim a spear at them.”

Gia giggled, “You know how I was saying you were good at everything, but you were saying there were lots of things you weren’t good at?”

“Yeah,” Pell said, wondering where she was going.

She nudged him, “Well, I guess you’re right. You missed the other day when you tried to spear the fish, now it turns out you can’t
snare
fish either. And, the grouse ate all the grain around your basket trap, but never tried to go into it.”

Pell felt a little stab of panic that she’d finally recognized how inept he was, but he tried not to show it. He gave a blasé little shrug, and said, “Maybe we should see if the basket trap will catch fish?”

“Fish?!” Gia turned to look back down into the water. “Really? I don’t see how, they’re not going to climb up out of the water to get in the basket.”

“We’ll put a rock in the basket so it sinks down to the bottom of the stream.”

She studied the lazily swimming fish, “And you think the fish will go in after the grain?”

Pell pursed his lips, “Maybe? I know they like spirit meat. I think they can smell it.”

“Oh!” Gia clapped her hands and stood up, “Let’s try it!”

***

As they walked up the ravine with the cold stream of water that hopefully came from the cold springs, Woday occasionally glanced at Yadin. He thought the man was old, perhaps even forty summers, but Woday hadn’t met many people that old so it was hard to judge. “Why are
you
going to see the Bonesetter?”

Yadin gave a soft laugh and said, “
I’m
going to see Pell.”

Woday’s brow crinkled as he considered this. “Pell” was the word for a flake of flint. Woday had seen the finely worked flint tips on Yadin’s spears so he thought that the man might be a flint worker, but it seemed unlikely that he’d travel a long way to see a flake of flint considering that there must be thousands of flakes where he did his work. “Pell?”

Yadin chuckled, “I believe that’s your bonesetter’s given name.”

For a moment Woday worried that Yadin was his competitor to work as an apprentice to the bonesetter, but then reasoned that Yadin was far too old to want to learn a new trade. Woday quickly looked the man over, wondering if Yadin might have a broken bone Woday hadn’t noticed and be traveling to get it repaired. Everything he could see about Yadin looked fine, so Woday said, “So, I’m back to my original question. Why are
you
going to see the Bonesetter?”

For a moment Yadin said nothing, then, when he began, he spoke slowly and ruminatively. “My tribe sent me… to look at this ‘Pell.’ He stands accused… of being… possessed by an evil spirit.”

Concealing a stab of dismay, Woday said, “
Who
says that?” He shook his head, “Everything I’ve heard makes him out to be an unusually good man.”

“Hah!” Yadin barked, at first making Woday think that Yadin had heard some truly bad things about the Bonesetter. But then Yadin continued, “He stands accused by a couple of meddlesome medicine men that I doubt have
ever
done any good of their own. I think they’re just jealous.” He shrugged, “Nonetheless, my chief sent me to scout him and that’s what I’m doing.”

“Oh,” Woday said. “Well, I hope you’re right and they’re wrong, I’d hate to have come all this way to find an evil spirit rather than a great teacher.” They walked on in silence for a moment, then Woday eyed Yadin, “What’s to keep the evil spirit from taking you over?”

“Ah,” Yadin said, lifting an eyebrow, “the medicine men gave me this amulet,” Yadin lifted a stone from his chest that was suspended by a leather cord around his neck. “They claim
it
will protect me from evil spirits.”

“You don’t sound like you believe them?”

Yadin barked a single laugh, “No! Nosset, the medicine man of the Oppos, my own tribe, is completely useless. When my wife was sick he did many things to her…
Every
single thing he did made her worse!” Yadin shook his head disgustedly, “I think he
killed
her. The other one, Pont, was thrown out of the Aldans tribe. He’s probably just as incompetent.”

“Yet,” Woday mused, “you still carry their amulet.”

“Yes,” Yadin said, glancing down at the stone. “Perhaps I’m wrong and it will protect me. Most likely, I’ll just have a ready rock to throw at anyone who attacks me.”

Woday grinned, “I think, if I were you, I’d defend myself with one of those fine spears you’re carrying rather than the stone. Are you a flint worker?”

“Yes,” Yadin said, “and I hunt, of course. I’m the stealthiest of my tribesmen so usually I scout for our hunting parties. That’s why they decided I’d be the best one to look into this evil spirit thing. Hopefully, I can see what’s going on without being captured.”

Woday wondered how Yadin thought he’d be able to tell if there was an evil spirit present.

The path they were following was narrow and Woday was walking close behind, so when Yadin suddenly stopped, Woday bumped into him. “What?” he asked, surprised to realize that Yadin had reached back and grabbed him firmly by the wrist to keep him from backing away.

Yadin turned his head a little and in a very quiet voice said, “There are two people down by the stream just ahead.”

At first Woday wondered why Yadin had whispered, but then realized Yadin didn’t want to be detected. Part of “scouting out the evil spirit,” Woday supposed. Woday searched the stream with his eyes but didn’t see any people. He also whispered, “I don’t see anyone.”

“On the other side, on those gray rocks. Beside that pool that forms where the stream bends back toward us.”

Having his eyes directed, Woday immediately saw two people crouching motionlessly on the rock and peering down into the water. Conflictingly, he both wondered how he’d missed them when he’d swept the stream with his eyes, and also marveled that Yadin
had
seen them. He supposed Yadin must constantly sweep the countryside with his eyes, a habit that would be good in a scout. Woday said, “What do you suppose they’re doing?”

Yadin shrugged minutely. A moment later, he said quietly, “Perhaps they’re enspelled by the evil spirit.”

Worried, Woday said, “Do you really think so?”

Yadin shook his head, though again the motion was small.

Woday wasn’t much of a hunter, but even he knew that big motions attracted the eye. Presumably that was why Yadin stood so quietly. Growing impatient, Woday said, “I don’t think you can tell if they’re inhabited by evil spirits from up here. We’re going to have to go down there and talk to them.” When Yadin didn’t respond, he said, “We don’t even know if this is the right tribe.”

Yadin whispered, “Okay. Go on down there. If the spirit captures you, then I’ll know it exists.”

“Um…” Woday said, at first intending to say he
would
go, but then feeling a sudden trepidation. “Let’s watch them a little longer.”

“A little longer” proved to be quite a while. Woday thought the sun had probably moved almost half a fist across the sky when one of the men on the rock down by the stream finally moved. The guy appeared to be pulling one hand over the other for some reason. Even squinting, Woday couldn’t discern the reason why. Woday’s heart beat a little faster as he wondered whether the man was working some kind of magical charm. If so, he hoped it wasn’t aimed at him. Woday was starting to lean away in preparation to bolt when, of all things, a
basket
broke the surface of the water and rose up to the man. Woday realized the man’s hand motions had been pulling the basket up with a slender rope he couldn’t see at this distance. He leaned a little closer to Yadin and said, “I thought baskets floated.”

Yadin whispered back, “They do…”

The two people down on the rock peered into the basket, then looked pretty excited. Woday couldn’t imagine what could be exciting about a submerged basket. He wondered if the cold water had done something to change whatever they had stored in the basket. However, he really couldn’t think of anything, from food, to stone, to wood, to fur that benefited from exposure to either water or cold.

The two people carried their basket a little way into the woods, then huddled around it for a little while. The bigger man returned carrying the basket and slowly lowered it into the water. Then he turned, joined the other man and they both started walking away.

Woday wondered what they should do now, but Yadin just kept standing there for another minute. Then he slowly started walking along the path again. Woday stayed right behind him and quietly said, “What are we going to do now?”

Yadin shrugged, “Follow them… and,” he glanced irritatedly back over his shoulder at Woday, “try to stay quiet.”

The path they were following turned and went down to the stream. They came to a ford that had a number of rocks to serve as stepping stones. Some looked like they’d been thrown out just to help people cross. Woday wondered if they should take off their deerskin shoes and wade rather than taking the risk of hopping from rock to rock. Before he could say anything, however, Yadin stepped out on the first stone.

Deciding he couldn’t let the old guy outdo him, Woday followed him out onto the rocks. When he got to the other side of the stream and looked up, Yadin stood there with a finger to his lips. Woday stepped quietly up beside him and looked the same direction that Yadin’s eyes were turned. The two people they’d been following were visible through a light screen of brush. He realized they hadn’t actually been following two men like he’d thought. Instead, they’d been following a boy and a girl. Well, a very young man. He had a boyish face with little beard, but seemed really tall, having to bend quite a bit to kiss the girl.

The couple had stopped just to the stream’s side of some trees. Beyond the trees, Woday could see a clearing, then a small ledge with what he thought was a cave behind it, though the hillside looked oddly patchy. If it was a cave, someone had hung animal skins over the opening.

Several people sat out on the ledge. Though Woday’s fuzzy distance vision made it hard to tell, he thought one of them had gray hair! He’d heard of people so old they had gray hair, but he’d never seen such a person himself.
Maybe that’s the bonesetter,
he thought.
I hope he’s not so old he dies before he teaches me anything—assuming he’s willing to teach me in the first place.

Yadin started walking, which startled Woday. He realized that the young couple had started walking and Yadin was just keeping up with them. It looked like Yadin was timing it so that they would meet at the intersection of their own path and the path the young couple had been following. Woday hissed, “I thought you were going to watch these people from afar?”

Yadin shrugged and said quietly, “I decided that an evil spirit wouldn’t let those two stop and make out.” He turned his head front and called out to the young couple they were about to encounter, “Hello, we’re strangers looking for the Cold Springs tribe. Is this it, or are we walking up the wrong ravine?”

The couple stopped, obviously startled. Initially, Woday thought they were surprisingly oblivious to their surroundings, but then realized he wouldn’t have seen them if Yadin hadn’t pointed them out. Besides, they’d been really focused on one another.

When they turned, Woday saw the girl was stunningly beautiful. She had smooth flawless skin, straight white teeth, and healthy looking hair. She was a little plump just like a girl should be right before winter. He had a hard time tearing his eyes away from her to look at the tall young man. Woday realized the young man was taller than anyone he’d ever seen. He might have a boyish face, but he was ropily muscular. Despite his height, Woday thought he must be in his early teens and he couldn’t help but wonder what the boy’d be like when fully grown.