Outcast (2 page)

TWO

"Why didn't you tell me?" said Fin-Kedinn in the voice that made grown men blanch. "I wanted to," said Torak. "But I ..." "But you what?" Torak hung his head.

They were alone in the clearing. The Boar Clan Leader and his son had left to gather their people, and messengers had been sent to clans camped within reach. FinKedinn--who'd been scraping a reindeer skin before Aki burst in--had returned to his work: a sign to the others to get on with theirs and leave Torak to him. Some had gone hunting, or to spear fish upriver.

22 There was no sign of Renn.

The Raven camp was eerily calm. Torak saw a deerhide canoe drawn up on the bank, a wovenbark net draped over a juniper bush. Around him the birch trees were a brilliant green, the undergrowth bright with blue anemones, yellow celandine, and silver fish-scales. Nothing to show that a storm had broken over his head. He watched Fin-Kedinn fling the hide over a log and stretch it taut. The veins on the Raven Leader's forearms bulged, and his movements--usually so measured--were savage. "If you'd told me. We could have found a way."

"I thought I could get rid of it without you knowing." Torak realized how that sounded: covering one lie with another. Fin-Kedinn took a deer's rib bone and started scraping fat from the hide with short, vicious strokes. "You brought that evil mark into my clan." "I didn't mean to! Fin-Kedinn, you've got to believe me! I tried to fight, but they were too many."
The Raven Leader flung down the scraper. "But
you
sought them out!
You
got too close!"
"I had to! They'd taken Wolf!"

"Ah, there's always a reason!" The force of his anger made Torak step back. "You're just like your father. I warned him not to join them, but he wouldn't listen. He said they meant to do good--he went on calling them the

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Healers even after they'd turned evil." He broke off. "In the end it killed him. And it killed your mother."
Torak saw the deep lines at the sides of his mouth, the pain in the fierce blue eyes. This was his fault. He had hurt this man whom he'd come to love.

The Raven Leader went back to work. Torak smelled the stink of dead reindeer, and watched the bloody fat bubbling over the edge of the rib bone. He pictured a knife slicing into his own flesh to rid it of the Soul-Eater tattoo. "I'll cut it out," he said. "Renn says there's a rite."

"Which can only be done when the moon is full. We're in the moon's dark. You've run out of time."
A gust of wind brought the smell of rain, and Torak shivered. "Fin-Kedinn. I'm not a Soul-Eater. You know this."

The scraper stilled. "But how will you prove it?" He met Torak's eyes, and his own were filled with a sorrow that was even more frightening than his anger. "Don't you understand, Torak? It doesn't matter what
I
believe. It's everyone else you've got to convince. This is out of my hands. Only your own clan can vouch for you now." Torak's heart sank. He was Wolf Clan, but his father had kept him apart from them, and he'd never even seen the rest of his clan. Few had. The Wolf Clan had been deeply ashamed when its Mage--Torak's father-

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turned Soul-Eater. Since then, it had stayed hidden, becoming as shadowy and elusive as its clan-creature.

Torak touched the tattered scrap of wolf fur sewn to his jerkin. Fa had prepared it for him, so it was precious. It was also his only link with his clan. "How do I find them?" he said.

"You don't," said Fin-Kedinn. "Not if they don't want to be found."
"But what if they don't come? If they don't vouch for me--"
"Then I'll have no choice. I'll have to obey clan law and cast you out."
The wind strengthened, and the birch trees lifted their branches, as if Torak was already outcast, and they feared to touch him.
"Do you understand what it means," said Fin-Kedinn, "to be outcast?"
Torak shook his head.

"It means you would be as one dead. Cut off from everyone. Hunted like prey. No one could help you. Not me. Not Renn. We couldn't talk to you, give you food. If we did, we'd be outcast too. If we saw you in the Forest, we'd have to kill you."

Torak went cold. "But I didn't
do
anything!"
"It's the law," said Fin-Kedinn. "Many winters ago, after the great fire which scattered the Soul-Eaters, the clan elders made this law to stop them coming back. To 25
stop others joining them."
The first spots of rain pattered onto the reindeer hide. "Go to your shelter," said the Raven Leader without looking up.
"But Fin-Kedinn--"
"Go. The clans will gather. The elders will decide."
Torak swallowed. "What about Thull and Luta and Dari? It's their shelter too."
"They'll build another. From now on, don't talk to anyone. Stay in the shelter. Wait for the clans to decide."
"How long will that be?"
"As long as it takes. And Torak ... don't try to escape. You'll only make it worse."
Torak stared at him. "How could it be worse?"
"It can always get worse," said the Raven Leader.
Torak learned the truth of that two days later, when Renn finally came to see him.

Until then, he hadn't caught a glimpse of her. His shelter faced away from camp, so he couldn't see much except by peering through gaps in the hides, or when he went to the midden. The rest of the time he sat and watched the small fire before the opening, and listened to the clans gather.

Late on the second day, Renn stalked up to the shelter. Her face was pale, the blue-black bars of her
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clan-tattoos livid on her cheekbones. "You should have told me," she said stonily. "I know."
"You should've
told
me!" She kicked the doorpost, and the shelter shook.
"I thought I could get rid of it in secret."
Squatting by the fire, she glowered at the embers. "You lied to me for two whole moons. And don't tell me that keeping silent isn't lying, because it is!" "I know. I'm sorry."

She didn't reply. Over the winter, she'd developed a tiny freckle at the corner of her mouth, and he'd teased her, asking if it was a birch seed and why didn't she wipe it off. He couldn't imagine teasing her now. He'd never felt so bad.

"Renn," he said. "You've got to believe me. I'm not a Soul-Eater."
"Well of course you're not!"
He drew a breath. "So--can you forgive me?"
She picked at a scab on her elbow. Then she gave a curt nod.
Relief flooded through him. "I didn't think you would."
She went on picking at the scab. "We've all got secrets, Torak."
"Not like this."
"No," she said in an odd voice. "Not like this."
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Then she surprised him by asking which of the Soul-Eaters had put the mark on his chest. "It was Seshru. Why?"
She ripped off the scab and dug her fingernail into the rawness underneath. "Where were the others?"

He swallowed. "Thiazzi held me down. The Bat Mage watched. Eostra ..." He shuddered as he recalled the ghastly wooden mask of the Eagle Owl Mage. "I didn't see her. But there was an owl, watching from an ice hill...."

Suddenly he was back in the freezing dark of the Far North. He felt the powerful grip of the Oak Mage. He saw the hunched bulk of the Bat Mage standing guard, and caught the orange glare of the greatest of owls. Then Seshru the Viper Mage was blotting out the stars, and he was staring up into eyes the deep blue of the sky before middle-night. He watched her perfect mouth pronouncing his fate as she drove the bone needle again and again into his skin and smeared him with the blood of murdered hunters.
This mark will be like the harpoon head beneath the skin of the seal. One twitch, and it will draw you....

"Torak?" said Renn.
He was back in the shelter.
"What are you going to do?"
"What I should have done in the beginning. I'm going to cut it out. Tell me how to do the rite."
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"No," she said without hesitation. "Renn. You've got to."
"No! You couldn't do it on your own; you don't know Magecraft."
"I've got to try."
"Yes, and I'll help you."
"No. If you helped me, you'd be outcast too."
"I don't care."
"Well I do."
Renn pressed her lips together. She could be incredibly stubborn.

So could he. "Renn. Listen to me. Not long ago, they took Wolf--because of me. He was nearly killed-- because of me. That's why I haven't howled for him now, because he'd only try to help, and get hurt. If you got hurt because of me ..." He stopped. "You've got to swear--swear on your bow and your three souls--that if they cast me out, you won't try to help."

A noise in the clearing. Torak saw the bent figure of the Raven Mage hobbling toward them.
"Renn!" he said in an urgent whisper. "Do this for me! Swear!"
Renn raised her head, and in her dark eyes, two tiny flames leaped. "No," she said.
"The clans have gathered," said Saeunn in her raven's croak. "The elders have decided. Renn. Leave."
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Renn lifted her chin. "Leave."
Defiantly, Renn turned to Torak. "I meant what I said." Then she was gone.

The Raven Mage told Torak to gather his things, and waited at the mouth of the shelter, clutching her staff in one shriveled claw. Her sunken eyes watched him without pity. A life spent peering into the world of the spirits had detached her from the feelings of the living.

"Not the sleeping-sack," she rasped.
"Why not?" said Torak.
"The outcast shall be as one dead."
Torak's belly turned over. Until now, he'd clung to a faint hope that Fin-Kedinn might be able to save him.

The rain came, pattering onto the hide roof and making the fire smoke. He picked up the last of his gear and glanced around. Often he'd hated this shelter. He'd never gotten used to the Raven way of staying in the same camp for three or four moons, instead of moving on every few days, as he'd done with Fa. Now he couldn't imagine leaving it and never coming back.

"It is time," said Saeunn.
He followed her into the clearing.
The clans were gathered about a huge long-fire. If was still light, but the rain clouds turned it to dusk. Torak was glad of the rain. People would think he was 30
shivering with cold, not fear.

The crowd parted to let them through, and he took in a blur of firelit faces. Raven. Willow. Viper. Boar. But no Mountain or Ice clans, and none from the Deep Forest or the Sea. This was a matter for the Open Forest. He wondered when his kinsman in the Seal Clan would get to hear of what had happened. What would Bale think? Aki had planted himself at the front of the throng. He'd scrubbed his skin clean of pine-pitch, but it had gone a blotchy red, and he'd had to cut his hair short, like boar bristles. He wore two throwing-axes in his belt, a birch-bark horn at his hip, and a triumphant expression. Clearly he would lose no time in hunting the outcast. Rain hissed on the fire and dripped off the trees that watched at the edge of the clearing. Rain trickled down Renn's cheeks like tears. But it couldn't be tears, because Renn never cried.

 

Fin-Kedinn was waiting by the fire with the other clan elders. His face was impassive. He didn't look at Torak.

 

Saeunn hobbled to Fin-Kedinn's side and addressed the clans. "I am the oldest of the clans of the Open Forest," she declared. "I speak for them all." She paused. "The boy bears the mark of the Soul-Eater. The law is clear. He must be cast out."

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"Ah." A sigh rose from the crowd. Torak's knees sagged.
"Wait!" A man's voice called from the edge of the clearing.
All heads turned.

Torak saw a tall figure step into the firelight. Rain plastered his long dark hair to his skull, except for two shaven strips at the temples. His eyes had an odd yellow gleam, but his high-boned face seemed strangely familiar.

Then Torak saw the clan-tattoos, and the back of his neck prickled. Two dotted lines on the cheekbones. A strip of sodden gray fur on the left side of his parka. Aki had seen it too. "No!" he cried. "You can't stop it now; the elders have spoken!" The tall man stared at Aki--and the Boar Clan boy drew back, abashed. "Who are you?" said Torak.
The tall man turned and fixed his gaze on him. "I am Maheegun. Leader of the Wolf Clan." 32

THREE
hey emerged from the trees as soundlessly as a wolf pack. Women, men, and children: plainly clad in reindeer hide to blend into the Forest. An amulet of raw amber gleamed at every throat, and like Maheegun, their temples were shaven and stained with red ochre. As they moved into the firelight, Torak saw that the whites of their eyes were yellow. Like wolves. The Leader seemed to recognize Fin-Kedinn, as he gave a distant nod; but he neither smiled nor placed his fists on his breast in friendship. Torak was reminded of a lead wolf loftily assessing a stranger.

 

33 The rest of the Wolf Clan gave the same remote half bow, except for a woman who smiled at Fin-Kedinn in a way that briefly made her young again. For answer, the Raven Leader put his hand on his heart and bowed to her. Torak recalled that long ago, Fin-Kedinn had been fostered with the Wolf Clan.

"Your message stone was found," Maheegun told the Raven Leader. "Why did you summon us? And to such a gathering."
"I needed you to come," Fin-Kedinn calmly replied.

Maheegun drew himself up to his full height, and they stared at each other. The Wolf Leader was the first to look away. His yellow gaze flicked to Torak's clan-creature skin, then back to Fin-Kedinn. "Who is this?"

"The son of the Wolf Mage."
The Wolves gasped. Some grasped their amulets, others made the sign of the hand at Torak, as if warding off evil.

"The one you speak of," said Maheegun, "was the greatest Mage we ever had. He alone--for a few heartbeats--managed to become wolf. But he turned Soul-Eater." He touched his temple. "Because of him, we bear the mark of shame."

This was too much for Torak. "What shame?" he cried. "My father shattered the fire-opal! He broke up the Soul-Eaters! Wasn't that enough to make amends?" Maheegun ignored him. "Again, Fin-Kedinn, I say:
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Why did you summon us?"

Swiftly, Fin-Kedinn told how Torak had come to live with the Ravens, and why he needed his clan to vouch for him now. As proof of Torak's identity, he held up Torak's mother's medicine horn and the blue slate knife which had belonged to his father.

The Wolf Leader listened in silence; but when Fin-Kedinn offered him the objects, he recoiled. "Keep them away; they're unclean!"
"No they're not!" said Torak. "Fa gave them to me when he was dying!"
"Torak, enough," warned Fin-Kedinn.
The woman who'd smiled came forward. "Maheegun," she said, "we don't need proof. You have only to look at the boy's face. He is the son of the Wolf Mage." A shiver ran through her clan. At the corner of his vision, Torak saw Renn raise her fist in triumph.
"Yes," said Maheegun. "And yet--I cannot vouch for him."
Torak's jaw dropped.