It was a hot dawn, and with the wind at their backs they made good speed. Their islet turned out to have been much further west than they'd thought, and by mid-afternoon the Island of the Hidden People came into view.
As they bobbed in the shallows, Renn made an offering, asking leave to go ashore; then they landed the skinboat on a black beach backed by a watchful Forest. It had rained recently, and a steamy haze rose from the trees. A smell of decay wafted from a band of reddish pine-needles which reminded Renn of a snake.
'No sign of Torak,' said Bale, returning from a search further up the beach. 'But I found other tracks.'
When Renn saw them, her heart quickened. 'A wolf.' She blew her grouse-bone whistle, but got no answer. Her unease deepened.
As soon as they entered the Forest, the wind dropped and the heat settled on their skin. Clouds of midges whined in their ears. The rasp of crickets was loud, but there was no birdsong, except for the brief warble of a redstart.
Wading through springy lingonberry scrub, they followed a rivulet upstream. They passed man-high nests of wood-ants, and hunched boulders mantled with steaming moss. Over her shoulder, Renn caught the glint of the Lake between the trees; then the pines closed in and she saw it no more. The presence of the Hidden People was strong. She saw Bale touch his seal-rib amulet.
They reached a clearing where the stream had been dammed by branches. Brown pools spread amid gnawed stumps and piles of wood-chips. The air was fresh with the tang of tree-blood.
'Beaver,' they said together.
Bale gave a lopsided smile, and Renn's unease lessened. If the Hidden People allowed beavers on their island, then maybe Torak . . .
Again that redstart.
Renn froze. 'Torak?' she called softly. 'Is that you?'
Bale raised his eyebrows, and she explained that it was a signal they sometimes used.
Once more she called. The Forest tensed. Her heart raced.
'Maybe it's our weapons,' said Bale in a low voice. 'He'll be wary.'
Renn stared at him. 'Not of us!'
'Renn. He's been outcast a long time. Let's set them aside; and we should move into the trees. If it is him, he won't come into the open.'
Propping their weapons against a stump, they left the clearing and re-entered the Forest.
'Torak!' Renn breathed to the watching pines.
'We came to help you,' whispered Bale.
They hadn't gone far when they rounded a boulder and found their weapons neatly laid on a lingonberry bush except for Renn's bow, which hung from a birch tree.
'Couldn't let it get wet,' said Torak.
There was no time for greetings.
Torak jerked his head at them to follow, and headed into the trees. 'Got to get deeper in, or she'll see us.'
'She's here?' cried Renn and Bale together.
'Up on the north cliff,' muttered Torak, 'that's her eyrie. I don't think she'll risk the island because of the wolves.'
Renn's skin prickled. 'You've actually seen her?'
'She lured me there. She thought I was going to help her. I I got away.'
'How?' said Bale.
Torak's face closed. 'Even the Viper Mage has to sleep.'
'Not for long,' said Renn.
Torak didn't answer. His expression was taut and unsmiling, and he kept turning to listen for sounds of pursuit. There was a bruised look about his eyes that told of broken nights and not enough food. And Renn noticed with a pang that he no longer wore the rowanberry wristband.
She couldn't tell if he was glad to see them. She couldn't tell what he was feeling. She tried to overcome the awful sense that he'd become a stranger.
And he looked so different! He'd been a skinny boy when he left, but now he was as tall as Bale, and the veins on his arms stood out like cords. There was a scab on his chest where the mark of the Soul-Eater had been, and some puzzling scratches on his shoulders; and although he still wore the headband, it only reminded her of the outcast tattoo beneath, and of all the dangers he'd survived on his own. Without her.
They found a fallen pine and hid behind it while Bale shared out dried duck meat from his food pouch. Torak ate fast, like a wolf. He didn't say much about the past two moons, just told them briefly about Wolf joining a pack. Bale told how they'd met the Otter Clan and wrecked the boat, but to Renn's relief, he didn't mention her attempt at Magecraft. Throughout, Torak spoke mostly to his kinsman, and avoided looking at her.
Silence fell and she plucked up courage. 'You got rid of the Soul-Eater mark.'
He nodded. 'I did the rite, but I'm not sure it worked. I got sick. A kind of madness.'
'Soul-sickness,' said Bale.
'Is that what it was?' said Torak. 'Well. I got better.'
'How?' said Renn.
'I don't know. I just did.'
There was a whirring of wings, and a raven flew down onto Torak's shoulder. Wincing, he lifted it off. 'I told you not to do that!'
Renn and Bale exchanged startled glances.
Another raven alighted on a juniper bush. Torak gave each bird a scrap, and they flew to a nearby tree, where they eyed the newcomers suspiciously.
Renn was astonished. Ravens are supremely wary birds, but with Torak they behaved with perfect ease.
'Where did they come from?' said Bale.
'There was a hailstorm,' said Torak. 'They fell out of their nest, and I I had to look after them. It's odd, but after that I got better.'
Bale caught Renn's eye and smiled.
She didn't smile back. She didn't want to be good at Magecraft. And she was a bit envious of the ravens.
'I call the bigger one Rip,' said Torak. 'The smaller one's Rek. Watch your gear, because they like to steal; and what they can't steal, they shred. And when Wolf's around, don't make a fuss of them. He gets jealous.'
Feeling self-conscious, Renn bowed to the ravens. 'Well met, little grandfathers, and thank you.'
Rek flapped her wings and croaked, 'Well met well met!' and Rip lifted his tail and spattered the ferns with droppings.
Torak glanced at Renn in surprise, but she didn't speak. Let him think the ravens had come to him by chance.
Bale stood up and said he was going to hide the skinboat, and suddenly Torak and Renn were alone and the awkwardness was worse.
Torak frowned. 'Renn . . . '
'What?'
'That elk. The one that attacked you-'
'I know,' she said quickly.
'Do you?' His frown deepened. 'I was so worried. That's why I went back to camp, to see if you were all right.'
'I know. Torak '
'She made me do it!' he burst out. 'She made me do terrible things! Attacking you, then Aki the Boor Clan Boy . . . '
'Aki?' Renn snorted. 'He's all right!'
He stared at her. 'He is?'
'Broken arm, but it's on the mend.'
'He's alive.'
'Actually, I wish it'd been a bit worse. Bale said that when he left, Aki was trying to get his clan to come after you.'
Torak wasn't listening. He had both hands to his temples, and he looked younger and more vulnerable.
Renn said, 'Maybe you haven't changed as much as I thought.'
He blinked. 'You're the one who's changed.'
'Me?'
He touched his cheek, to show that he'd noticed her moon-bleed tattoo. 'You seem older.'
She was embarassed. 'I hate sharing with Saeunn. She grinds her gums in her sleep. First time I heard it, I thought someone was sharpening a knife. But it went on all night.'
His lip curled. 'Does she smell?'
'Like a three-day-old carcass.'
He grinned. And suddenly he wasn't a stranger any more.
Bale returned, looking worried. 'I should have hidden the skinboat earlier, she might've spotted it.'
'Whatever you do,' said Torak, 'she'll soon know you're here. She knows everything.'
Renn went cold.
'But what does she want?' said Bale.
'She wants to crush the Lake into submission,' said Torak. 'She wants me to help her find the last piece of the fire-opal. She wants to rule.'
'How would she get you to help her?' said Renn, feeling breathless.
Torak hesitated. 'That pebble I made for you? She has it.'
Renn shut her eyes. She'd been dreading this.
'But I still got away,' he said uncertainly. 'And I fought off the soul-sickness. And when she made me spirit walk in the viper, I fought back.'
No you didn't, thought Renn. The ravens woke me in time. Out loud she said, 'She'll make you do it again, Torak. Or she'll think of something else. She's like a snake. If she meets an obstacle, she slithers around it.'
Torak stood up. 'Then we'll have to find the fire-opal before she does. Come on. We'll be safer with the wolves.'
Everything was happening too fast, Torak couldn't take it in.
First his flight from Seshru: scrambling down the rockface, splashing through reeds, crashing into the Forest. Fearing at any moment to feel a viper's fangs sinking into his calf; to come face to face with that all-seeing, all-powerful gaze.
And now suddenly, Renn and Bale.
He should have been elated, but he was too churned up. Renn looked so different! The birch-seed freckle was still there at the corner of her mouth, but the red bar on her clan-tattoo made her seem older, less like his friend. It was a stark reminder that the life of the clans had gone on without him; that he'd been left behind.
It was a shock, too, to see her with Bale. As they moved through the Forest, he saw how easily they fell into step together. He watched Bale hold a branch out of the way of her bow, and felt a twist of jealousy. The Seal boy had taken his place.
Renn, though, didn't seem to notice. She wanted to know everything Seshru had said and done when he'd been with her at the spring, and she listened with the same intense concentration which she brought to hunting.
'She'll find some way to get you,' she said. 'If only we knew what she was doing.'
Bale watched Rip alight in a pine. 'Torak could spirit walk in a raven, and find out.'
'I thought of that,' said Torak, 'but I can't. In the Far North, I promised the wind I'd never fly again.'
'How she'd laugh if she knew that,' Renn said bitterly.
The light was failing as they reached the water lily lake. The denning place was quiet.
Torak gave two short barks. I am here!
No answer.
He ran to search the Den.
No cub-watcher. No cubs.