Part 14 (1/2)
Soed Iceborn, blind and crippled, insisted he was too old to make the journey, wanted only to be left by the fire to die Tulipgrace had sided with her husband As shaued a whole day that both elders were the lifeblood of the tribe, living history books, indispensable Sunbright pleaded he would carry both on his back if necessary, but to no avail The stubborn old folks were tired, and would die soon anyway So the shaman marched out, cli up spruce roots and sliced rawhide, lashed together an extra-wide travois, and dragged it before the co the dim, round room, he picked up the two bundles of bones that were Iceborn and Tulipgrace and plunked the on tiptoe, he yanked the roof thatch and rotted hides into the council fire so they ignited, and kicked the beams into the pyre When the co flao with us?”
The old man squinted at the fire, and spat drily, ”I suppose, since it's the will of the Gods Or someone” Finally, afterto hold thearth Barbarians ht day in late surees they rounded Anchor Mountain, avoided Scourge and Lachery, and struck west along the Narrow Sea Pilot whales spouted and leaped high in the water as if encouraging them Gulls wheeled over their head, and terns flitted after, but finding no food, banked away
Once, high up in the sky, they spotted a floating city like a uessed it was Sanctuary The next ht recalled there were pockets in the north so drained of ic that the enclaves could not overpass thereed and waste of the Neth
It took sixteen days to reach the Watercourse, the eastern boundary of the Rengarth's ancestral lands The tribe caht few To ht recalled the Victory Dance, which the tribe hadn't danced in years, and stoht The whole tribe rejoiced the night long, laughing for sheer joy even atup, the barbarians marched northwest, never far from the dappled shore of the Narrow Sea, and with every hter, for they walked farasslands, sos Their woven baskets of cooking goods and blankets and tools were s sticks that striped the grass behind The poplar poles acted as ridge poles for tents every evening Rengarth Barbarians usually traveled with er travois hauled by half-wild reindeer, but now they had none In town they had captured brutish, garbage- eating dogs that they were beating into sub the untractable ones Still, even in near- poverty, , anything, instead of rotting
”So uessed,” Sunbright agreed He leaned into the straps of their travois His mother marched on one side, his lover on the other ”But once we decided to go, they came from hill and dale
And froht,” Monkberry put in ”Some would still be lost if you hadn't coht path They'd be rooted in town and on farht shtful horeat mass of people to cross half a world on the dream of a half-baked sha of the burden Sunbright carried on his uine Mountain, folks won't remember why they came, and they'll be too busy to fuss”
”There's always tiloolad to be
Still, he saw the division in the tribe, and hoped it could heal Scanning the prairie, he saw that most of the barbarians were blond, but ht, for the tribe always needed new blood Fighters wore the traditional warrior's roach and horsetail, non- fighters wore their hair tied back or else loose to their shoulders All wore hide shi+rts and tall boots
Except Magichunger's friends Fifty or uards by the near chief, continued to wear long hair and beards and town-ainst barbarian tradition, but Magichunger's crowd sported it proudly, for it set theht could do about sonored the division
Their biggest proble people could eat a farrew only some roots and insects,and edible outran thebows and daubed with yellow mud crept far ahead of the tribe When they could, they doily pronghorn antelope, skinny h and stringy, with hardly any fat so vitally needed, though the barbarians ate everything except the ears and hooves Still, ered all the tiht a rahters surrounded and hacked at the thing with spears and swords At the cost of three broken limbs and one death, they downed the beast and feasted for three days on blood, flesh, and organs The children made a hidey-hole of the skull, and crawled in and out of eye slots giggling By night, guards drove off skulking wolves and saber-toothed tigers that cried eerily like lost children
Knucklebones was intrigued by the interconnected life of the tribe, so different from the complex and diverse life in the city Once she asked, ”What are the clans you speak of?”
”The clans?” Sunbright replied, still dragging the travois, the pole ends hissing in the grass
”Children are assigned to clans on their second birthday They're picked randoainst another in a feud It gives the children sorow, another circle besides parents and brothers and sisters We have, let's see, eight clans: Raven, Elk, Griffon, White Bear, Beluga, Snow Tiger, Thunderbeast, and Gray Wolf You draisdoth from your totem animal In dire straits, I've been visited by ravens with advice”
”What's a beluga?”
”A big fish with a pointed snout”
”What's a thunderbeast?”
”A, uh, big lizard that belches thunder,” Sunbright improvised ”I don't really know”
”What can it teach you?”
Sunbright turned his head as he surged along ”Why so many questions?”
”I just want to know,” Knucklebones said, gazing across the rolling sea of grass ”How does one become a member of the tribe?”
”Marry a member Be born to it Ask to join Or just come in and stay Some wander in and never leave After a time, we accept the hbors”
”What else can we do? We're a small tribe, and most related by blood You can't marry a cousin, it's taboo The elders would disallow it So, if you need a wife, or husband, the best way is to hunt a stranger”
”Hunt?”
”Kidnap”
”How do you do it?”
”Ohlie in wait by the side of a road or visit a town or marketplace, pick out someone you fancy, follow them home, stuff them in a hide sack, and carry theet over it eventually Aht, son” Monkberry sht swim and took offhe liked, because he aiting when I carew to like him, for he was kind After my first child, I was allowed to visit ave theued ain 'Those horses aren't half as wild as that girl,' said hed et clan animals? Toteht ”Or they can pick another Which will you choose? The night owl? The sewer rat? How about the porcupine, because you're so bristly sometimes?”
Knucklebones hoisted her nose in the air and said, ”Your tote ht hitched the straps on his shoulder, squinted at the sun and their backtrail, tasted the wind for rain, all while Knucklebone stewed for an answer Finally he teased, ”Mother can tell you”
Knucklebones tsked ”Never h, then she veered off to inspect an iully
Monkberry teased, ”I don't think you could stuff her in a hide sack Though she'd make a fine catch”
”Watch where you step, Mother You hed
The tribe walked on, singing and calling, breaking ca the travois and swaying off They halted when the sun o hands above the horizon to asseh tents and blankets to cover the children and elders They dug fire pits and gathered dry dung, brewed thin tea, heated what roundnuts or artichokes they'd gathered, and soon fell asleep, hungry and exhausted
But the precious hour between supper and sluht loved best, for then stories were told At first only Sunbright related the old familiar tales How White Bear Lost His Tail
Why the Sky Burns Gold How Dima and Nunki Tricked the Frost Giants How Solenska Won the Heart of Ega Yellow firelight reflected fro stories funny and sad, rolad, for those tales were ht truth and friendshi+p and honor and love The stories,else, formed the history of this proud northern race Without theers