“Individually we call them holes, but as a group we always refer to them as The Necklet, because from above they must seem like a jewelled chain about a snowy throat.”
“Can we ride down?” Azhure asked.
“Certainly, Enchantress, but not now. It would take this lot an hour at least to descend, and over that to rise. But we will camp in another tonight, and there you will see the true wonders of the individual stones of The Necklet.”
Axis looked up. About the hole the Acharite soldiers sat their horses, some dismounting to stand as close to the edge as they could get.
“I think this lot will have some trouble remembering to eat their lunch,” Axis said, “although their mouths hang open so wide you might get your Ravensbund men to wander along and push some bread and cheese in.”
Ho’Demi laughed, and Axis gave the order to dismount for their noon meal.
That night, all the southerners had the opportunity to indulge their curiosity. Ho’Demi led them to a hole twice the size of the first they had seen, and they spent the last hour of light filing down the steep paths into the haven below.
The hot springs were vast, and supported a wide variety of bird and small animal life.
“The Skraelings didn’t bother to come down here then,” Axis said.
“No reason for them to,” Ho’Demi replied. “If my people had hidden in the holes, then no doubt the Skraelings would have surged down. But the birds are small, and the animals likewise, and all generally live high in the trees. It would not have been good hunting for the Skraelings.”
“Your people don’t use these holes very much?”
Ho’Demi smiled at him. “We are a strange people, StarMan, and, odd as it may seem, we genuinely do prefer the ice in the extreme north. Although we spend the worst of the winter camped about the holes, for eight to nine months of the year we live among the icepacks.”
“And that is where you hope to find your people now.”
“Yes, StarMan. That is where I hope to find my people.”
63
URBETH’S JOKE
But even the icepacks seemed deserted. From The Necklet, Ho’Demi led the force north until, after fifteen days of riding from when they left Belial and Magariz, they stood at the very northern edge of the continent.
Snow lay frosted and compacted on the ground, the fierce winds contained tiny ice drops that stung cheeks and exposed flesh. All save Azhure were wrapped in thick cloaks; ice sparkled among the dark moons as they swept over her blue suit, but she seemed untroubled by the cold. Azhure moved close to Axis’ side, and he put his arm about her. Caelum lay snug in a pannier hanging from Venator’s back, and all that could be seen of him was a dark, tousled curl.
“It’s awesome,” Azhure whispered, and Axis had to agree with her.
A thin line of grey—green sea water, perhaps fifty paces wide, stretched between the shore and the edge of the icepack. There great jagged sheets of ice jostled and ground together, sometimes rearing a hundred paces into the air, sometimes plunging to the depths of the sea-bed in the space of a heartbeat. The ice was yellowish in places, green in others, grey in yet still more, and Axis could not comprehend how anyone could even contemplate risking half an hour on the icepack, let alone a day or a month.
Yet when he looked over to the ranks of Ravensbundmen standing along the shore he saw nothing but longing on each face. They did not seem to notice the cruelty of the wind’s bite, nor the danger of the shifting ice; all they saw was a home long denied them, a place of challenge and companionship, of courage and camaraderie.
He hugged Azhure tighter. There was no way Ho’Demi could persuade him to cross to that treacherous ice.
“No need,” Ho’Demi said softly by his side, and he accepted a large conical shell from one of his men. It was ivory on the outside and patterned orange and blue within, and when Ho’Demi put it to his lips it emitted a low but piercing howl. Azhure put her hands to her ears to block out its call, and Axis had no doubts that it could penetrate into the very depths of the icepack.
“And now?” he asked as Ho’Demi lowered the shell.
“Now? Now we wait.”
And while they waited, Ho’Demi told them of the pack ice. “It extends along the western shores of the Iskruel Ocean, and it is a league wide in places, five leagues in others. We hunt seal and sometimes whale from its back, and we have learned to know its sighs and tremblings so that we may avoid being eaten by its jaws. But even we…” he paused and contemplated the ice for several minutes. “Even we lose the occasional unwary child.”
They took children out there? Azhure shuddered.
“I sent word to the northern tribes to seek shelter from the Skraelings among the icepacks,” Ho’Demi continued. “They were to leap in their boats and paddle for the ice, for the Skraelings could not cross the open strip of water between the shore and the pack. I thought that my people would have their best chance of survival on the ice, for they knew it and loved it. But…”
He faltered, and Sa’Kuya, who sat by his side in front of the fire, took his hand. “But I had no way of knowing we would be gone so long. For over three years my people have had to fight for their survival among this ice. They were hearty Ravensbundmen and women all, but even I doubt their ability to live that long among the ice without respite.”
So they waited. They waited three days, during which Ho’Demi grew increasingly fretful, and Axis and Azhure became concerned about the time that flew by. Soon they would have to be at Talon Spike, and then Axis would have to travel on to the Earth Tree Grove for Fire-Night. How many more days could they linger at the edge of this ocean?
Early on the morning of the fourth day a shout brought Ho’Demi hastening from his bedroll. Were his people emerging from the ice? But all that he could see was a great icebear slipping and sliding as it leapt from ice sheet to ice sheet, one moment apparently in danger of being swallowed by a yawning chasm, the next avoiding being speared by sharp ice only by the merest breath.
Ho’Demi stared and then, with every other Ravensbund man who was awake and watching, he fell to his knees.
“Urbeth,” he whispered.
Still wiping the sleep from their eyes, Axis and Azhure joined him, standing at his shoulder.
Axis stared at the bear.
She was massive, the height of a tall man at her shoulder and half as long again as a horse. Her paws had black talons twice as long and thick as a man’s fingers, and her teeth, gleaming as she panted for breath, looked almost as wicked as a Skraeling’s. Thick fur, yellowing with age, covered her body and, as Axis looked closer, he could see that she had lost an ear.
“Azhure,” he began, about to remind her of the icebear he had seen that day they had sat on the ledge at Talon Spike so long ago, but his words were cut off by a gigantic splash. The bear had plunged into the waters and was now paddling towards the beach, only her head and a small island of her back showing above the water.
“Urbeth,” Ho’Demi said again in a tone of deep reverence.
Urbeth? Axis asked Azhure, not wanting to disturb the strangeness of the moment with speech. She shrugged, and Axis turned back to the bear.
She was close to the shore now, and she grunted as her paws scrabbled for purchase on the pebbly beach. Water cascaded off her back as she slowly waded towards the watchers, and she shook herself so vigorously that water sprayed over Ho’Demi and all those within ten paces of him.
Axis belatedly wondered if they should be standing so close to one of the fearsome icebears. By the Stars! he breathed, she towers over most here.
“I greet you well enough, Ho’Demi,” the bear said pleasantly.
“Urbeth.” Ho’Demi placed his hands over his breast and half bowed from his kneeling position. Along the shoreline men bowed so that their foreheads touched the beach, and Axis wondered if he and Azhure should do the same.
Us? Azhure smiled at him. You forget who we are, StarMan. She inclined her head graciously towards the
bear.
“Moon,” Urbeth said, and flicked a stray droplet from one of her claws. “I know you, for I gambol among the tides and your light shines over the ice-den where I hide my cubs.”
Then Urbeth gazed curiously at Axis. “StarMan,” Azhure said by way of introduction, “and Song.”
“Well,” said the bear, “no wonder I don’t know you, for the grating of the ice keeps out all but the low timbre of Ho’Demi’s horn…and the screams of the seals as I sink my teeth deep into their backs.”
Axis grinned wanly and pitied the seals.
“I call my people, Urbeth,” Ho’Demi interrupted. “Do you know of their whereabouts?”
Urbeth yawned, and abruptly sat down, both hind legs sliding out almost at right angles from her body. “Your people?” She twitched the toes of her hind paws and contemplated one of her forepaws, perhaps wondering if one swipe would be enough to take off a man’s head, or if two would be required. “Did I perchance eat them, and forget the fact?”
Ho’Demi stared at her, and did not respond.
Urbeth sighed and put her forepaw down with a slap that sent several pebbles skidding along the beach. “Your people, Ho’Demi. Well. You have left them alone for a long time.” She paused and tilted her head, her eyes dark and sharp. “A very long time. Many things can happen in—what is it?—almost four years? But…” she turned her eyes skyward, as if consulting deep memory. “Let me think. Ah…yes. They arrived, most of them, although I remember twenty or thirty falling here on the beach with Skraelings clinging to their backs.”
Azhure shuddered, and Urbeth dropped her gaze and stared at her. “Not very good to eat,” she said. “Not enough salt.”
“Oh,” Azhure said after a moment. “The Skraelings.”
Ho’Demi shifted in frustration. “Urbeth?”
Urbeth sighed again, her breath rippling over the entire assembly. “Your people, Ho’Demi. Yes, well. They scrambled into the ice and there they were safe. For some time. But, oh dear, then the winter storms came, and they were fiercer than they had ever been before. Many froze to the ice, and were swallowed and digested as the ice rose and fell.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “They are still there, somewhere, Ho’Demi. Bits of them, anyway, still frozen in the ice. When they thaw out I may taste them.”
Axis placed a restraining hand on Ho’Demi’s shoulder. Whoever, whatever, this bear was, Axis was afraid Ho’Demi would do something rash.
Ho’Demi relaxed. “You are a tease, Urbeth.”
“A tease? A tease?” Axis swore the bear had managed to raise a non-existent eyebrow. “Ho’Demi, I simply have a sense of humour. Something you should learn to cultivate.”
“Good Urbeth,” Azhure said, “are your cubs well?”
“Yes, indeed, Moon. Thank you for asking.”
“I have my own cub, Urbeth. See? He sleeps, in my blankets by the fire.”
“Yes, I see, Moon. He is a fine cub.”
Azhure sighed, her eyes sombre. “But cubs can be so trying, Urbeth. Sometimes I must rock him and rock him before he consents to sleep.”
“Oh, I know, Moon, I know,” Urbeth consoled, and Axis wondered if he were dreaming, or if this bizarre conversation was really taking place.
“Such a trouble making him sleep, Urbeth. But you have far more help than I.”
“I do?”
“The tides,” Azhure said softly, “rock your cubs to sleep in their ice-den, so I think that they cannot be the trouble that my cub is.”
Urbeth shifted uncomfortably. “Well, you are right, Moon. And I should thank you for that.”
“A boon then, friend Urbeth. I rock your cubs to sleep for you, and in return, I would have you tell Ho’Demi what has happened to his people.”
“I would have told anyway, Moon,” Urbeth said crossly, and lumbered to her feet. “You did not have to waste a boon on the matter.”
Azhure smiled. “I thought Ho’Demi about to stick you, Urbeth, and I sought to prevent a slaughter.”
Urbeth chuckled, the sound shocking coming from such a massive beast. “Indeed you did, Moon, for had Ho’Demi sought to stick me I would have slaughtered all his people standing before me. Well now, Ho’Demi, are you ready for Urbeth’s joke?”
He jerked his head in assent.
Urbeth looked sly. “But are you ready for a walk, Ho’Demi?” And with that she turned and lumbered north-westwards along the shoreline of the Iskruel Ocean.
They had no choice but to follow. Camps were hurriedly struck and horses saddled, then the entire force—eight thousand Ravensbundmen and three thousand Acharites—fell into file behind the great bear as she ambled along, grunting to herself and occasionally pausing to scratch the ruff of her neck.
No-one spoke. The Ravensbundmen were either too tense or too awe-struck, and the Acharites were so dumbfounded at what they were doing they could not find the words to discuss it.
Azhure kept the Alaunt slinking in a well-controlled pack behind Venator; she had little doubt that if they tried to play with Urbeth, she would give as good as she got.
Urbeth led them north-west all that day until the dark shapes of the DeadWood Forest loomed on the horizon. Then she sat down, yawned, and curled into a ball to sleep. She had not said a word the entire way.
Men sat in quiet groups huddled about fires that night, and not a few glances were sent towards the great pale shape snoring in the distance.
“Who is she?” Axis asked.
“Urbeth,” Ho’Demi replied tersely.
“What is she, Ho’Demi?”
Sa’Kuya answered for her husband. “Urbeth is more than a bear, Axis, but we do not know how much more. She has hunted these packs through all the time that the Ravensbund have lived here, and occasionally she has come out to talk with us. We worship her for fear, because we fear that if we did not then she would hunt us instead of the seals.”
“I doubt that, Sa’Kuya,” Azhure said. “I think Urbeth talks to you because she likes you. I think,” and her eyes drifted towards the bear asleep twenty paces away, “Urbeth sometimes gets lonely for companionship and good conversation, so she seeks out one or two of the Ravensbund to chat with. Perhaps she would be pleased if you treated her as an equal, not as a god.”
The bear burped violently in her sleep, and Axis laughed at the startled expressions on Ho’Demi’s and Sa’Kuya’s faces. “I think you should listen to my wife, my friends, for I wager that bear would have many tales to keep you amused through your long months on the ice.”
Ho’Demi put his tea mug down. “If she leads me to my people, StarMan, then I shall invite her to be godmother at the naming of my next grandchild.”
Azhure leaned over and patted Ho’Demi’s knee. “I think Urbeth would like that very much, Ho’Demi.”
The bear woke with the sun. She rose and stretched, her grunts waking the entire camp, and ambled towards the forest.
“Tell your men to remain on their feet, Ho’Demi,” she called over her shoulder, “for there is no need to disturb the horses.”
Ho’Demi muttered as he flung his cloak about his shoulders, his eyes shadowed through lack of sleep. About him the Ravensbund men rose and followed the bear, the chimes tangled in their hair tinkling sweetly in the morning air.
Azhure bundled Caelum in a blanket and held him close, giving him a piece of bread to keep him quiet, then joined Axis as they walked with the others following the bear.
It took them an hour to approach DeadWood Forest, and as soon as they were close a murmur arose among the Ravensbundmen.
“What disturbs them?” Azhure asked.
“The trees,” Sa’Kuya answered. “They are alive.”
Azhure wondered why the fact that the trees were alive bothered the Ravensbund people. The forest, stretching south-west as far as the eye could see, was of normal conifers, although Azhure could see the blackened trunks of dead trees among the live growth. The trees were a trifle stunted, perhaps, but Azhure was not surpri
sed that they did not grow very tall this far north. That they grew at all was surprise enough.
“Oh,” she suddenly said, and Sa’Kuya glanced at her.
“Yes, Enchantress. DeadWood Forest. For as long as Ravensbund memory stretches, these trees have been dead. A frozen forest at the edge of the icecap. And never this thick.”
“Oh,” Azhure said again, but now her tone was full of understanding.
Urbeth sat down about twenty paces from the first of the trees, her face bored as she waited for the men behind to catch up. Finally, she barked to clear her throat, then spoke.
“Your people lived for almost eighteen months on the icepack, Ho’Demi. But it was hard on them. Many died. A growing number, convinced that the end of the world was nigh, refused food or drink, courting death. Many prayed that you would return and lead them back into their homelands, but most felt that you and those who escaped with you had been eaten by the Skraelings who had massed along the shoreline and then seethed south. They debated among themselves about what to do and finally, after many weeks of discussion, they called to me to eat them, and thus end their misery.”
Urbeth rolled her eyes. “Their cries annoyed me and woke my cubs. The seals darted away and I lacked food. Although I tried to be patient with their misery, eventually I grew dark with anger. I decided I could not live with them any longer. And finally I did answer their calls. I did eat them. I swallowed them whole until I could swallow no more, and so I spat them out. Then I ate some more, and eventually spat those out as well. I ate and spat until the dreadful cries were silenced. And where I spat, so grew trees.”
She cocked her head and regarded the trees. “I don’t like them,” she said. “Their greenery disturbs the harmony of snow and ice and grey tides. I think you ought to take them away.”
Utter silence greeted her words. Everyone stared at the trees, then at the bear, then back to the trees.
“Urbeth,” Ho’Demi said eventually, “there are many of my people in the southern lands who are now wending their way north. Among them is my daughter, In’Mari, married to Izanagi who stands among us now. She is great with child, and when her child is born I would ask that you stand as her godmother.”