Ghost Hunter Read Free Page A

ridge, then I'll be back in the valley of the Ashwater, and it's downhill all the way.

    It was a frosty night when she reached the Raven camp. Her clan, hunched around the long-fire, greeted her with subdued nods. Nobody asked why she was frightened. Fear hung in the air. The Boar Mage was right: things were worse here too.

    Two young hunters, Sialot and Poi, had fallen sick; they said there were demons in their shadows. All day they'd been gouging strange, spiky marks on everything: earth, wood, even their own flesh. Fin-Kedinn was at the river, making an offering. And Torak was gone. He'd left for the Mountains that morning.

    When she heard this, Renn gave a strangled cry and rushed to her shelter.

    Inside, the Raven Mage was reading the embers.

    "Why didn't you stop him?" cried Renn.

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    Saeunn didn't look up. She sat beneath her elk-hide mantle, feeding slivers of alder bark to the fire, watching how they twisted, straining to catch the hissing of the spirits. "The Mountain of Ghosts," she breathed. "Ah ... yes...."

    Renn flung down her gear and scrambled closer. "The Mountain of Ghosts. Is that the mark I found on the tree?"

    "She has made her lair in the Mountain. She seeks power over the dead. Yes ... this was always her desire."

    Renn thought of Torak making his way through the Forest, not knowing what he was heading into. She started cramming salmon cakes into her food pouch.

    "You would set off at night?" mocked Saeunn. "With the moths and the shadow sickness, and tokoroths waiting in the Forest?"

    Renn paused. "Then at first light."

    "You cannot leave. You're a Mage. You must stay and help your clan."

    "You help them," retorted Renn.

    "I am old," said Saeunn. "Soon I shall seek my death."

    Alarmed, Renn met her flinty gaze. Even while she'd been away, the Raven Mage had declined. Beneath her mottled scalp, her skull looked as fragile as a puff ball: one touch and it would collapse into dust.

    But her mind remained as sharp as a raven's talons.

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    "When I am dead," she declared, "you will be the Raven Mage."

    "No," said Renn.

    "There is no choice."

    "They can find someone else. It happens. People do choose Mages from other clans."

    "Fool of a girl!" spat Saeunn. "I know why you shirk your duty! But do you think that even if he survived this final battle--if he vanquished the Soul-Eater and lived to tell of it--do you think he'd stay with the Ravens? He's a wanderer--it's in his marrow! You will stay, he will leave. This is how it will be!"

    In that moment, Renn hated Saeunn. She wanted to shake those frail shoulders as hard as she could.

    Saeunn read her thoughts and barked a laugh. "You hate me because I tell the truth! But you know it, too. You've read the signs."

    "No," whispered Renn.

    Saeunn grasped her wrist. "Tell Saeunn what you saw."

    The Mage's claws were as light and cold as a bird's, but Renn couldn't pull away. "The--the crystal Forest shatters," she faltered.

    "The shadow returns," added Saeunn.

    "The white guardian wheels across the stars--"

    "--but cannot save the Listener."

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    Renn swallowed. "The Listener lies cold on the Mountain."

    "Ah ..." breathed the Raven Mage. "The embers never lie."

    "They must be wrong!" cried Renn. "I'll prove them wrong!"

    "The embers never lie. Eostra will take him alone. Without you. Without the wolf."

    "She won't!" Renn burst out. "She can't keep us apart, he won't face her alone!"

    "Oh, he will. I've seen it in the embers, I've seen it in the bones, and they tell me--yes, and you know this in your heart--they tell me that the spirit walker will die!"

    After a dreadful night, Renn slid into a dreamless sleep. When she woke, she was horrified to find that the morning was half gone.

    The first snow had fallen, and the white glare made her blink as she emerged, thickheaded and heavy-limbed. Camp was bustling. The clan was taking down the shelters and using the saplings and reindeer-hides to make sleds, while the dogs--who knew