Outcast Read Free Page B

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