Strontium-90 Read Free Page A

wits. Listening to the Lur speak was like having a cave bear grunt words or a dire wolf growl with meaning. The thing was so huge.
    —The Lur spoke the spirit tongue.
    Kulik drew a painful breath, and struggled to speak. Then he jeered himself. Was he a simple hunter to faint at great magic ? No. He’d trained his entire life to understand the spirit tongue, to know the meaning of visions and dreams.
    “I…” Kulik closed his mouth, concentrated. “I seek powerful magic to fashion a name-arrow.”
    The Lur sank onto its rump, almost seemed as if it collapsed to a seated position. The monstrous beast laid its axe on the ground as if it had become too heavy to hold. It stared at him with sickening intensity.
    It dawned on Kulik that the Lur acted dazed.
    Slowly, the Lur unhooked the rabbit-skin pouch, untied the sinews and poured tiny, painted bones onto the dirt.
    “The bone runes spoke about you,” the Lur said. “They said I would find an ally here to join me in the Great Ice.”
    Kulik struggled to understand. It was almost too bizarre. The beast seemed to use the spirit tongue as ordinary language. That seemed profane, but maybe it was power unlike anything that even his grandfather had known.
    Kulik asked, “The Ice?”
    With its huge hand, the Lur gathered the rune bones and dropped them reverently into the pouch.
    Then the Lur exposed its hideous teeth in what might have been a grimace. “For ages, the Great Ice has ruled. Before its coming, my race swarmed the mountains. We fought the giant beasts and others now long gone. Near here is an ancient place where my race made a stand against the Ice. Our last king gathered those mighty in spells and incantations. They unleashed lava, the spirits of steam and earthquakes against the advancing Ice. Mountains perished and the Ice retreated. It was a great victory, although the king died. They built his cairn there and left on his right arm the ancient charm of royalty.”
    The Lur bowed its shaggy head and then looked up with anger.
    “The Ice knew of his passing. It soon advanced and drove the Lurii south, ever south, scattering us. The Ice entombed his cairn. Then the Ice grinded over our victory steles and snapped the olden totem poles of legend and thereby shattered the link between my race and our mountains.
    “I have searched for the cairn over a hundred moons. I have mastered forgotten spells and have unearthed these olden bones and learned to unravel their mysteries. I have journeyed far and pitted my strength against the Ice and its cunning. I mean to find the cairn and gaze again upon our ancient king. But to win through, the bones said I need an ally, one I would find here in the Valley of Spirits.”
    Kulik nodded.
    The Lur cocked its head. “Yet you are smaller than a child and resemble the Skunk People, who are enemies of the Lurii.”
    “The Skunk People?” Kulik asked.
    “They live in caves and holes in the ground. Their shoulders are thick and they have squat necks and a bony ridge over their eyes. Likely you are weaker than a Skunk Man and fear great danger.”
    “In great danger lies great magic,” Kulik said hoarsely.
    The Lur laid its triangular ears flat against its head. “The Skunk People are clever, makers of traps and users of smooth words. I know little of men, other than that they breed like lemmings. How do I know you will not awake in the night and slink off with my axe or my bag of bones?”
    Kulik could have asked how he knew the Lur wouldn’t slay him in his sleep, but the answer was obvious. The gigantic Lur could slay him any time it pleased.
    Then Kulik had an idea, one that might magically strengthen his arrow enough to defeat the new manito.
    “There is a rite among the People and among other nations of men,” Kulik said. “Two warriors of enemy tribes mingle their blood, call upon the Great Spirit to witness their oaths and thereby become blood brothers. It is a hideous crime for brothers to harm each other or steal