Page 53 of Sky in the Deep
“Fiske and Iri are taking me.” I lifted my chin.
Her eyes jumped past me, toward the house, and I wished I hadn’t said it. She rolled a thought around behind her gaze before it settled into place and her look turned knowing.
“Maybe you’ll find your way back up the mountain after you find what you’re looking for.” Her hand squeezed me gently before it dropped.
The fury reared its head inside me again. She couldn’t just give me a smile and offer me kindness and expect me to give the Riki loyalty. Or trust. I wasn’t Iri.
“Tell me.” I held her gaze. “Tell me about the dream you had.”
The sparkle ignited behind the green in her eyes again and she glanced back to the house.
“I saw you.” Her eyes squinted, considering it. “With a bear in the forest.” Her head tilted to the side again. She was trying to read me.
I kept myself still, trying to keep my face from giving anything away. Anything she may be looking for.
“You don’t know.” She reached into the neckline of her dress and pulled out a bronze pendant on a long chain. She opened her hand flat, holding it out to me. It was etched with the head of a bear, like the one on the doors of the ritual house. “The bears are sacred to Thora. Before she made her people from the melted rock of the mountain, she created them.”
I waited.
“They are her messengers.”
“If you believe Thora favors me, then why did you leave me in the forest that night? Why did you just walk away?”
She looked up to the sky, thinking. “It was the only way I’d know for sure if I was right about you. And I was. Thora preserved you.”
“Fiske saved my life, not Thora.”
She smirked. “Believe what you like, Eelyn. The bear is an omen.” The words came slowly on her thin lips. “And omens often bring change.”
THIRTY
TheRiki stood together in the early morning, gathered against the bite of cold as the snow fell softly, floating down from the sky. The little flakes swayed back and forth as they made their way down, where they were eaten by the great fire that burned in front of the ritual house.
I listened to the Tala pray for the fallen Riki, asking Thora to accept them. To keep them until their families joined them in the afterlife. There was no emotion on her face as she spoke. The light in her eyes was dim, but there was still a surety thick in her voice. She was steady and firm. And I could feel each of the Riki holding onto her strength, eagerly looking to her to keep them from flying away on the wind of grief.
The heat of the fire pushed against us and the roaring sound of it found the bitter cries of the mourning, swallowing them up too. I’d heard that sound many times. Usuallywhen we came home from fighting and families searched for the missing faces of loved ones.
There was no sound like that—like the soul tearing.
“Heill para,”she called out, looking up to the sky.
“Heill para.”The words repeated on the lips of every Riki and Fiske’s deep voice sounded at my back.
Safe travels.
The Tala walked across the front of the altar, to a man who was weeping with his shoulders hunched over beneath a thick fur. She whispered into his ear and the choking sobs slowed. He quieted and she looked up into his face before letting him go again and moving to the next person.
I was glad I didn’t know what he’d lost. Who he’d lost.
The bodies of the Riki burned, sending black smoke up into the air. The souls were headed forFriðr,on their way to see lost loved ones. I closed my eyes, trying to push down the dread that was still lingering in my mind. Wondering if I’d be weeping for my father’s soul in two days’ time.
People peeled off from the crowd and I looked for Iri. He stood with Runa, who stared into the flames, her cheeks red on her ashen face. His arm touched hers as her little sister wrapped her arms around Iri’s leg, holding tight.
More Riki fell away, slowly walking down the path back into the village, and I made my way to them. The sharp light of the flames reflected in Runa’s tired eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I said, still thinking of my father.
She nodded, swallowing, before she bent down to pickup her sister and followed her mother down the path. Iri watched them.
