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the head, and with the other he used the shaft of the disarmed harpoon to enlarge
the breathing-hole.Dropping their packs, Torak and Renn ran to help. One
tremendous pull--and the seal was out, and dead of a blow to the head before it hit
the ice."Thanks!" panted Inuktiluk.They helped him haul the streaming silver
carcass away from the hole.The dogs were in a frenzy to get at it, but Inuktiluk
silenced them with a word. Easing the harpoon head from the wound, he stitched it
shut with a slender bone97that he called a "wound plug," so as not to waste blood.
Then he rolled the seal onto its back, and tilted its snout into the hole. "To send its
souls down to the Sea Mother, to be born again." Taking off his mitten, he stroked
the . pale, spotted belly. "Thank you, my friend. May the Sea Mother give you a
fine new body!""We do the same thing in the Forest," said Renn.Inuktiluk smiled.
Slitting the seal at just the right place, he slipped in his hand and brought out the
steaming, dark-red liver.Behind them a bark rang out, and they saw a small white
fox sitting on the ice. It was shorter and fatter than the red Forest foxes, and it was
watching Inuktiluk with inquisitive golden-brown eyes.He grinned. "The guardian
wants his share!" He threw it a piece, and the fox caught it neatly and downed it in
a gulp. Inuktiluk handed chunks of liver to Torak and Renn. It was firm and sweet,
and slid down easily. The White Fox man tossed the lungs to the dogs; but Torak
noticed that they only sniffed them, and seemed too restless to eat."We were
lucky," said Inuktiluk through a mouthful of liver. "Sometimes I wait a whole day
for a seal to come." He raised an eyebrow. "I wonder if you'd have the patience to
wait that long."Torak thought for a moment. "I want to tell you something." He
paused. Renn nodded. "We came north98to find our friend," he went on. "Please.
You have to let us go."Inuktiluk sighed. "I know now that you mean well. But you
must understand, I can't do this.""Why not?" said Renn. , On the other side of the
sled, the dogs were whining and tugging at their tethers.Torak went to see what was
troubling them."What is it?" said Renn.He didn't reply. He was trying to make out
the dogs' talk. Compared to wolf talk, it was much simpler, like the speech of
puppies. "They can smell something," he said, "but the wind's gusting, so they're
not sure where it is.""What is it they smell?" said Renn, reaching for her
bow.Inuktiluk's jaw dropped. "Do you--does he understand them?"Torak never got
the chance to reply. A ridge of ice to his left suddenly rose-and became a great
white bear.99TWELVEThe ice bear raised its head on its long neck, and tasted
Torak's scent.With an effortless surge, it reared on its hind legs. It was taller than a
tall man standing on the shoulders of another, and each paw was twice the size of
Torak's head. One swat would snap his spine like a willow twig.Swinging its head
from side to side, it slitted its hard black eyes and snuffed the air. It saw Torak
standing alone on the ice, Renn and Inuktiluk moving to take cover behind the sled.
It smelled the bloody snow beyond them, and the half-butchered carcass of the seal.
It heard the dogs howling and straining at their tethers100in their foolish lust to
attack. It took in everything with the unhurried ease of a creature who has never
known fear. The power of winter was in its limbs, the savagery of the wind in its
claws. It was invincible.The blood roared in Torak's ears. The sled was ten paces in
front of him. It could have been a hundred.In silence the ice bear dropped to all
fours, and a ripple ran through its heavy, yellow-white pelt."Don't run," Inuktiluk
told Torak quietly. "Walk. Toward us. Sideways. Don't show it your back."Out of
the corner of his eye, Torak saw Renn nocking an arrow to her bow; Inuktiluk
gripping a harpoon in either hand.Don't run.But his legs ached to run. He was back
in the Forest, running from the wreck of the shelter where his father lay dying,
running from the demon bear. "Torak!" shouted Fa with his final breath.
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