Winter Tithe Read online

  "Betyrne," it said softly this time.

  She knew without understanding that it wanted her to turn around. She took a deep breath — My last? — and faced the blue-eyed creature.

  On four feet, it had once again bent low to look her in the face. But this time, its eyes searched.

  Tokara did not know what it was looking for but appreciated that it hadn't killed her outright or frozen her like the macabre contents of its icy menagerie.

  Is it a collection?

  "Haewenu heafodsien," it said slowly, nearing her face with its large snout. She could feel its translucent whiskers graze her cheek.

  "BrrrUUUUUHHHHRRRRR." The excited bay of hounds trumpeted though the tunnels.

  Startled, Tokara involuntarily jumped in the air and let out a ludicrously high-pitched squeak.

  The monstrous snow-white wolf-bear drew back and let out an annoyed wail. It bolted back toward the main chamber.

  Tokara followed, running though her heart struck fiercely against her chest and her lungs ached with sharp stabbing pains. Nearing the main chamber, she tripped and fell hard upon the ground. Blood sprang from her nose, and she shoved her glove up to her face to dam the torrent. Her eyes had adjusted quickly to the cold light of the crystals adorning the walls of the monster's storage quarters. In contrast, the main chamber now seemed dusky. She saw sparks flying in front of her eyes, and she wondered if she hadn't hit her head when she'd bumped her nose.

  In the center of the room, the monster shifted its body's weight from side to side, the movement menacing.

  Inching closer, four dogs and two men formed a semi-circle around the monster. The hounds bayed loudly as if they had treed a raccoon. The men were armored in Deldano guard leathers and wore helms that covered their faces, but their gangly height and mess of coal black hair gave them away. Not men but two tall boys.

  Rask. Reeve . . . And the hounds! Tokara limped into the room and edged against the white walls.

  Gritty to the touch, she noted absently. Sandstone?

  Her brothers beat their long swords on iron-trimmed bucklers at a rapid tempo, producing an ear-splitting sequence of dissonant clanks.

  The unpleasant sound drove the monster back several steps, a move the boys mistook for retreat.

  "No!" The strangled cry escaped Tokara but was drowned out by the excited howls and barks of the dog pack.

  Eagerly, Rask lunged at the beast but before his more than competent blow could connect with the intended target, the snowy wolf-bear swept him aside with the flick of his paw.

  Rask crashed into one of the golden haystacks, which Tokara now realized were mounds of gold and treasure.

  His loot from the villages.

  In unison, Reeve and the dogs fell on the creature, answering the hurt done to Rask. The speed and chaotic nature of their attack threw the monster off balance momentarily. The four hounds, trained to hunt bears, attached themselves to the beast's massive limbs, digging teeth under armpits and savaging flanks.

  Reeve bashed the creature's white snout with five rapid blows, causing it to howl with pain.

  Meanwhile, Tokara crouched low and crab-walked to where Rask lay unmoving and half smothered in coins and jewelry.

  "We have to go," she hissed and tried dragging him to his feet. He weighed more than a sack of potatoes, and she couldn't budge him at all.

  The yips of a wounded dog spun her head back to the fight. The four hounds still clung tight, but the creature sprang ahead with such blinding speed, their lithe bodies whipped around like kites in a storm. Reeve backpedaled rapidly but there was nowhere for him to retreat.

  Without thinking, Tokara sprinted for the creature's back and threw herself forward as if reaching for a fingerhold in a cliffside. She scrambled up the long fur along its spine like a monkey holding on to ropes, spread her arms wide and grabbed a firm hold of both of its pointy wolf ears. The monster reared back, yelping. With all the strength she could muster, she pulled its ears — hard.

  It shrieked and danced in a circle to rid itself of its rider. To the encouraging barking of the hounds, Tokara tried to give another mighty wrench. But the monster's fur was too slick, and its bucking too intense. She felt herself disengaging in dreadful slow-motion as if thrown from a wild horse. One moment she had a tight hold; the next she was airborne.

  She crashed down on the ground, the air rushing out of her lungs so quickly she blacked out for a second. She managed to tuck her head, but felt ribs cracking, shock dampening the full force of the pain.

  "Halt!" The command ricocheted through the chamber like thunder and lightning.

  Momma!

  Tokara rolled to her less injured side and propped herself up.

  Before the monster stood her mother in full battle gear.

  Chapter 5: War Hammer

  Kadana Deldano stood unflinching before the snow-white beast, fully attired in the segmented scale armor that was her preference. She grasped a mighty war hammer in both hands. Carved from Kharakhian ironwood, the maul bore a heavy metal head, blunted on one side, sharpened on the other. Every inch of the artifact was familiar to Tokara; it had been a prized fixture over the mantle of the great hall's fireplace since before the girl could remember.

  Momma has never taken Olegan's Hammer down from the wall before.

  The length of the hammer's darkened handle marked it as polearm more likely to be used in mounted combat than hand-to-hand, her mother had told her. But Olegan had been of the dwarfkin who had lived underground in the time before, and what he'd wielded from the back of his slithering mount had become the perfect close-ranged weapon for Tokara's tall mother.

  Kadana tilted her head down slightly, green eyes flashing with bitter rage, and growled out what sounded like a challenge. "Becies, Ealdgeneat!"

  Fight me, old companion . . . What? Tokara dragged herself to her feet, holding a firm hand against her injured side. I understood that! Pain flared through her torso, and she had a hard time catching her breath.

  Before she could take another wavering step, a strong arm slipped around her waist and steadied her.

  "Reeve," she whispered, relieved. "We have to help M—"

  "Just hang on," her brother replied quietly. "We have to get Rask outside. The dogs already bolted. Can you make it?"

  The bear creature let out a fierce roar and took a threatening step closer to Kadana. She stood her ground, but both Reeve and Tokara, watching from the sidelines, recoiled. The careless movement drove another wave of pain through Tokara's body.

  She watched in horrified fascination as the monster flung its white mane from side to side. It paused its attack for a moment while indulging in a fit of ill-tempered caterwauling, but then it crouched low and sprung forward, merciless teeth snapping at her mother's beloved face.

  Tokara held a shallow breath as Kadana pivoted on her heel with remarkable dexterity and swung the blunt side of the hammer against the creature's angular skull, right below its ear. As the giant stumbled to the side, she crashed the hammer down on the top of its head with sufficient might to cave in a lesser skull. The creature stooped, dumbfounded but not felled; its charge ceased.

  "Listen." Kadana's words flowed like water. Tokara remained stock-still, shocked to hear her mother speaking to the creature in a language ancient and foreign. She was even more shocked to realize that she understood the strange words with certainty, knew their meanings as if they had been spoken in the familiar Merchant's Common.

  How did I learn Monster? Why does Momma speak Monster? The thought coiled through her mind with urgency.

  Reeve gave no indication that he'd understood the exchange. His hand closed gently around Tokara's wrist while he focused on shaking Rask awake. "Get up!" he growled at his twin. "Lazybones, get up!"

  Tokara heard the worry in his voice. She knelt down next to her unconscious brother, lifted his head, and lightly tapped his cheek.

  Rask's eyelids twitched.

  "I've heard the whispers of your awakening.
" Tokara's mother spoke to the creature, steel in her voice. "But these are my children!"

  The monster gasped; the sound rivaled the wind whipping through the grottos of the northern coast.

  "You touch any of my children again," Kadana said slowly, "and the agreement is over. You will have overstayed your welcome. Straakhan or no Straakhan."

  Tokara snapped her head around and stared at her mother and the creature. Straakhan! The drawing from the storybook danced in front of her eyes. Straakhan's companion . . . The giant wolf-bear . . . Bumpus!

  The monster that Tokara now knew by his given name cowered before her mother like a scared dog. His giant jaw touched the cave floor, and he scratched at the ground with his paws. His snowy white tail swished back and forth anxiously, long fur sweeping the ground. "You are his kith." Belly low as he crouched, Bumpus groaned and tilted his large head up to Kadana. "When will he return? Please say to me."

  "The gods only know," Kadana said, her anger softened slightly. "These are my children. These are my people. Do you understand?"

  Taking great care, Reeve lifted his brother from the mounds of gold and silver. A soft cascade of coins shifted to reveal a trove of jewelry and precious gems.

  Tokara recognized the Orb of the Elder dangling from a large-linked gold chain. The center is black onyx. The stone of Ginster. Bumpus stole all of this treasure from our villages. She wondered how Bumpus had been able to move so fast and carry so much.

  Rask let out a small groan, but, catching sight of their mother and the monster, he smiled broadly and his chest puffed out with pride. "Everyone all right?"

  "Dogs ran outside," Tokara offered. "Momma is—"

  "Talking to monsters?" Rask finished. "Not surprised."

  In the center of the cave, groveling before Kadana, the shaggy creature wept as if its heart were breaking. "I will give the gods treasure and people. I give them good tithe. They will restore me to Straakhan. I miss him so much. I miss him."

  "I am sorry, old one," Kadana's voice was filled with sorrow and compassion, her anger truly melting away. "You can sleep on my land until the end of time, until Straakhan returns, but you cannot steal from us. You cannot attack my people and my family. They are mine. Not yours. If you transgress again, I will bring my great sword and cut off your head."

  "I miss him," the creature whimpered.

  Tears stung Tokara's eyes.

  The story is true. He's Straakhan's immortal companion. It's all true.

  Tokara grasped Reeve's arm. "There are people back in that tunnel, lots of treasure, and lots of frozen people, and bones. Lots of mummified old bones," she babbled.

  Reeve glanced in the direction of the tunnel.

  "Is Caia—" Tokara cut herself off, suddenly nauseated with anxiety and fear for her little sister.

  "Don't worry. Caia got home just fine," Reeve said. "She said you saved her."

  Tokara thought she heard a new respect in his voice.

  "Caia showed us where you were taken," he continued. "The dogs tracked you from the pond."

  "Is Momma," she swallowed hard, "mad?"

  "Oh, yeah." Reeve helped Rask hobble along.

  Tokara grimaced, biting down on her back teeth, and swept the twins' swords from the ground.

  "But mostly, mad at herself," Reeve finished. He half-carried and half-dragged his brother out of the cave.

  Tokara paused and shifted the awkward weight of the two long swords in her small hands. She looked back at her mother who stood over the giant white wolf-bear and patted its head while speaking low, soothing words. The giant's wide back shook and grumbly keening escaped its mouth.

  Tokara felt the sorrow of his loneliness brush against her. Bumpus.

  "We will return what was stolen from my villages," Kadana declared in a very formal tone. "What time has stolen cannot be returned." She glanced at the tunnels. "Perhaps the gods will accept your tithe, but there can be no more raids on my lands. Ever."

  "But will what I have already gathered be enough?" The creature sounded broken and desperate. "Will the gods be pleased by my tithe?"

  Tokara felt a knot in her stomach. So much pain. So much longing.

  "When appealing to gods, nothing we can give is ever enough," Kadana said simply. "You must search yourself. Maybe there is another way, one you have not thought of." She stepped away, ready to depart.

  Tokara watched her mother take a long, searching look around the cave, assessing the treasures gathered there without picking up one single item.

  "Where are the bells?" she asked directly.

  The creature belly-crawled toward her. "I will give you the bells, if you arrange for my offering to reach those who listen," he said quickly.

  "You have no power to bargain with me," Kadana shot back, annoyed.

  Bad move. I know that tone.

  "I don't bargain with you." Bumpus looked up at Kadana from his prone position. His blue eyes swam with tears. "I beg you. I beg you."

  "Where are the bells you stole?" Kadana didn't budge.

  "I—"

  "The bells you stole!" Tokara's mother thundered. "Now!"

  "I hung them in the tallest tree, to the east to face the rising sun." Bumpus sniffled. "I want the bells to sing to him in spring. When the snow melts. I want him to hear the bells. To remind him of me."

  The old thing has lost his mind. Tokara felt sorry for him, the depths of his yearning having crossed over into something obsessive and pathetic. But isn't that what love does?

  "Straakhan needs no reminder of you," Kadana said, compassion coloring her words. "As you love him, he loves you. You must know that. It must be written in your heart."

  Tokara heard the yipping of their dogs outside of the cave. She heard her brothers' voices.

  "Go tell the boys I'll be right out," Kadana instructed her. "Tell them to get the bags and rope."

  Tokara dearly wanted to stay and hear what else her mother would tell the heart-broken immortal. Will she be kind or harsh? Will he listen to her? But she dared not linger after her mother had given her a chore, and she ran outside, lungs still tight, ribs still tender, but feeling an overwhelming sense of peace and serenity.

  Chapter 6: Stolen Treasures

  Tokara Deldano stepped from the creature's cave into the blinding afternoon sunlight. Her head still spun from her struggle with Bumpus and her mother's monumental trouncing of the creature. Icy snow sparkled all around her. The temperature had ticked up a few degrees since the morning's snowfall, melting and refreezing the thick flakes into small, glittering crystals. She shielded her eyes against the glare.

  A large cherry-red sleigh drawn by two sturdy Deldano Trotters awaited her just outside the mouth of the cave. The curve of the sled's sides swooped out like the wings of a dove; the long runners gleamed against the brilliant snow.

  Baba Yoshihiro, encased in padded leather armor and a heavy fur cloak, stood facing the cave entrance and loosely held the Trotters' reins. One gloved hand on his sword, he kept an unblinking stare on the cave opening. He tipped his head slightly when he saw Tokara, his tight smile indicating relief at the sight of his granddaughter, but he continued to stand sentinel, guarding his daughter-in-law's escape route.

  Rask lay curled on the sleigh's rear bench, covered in both fur blankets and all four wiggling dogs. The hounds nosed at her brother's half-conscious form, resting their heads on his shoulders and chest, squashing their bodies alongside him. Rask's eyes were closed, but Tokara could see a contented smile spreading over his face.

  As long as he's got dogs, that boy is happy.

  Reeve ran to her as she emerged from the cave and relieved her of the heavy swords. "Thanks," he said effortlessly. "I'll have to go back for our bucklers." He brushed stray strands of his ink-black hair from his eyes. "Rask is dead asleep."

  "Momma wants us to get rope and the bags," she told her brother, happy to hand off the weapons.

  "Bag," Reeve said with a mischievous grin.

  "There's far too
much stuff for just one—" Tokara stopped, a marvelous realization strumming her imagination. "Did you bring the bag?"

  "Momma said there could be a lot of treasure." Reeve put on an innocent face, but the impish glint in his green eyes betrayed him.

  "You just went in and got it and put it on the sleigh, and Momma didn't notice?" Tokara tried to keep her voice down as to not alert their grandfather to Reeve's act of opportunistic pilferage.

  "She was pretty busy." Reeve nudged Tokara's arm. "You gave us all quite a scare."

  "Perfect time to raid Momma's 'Keep Out On Pain of Death' secret treasury." Tokara pressed her lips together and shook her head.

  "That's what I thought." Her brother waggled his eyebrows. "With all the gold in that cave, she'll be glad I snagged the bag."

  "Will she be happy you broke the lock?"

  "Didn't break it," Reeve said with a wink. "Picked it."

  "And the protection spell?"

  "A wee trifling obstacle." He reached beneath the front bench seat and pulled out an ordinary looking leather bag.

  "Are you sure that's it?" Tokara eyed the bag with suspicion. The worn leather was tied closed with a frayed cord. It seemed barely large enough to hold a full-grown cat, but in the stories her mother told, the modest pouch had carried treasures untold across the continents. Their mother had warned them never to place a living thing in the bag, but as long as an item fit in through the opening, the marvelous sack could hold unmeasured quantities.

  "Won't it be too heavy to lift?" Tokara wondered aloud.

  "Guess we'll find out," Reeve said, tied the unremarkable bag to his pouch belt and dashed to his grandfather's side.

  "We need the rope, Baba-so," Reeve said respectfully. "Mother told Tokara."

  "We will be staying a while then," Baba Yoshihiro said and handed Reeve the reins. "Tie the Trotters. I will get the rope and find out what Kadana-sa wants done."

  "Kadana wants the silver solstice bells plucked from the tallest tree in the winter forest," Kadana announced, emerging from the cave at that moment. "The creature tied them all the way up there."