Breakaway: Clan of the Ice Mountains Read Online Free PDF

“He played favorites between his oldest son, Ubantu, and Moolnik, his younger brother. Through no fault of Ubantu’s, Moolnik grew to hate him, and Ubantu’s father fueled that jealousy with his taunting and teasing.” Yural shivered. “I remember your grandfather. He was vile. He hit his sons. He hit his woman.”
    Yural stared into the flame of the nuknuk lamp, silent for a long time. Attu sensed her story was not finished however, so he too remained quiet.
    “When Moolnik was young, he had many dreams,” Yural finally said. “He desired to become a shaman of the clan. But his father laughed at him and called him weak. Still, Moolnik dreamed, and many of his dreams did come to pass. Only his father could not see he was special, born to lead the clan in the way of the spirits. He named him Moolnikuan when Moolnik became a hunter, just to spite him. Who would name their child after a trickster spirit of evil omens and trouble? But your grandfather laughed in the face of the spirits.”
    Yural clutched her amulet even tighter, her lips moving in silent prayer before continuing. “One night Moolnik had a dream his father died of an evil mussel spirit. He told Elder Nuanu, who had become the clan’s healer by then. When Elder Nuanu warned your grandfather, he beat Moolnik and told him never to speak of his dreams again. Then he demanded his woman feed him mussels as often as she could find them, just to prove he was not afraid and to belittle his son. She was sent out day after day to hunt mussels until there were few good ones to be found. She grew weak from her searching, and Moolnik grew sullen and withdrawn. He was close to his mother, and it hurt him to see her mistreated. He blamed himself, your father said, even though it was not Moolnik’s fault his father was such a cruel man.
    “When your father was only twenty moons older than you are now,” his mother continued, “your grandfather did die from eating a bad mussel. The evil spirit in it caused him much pain and fever before he passed into the Between. Elder Nuanu did everything she could, but still, he died. Many said it was his own fault for beating his woman and sons and treating the spirits with disdain. Once he was gone, we all hoped the two brothers could be reconciled.”
    “You knew Father then?” Attu knew his mother had come from the Ice Wind clan. He didn’t realize his mother and father had been paired so young.
    “Yes. We’d been bonded just the moon before. Your grandfather had acted horribly at the celebration, taunting Moolnik about how he’d never find a woman like his brother because he was a weak dreamer. He called him lazy and stupid, and said no woman would ever have him. Moolnik was furious, but he said nothing. If he tried to defend himself, his father would shame him even more. Moolnik knew we were all embarrassed for him, which made it worse.”
    Yural reached out and adjusted the long horizontal wick in the soft stone bowl of fat, making it burn brighter. Attu saw her face, grave in the light of the lamp, before she sat back in the shadows of the snow house again.
    “Within the next moon, your grandfather was dead. I know your grandmother tried to intervene in the argument. I saw her bruised face and black eye later, although she tried to hide it from me. But I’ve always wondered... Your grandmother was a skilled woman. Even with mussels hard to find, to make such a grave mistake and serve her husband evil spirit mussels...”
    Had Moolnik’s dream been prophetic after all? Or had Moolnik’s dream simply given his grandmother the means to murder her abusive man, thus “fulfilling the prophecy?”
    Attu’s flesh crawled at the thought.
    But she hadn’t been able to stop the rivalry between her sons. And instead of learning from his painful past, Moolnik had repeated his father’s crime on his own two sons.
    ––––––––
    C oming out of his thoughts, Attu realized his mother was watching him now, a