Deathwing Read Online Free PDF Page A

bloodline had
     acquired
     much
     honour because
     of
     it,
     although
     he
     had
     left
     his son
     fatherless
     and needing
     to found
     a new lodge.
    Silver
     Elk
     was
     a
     buck
     with
     whom
     I
     had
     vied
     for
     Running
     Deer's
     hand.
     Because
     she
     had
     chosen
     me,
     he
     hated
     me.
     He boasted
     of how he would be chosen.
     His words
     were a taunt,
     aimed at belittling my
     kinsman's
     honour.
     Silver
     Elk's
     own line had
     no spirits
     who had
     ridden Deathwing and ventured beyond
     the
     sky.
    "I was stung
     and
     responded
     to
     his
     taunt.
     I
     said
     that,
     if
     that
     were
     so,
     he
     wouldn't
     mind
     climbing
     Ghost
     Mountain
     and visiting
     the Abode
     of the
     Ancestors."
    Cloud
     Runner
     paused
     to
     let
     his
     words
     sink
     in,
     to
     let
     the
     warriors
     imagine
     the
     scene.
     The memory
     seemed
     fresh
     and clear
     in
     his
     own
     mind.
     He
     could
     almost
     smell
     the
     acrid
     wood
     smoke
     filling
     the young men's
     lodge
     and
     see
     the
     fun hanging
     from its ceiling.
    "That
     was what Silver Elk had
     wanted
     me to say.
     He sneered
     and
     replied that
     he
     would
     go
     to
     the
     mountain
     if
     someone would accompany
     him as a witness.
     He looked straight
     at me.
    "So I was trapped.
     I could
     not
     back out
     without
     dishonour.
     I had
     to go, or he would have counted
     coup
     on me.
    "When
     she
     heard,
     Running
     Deer begged
     me
     not
     to
     go,
     fearing
     that
     the
     spirits
     would
     take
     me.
     She
     was
     a
     Shaman's daughter
     and
     had
     the
     Witching
     Sight.
     But
     I
     was
     young.
     with
     a young
     man's
     pride
     and
     folly,
     so
     I
     refused
     her.
     Seeing that
     I could
     not
     be swayed,
     she
     cut
     a braid from her hair and
     wove
     it about
     with
     spells,
     making
     it
     a
     charm
     to
     return
     me safely
     home.
    "It
     was
     a
     three-day
     trip
     at hunter's
     walk
     to
     Ghost
     Mountain.
     Fear
     was
     our
     constant companion.
     What
     had
     seemed possible
     in
     the
     warmth
     of
     the
     lodge
     seemed
     dreadful
     in
     the
     cold
     autumn nights
     when
     the
     moon
     was full
     and
     spirits flitted from tree to tree. I believe that
     if either of us
     had
     been
     alone, we would have
     turned
     back,
     for
     it
     is
     a
     terrible
     thing to approach
     the
     places
     of the restless
     dead
     at night
     as
     winter approaches.
    "But we could
     show
     no fear, for the
     other
     was witness,
     and
     our rivalry drove
     us
     forward. Neither wanted
     to
     be
     the
     first to turn
     back.
    "On the
     evening
     of the
     third day, we met the
     first warning totems,
     covered
     by
     the
     skulls
     of
     those
     the
     sky
     warriors
     had judged
     and
     found
     wanting. I felt like running
     then,
     but
     pride kept me moving on.
    "We
     began
     to climb. The night
     was still and
     cold. Things
     rustled
     in the
     undergrowth,
     and
     the
     moon
     leered
     down
     like a Witching
     Spirit.
     Stunted
     trees hunched
     over
     the
     pathway
     like
     malign
     ghosts.
     We
     climbed
     till
     we
     came
     to
     the vast empty plateau
     marked by the
     sign
     of the
     winged skull.
    "We
     were filled with a sense
     of achievement
     and
     our enmity was, for the
     moment, buried. We stood
     in a
     place
     few
     men had
     ever seen.
     We had
     defied the
     spirits
     and
     lived. Still, we were on edge.
    "I don't
     know what I thought
     when Silver Elk pointed
     upward. There
     came
     a
     howling
     as
     of
     a
     thousand roused
     ghosts, and
     fire lit the
     sky. Perhaps
     I thought
     the
     spirits
     had
     chosen
     to
     strike
     me
     down
     for
     my
     presumption.