Soul Eater Read Online Free PDF

can find our way by the North Star. We can bind our eyes with wovenbark to keep out the glare, and--and there is prey out here. Willow grouse. Hare. That's how Fin-Kedinn managed.""And when the wood runs out?" said Renn.52"There's that willow he talked about, the kind that only grows ankle high, but you can still--""Can you see any willow out here? It's buried under snow!"Her face was pale, and he knew that behind what she said lay a deeper dread. The clans whispered stories about the Far North. Blizzards so powerful, they carried you screaming into the sky. Great white bears that were bigger and fiercer than any in the Forest. Snowfalls that buried you alive. And Renn knew about snowfalls. When she was seven summers old, her father had ventured onto the ice river east of Lake Axehead. He'd never come back."We can't do this on our own," she said.Torak rubbed a hand over his face. "I agree. At least, for tonight. We should make camp."She looked relieved. "There's a hill over there. We can dig a snow cave."He nodded. "And then I'm going to do what it takes to find the trail.""What do you mean?" she said uneasily.He hesitated. "I'm going to spirit walk."Her mouth fell open. "Torak. No.""Listen to me. Ever since we saw that raven, I've been thinking about it. I can spirit walk in a bird, I'm sure of it. I can go high in the sky, see far into the distance. I can see the trail!"53Renn folded her arms. "Birds can fly. You can't.""I wouldn't have to," he said. "My souls would be inside the bird's body--say it's a raven--I'd see what the raven sees, I'd feel what it feels. But I'd still be me."She walked in a circle, then faced him. "Saeunn says you're not ready. She's the Clan Mage. She knows." "I did it last summer--""By accident! And it hurt! And you couldn't control it! Torak, your souls could get stuck inside; you might never get out! Then what happens to your body? The one that's lying on the snow, with only its world-soul keeping it alive?" Her voice was shrill, and there were two spots of color on her cheeks. "You'd die, that's what! I'd have to sit in the snow and watch you die!"He couldn't argue with her, because everything she said was true. So he said, "I need you to help me find a raven. I need you to help me loosen my souls. Are you going to help me or not?"54SIXFirst," said Torak, "we've got to attract a raven." He waited for Renn to comment, but she was hacking out the snow cave, making it plain that she wanted no part of this."I spotted a nest at the edge of the Forest," he said. Her axe struck, and chunks of snow flew. "It's a daywalk away," he added, "but they may come foraging out here. And I brought bait." She stopped in midswing. "What bait?" From his pack he pulled a squirrel. "I shot it yesterday. While I was filling the waterskins." "You planned this," she said accusingly.55He glanced at the squirrel. "Um. I thought I might need it."Renn resumed her attack on the snow, hitting harder than before.Torak laid the squirrel twenty paces from where the shelter would be--so that, once his name-soul and clan-soul had left his body, they wouldn't have far to go, to get into a raven. Well, that was the hope. He didn't know if it would work, because he didn't know anything about spirit walking. Nobody did.Drawing his knife, he slit the squirrel's belly, and stood back to study the effect."That's not going to work," called Renn."At least I'm trying," he retorted.She wiped her forehead on the back of her mitten. "No, I mean, you're doing it wrong. Ravens are too clever to be fooled by that; they'll think it's a trap.""Oh," said Torak. "Yes, of course.""Make it like a wolf kill. That's what they look for, a kill."He nodded, and set to work.Renn forgot about disapproving, and helped. They used her shoulder-bone scraper to chop up the squirrel's liver, mixed it with snow, and spattered this around to resemble blood. Then Torak cut off a hind leg and tossed it to one side, "so that it'll look as if a wolf trotted away to eat in