The Storyteller Trilogy Read Online Free PDF

both villages to keep the very old and the very young alive.
    To prevent more killing, he and Ligige’ must keep this secret, especially from Day Woman.
    Tsaani had heard the Cousin River People boast of their animal-gift son, but for some reason he had thought him to be a child yet. Even Near River People had come back to tell stories of his ability to swim. A person who could swim? How could anyone bear the cold waters of The People’s rivers? But Tsaani reminded himself that his own daughter had no fear of water, and it was said that their family carried Sea Hunter blood. Those island people claimed to be brothers of the sea otter. Perhaps the man’s talents were no more than that—a remembrance of grandfathers long dead.
    If so, then Ligige’ was right. The young man who had come to marry their shaman’s daughter was no animal-gift, but only Day Woman’s child, found before he died on the Grandfather Rock.
    THE COUSIN RIVER VILLAGE
    K’os stretched her arms above her head and curled her toes. She lay on her sleeping mats and watched as Bear Finder adjusted his breechcloth and retied his leggings. She was an old woman, they said. She laughed. Bear Finder looked at her, tilted his head.
    “You are happy?” he asked.
    “I am happy,” she said.
    Old, yes. Old, but as smooth-skinned and flat-bellied as a girl. Seven handfuls of summers and still like a girl. Her hair was black, without a strand of white, and her face was smooth, her teeth strong. Only her hands betrayed the years, but men did not look at her hands. She had other things they would rather see.
    Bear Finder crouched in the entrance tunnel and cautiously moved the doorflap aside.
    K’os snorted her disgust. “If you are afraid of my husband, you should not come here at all,” she told him.
    He crept back from the tunnel, pulled on his parka. She could see the burn of red on his cheeks, but he said nothing. He would return. They always did. And what could Ground Beater do? Throw her out? Kill them? He was an old man. She could tell him anything, and he would believe her. Especially now that her son, Chakliux, was gone. Why worry?
    Chakliux. She wondered how he was doing in the Near River Village. She smiled. Had they figured out who he was? Probably not. The Near River People were not known for their quick minds. She was glad he was gone, but she missed him. He was so very wise. He could keep her laughing—or thinking. His riddles! Whose were better?
    But he also frightened her. He knew what she was, had probably known since he was a child. But then she knew his secrets also, things he did not even know about himself. Things no one in this village knew.
    Gguzaakk had claimed his heart, but she had been no match for K’os. What wife could replace a mother? Especially a wife who had so unfortunately died in childbirth.
    Ah well, Chakliux was at the Near River Village now. The shaman’s daughter was said to be beautiful. He would soon forget his round, plain Gguzaakk.
    Chakliux’s powers were great, but they were like the powers of the owl. You did not want to see Chakliux’s eyes turned toward you. He did not carry good luck with him. No one was safe. Not even his mother. Not even his wife.
    K’os threw back her head and laughed. Let the Near River Village live with Chakliux’s luck.
    THE NEAR RIVER VILLAGE
    The years had weakened Tsaani’s legs. He still hunted, but everything he did, he did slowly. Now, as he walked to his daughter’s lodge, he planted each foot carefully on the packed snow paths. Mud bled through the ice in the center of the path, and the wet earth smell of it filled Tsaani’s nostrils. In that great battle between the sun and night, winter was being defeated once again.
    He came to the lodge near the center of the village where his daughter lived. It was a small lodge; the caribou hide cover needed to be replaced, but since she was second wife, Tsaani had little hope that would happen.
    Perhaps he would get a few caribou