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softness which demanded dangerous things of him.
She was a threat.
He understood this now. Tskanay had been important to Charles Hobuhet. She might strike through to
the center which was Katsuk. Women had powers. Soul Catcher must deal with her.
The sun came over the edge of the valley. Katsuk looked beyond the bowl of fog to the mountain
suspended in the dawn. Black splotches of rock stood out against snow as white as a goat-hair blanket.
The mountain was an ancient shape pressed hard against the sky and left hanging there.
Katsuk prayed then: Soul Catcher protect me from that woman. Guard my strength. Keep my
hatred pure.
He went into the mine-cave then, awakened the boy, and fed him chocolate and peanuts from the pack.
Hoquat ate hungrily, unaware that Katsuk was not eating. The boy said nothing of his dream, but Katsuk
recalled it, sensing the dangerous forces being gathered against him.
Hoquat had dreamed of a spirit who would grant any wish. The spirit had said he was not yet ready.
Ready for what? For the sacrifice? It said something that Hoquat had a spirit in his dream. That didn't
happen to everyone. That was a sign of real powers. How else could this be, though? The sacrifice
must be a great thing to have any meaning. TheInnocent must go into the spirit world with a great voice
which could not be denied. Both worlds must hear him or the death would be meaningless.
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Katsuk shook his head. It was disturbing, but this was no morning for dreams. This would be a day for
testing the realities of the fleshly world.
He went back outside then and saw that the sun had burned part of the fog from the valley. The lake
was a mirror catching the bright flare of sunlight. It filled the valley with pale clarity. A black bear came
out into the meadow above the lake, drank the air with its tongue hanging like a dog's. It caught the scent
of humans, whirled, and loped back into the trees.
Katsuk stripped off the hoquat clothing, stood in only the loincloth and the moccasins Janiktaht had
made, the medicine pouch hanging at his waist.
The boy came out. Katsuk handed the hoquat clothing to him, said: "Put this in the pack. Stuff the
sleeping bag on top, and hide the pack beyond where we slept."
"Why?"
"Do it and come back here."
David shrugged, obeyed. Presently, he returned, said: "I'll bet you're cold."
"I am not cold. Come. We go to my people now." He led the way at a fast walk which had the boy
trotting to keep up.
They went down across a bracken slope, acid green with red-leaved vines creeping through the green.
A gray prow of rock jutted from the slope. They went around the rock and plunged into a dark trail
through trees.
David was panting by the time they splashed across rocky shallows in the creek. Katsuk seemed
unaware of exertion, keeping up that steady, long stride. There were cottonwoods by the creek -- pale,
yellow-green moss on their trunks. The trail went through wet salal, emerged on a narrow ledge thick
with spruce and cedar, a few tall hemlocks. Four crude huts, one of them as large as all the other three
together, were spaced among the trees about fifty feet apart. All had been built of split cedar boards dug
into the needle duff of the ground and lashed to a pole framework. David could see the lashings of
twisted willow rope. The largest hut had a low door curtained by raw elk-hide.
As Katsuk and the boy came in sight of the door, the curtain lifted and a young woman emerged.
Katsuk stopped, held his captive with a hand on the boy's shoulder.
The young woman came fully outside before she saw them. She stopped then, put a hand to her cheek.
Recognition was obvious in her stare.
David stood locked under Katsuk's grip. He wondered what was in Katsuk's mind. Katsuk and the
young woman just looked at each other without speaking. David studied the woman, his senses
abnormally alert. Her hair was parted in the middle, hanging loosely over her shoulders. The ends were
braided, tied with white string. Pockmarks disfigured her left cheek, showing around the hand she held
there. Her cheeks were broad. They glistened, and her eyes were set deeply into the flesh. Her figure
was full and slender beneath a red-purple dress which stopped just below her knees.
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