Embers of the Raven: A Christmas Story from Greenland (The Christmas Raven Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

everything that might kill or eat him in the wild wastes of winter, then he would not last very long indeed. Short and stout was the nature of the dwarf and solitary but for his own company. Indeed, it was more intriguing for the dwarf to consider his new found companion than it was to fear the coming encounter with the troll. As if hurrying him along the raven now flew ahead, they must reach the amauten before the troll opened it up to feast.
    As the unlikely pair neared the entrance to the troll cave another idea crept into the dwarf’s mind. He would steal into the cave and then steal the amauten.
    “Best not to think about it,” the dwarf cautioned himself. “Just get it done and worry about it later.”
    The dwarf and the raven paused before the cave entrance. Mikissok had been running for some time already and he would needs must keep running until he dropped. It had been a long time since the dwarf had run until all his strength was exhausted, and while he did not relish the thought of doing so again, he would do what he must to finish his task. That was the final ‘s’ in the dwarf’s character: short, stout, solitary and stubborn . Mikissok smiled once at the raven and then he plunged into the cave.
     
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    Upon the pack ice northwest of Nugatsiaq, Tulugaq forced his way along the flat, frozen surface of the sea. Wary of polar bears, he carried a heavy ice staff with a harpoon head carved from the tooth of the narwhal for protection. Nissimaaq had explained his purpose and Tulugaq had readily accepted the challenge. To bring forth summer in the depths of winter was no small feat. The shaman’s failure to find the children of his wife’s aunt however, drove him onwards, further and further onto the great pack ice.
    After half a day, Tulugaq had forced his brother-in-law to return to Nugatsiaq. The shaman did not want to put any more people at risk than necessary. His own fate would be decided by Asiaq. She was out here somewhere but Tulugaq knew not where. It was time to call upon the spirit of Amô.
    Tulugaq stood on the ice, his ice staff he placed before him. Tulugaq removed his smock and laid it on the ice. Reaching into his skins he pulled forth a length of thin sealskin that he fashioned into a slipknot. Placing the knot over his hands he gripped the end between his teeth and tightened the loop. Already he could feel the pinch of the sealskin cord. Tulugaq bent his knee and stepped through his knotted arms with his right leg. He did the same with his left leg until his hands were tied behind his back. Tulugaq knelt on the skin before him and forced all the remaining heat out of his body. What sweat he had left beaded upon his skin and rolled down his body, trickled through his beard, pooled at his feet. The shaman’s eyes frosted over and he regarded the spirit world through diamond-lidded eyes. Amô he felt hovering behind him, not too close, nor too far away. The great spirit would protect the shaman while he searched for Asiaq in the spiritworld. Tulugaq rocked gently upon the skin and called out for the weather goddess as the wind whirled about him and he began to freeze.
    A lithe creature swayed in the distance before him. Tulugaq tried hard to see through his ice-encrusted eyes. It was too tall to be a polar bear, too thin to be a hunter. As the creature drew nearer Tulugaq could see it was painfully thin around the ribs with oddly sagging breasts. The lower body was bulbous and the thighs were hidden by fat. The head was large and twisted with uneven eyes and a drooping mouth. The nose, however, was perfectly formed, as were the hands, but for the long claw-like nails protruding from each finger and thumb. Amô, the spirit guardian, shrank from the shaman’s consciousness as the creature halted before Tulugaq. She was no beauty and yet the wind whipped up a purity from within her. The creature’s ribs sang as flaps of skin parted to let the wind pass between them.
    The creature knelt