Page 128 of North Is the Night
“Siiri,run,” Mummi calls.
I spin on my heel and sprint away from the priest.
“Don’t let her get away!”
I shriek as a pair of hands lifts me off my feet. “Put me down!”
Onni holds me tight. He hauls me kicking and screaming over to the pinewood pole. I look up, heart racing. The face of Otso looks down at me, his jaws open, his blood dripping down the pole “Please,” I call out to my people. “Please, hear me! Väinämöinen is returning—ah—”
Abbiørn strikes my face. “Be silent, witch.” He turns to face the crowd. “People of Päijänne, hear me! Neither seek shamans nor allow them to defile you. This is the Word of the Lord! Says the Lord, your God, do not dabble in the occult, or you shall pollute your souls!”
“You’re a madman,” I cry, my chest heaving with my rage.
“Bind the witch to the pole,” he orders.
“Onni, you fool, let her go,” Mummi shouts. Father and Aksel hold her back, their faces stricken with fear. “That’s my granddaughter. She’s not a witch!”
Brother Abbiørn turns on her. “She speaks of a shaman’s return. There is only one return you need concern yourselves with, and that is the second coming of Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God.”
“Väinämöinenwillreturn, and I will be at his side when he does,” I shout. “Please don’t lose faith!”
“But how can you know?” someone calls from the crowd.
“Yes, what proof do you have?”
Before I can reply, a piercing cry fills the clearing. I gasp, looking up, to see the massive shadow of a bird in flight pass over me. Väinämöinen has arrived in his luonto. The eagle swoops low, attacking Onni’s hands as he tries to tie me to the stake.
I jerk away, stepping free. “He’s here,” I shout, pointing to the dark sky. “Look to the eagle. It is Väinämöinen. He comes for me now, but wewillreturn,” I say, my gaze leveling on my mummi’s face. “I will save Aina from the depths of Tuonela, and we willallreturn to you.”
Tears fall down her face as she nods.
“Burn this witch,” the priest orders. “Her ashes will simmer in the fires of deepest Hell.”
With another screech, Väinämöinen lands on my outstretched arm.
Those closest to us step back, in awe of the eagle and what he represents. Hope burns in my chest. Our stories and songs aren’t dead yet. If I have my way, they will soon be given new life. Holding my ground, I face the priest. “Abbiørn, you are powerless here. Take your unwanted god and return south with all haste. Never darken our forests again.”
He meets me stare for stare. “I’m not afraid of you, girl.”
I stroke the eagle’s feathered head, flashing the priest my new shaman tattoos. “You should be.”
Eyes wide, he leans away. “Devil take you.”
I smile in the face of his disgust. “Trust me, priest. She’ll take you first.”
With that, I pull on every fiber of my being, willing myself to fold inward. I follow the tattoos, desperate to return through the tether. Aina is out of time, and clearly so, too, are our families. We cannot delay another minute.
39
Aina
Fire. I’m on fire.A burning heat courses through my body as smoke fills my lungs. I try to cough, but the pain of doing so nearly makes me faint. Oh gods, I’m broken. This is it. Only death remains.
“Aina,” a frantic voice calls. “Aina, no!” Rough hands touch me, moving my broken body. I moan, unable to form words. “Kalma!” the deep voice bellows.
I open my eyes to see the death god looming over me. Raising his hand, he forms an orb of fire in his palm and lobs it through the darkness. An unearthly screech, followed by a sharp sizzling sound, tells me he hit his target.
The shadow creature advances on Tuoni with a snarl. The god of death places himself between me and the beast. With a downward pull of his hands through the air, he fashions himself a sword of flame. He grips it one-handed, forming a shield in his other hand. “You will never breathe the free air again, Foul One!”
