Page 41 of North Is the Night
I stand there, chest heaving. The madness of the moment fades, and suddenly I can hear the birds sing. I feel the wind on my face. I’m sweating, and I’m cold. I’m wet. Not wet. “Blood,” I say, with a voice not my own. I raise my hands. They’re red with it, the cuffs of my shirt stained. I stand over the body of a dead man, covered in his blood.
“I just killed a man,” I whisper to the trees. “Goddess, I just—”
Breathe. Focus, Siiri.
There’s no time for panic now. I pull up my pants with trembling hands. Then I drop to one knee and jerk the knife free from the dead man’s skull. I wipe the blade clean on the grass before tucking it back inside my boot.
Stumbling to my feet, I take his long hunting knife and his short-handled axe. Leaving the dead man on the ground behind me, I peer through the trees, looking and listening for any sign of Paavo. If I were smart, I’d leave now. I’d run through the trees and disappear. But I need my gear—the food, the tent, the extra layers of clothes. I’ll die without them, and so will Aina... so I’ll die trying to get them back from Paavo. I have no choice. And right now, I have the element of surprise.
As I move forward on soft feet, the tall man’s words haunt my every step.
I’m a hunter and a killer.
Now, thanks to these men, I am too.
15
Aina
Jaako came to mein the night. He let me hold him while I cried, my fear of Tuonela and the Witch Queen stealing all thoughts of sleep. But sleep must have come at some point, for I wake with the comforting warmth of the raven nestled against me. My peace shatters when I realize it was a loud knock at my door that woke me. Jaako hops up, ruffling his feathers.
“Go,” I whisper, fearful of him being found. I don’t want them to take him from me, my only friend in this dark place. The bolt on the door rattles, and I slip off the bed, still wearing my fine gold dress and the fox-fur stole. “Go now,” I hiss at the raven. “Fly.”
Jaako gives me a last longing look before he swoops past my shoulder and out the window, clearing the sill just as my door swings open. I brace myself to face my menacing dead guard, but a young woman stands in the doorway instead. I catch the whiff of decay from her flesh. She’s dressed plainly, in a homespun dress much like what I would wear. She has glassy eyes, and her hair is falling out in patches. She looks young, perhaps the same age as me. My heart breaks for her, and I wonder how she died. Slowly, the dead woman raises a bony hand and curls her finger.Come.
I glance around, unsure of what to do. Can I refuse to follow her? What happens if I do? Taking a shaky breath, I put on my slippers and follow the dead girl out of the room. We walk silently down the hallway. My guide directs me left instead of right at the waiting chamber. We step through an open doorway, and I gasp, the fine hairs on my arms rising. I loosen the fur at my shoulders. For the first time in days, I’m outside... at least I think I’m outside. I can feel the crisp autumn air against the skin of my neck and arms.
The sky above is nothing but impenetrable darkness. It’s a void so deep I almost fear looking up, lest I float away into it. I focus on my feet instead. I’m standing on large flagstones set in a path through a courtyard. We’re in a walled garden lit from all sides by torches casting golden light.
In the corner, standing before a large weeping willow tree, a witch waits. She watches me approach, smiling the same cruel smile as the Witch Queen. Where her mother is haunting in her ugliness, this witch is beautiful, her walnut-brown hair flowing down her back in waves. Several braids wrapped like a crown around her head keep the tendrils away from her face. This death goddess has decorated her crown of braids with bits of bone. Human or animal, I can’t be sure. A necklace made from human teeth encircles her slender neck. The teeth look dipped in silver, so they glitter in the torchlight.
I don’t notice that the witch isn’t alone at first. Quiet Inari stands at her side like a ghost. The women say nothing at my approach, and I take their cue to remain silent. I wait by Inari as the rest of the girls arrive. The other girls look as poorly rested as I feel. Poor Satu looks like she spent the night weeping. Lilja looks determined. Tuonetar promised to kill us. I wonder if this is the day.
As soon as we all stand before her, the witch speaks, her voice high and melodic. “The time has come for you to be of some use to us. You’ve taken advantage of our hospitality for far too long.” She scowls at each of us, as if it were our choice to be locked away for days and fed cursed bread.
“What will you do?” Helmi whimpers. “Will you kill us?”
The witch glares at her. “Kill you? What use would you be then?”
“They mean to work us to death,” says Lilja. “How is that any different from our lives among the living?”
“The loud, foolish one is correct,” the witch replies. “From today, you will all be assigned a task. No one in Tuonela may be idle. You will work... or suffer the consequences.”
Lilja scoffs. “The Witch Queen promised to kill me anyway, so why not just be done with it—” She shrieks, dropping to her knees as blood gushes from the side of her head. She clasps a hand over the wound, crying out in pain. We all back away as the blood seeps between her fingers, down her neck, staining the fur of her stole. The witch holds out a hand, revealing Lilja’s severed ear. My stomach twists as the witch laughs.
“I didn’t think you had much need of this, since you never listen.” The witch tosses the ear to the ground, utterly indifferent to Lilja’s pain. “Your tongue is next if you don’t learn to bide it. Speak again, foolish one, and it will beyourteeth I wear around my neck.”
Lilja whimpers, but says nothing, her hand clasped over her bleeding ear.
The witch turns to face us. “You two,” she barks, pointing at Satu and Inari. Satu nearly jumps out of her skin at being addressed directly. “Can either of you cook?”
“Y-yes,” Satu stammers.
Next to her, Inari nods.
“Take them to the kitchens,” the witch says with a wave of her hand.
From behind us our dead guides appear, ready to lead them away. Satu and Inari have no choice but to turn and go. I watch them leave, unsure if I’ll ever see them alive again.
