Page 53 of North Is the Night
And we will live in love forever.
Tears falling, I press down with the blade and jerk it across Inari’s throat, opening her to death completely. It only takes a moment. Inari gasps and gurgles before she goes still. Her face relaxes as her eyes glaze over. Satu closes her eyes. “There. She’s resting now. She’s at peace.”
I drop the blade with a sob. I spared poor Lilja this, at least. Inari’s death is now mine to bear. Satu slips her cloak off her shoulders and drapes it over Inari’s body, covering her face. She reaches out to me with a comforting hand, but I jerk away, anger burning inside me.
“Aina, this wasn’t your fault—”
“I won’t die like this,” I say, voice trembling. “We’re getting out, do you hear me? I don’t know how, but I am not dying here. Ilmatar, mark my words.”
“Oh, Aina, please don’t try to escape. They’ll kill you for sure—”
“Like Inari didn’t try to escape? Much good it did her.”
“Don’t,” she says, her bottom lip quivering. “Don’t speak ill of the dead where they can hear you.”
Hot shame fills me as I gaze down at Inari’s form. Satu is right. I lean down, giving Inari’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I’m so sorry,” I whisper. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you. I will do everything in my power to save the others, I swear it.”
“Aina, this is Tuonela,” Satu says. “What power can a mortal wield against the death gods?”
“They’re hunting us for sport,” I murmur. “Starving us and tricking us, scaring us half to death. This is not the Tuonela of the songs. Something is wrong here, Satu. Tuonetar’s magic has cursed this realm—all the realms. Have you not felt it? For years now, we’ve suffered—healthy women taken in childbirth, strange accidents, gruesome murders. Awful deaths. Cruel deaths. Meaningless deaths. I thought it was because life was somehow out of balance with death. But now I think death is out of balance with itself.”
I pause. “Where is the god of death, Satu? Where is Tuoni, who should sit on the throne?”
Before Satu can reply, we both turn towards the crack of branches.
“Aina!” Lilja reappears, pulling Riina into the clearing behind her. Both girls are winded, dropping to their knees at either side of me. Lilja takes in Inari’s shrouded form, her expression changing from one of exhaustion to one of horror. “No—no! You said you’d help her,” she cries, falling on Inari’s body with a sob.
“Where are the others?” Satu asks, glancing behind them as if she expects to see Helmi and Salla stumbling through the ferns.
Riina looks white as death. “I didn’t shoot. I saw a deer. I had my bow raised... but then I heard Lilja.”
“Did you see the other girls?” Satu asks. “The ones from before?”
Riina scowls. “Yes, the goddesses have played this game many times. All women our age, all dead. The foul, rotten witches, may Ukko pound their bones to dust,” she curses, spitting on the ground.
“We have to try to find Salla and Helmi,” I say, getting to my feet.
“How are we supposed to do that?” asks Lilja. “Inari only changed back when I shot her.”
“We can’t just leave them trapped out here,” I say, wiping my bloody hands on my skirt. “Let’s split up. Satu, come with me—”
A chilling laugh from the darkness makes us all jump. “Well, you’ve made quite a nasty little mess of things. Haven’t you, my pets?”
18
Siiri
I take the bestof the trappers’ supplies, loading them into Halla’s packs. They don’t have much beyond some dried venison and a sewing kit. I let the pair of other reindeer loose to make their own way. It took many soothing words to get Halla to walk anywhere near the lumbering bear, but after a few hours of practice, we achieve a good rhythm. He walks to my left, and she walks to my right.
“This is just like Aina,” I say, holding one hand against the seeping cut at my throat that won’t stop bleeding. “She would put me in this position. She was always getting us into trouble.”
Halla glances at me, her soft eyes blinking.
“I told her to run,” I say to the bear, knowing Halla has heard it all before. “She just stood there like her feet were made of stone. She let Kalma take her.”
The bear grunts, showing me that he’s listening.
“Growing up it was just the same.” I give Halla’s lead a tug. “Let’s climb that tree, Siiri,” I say in a mockery of Aina’s voice. “Oh, we climbed the tree... and found two hornets’ nests hiding in the branches. We were stung within an inch of our lives. Mummi was putting salve on us for a week.”
