Page 76 of North Is the Night
I slip my hand out between the edges of the bear pelt, flashing him the stark red line cutting across my palm.
He grunts, dropping his gaze back to his cookpot. “Blood magic is not for the faint of heart, girl. Who are you, that you can wield it with such ease? And why would a bear risk his life for you?”
“I don’t know.”
He looks across the fire at me again. “You’re not a witch?”
I shake my head.
“A väki then? A long-lost daughter of a lesser god?”
“No, I’m just plain Siiri. I journeyed north from Lake Päijänne in search of you. The bear and I crossed paths when I found him in a pit, where Lumi had trapped him. I set him free and continued north. I met a goddess in a sacred grove, and she told me to follow the bear, that he would lead me to you. When my need was greatest, he returned to me. He saved my life. We fought off Lumi and the wolves, and now I’m here,” I finish, gesturing around us. “The bear kept his word and led me to you. Now I must keepmyword and beg for your help. I will not leave until you agree.”
Väinämöinen hums, ladling soup into a wooden bowl. “Well, it sounds like you’ve had quite the adventure.” He reaches around the flames, holding the bowl out to me.
I make no move to take it. “You don’t believe me. And you have no intention of helping me.”
“Oh, I believe you.” He places the bowl on the warm stones and ladles a second bowl for himself. Then he settles cross-legged before the fire. “Who am I to doubt the word of a mortal girl who claims to see goddesses and thinks a magic bear is her guide on a quest to track down a dead shaman?”
“You’re not dead yet, old man,” I mutter.
“As to my helping you, I’m already doing far more than I ought,” he goes on, sipping his soup with loud slurps. “You’ve put me in a precarious position. To pull you from that ice, I had to lower my wards—which is no easy feat, I assure you. The magic that has kept me safe is now shattered.”
“I’m sorry, Väinämöinen. I didn’t want her to track me, I swear it.”
“It’s not your fault. Lumi knows me too well. You’re wrong to think she followed you north. Shedroveyou here.”
I swallow my sip of hot broth. “What do you mean?”
“She forced you into my path, knowing my damned curious nature would lure me out.” He lets out a dry laugh. “I may possess all the wisdom of the ages, but I still walked right into her trap like a day-old fawn.”
My heart races as another wolf howls in the distance. “Can’t you just fix the wards?”
“You think a magic as deep as my wards can be rewoven overnight?” He snorts. “You think I can snap my fingers and charm the väki of the earth, the trees, and the very air to carry my spells of concealment? Those wardings took me months to weave. It takes patience, and no small amount of skill. It also takes a forest disposed to bend to my will—easier to do in summer when the trees are warmed by the sun, eager to sing with me.”
“But... you are Väinämöinen,” I say helplessly.
“True enough.” He heaves a sigh. “But I am not the shaman I once was, and time is not on my side. Lumi will come for me. Even now, she gathers herself. She makes ready for the fight she feels she must win.”
“You could run,” I say, abandoning my soup. “Like a firefox, you could flee her pursuit. I’ll help you—”
“I thought I was the one meant to be helpingyou,” he shouts. “I pulled you from that ice, and now I’m feeding you. I’ll give you shelter for the night. I may even grant you some provisions to last you a journey south again. But as to any other favors you may be about to ask me, my answer is and must be no—”
“You don’t even know what I’m going to ask,” I cry, pushing up to sit on my knees.
“It doesn’t matter what you ask, for I cannot do it.” He rises to his feet. “Whatever feat of daring you expect from me, you must look elsewhere. The time of Väinämöinen is gone. I am all that is left of him, and I promise you, I won’t be enough.”
“Fine.” I reach for my bowl, holding it one-handed. “Then you must teach me.”
He raises a white brow, his mustache twitching. “Teach you what?”
“My dearest friend was taken by Kalma and brought to Tuonela. I came here because you are the only shaman to ever enter into death and return alive. Teach me how to cross over. Teach me how to get to Tuonela.”
Väinämöinen stares down at me, his expression unveiling his rage and pain, his terrible, aching loss. “You want a lesson from the great Väinämöinen on how to get to Tuonela?” He jerks a large hunting knife free from his thick leather belt and drops it on the pelts beside me. “There,” he says, pointing at the blade. “Take that and stab it through your heart. When the ferrywoman asks you how you came to stand at Tuoni’s shores, tell her you died a fool’s death. For you are a fool to attempt to thwart the Witch Queen.” With that, he marches over to the door.
“So you won’t help me? You’ll just leave my friend to die in that place?”
“Iamhelping you!” He shoves his fur hat down on his head. “Food and water and rest. You leave in the morning, before you call any more calamity down on my head.”
