Page 57 of Tiger's Tale
One who was gray and black, perhaps blind, in pain, and, to make matters even more difficult, invisible.
19
A SINKING MAN WILL CLING TO FOAM
The landscape blurred around them as the tigers ran, and they arrived at the site of the Great Gathering Grounds before they broke up their final meeting. Their little group waited in the trees while the guide disappeared, heading into the melee to find the one they sought. When he returned, he gestured that they should follow him, but held up a hand to indicate the tigers should stay, bowing several times and pressing his palms together in apologetic supplication as he did.
Trailing him, the men wove between bands of people who were breaking camp and setting out in all directions, heading home now that their council meetings had been completed. Their guide led them to a large reindeer-skin tent, one of the only tents left standing in a sea of bare log tentpoles and smoldered campfires. After calling out and hearing a brusque reply, he opened the flap and bid them enter. They did and were escorted to seats by a crackling fire, where they found a woman still adorned in her council attire.
She was a handsome woman with bright, shrewd eyes and a straight posture. Her dark hair was braided with colorful strips of dyed reindeer leather and was tied at the ends with tufts of white fox fur and polished animal bone, which also trimmed her magnificent beaded coat. Danik envied the skillfully made reindeer moccasins and might have asked about trading for a pair if he thought such a thing wouldn’t be inappropriate.
Before they could even begin to form a word, she spoke in perfect Russian. “So, you have come to hunt our great striped treasure, have you? You mean to take him from us?”
“Not at all, my lady,” Zakhar interjected quickly. “We do not come to hunt. We are only here to?—”
She held up her hand. “I do not speak to men of the cloth any longer,” she said. “You mean to convert my people to your ways. To convince us to be like you. Too many of our young men and women have left us. Seduced by your world. By your promises of a better way of life. Who is to say which way of living is best?” She gave Zakhar a long look. “No. I would venture you have not yet discovered your own path in life. Such a one cannot think to guide others. You are as yet untested.”
Next, she appraised Danik. After examining him, taking in his clothing, glancing at his hands, she asked, “What are you?”
“What do you mean?” he asked in reply. “Do you ask about my family, my town, or my profession?”
“Yes. Exactly.”
Danik opened his mouth, but he was uncertain where to begin.
“I see. You, like your priest, are lost. And you?” she asked, turning to Nik. “It is easy to discern you have the stance and training of a soldier, and yet there is much more to you beneath the surface as well. And I fear if I pierced the skin I would uncover a putrefaction so vile no surgeon or shaman could cut it away quick enough for it to heal.” Leaning forward, she picked up a stick and jabbed it into the flames, then held the hot poker up, gesturing to the young man. Looking into Nik’s eyes, she said, “There are some sicknesses you must burn out. Only sweat, tears, and searing pain will bring an end to the suffering. Even then, there’s a chance it will reemerge. A watchful eye is key.”
She sighed and tossed the stick back into the flames. “Very well. If we are meant to leave things of great import in the hands of the untrained and inexperienced, then so be it. Take me to your tigers. Perhaps they will not prove to be as disappointing as you three.”
The men rose uncertainly, feeling as if they’d just been scolded by a schoolmarm, and headed out the tent flap. None of them questioned taking the Evenki leader to the tigers; they just obeyed. Within a few moments, they were standing back, watching her as she assessed the tigers as boldly as she’d just done with them.
Absolutely unafraid, she walked around them—first Stacia, clucking her tongue as she did, and then Veru. When she was finished, she said, “I don’t know how it is that your people managed to harness this magic. Even if the tiger tokens were traded or gifted to your parents, it shouldn’t have worked. It’s meant to belong to our people. You can’t keep it. You must give it back. Even if you were one of our people, it is a sacred trust. One must be deemed worthy to carry a tiger token and wield its power. Grave evils come upon the one who attempts to harness the magic unworthily.”
“That’s just it,” Nik said. “We want to lift this curse so the tsarevnas can go back to their land and fight the demon who is trying to take over the empire. The soldier who sent us here said your people could help. His mother was Evenki.”
“How old was this soldier?” the leader asked.
“Perhaps the same age as yourself,” Nik replied.
She laughed in response. “I am much older than I appear.” Clasping her hands behind her back, she turned and looked up at the sky. After a moment of silence, she said, “That young soldier could be any of our sons. So many of them leave us searching for a better life in a land not watched over by our ancestors. We have lost far too many of our youth in such a way. They abandon us for the bright futures they believe come from living in ever-expanding metropolises. What they often find is a poor existence. One without purpose, family, and home, and one where they slip into the neglected and castoffs of society.” Spinning, she asked, “Why did he not accompany you himself?”
“He stayed to fight and protect the empire,” Nik said simply. “He is... was very brave. We don’t really know if he’s still alive.”
“Hmm,” she said. “He’s alive. We would have heard otherwise.”
“I... I think he must have recognized the magic wielded by the sorcerer. That man was looking for some simple charms worn by the tsarevnas. I believe he has more of these tiger tokens. He was extremely powerful. In the forest, he read my mind, and he commands an army of the dead.”
The leader of the Evenki began pacing, her eyes narrowed. “I see. We have heard whispers of this man—this sorcerer of whom you speak. He has left the palace, I think, and has gone on the hunt. Many tigers have been killed. I suspect this is his doing. He is searching for these two. This must be why power and magic are draining from our lands. If this man has begun collecting the Tokens of the Tiger Emblem, then he can bring about the end of all things. Already hunters are returning empty-handed. River water is polluted and sluggish. The fish refuse to spawn in them. The snows are coming later each year, and the winters are harsher, the summers hotter. The reindeer are dropping calves too early. Now I understand why all this is happening. The above and beneath are out of balance.”
“So you’ll help us break this curse and free the tsarevnas?”
“You do not understand,” she said. “The tigers do not come as a curse. They come as a gift. They are a blessing to our people. If they show themselves in your tsarevnas, then they have deemed them worthy hosts, even if I do not see it myself.”
Mumbling a few words in her language, she shook her head. “I must find out why.” Then softer, with a pained expression, she added, “Perhaps it is something I have done. Regardless, the error must be repaired for the good of all.” Approaching Stacia and Veru, she asked politely, “Will you change so we can talk?”
The tigers blinked and looked at one another.
“Why will you not change?” she asked, a wrinkle appearing between her brows.
