"Something worse than them .. . some terrible darkness. I couldn't see clearly."

"Like the darkness I saw?" He shuddered lightly. "How much time do we have?"

"I don't know."

"How can we find out? If I'm not far enough along--" "I .. ." She swallowed with difficulty, fear in her eyes. "I wonder if I'm still strong enough."

Reluctantly, she got to her feet and reached toward a high niche in the stone wall. Her hands trembled suddenly and she retracted them, rubbing the sweaty palms on her dress as she stared wide-eyed at the crevice.

"What is it?" he asked, frightened. "Can I get it for you?"

"No," she whispered darkly. "Only I can touch them." Again, she lifted her hands, wetting her lips anxiously as she reached into the niche to take down a carefully folded fox hide bundle.

Dread p.r.i.c.kled up Wolf Dreamer's spine. He stood next to her as she carefully unwrapped each of the folds, exposing thin shriveled black things.

"What are those?"

"Mushrooms. Remember? I showed you last summer, the ones growing where I dump the gut piles. Powerful things, they live off death, grow out of rot and corruption. Rebirth, Wolf Dreamer. Treat them with respect--Power grows in them."

He squinted at her, heart beginning to thunder in his chest. "Birth? You said they'd kill me."

She turned. A sharpness lay in her old black eyes. "They will. You're not ready for them." "Why not?"

"You haven't seen the Dancer yet."

His eyes darted over the shelter, Broken Branch, and Heron, studying, thinking. What could that have to do with eating mushrooms?

"You understand?" she asked, c.o.c.king her head in desperate seriousness.

"No.""Can the mushroom kill you if you're the mushroom? Can you kill the mushroom if the mushroom is you?"

His breathing stilled. "The One."

"Yes. The most powerful Dreaming of all must be shared with this little plant. Father Sun's joke, the mushroom. Colorless, it grows from death--in the dark; it brings life and Light. Rebirth. These ..." She fingered the shriveled black slices. "These will let your soul go beyond the Dance to the" "But what if I come out of the Dream?"

Birdlike, she c.o.c.ked her head. "And find yourself nowhere? " "Something like that."

She laughed, throwing her back. "Then you'll know you're there."

"Where?"

"Nowhere."

Rather than demonstrating his stupidity, he decided to ask, "And what will that do for my Dreaming?"

"If you can find nowhere--the hole inside you--then you'll be able to juggle fire without being burned .. . and handle the poison." She nodded. "Yes, I see it in your eyes, you understand."

He swallowed. "In the 'hole," the mushroom and I will be One?"

She gritted her remaining teeth and a.s.sented. "That's right. The ultimate Dreaming. Dreaming while you hover over death. And through it all, your body rebels. There's pain, sickness, vile sickness, and you have to go deep .. . deep into your very blood and Dream beyond the union of you and the mushroom. Be both and neither."

He clenched his fists unconsciously. "When can I try?"

"Maybe never, for all I know. And time's so much shorter than I thought.

Raven Hunter defies the Dream. Your brother has an extraordinary Power in his own way. Different."

"He doesn't Dream."

"Not like you. But something ... He has a Power all his own, an innate ability to Dream his will into other men's minds. To glimpse the way things might become. He's dangerous."

"Can I stop him?"

"I don't know. The two of you and the Other, your father, are the future of the People. Unless something is done, Raven Hunter will destroy the People from within while your father destroys them from without. And you?" She turned dark haunted eyes on him. "You have to find the hole inside-before you'll be able to find the one in the Big Ice to save them."

"What about this darkness you saw in your Dream? Is it--" "It's something else, worse. It'll swallow all of us: the Others, the People--""Then .. ." He spread his arms wide, imploring. "We have to find out what it is before we can fight it. When will I .. . ?" He swallowed the rest, indicating the ominous mushrooms.

In a quick violent motion, she rewrapped them and clutched them to her breast. "Don't even touch them. A taste, a lick of the tainted fingers, and you'll die horribly. The life sucking spirits of the Long Dark would be a pleasure next to this. I can't risk your life."

But the bundle drew his eyes, holding them like an eagle draws the stare of a hare.

Chapter 36.

Raven Hunter motioned the old man in, indicating a seat.

Crow Caller settled himself with the care of the elderly, arranging his hides, smoothing the folds of his outer parka. His good eye took in the surroundings, the smoke-stained poles supporting the hide walls and roof, the carefully placed weapons, the bundled wolf hides and caribou robes. Several brown bundles lay stacked to the side. Firelight flickered yellow, casting the shadows of the two men over the tent walls.

"Here, old teacher," Raven Hunter said, offering a cup of tea in a carefully crafted horn made from the forward boss of a dall sheep.

Crow Caller drank it down and pointed to the stew boiling in the paunch bag over the fire. "I haven't eaten tonight."

"Please, fill your cup."

The old shaman smiled and scooped up some stew. He slurped noisily.

Dinner out of the way, Crow Caller burped and looked at Raven Hunter.

"What did you want to see me about?"

"Three Falls has arrived," Raven Hunter began. "Sheep Whistle's band has been attacked by the Others. I want your blessing to take the young men and hit them in their camps. They won't expect a fight in the deep of the Long Dark."

Crow Caller fingered his chin, the white eye dead in his head. "The young men shouldn't risk dying in the Long Dark. What of their souls, hmm?"

Raven Hunter spread his hands wide. "Souls, Crow Caller? What of their future? Our future. Where does it all end? The Others will kill us, or absorb us. Three Falls sent a youth to watch the Others who took Sheep Whistle's camp. They, too, keep the young women they capture. Is that the future, Crow Caller? Our women bearing their young .. . more like Blueberry?"

"You have too much ambition for such a young man. Aren't an elder's words enough for you?" He gruffly started to stand.

Raven Hunter gently pushed him back to the ground. "Of course, I'm ambitious. I'm the salvation of the People. Do you Dream anything else?"

Indignantly, the old man said, "I Dream many things."

"Let's be honest, you and I. I've been keeping track of your "Dreams."

Remember the prophesy at Mammoth Camp? Eh? All the hunters sinking darts into the calves? Hasn't happened yet. You Dreamed the birth of Strikes Lightning's first son. Remember? All that wondrous talk of him cradling the boy in his arms. It was another girl. Strikes Lightning is dead.

Mouse is gone to One Who Cries' camp. And then there was the Dream about the--"

"Sometimes Dreams change."

"And sometimes the important thing is that people believe . whetherDreams are true or not."

Crow Caller shouted, "Are you accusing me of lying?"

Raven Hunter toyed with a dart fore shaft avoiding the shaman's eyes. "I wouldn't want you and me to be enemies, old teacher. It wouldn't be good for the People." Crow Caller digested that, hard lines forming around his mouth. Finally he said, "What are you after?"

"You've never really backed my raids against the Others."

"I've never spoken out against them, either."

"True, and I respect a man who waits to see where his best interests lie." He met the old man's gaze. "But the time has come for you to decide." He leaned close, holding Crow Caller's good eye. The old man glared back defiantly. But after a few moments his stare wavered and fell.

"What do you want?"

"Are you with me ... or against me?"

"Why do you need my backing?"

"Enthusiasm for war during the Long Dark will be ... how do I say it?

Lacking? No one wants to fight when the spirits might suck a man's soul away."

Crow Caller flashed his good eye to Raven Hunter's. "And a shaman's approval might make the difference?"

"Approval and promises of protection."

"And if I don't support this?"

Raven Hunter spewed a disappointed exhale. "A complete recounting of the times your Dreams were wrong could become the center of the People's gossip. Some might begin to openly mock you. Derision is the Dreamer's worst--"

"You're threatening me?" Crow Caller said, mouth open.

"No. I'm trying to give you enough information so you can decide quickly that your best interests are in supporting me."

Crow Caller's face puckered in rage. "My Powers reach far and wide. I have ways, uses for bits of hair, nail clippings, sc.r.a.ps of clothing. I know how to draw a man's soul out of his body and send it scurrying into the Long Dark. I can--"

"Shall we publicly test that?" "What do you mean?"

Raven Hunter reached for his personal spirit bundle. "I'll give you this tomorrow where everyone can see. Then we'll all wait--the entire camp--to see what's stronger: your curses on me or my soul." His eyes glistened darkly. "Do you want to see that happen?"

Crow Caller squirmed, eyes darting nervously. "It would serve no purpose.""Come, let's be honest, old teacher. Friend. We, who have so much to offer each other, shouldn't be adversaries."

Crow Caller sucked his lower lip, a pained expression heavy on his features. "You want to split the People? Make more disharmony when the Others are raiding and killing us?"

"No." Raven Hunter pursed his lips distastefully. "I want unity. But that won't happen until you and I are on the same side."

A long silence pa.s.sed as Crow Caller's face lined with uneasy thought.

Raven Hunter waited patiently; the old man's shoulders slowly slumped.

Before him, the Dreamer of the People appeared to wilt from the inside.

The words drawn out, anguished, Crow Caller finally whispered, "I ...

I'll help you."

"I knew you would. Have more stew, my friend. You and I, we shall remold the People."

Crow Caller shook his head, reaching the horn cup into the broth. "So young, yet so powerful. Where does this come from when I, with all my wisdom, must work so hard for Dreams I cannot trust?"

Raven Hunter blinked thoughtfully, listening to the difficult admission.

"Your Power will return, old friend, now that you've decided to fight to save the People. I'm sure Father Sun doubted your devotion before and that's why it fled. It'll be back."

Crow Caller cast a skeptical glance heavenward. "Maybe."

"I'm sure of it."

"And you think this war against the Others will succeed? You think you can drive them back, once and for all?"

Raven Hunter twirled his dart point. "Truthfully, I don't know, but we'll make them think twice. Convince them there are easier fates than facing the People. Suppose Blueberry is right? If there are more people pushing the Others--and we make them bleed enough--maybe they'll go back and retake the lands they've been pushed out of."

"Blueberry also said there were many many Others. More than we could kill .. . more than we could scare."

"Then we'll die anyway. At least waging war will buy us time."

"Time for what?"

"Who knows, maybe for my silly brother to find the hole in the Big Ice.

Maybe for the Star People to curse--"

"There's no hole!" Crow Caller growled.