Rebecka Evertrue's Arc

Chapter 23 of 66

The cut in her skull was clean, but the rope was not gone. Rebecka felt it still, a thin cord pulled tight from somewhere behind her eyes to somewhere on the north slope. Dirk had let the doll fall from his hand when the arrow took him. He had not burned it. The binding held. She leaned against the crystal wall. The cave lights pulsed pink and blue along the vein above her head. A wave rolled up from her stomach and she almost took a step toward the slot mouth, toward the ridge, toward him. Her foot moved before she told it to. "Marcus." She caught the crystal to stop herself. "He's still pulling. The doll is on the ground up there and it's still pulling." Marcus looked at the slot, then at her feet. "Then we cut it here. I can't leave the mouth." "I know." She looked at Aiyana. The ghost stood a pace behind her, bow loose at her side, war paint dark under the crystal light. "Can you burn it from here?" "No," Aiyana said. "Not mine to burn. Yours." "Then tell me how." "I don't know the knot he used." A voice came from the back of the chamber. "I do." An old man stepped out from among the sheltering refugees. Rebecka had passed him twice and not looked at his face. Bone beads at his throat. A staff with a lit crystal at its head. Fur across one shoulder. He walked like his knees hurt. "Makani," Katia said behind him. "He rode in with the coast people's messenger last night. He knows Dirk's line of work." Makani stopped in front of Rebecka. He smelled like smoke and dried root. "Your mother told me what he carries. Show me your hand." She held it out. He turned it over, pressed his thumb into the meat below her thumb, and she felt the cord jump inside her chest. "There," he said. "He tied it to the wanting. Not the fear. That is why you keep almost walking to him." "Cut it." "You cut it. I only show you where." He took the dreamcatcher hoop from Katia's arm and pressed it flat against Rebecka's chest. The crystals in the web warmed. "Name what you want from him. Out loud. Then take it back." Rebecka's throat closed. Marcus did not turn from the slot. Aiyana waited. "I wanted him to be sorry," Rebecka said. The cord in her chest tightened. "I wanted him to say my name like he used to. I wanted him to stop." Her voice broke on the last word. "I take it back. All of it. He owes me nothing. I want nothing from him." Something snapped behind her sternum. Not loud. Clean. She staggered. Makani caught her elbow. The pull toward the north slope was gone. Her feet were her own. "It's cut," she said. Makani nodded. "The doll is just cloth now. But he taught it to others. Expect company at your daughter's door."